Tickets Crisis Deprives Thousands of Algerians From Preforming Ramadan's Umrah

Lack of travel tickets deprives thousands of Algerians from performing Ramadan’s Umrah, in spite of the acquisition of visas from the Saudi consulate in Algiers, as they were surprised of the lack of tickets at “Air Algérie” because there are not enough flights, in the absence of seats for all Arab and Turkish airline companies.

Pilgrims who obtained Umrah visas  from the Saudi Consulate in Algeria told Echorouk that they found themselves in the face of the lack of Umrah tickets.

“We went to Air Algérie agencies but they informed us that there are no seats, due to the limited  flights which were programmed for the Umrah of the second half of Ramadan.”

“We also went to other airline companies in the Middle East and even in the Maghreb, where we contacted the Qatari and Emirati and Jordanian, Egyptian, Turkish, Lebanese and Egyptian and even Tunisian flights, but there are no seats in the Umrah of the second half of Ramadan.”

Pilgrims expressed their anger against “Air Algérie” that have not programmed a sufficient number of flights in anticipation of the Umrah of the second half of Ramadan, and the last ten days specifically, asserting that the national company is supposed to ensure the Algerian pilgrims, and avoid pushing them to search for tickets for foreign companies, pointing out that the lack of programming sufficient Umrah flights which shows that air Algérie gives importance to the summer vacation more than it cares about pilgrims.

Scarcity of Umrah tickets is due to the starting period of holidays, and an increase of booking operations at airlines, and in return “Air Algérie” did not conduct sufficient programming process in anticipation of Ramadan’s Umrah.

Echorouk contacted the Commercial Director of Air Algérie, Zohir Huoaoui, but the latter was at a meeting and did not provide the details of the case, and whether additional flights for Algerian pilgrims will be programmed.

On the other hand, Vice President of the Travel Agencies Syndicate, Elias Senoussi, told Echorouk that the Umrah visa was organized by a travel agency that is required to provide plane tickets to the customer, either if the visa is a courtesy by the Consulate of Saudi Arabia individually, as the customer is asked personally to search for a plane ticket at the Algerian, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Turkish, Jordanian and other Airline companies.