Israeli Regulator Allows Cal Credit Card to Compare FlyAll with El Al's FLY CARD

The Second Authority for Television and Radio in Israel has reversed a key part of its earlier decision against Cal's FlyAll credit card club. Following Cal's request for reconsideration, the regulator now permits Cal to continue airing advertisements that directly compare FlyAll with El Al and Isracard's FLY CARD, including financial benefit comparisons, provided that clear clarifications about the calculation methods are included.

This development comes amid an ongoing commercial battle triggered when Isracard took over the license to manage El Al's "Frequent Flyer" club, which has about 550,000 customers, from Cal. In response, Cal launched the FlyAll card to prevent a mass defection of premium cardholders and to attract them to its new club. The competition has escalated into an aggressive marketing war costing millions of shekels, involving high-profile endorsers and spilling over into legal and regulatory arenas.

The original July ruling had sided with El Al and Isracard, ordering Cal to remove key comparative claims from its ads due to concerns of misleading consumers. These included statements about annual benefits from spending 10,000 shekels monthly and claims such as "twice the cashback" and "who gets a free flight faster." The regulator initially argued that the different point accumulation mechanisms made direct comparison invalid.

However, upon review, the authority acknowledged that despite differences, a basic comparison is possible since both cards offer benefits that reduce flight ticket costs. It accepted Cal's calculation based on El Al data, noting that about 70% of redemptions occur through standard routes, not the higher-value bonus tickets. The regulator also clarified that the "who gets a free flight faster" claim is seen as an illustration of accumulation speed rather than a guaranteed promise.

The renewed approval requires prominent disclaimers that the comparison excludes sign-up bonuses and special redemption paths, and that FlyAll's fee waiver applies only to the first year. This updated stance may impact parallel disputes involving El Al's Frequent Flyer program and competitors like Max, who recently faced demands to remove their SkyMax campaign for allegedly misleading claims. The regulator's position supporting comparisons based on common redemption routes could strengthen Cal and Max's positions and complicate El Al's efforts to ban comparative ads outright.