Update, 12/24: Once again, multiple Whatsapp news groups are reporting based on “confirmation from a United liaison in Israel” that United will resume flying to Israel on 2/2.
The airline’s next flights for sale from Chicago, San Francisco, or Washington DC are on 3/29, while their Newark-Tel Aviv route shows flights for sale starting on 2/1 for the afternoon flight only and the next redeye flight for sale is on 2/17.
United confirms to DansDeals once again that nothing has changed from their previous statement, which is, “Our Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended until conditions allow them to resume.”
Update, 12/17: Multiple websites and WhatsApp news groups are reporting that United will resume flying to Israel on 1/9, when as we previously reported, the Lufthansa Group plans to resume service to Israel.
United confirms to DansDeals once again that those reports are “incorrect” and nothing has changed from their previous statement, which is, “Our Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended until conditions allow them to resume.”
Update, 11/13: Reuters has now updated its report, confirming that United will not be flying to Israel next week.
Originally posted on 11/13:
Earlier today, the Times of Israel cited Israel’s Kan public broadcasting in reporting that United plans to restart flights to Tel Aviv.
Nearly every foreign carrier has suspended service to Israel due to the difficulties in insuring their planes in a war zone, as well as difficulty in finding crew willing to fly to Israel now.
Many Israeli based elite passengers have reached out to me about getting airlines to offer status extensions to them, but so far airlines have been mum on that, just saying passengers can always ask for an individual exception after the year closes.
United has been canceling flights week by week, with their next flight for sale scheduled for 11/25.
I reached out to United’s US based media relations team to confirm that report, and they wrote back, “Our Tel Aviv flights will remain suspended until conditions allow them to resume.”
That statement had some wiggle room in it, but sounded like United was not planning on resuming flights anytime soon.
But then Reuters reported that a United company spokesperson said that flights will resume on 11/24.
Reuters is usually a reliable source of information, though it seemed odd to me that United would resume flights on the 24th, when the airline isn’t selling flights until the 25th.
Perhaps the Israeli based reporters are getting differing information from United’s Israel media relations?
I reached back out to my contacts at United’s US based media relations team about the Reuters report, and they wrote back in no uncertain terms, “We are confirming that report is false.”
It’s rare for the media relations department to issue a statement that crystal clear, but it sure seems that United won’t be flying to Israel next week.
Then again this is clearly a fast-developing situation and anything can change, so this post will be updated if it does.
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59 Comments On "United Confirms To DansDeals: Reports That The Airline Is Confirmed To Resume Flying To Israel In February Are False"
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its all over the place now
What is?
I checked their website and saw a flight on the 24th that you can purchase for $5610.
Is it worth it? no. But it is an option..
My flights kept getting pushed and pushed. Athens route seems to be the only quasi-United route I would recommend.
How do I ask for an individual exception at the end of the year? Asking specifically for UA
Use the United.com contact form, or if you’re 1K/GS your dedicated email line.
I was supposed to go with United to israel on dec 6 (Chanukah) and that was supposed to get me to gold status from silver. What are my options now? I need almost 2,000 PQP’s to reach gold. This ticket was going to get me there. Any point in talking to UnIted? Or should I still fly with them to Athens and try to make it up like that?
Any ideas are welcome.
How would they get out of the original problem of flying in a war zone? I dont think they would ignore the insurers
They are willing to take your money for the reservation even though they are not flying.
I just booked with Delta for Chanuka. As of now they seem to PLAN on flying starting Nov 29/30.
For about $900, flights originating in TLV are refundable with baggage and flights originating in JFK are “basic” with no luggage and not refundable. I wonder about the logic in that significant difference.
I’d expect that will be canceled, but they appreciate the interest-free loan.
the flights keep on getting pushed
Are the airlines trying to develop hope ?
Why should they turn down an interest free loan?
because they pay a 3% cc processing charge for a 30 day loan, its a 36% APR
1) They for sure get a better rate from the CC companies
2) They won’t refund you until you ask
3) Even when you ask they’ll push you off or rebook you or try to give you a voucher
4) They get the processing fee back when they refund.
