Captover From United States of America, joined Jun 2004, 87 posts, RR: 0 Posted (6 years 9 months 1 day 7 hours ago) and read 2831 times:
I am planning on on traveling this winter on an El Al ZED fare from either JFK or ORD to TLV. I was wondering if anyone has flown El Al on a ZED fare and might know how it works. Does El Al allow non-revs to travel in all classes? Also, I'm planning on going sometime in December or early January. How are the loads to TLV for this time of year? Do a lot of people travel there for the holidays? Does anyone know when the best time to travel there would be?
Semsem From Israel, joined Jul 2005, 1779 posts, RR: 4 Reply 3, posted (6 years 9 months 12 hours ago) and read 2556 times:
During the month of December the LY flights are full for 2 reasons. You have the Jewish holiday of Hannukah and then Xmas. A lot of Christian pilgrims fly to Israel for Xmas.
Low season is generally November, second half of January, February and early March.
PassBureauMgr From United States of America, joined May 2005, 99 posts, RR: 0 Reply 5, posted (6 years 9 months 7 hours ago) and read 2413 times:
EL AL is great to Non-Rev on, and has pass agreements with a number of airlines. All Non-Rev travelers on EL AL must go through the same security and interview all other EL AL Passengers go through. (& they have a list of questions to answer & to be answered during an interview conducted prior to being issued a boarding pass)
IMatAMS From Netherlands, joined Feb 2005, 292 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 2198 times:
AFAK ALL non-rev on LY is strictly Y class... At least I know for sure that all non-rev for LY staff or those related is strictly Y, even for staff on a duty trip.. If there's no space left in economy they will upgrade a paying passenger, or put you on a crew seat.. Might of course be different for 'guest' non-rev..
Avi From Israel, joined Sep 2001, 899 posts, RR: 7 Reply 8, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 2154 times:
What about Oct for travel on LY? I have vacation 10-16 Oct of this year
This year the 10-16 of October is the heart of the Jewish new year holidays.
Although I don't have the next year calendar yet, I can tell you that Yum Kippur is inside this period and Sukkoth holiday is on the 16th plus / minus a day which means 2 things:
A. El-Al doesn't fly on that day.
B. All flights should be completely full.
If you want a ticket only for yourself may find it, but if you want it for couple of people, you may have problems.
FutureFO From New Caledonia, joined Oct 2001, 3083 posts, RR: 27 Reply 9, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 2108 times:
Ok it is only going to be myself traveling. Did not have a calender in front of me. Did not have an idea that Yom Kippur was that week. But what about the 15th are flights operating that day?
Avi From Israel, joined Sep 2001, 899 posts, RR: 7 Reply 11, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 9 hours ago) and read 1966 times:
Few remarks:
A. From El-Al point of view, Sukkoth is only on the 18th and 25th in October. In the rest of the days (between the 2 dates, except for the Sabbath of course) they fly normally.
B. On Yum Kippur all operations in TLV (not just El-Al) stops around 13:00 on the 12th and resumes around 21:00 on the 13th.
RedChili From Norway, joined Jul 2005, 2053 posts, RR: 2 Reply 13, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 1884 times:
Quoting Captover (Thread starter): I'm planning on going sometime in December or early January. How are the loads to TLV for this time of year?
Khanukka is from 26 Dec - 2 Jan, so most flights are full during this time. Waiting as long as possible into January would make it easier to find empty seats.
Quoting FutureFO (Reply 4): What about Oct for travel on LY? I have vacation 10-16 Oct of this year.
The dates when El Al doesn't fly during October are the following:
1, 4, 5, 8, 13, 15, 18, 22, 25, 29.
Please remember that on the Jewish calendar, the day starts on the sunset preceding and ending on sunset. So for Saturday, 8 October, the last flight must land a couple of hours before sunset on 7 October, and the first flight can take off a few hours after sunset on 8 October.
You should basically assume that all LY flights operating on the days in between are full.
AA87 From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 117 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 1 day 4 hours ago) and read 1879 times:
FutureFO, El Al is generally close to 100% LF (minus First) on many days that you're considering. I'm not familiar with ZED travel, but you might see if you can ocean cross with your own or another partner carrier, and then connect to El Al. Good luck.
PRGLY From Czech Republic, joined Dec 2004, 494 posts, RR: 1 Reply 15, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 12 hours ago) and read 1756 times:
Yeah we are very friendly to nonrevs, about upgrade it is a small problem, usually we do not upgrade nonrevs. Small exception is for not self catering stations, e.g. food is delivered on board for return leg, than in case of overbooking caused by non recorded nonrevs in Y/CL we upgrade NRSA with ADNF (advice no food) to C/CL, but they are getting no food obviously. Paying pax are entitled for full service and we cannot upgrade paying pax to C/CL in case we cannot provide full C/CL service to them. This is mostly on European flights where catering is delivered from TLV for return leg. Yesterday I had to do it exactly same way for 2 NRSA pax.
FutureFO From New Caledonia, joined Oct 2001, 3083 posts, RR: 27 Reply 16, posted (6 years 8 months 4 weeks 2 hours ago) and read 1625 times:
So if it is from lets say JFK-TLV or EWR-TLV then it may not be problem. Otherwise I would have to get to like LHR or CDG or AMS to catch a connection. The bad part is the only international city we go to is YYZ.
FutureFO From New Caledonia, joined Oct 2001, 3083 posts, RR: 27 Reply 18, posted (6 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 1503 times:
Unfortunately we do not have an agreement with AC. However YYZ-TLV is a long 767-200 flight. I was hoping to hop on the 744 or the 777. I will take a look and see what is going on as far as loads and choose my route and days as the day draws closer.
JAGflyer From Canada, joined Aug 2004, 3138 posts, RR: 4 Reply 19, posted (6 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 1500 times:
El Al has about 8-9 flights a week from YYZ to TLV. They are quite full as Toronto has a very large Jewish community. LY 105 goes TLV-YYZ-LAX and LY 106 LAX-YYZ-TLV. I have flown on the YYZ-LAX and LAX-YYZ flights (they have rights to sell tix for these flights) and El Al is a great airline to fly with.
I'll take 100 litres a side AVGAS with Prist - C172 pilot
IMatAMS From Netherlands, joined Feb 2005, 292 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (6 years 8 months 3 weeks 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 1492 times:
Quoting FutureFO (Reply 18): Unfortunately we do not have an agreement with AC.
I heared a short time ago that LY since not too long DOES have a non-rev agreement with AC, at least from AMS. There seem to be differences around the world, but that's the latest I heared.
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