- Bookable on Priceline. Tickets purchased from Priceline today are refundable until tomorrow at 11:29pm ET. Please see this post for directions on how to cancel these tickets.
- Also bookable on Orbitz or Expedia.
- Use a card like Sapphire Preferred to earn 2 points or Sapphire Reserve to earn 3 Chase points per dollar spent and get free trip cancellation/interruption insurance, travel accident insurance, luggage insurance, trip and luggage delay protection, and more!
El Al suspended service and closed their call centers last month and they’ve stopped selling tickets on all commercial flights until May 31st.
We reported last week that El Al was selling a flight from Miami to Tel Aviv and now they have added additional one-off flights for sale during their closure:
- Tel Aviv to Paris on 4/30: $530 coach, $1,522 business
- Tel Aviv to London (via Paris) on 4/30: $530 coach, $1,571 business
- Paris to Tel Aviv (via London) on 4/30: $868 premium, $1,565 business
- London to Tel Aviv on 4/30: $1,038 premium, $1,797 business
- Miami to Tel Aviv on 4/30: $830 coach, $1,388 premium, $2,743 business
- Toronto to Tel Aviv on 5/3: $620 coach, $700 premium, $1,844 business
- JFK to Tel Aviv on 5/4: $833 coach, $1,268 premium, $2,653 business
You’ll have to be an Israeli citizen or resident or have special permission from Israel in order to fly. You will have a mandatory 2 week quarantine upon arrival in Israel.
Will you book travel on any of these flights?
Your headline should have read “Roundup Of El Al Flights Operating While They Are “Closed” so unable to issue refunds for flights that they cancel.” Bunch of thieves and with such great prices for the flights they are selling as well!
Dan, if I booked an elal flight with Qantas points and they end up cancelling the flight would I get the points back automatically?
What if I contact them now can I get my points back without a fee?
Thanks a ton!
Call Qantas to get back the points. There’s no fee.
Thanks Dan for all your great stuff. My question is and I don’t know where else to post it, what to do about tickets with air Serbia on may that they’re ok with changing it for no charge but no dates are available in September October and November. Thanks again for your help always.
Order banning foreigners expires May 1: https://m.calcalist.co.il/Article.aspx?guid=3811590
Quarantine still in effect though
Did they extend the ban?
In typical Israeli fashion, they will announce whether the regulation is to continue sometime late on the night of April 30. They are into forward planning in Israel which is why it will be then rather than on the morning of May 1.
Hi All, any direction appreciated.
We are IL citizens in NYC, booked on Qantas flight LY04 JFK/TLV for May/x. They were canceled last week by ElAl, while we are still awaiting our permit from the IL consulate, allowing us to return. I read here that Qantas will charge higher rate to rebook the tickets.
What’s our best course getting these tickets reinstated or a similar ticket on different date ticketed ?
Has anyone got clarification what a resident is? If your an american couple living in israel..have a student visa and proof of residency..will they allow u back?
They will give you a hard time. My sis in law went back home a week after Purim she lives in israel with a resident card for 30 years and she had a problem it took hours to let her on. Apparently you need to ask at the consulate 5 days beforehand and get permission.
I really appreciate this information! We are also residents in Israel (over a year) and I’m waiting for flights to open up so I can see my grandkids-but I want to be able to get back home afterwards!
HECK NO!!!!!!!!!!
You should title this post Buy a ticket and get a 2 week free hotel stay.
Paris London is fifth freedom? How did they get that done?
Thank you!
They aren’t taking people from Paris to London
So why are they doing those flight? Cargo?
If you check the Ben Gurion flight schedule, many of the rescue flights are from 2 origins.
My guess is they don’t have enough people for Paris or London alone, so they’re trying to combine the 2. Getting people from IL to Paris/London, and from Paris/London to IL
Israir has been having flights from all sorts of random European locations. https://www.iaa.gov.il/en-US/airports/bengurion/Pages/OnlineFlights.aspx#
Who needs a rescue from JFK if UA flies daily from EWR??
I have a ticket booked on points and cash on elal for nov 25. If I canceled would I be refunded (if el al reopens) in light of the current situation or penalized? What happens to ticket if el al goes bankrupt? Suggestions?
You can’t cancel now, since El Al is ‘closed’
How come elal doesn’t fly every day to TLV but United does?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/airlines/el-al/time-el-al-issue-refunds-cancelled-flights-now/
Hi Dan,
Thanks for all the posts. Question, I booked a tik (14 day farelock) for end of august from EWR to TLV on UA84. The problem is, only 1 tik was available for the Saver Award space, what are the chances of another one opening up?
47.539%
LOL 🙂
Meaning?
Is there anything I could do? I need one more seat for my wife… How can I know when another seat opens, do I have to keep on looking every hour? When is typically the time in the day when they’re adding more award space?
Yanky, you have to excuse Dan today— he’s talking ‘crazy’. The actual chance of another one opening up is 43.691%. I’m sorry for the confusion
Is this a joke or what? I’m pretty serious btw. I really don’t know why you guys are making a joke out of it.
It means there’s no way for someone who isn’t a prophet to answer that question.
Check as often as you can is the best advice, there’s no magic.
Thank you so much for your advice! you’re by far the best.
What’s the latest on quarantine policy? Is everyone put on a bus and brought to a hotel? Is there a website with more information on what the process looks like at the moment?
Wow…. these are *one way* flight prices! Pshh…
There’s not much competition these days…
LY 3001 is scheduled to depart TLV tomorrow for Houston. Who’s that for?
Cargo
Strange that it appears on IAA departures website
Love the title of the post.
Maybe they are being flown remotely… Being that they’re closed…
+1
Other option was to call these Zombie flights 😉
Hi Dan, quick question. Any idea if disputing a charge for tickets on airline tickets made with a debit card is as easy as with a regular credit card?
Credit cards have stronger protections.
I just hope that being that they are closed they don’t have, say, pilots but no maintenance people.. you wouldn’t want to take off and then hear an announcement a few minutes in “being that we are currently closed this plane has not been refueled.. we are currently flying on the leftovers from last flight..”
Most ground services are probably contractors. Not sure about mechanics.