Basic economy has always been on flights originating in the US and not TLV.
And yes, flights are likely to get cancelled.
I’m telling all my clients who want a confirmed trip to book on Elal.
is there a chance delta will rebook to elal when they cancel?
I’ve noticed that Delta does some codesharing with Elal. In what circumstances does that actually occur?
(I am actually not counting on Delta rebooking on Elal in case of cancellation but the fare difference is so steep that I decided it’s worth the gamble that they will begin flying within the month.)
So if I book on Delta for Chanukah, and the flights are canceled, will they issue a refund to my CC?
Or will they just give me airline credit to use for a year or something like that?
I received the following email message from Delta about 3 hours ago:
“As events in Israel continue to unfold, we are diligently exploring every means possible to assist our customers affected by these events. We want you to know that your safety is our paramount concern, first and foremost, and that you are in our thoughts.
We have made the difficult decision to cancel all flights through February 5, 2024, between Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). As cancellations are processed, impacted customers will receive notifications delivered to the contact information listed in your reservation, and also via the Fly Delta app. Contact our reservations team for assistance with rebooking, changing your travel to another destination, or requesting a refund. Seats on Delta airline partners remain bookable on delta.com and through Delta Reservations when available.
Delta’s waiver for travel booked to or from TLV allows customers to rebook on available flights through September 6, 2024.”
I immediately called Delta to explore options. It took a while for the agent to even find any reference to the cancellation as apparently only one side of their system had been updated at that time.
The agent was trying to help but ultimately came up without anything very useful (not his fault). I asked to be rebooked with Elal as they do typically should have the ability to place passengers there but, unsurprisingly, no direct Elal flights were available to Delta. The one halfway normal option was (to my travel needs irrelevant) a not-yet-cancelled Virgin Atlantic route through London.
supposed to fly on dec 11 from tlv ewr i see that united keep on cancelling 2 weeks in advance for the next 2 weeks! we got the united deal when you posted it last time for approx $600 for our family of 9! some one told us that united was willing to give them elal flight to europe and then continue with united from there to usa and back as well! is that true? also is there any way that united would switch us over to elal direct to usa as we have booked a direct fight with them [united]? [ to buy a new ticket on elal now is insane prices more then double!!] thnx in advance for all your help
My experience with them is they will fly u from anywhere in Europe but will not pay for the elal to Europe
Has anyone flown on Emirates in the past 3 weeks to Greece?How was it?
hi,
whats your thoughts if I already have Turkish Air tickets for Pesech ?
Switch to air iran. its cheaper and quicker.
Our direct fight on United from Newark to TLV still stays its on for December 6. What should be do? Just wait?
Just have to wait at this point.
im flying same day and airport and was hoping to be rebooked on elal but united claims they will be flying by then and are no longer rebooking. I am concerned they will cancel and not rebook and Ill be stuck paying double on elal
I thought there was an option to fly United to Athens and take elal to tlv from there but when I called United after I received an email tonight that they were suspending flights they transferred me to their Israel desk and the lady said there were no flights from United to Athens on December 6. We were supposed to leave then to get to Israel for Chanukah. I asked about Dubai and she said it was iffy. My husband looked up ElAl and it looked like $3000 for a ticket! Really angry.
As late as Wednesday, when elal was still somewhat reasonable, United insisted they will resume flights. Saturday they cancelled my dec 6 and elal keeps climbing. United refuses to rebook me on elal and insist they changed the policy and no longer partner with them
Dan is there any way i can get rebooked on elal? i heard of people managing to do that with delta flights and always though united is a partner more then delta
We cancelled our United flight and started from scratch. My husband found flights on elAl through booking.com for about $1500 each direct from JFK. There was one from Newark which we would have preferred but by the time he clicked on it it was full. United said they would only cover the first leg and we would have to pay extra for the second leg so in the end we decided it was worth spending a little more $$$ for a direct flight and not deal with the uncertainty of changing carriers.
Update? Did it get canceled by now?
vyt
wiil ba realy srart on the 29th nov?
