An 11-hour El Al flight from New York to Tel Aviv carrying scores of ultra-orthodox Jewish passengers has spawned an online petition urging Israel's flag carrier to protect female passengers from harassment and gender discrimination.

Sharon Shapiro of Chicago initiated the petition on Change.org, to stop the phenomenon of "passenger shaming," reported the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on September 29.

The petition had some 700 supporters, as of September 29 it reported.

In the petition, Shapiro questioned why El Al Airlines allowed gender discrimination against women on the flight ahead of the Jewish New Year.

"Why does El Al Airlines permit female passengers to be bullied, harassed and intimidated into switching seats, which they rightfully paid for and were assigned to by El Al Airlines?" she wrote.

"One person's religious rights does not trump another person's civil rights," she said.

Shapiro was referring to an incident on the flight to Tel Aviv, where haredi men refused to six next to women and even offered them money to switch seats, delaying the flight's departure.

Haredi passengers who could not trade seats conceded and took their assigned space but immediately jumped out the moment the plane finished taking off and stood in the aisle during the entire flight.

This inconvenienced flight attendants and fellow passengers, reported Ytetnews.com.

The plane landed safely at 5 a.m. on September 25, the eve of the Rosh Hashanah.

But the majority of the passengers were disgruntled and infuriated about their flight experience. Some described the ordeal as an "11-hour long nightmare," said the report.

In her petition, Shapiro recommended that El Al allot a few rows of "separate sex seating" on every flight to avoid similar incidents in the future.

"If El Al Airlines wants to truly accommodate all of its passengers, it will reserve a few rows of separate sex seating on every flight, where for a fee, those passengers who need such seating can pre-book their seats and not annoy or coerce other passengers before take-off to change seats with them - thereby avoiding arguments, bullying, and delayed take-off," she said.