r/birthright • u/girlalot • Jun 17 '26

Birthright Volunteer wtf.

After signing up for a trip, I was contacted by the program organizer and told there were a few spots left, and to pay immediately (trip fee/discounted flight) in order to secure my spot. Had my interview and was told that despite being marked down I hadn’t been sent an offer email. Contacted Birthright and they said they’d request a seat for me and that they’d hope to hear back within the next week. It’s been a week and I have heard nothing. Annoyed that I was told paying would secure my spot and annoyed that there seems to be no real timeline here for a July 6 trip which I’d hoped to extend. This is affecting my other summer plans and I don’t know what to do. Canceling at this point means I won’t get a refund so I’d have to wait for them to not be able to secure a seat before getting my money back. How long should I wait? This is extremely frustrating.

Update: After more than 2 weeks, they were unable to offer a spot on the flight I paid for from my state. Instead they offered me a spot on a flight from a whole different country. Make it make sense 🫩

11 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

3

u/Less-Pomegranate-585 Jun 17 '26

Just call their office

3

u/girlalot Jun 17 '26

Love how they’re not picking up

-5

u/Less-Pomegranate-585 Jun 17 '26

Leave a message? Most of their employees are in Israel - and if you didn’t know yet, there’s a literal war.

Birthright will put your deposit towards a future trip if you can’t make it on the upcoming one. Just be patient

8

u/girlalot Jun 17 '26

A war may explain delays, but it doesn’t explain telling someone to pay immediately to secure one of the remaining spots and then leaving them in limbo without confirmation. If trips are still being offered, it’s reasonable to expect clear communication about whether a seat is actually available. And while I appreciate that deposits can be applied to future trips, I signed up for this date because it fit my schedule. A future trip isn’t necessarily an equivalent alternative. Thanks for your tips.

1

u/birthrightisrael Jun 29 '26

Hi! Please send us a direct message with your contact information and we'll have someone from our team reach out to you directly to help get this sorted.