I will not get to the status level I wanted to this year because United isn’t flying and I have had to cancel a bunch of trips or take ELAL instead.
What are the magic words that I tell United that they should exempt me from the PQF requirements because they cancelled the flights (its not like other airlines aren’t still flying)
So why won’t United officially cancel flights so we can rebook with Elal? We’ve got a flight on Jan 11th but are stuck until we know we will get a refund. Poor form.
They’re not saying they won’t fly, they’re saying that nothing has changed as of yet that would allow them to fly.
Should the war end or should something substantially change, they would fly.
I hear the distinction, but what is a reasonable amount of lead time to give for situations like this? I don’t think a few days is reasonable. Should be a rolling 30 days at the least!
It is pretty clear that the Lufthansa group flights are going to try to do one crew in and out – they are scheduling very quick turnarounds in TLV. It is one thing to fly and immediately return. American airlines- and probably even from the UK, can’t do a return trip with one crew. It may even be a problem from Brussels, and that could be the real reason Brussels Air is not included in the LH group restart.
US airlines resuming flying means putting crews up overnight which is obviously problematic as long as rockets are being shot at Tel Aviv every second day.
They could stage flights via Athens, with the crew overnighting there if they wanted to.
United called me today to reschedule my flight from IAD-TLV on Jan 16 and they changed it to EWR-TLV and confirmed that from EWR they are flying so I’m not sure why they would do that just to cancel me again
Thank you Joe – it is more likely because they have cancelled flights from IAD much further out than the EWR -> TLV flights. I have confirmed seats on Jan 25 to TLV from EWR, but I’m not holding my breath. Unlike the Lufthansa flights, the United crew from the EWR flights will have to at least overnight in TLV (I believe due to US regulations) which Lufthansa seems to be trying to avoid. If you try to book any flights from EWR to TLV or TLV -> EWR on United using points in January or February – they are charging nearly 400K (for economy) points round trip. I booked my flights long ago for 68K round trip. I don’t think United is interested in selling seats yet, because my flights are completely empty and even more empty than they were when I booked my flights back in August 2023.
What I ended up doing is also buying on ElAl so now I have 2 sets of tickets same dates. My United is on points so worst case I may be stuck with 800k points in United
My flight is United jan 23 nuc to tlv should i buy new ticket through elal whatbis much more expensive or by then united will make flights?
United canceled my sons return flight to NY on 3/28 and only offered flights with stops as a replacement
In March? What flight was that? Both daily 3/28 to EWR are still up!
my son has united flight March 5 from TLV do you think I should book elal
If you want to fly nonstop, yes.
Otherwise United can probably rebook onto Lufthansa Group.
United just cancelled all EWR flights until February 1
I have a flight on the Lufthansa groups swiss air ( though I switched it to Austrian) on February 3rd and I just confirmed it , so I am hoping that they are sticking to the Jan 9th deal and will continue to fly. The schedule is changed a bit but I got an email confirming and giving multiple options to change the flights which I did.
Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
Is it United policy not to reissue the ticket to a flight after 7 days? They are only issuing refunds since there are no flights within 7 days of my ticket. Or they can reprice the ticket which doesnt help at all.
I was told this too, but when I asked to speak to a manager she rebooked me and waived the charges. (I have priority status with United, not sure if that made a difference.)
makes you think there is someone behind all these false reports
and what his motives are
United has been the least supportive and offered minimal help to those with cancelled flights -something to remember when things go back to normal…
Dan I see a lot Polish airlines is selling tickets for January I want to know if I can rely lot will actually fly. please advise
Thanks
Dan – do you have an update to this post coming any time soon? Since you’ve been right in the past, when do you think United will start cancelling Feb 1 flights to Israel? I wanted to book alternative plans for the same dates, but United won’t let me have duplicate destinations on the same date. At the same time, if I cancel my United tickets to Tel Aviv, I lose out on the 68.8K points RT that they’ve been letting me rebook as they cancel. Please advise. Thanks
The next available United flight is 2/16, how long before does United usually cancel?