DansDeals Exclusive Look Behind The Scenes: Here Are The Details On El Al’s Reimagined Matmid Frequent Flyer Program!
Background Information:
In January 2021, I met with El Al's new CEO Avigal Soreq in New York. Mr. Soreq had just taken over for the...
Ends Tonight! Save 30% Off Leonardo Hotels After Black Friday Savings, Including Dozens Of Hotels In Israel!
Update: DEAD! Don’t miss it if this becomes alive again. Sign up for deal notification alerts here!
Here’s How US Airlines Managed Israel Flight Scheduling For Yom Kippur This Year
Update: In the end, American cancelled their AA145 service after Yom Kippur from Tel Aviv to JFK at 12:50am. They replaced it with AA9600,...
[United Confirms Negotiations For Airport Club!] Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport Will Expand Again To Accommodate Record Passenger Growth Rates
Update: United confirms that they are in negotiations with Natbag to open a club in the airport to service their 28 weekly flights between...
[Will Israel Walk Back Ban?] Israel Will Ban 747s, A340s, And A380s Next Year
Update: After up uproar and confusion in the aviation world and from IATA about the purpose of this ban, Israel is taking a step...
[United Adjusts Chicago-Tel Aviv Flight Times To Accommodate Jewish Passengers] United Will Fly A Record Number Of Weekly Flights To Israel This Winter; Roundup...
Update: In response to numerous requests from Orthodox Jews, United has changed the Chicago to Tel Aviv departure time from 6:35pm to a floating...
[Route Launch Moved Up By 2 Months!] After More Than A Decade, Delta Will Resume Flying Between Atlanta And Tel Aviv! Roundup Of 108...
Update: Less than a month after they announced this new route, Delta has moved up the launch date from 5/8/23 to 3/26/23!
Note that...
Delta Will Fly New Atlanta-Tel Aviv Route With Inferior Ex-LATAM A350s
Last week, Delta announced several new routes to much fanfare, including the resumption of Atlanta-Tel Aviv flights for the first time since 2011.
Everyone assumed...
Last Week Was A Very Good Week For Israeli Airlines
Israeli airlines had a whole lot of winning last week.
El Al, which has been besieged by pilot issues for years, finally came to an...
[Confirmed!] Saudi Arabia Will Reportedly Allow All Israeli Flights To Overfly Their Airspace
Update: Saudi Arabia announced that their airspace is now open to all flights!
Originally posted on 6/2:
The Jerusalem Post is reporting that Israel and Saudi...
American Will Fly Dreamliner Service Daily Between Miami-Tel Aviv
The Miami-Tel Aviv route has been a big success for both American and El Al.
El Al launched the route in November 2017 with 3...
Trip Notes: Flying Business Class On An El Al Dreamliner From JFK To Tel Aviv, My First El Al Flight!
I have flown to Israel as an adult on airlines like American, Continental, Delta, Lufthansa, Swiss, United, and USAirways and been on thousands of...
El Al Says Goodbye To Canada, Eh?
El Al will stop flying to Toronto this fall, ceding the Canadian market to Star Alliance member Air Canada. Canada's flag carrier offers year-round...
Delta Bails On Boston-Tel Aviv In The Winter, While El Al Triples Down
Delta is battling JetBlue to transform Boston into a global hub. As part of that strategy, they announced on 10/3/21 that they would add...
Israel Health Declaration Form Can Now Be Filled Out Within 10 Days Of Flying To Israel
Israel has required a health declaration form to be filled out within 48 hours of entering the country since the beginning of the pandemic.
You...
Finally! Israel Will Drop In-Flight Masking, Pre-Flight, And Arrival COVID Testing And Quarantine!
Update, 5/16: Starting on 5/23, Israel will remove the in-flight mask mandate on flights to and from Israel. The only remaining Israeli COVID rule...
Israel Removes Pre-Flight PCR Testing Requirements For Visa Holders, But Not For Tourists
Chaim V'chessed reports that Israeli A-class visa holders, such as permanent residents, students, and their families, can now travel to Israel without a pre-flight...
[Flights Now Available For Purchase, Launch Scheduled For First Day Of Passover] For The First Time In 4 Decades, There Will Be Nonstop Flights...
Update: Flights are now available for purchase. Arkia launches service on April 16th with 2 daily E-195 flights and Israir launches service on April...
[New Requirement Announced] Finally! After 2 Years, Israel Will Reopen To Unvaccinated Tourists!
Update, 3/2: The Israeli Ministry of Health site now says that starting on March 8th, foreign nationals will need to have travel health insurance...
Mazel Tov: Israel Is Now Open For All Tourists! How Did You Do With Your Poll Guesses?
As previously reported, as of today Israel is open for all tourists for the first time since March 2020!
Tourists do still have to take...
Finally! Israel Will Reportedly Reopen To Unvaccinated Children In 2 Weeks!
Israel has been effectively closed to families with young children since March 2020.
But the country will reportedly reopen to unvaccinated children under the age...
[El Al Confirms They Will Preempt Delta In Boston!] WOW! Delta Will Add Another Tel Aviv Route, But It’s Not From Atlanta
Update, 1/27/22: El Al now officially confirms that they will resume Boston-Tel Aviv service on 3/27/22, as was reported here last October. The flights...
[Chaim V’Chessed Posts Updated Entry FAQ] A Reopening Israel Launches COVID Information Tourist Site, But Don’t Expect All The Information You Need
Update: After I wrote this yesterday, Chaim V'Chessed decided to put out their own updated FAQ of Israel's entry rules as they acknowledged the...
[Israel Expected To Abolish List Of Red Countries, Allow Vaccinated Tourists Again] 4 Weeks After Partially Reopening, Israel Closes The Doors To Non-Citizens Yet...
Update, 1/6: Delta and United announced that they will delay their flights from Tel Aviv to JFK/Newark tonight until after midnight so that Israelis...
Israir Ad Trolls Prime Minister’s Family For Family Vacation Abroad After Country Closes To Tourism; Is There Any Sanity Left In The Holy Land?
Earlier this week Israel closed their borders to foreign nationals in response to the COVID-19 omicron variant. The country was open for just 4...
[Flight Landed, No Entry Issues, But 3 Day Quarantine For Passengers] What Happens When The Airline Doesn’t Get The Memo From Israel? Behind The...
Update: The flight has landed and passengers have entered Israel without issue. However, Israel is emailing vaccinated passengers that arrived today that they will...
Royal Air Maroc Will Fly Between Casablanca And Tel Aviv Next Month
OneWorld carrier Royal Air Maroc was rumored to be launching service in January, but that was pushed off due to the pandemic.
Now they are...
Israel COVID Entry Updates: Antigen Tests, Infants To Enter Without Full Quarantine And Groups Without Booster Shots, And More
Israel reopened earlier this month for tourists who are fully vaccinated and had their most recent shot within the past 6 months.
Personally I had...
Israel Will Remain Closed To Most Foreign Nationals Through At Least November 15th
Update: Israel has updated their NOTAM (notice to airmen) extending restrictions on most foreign nationals through at least November 15th.
Foreigners with first degree relatives...
Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport Will Finally Get An Airport Hotel
Globes reports that Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport will finally get an airport hotel.
Brown Hotels Group will open a hotel on the western side...
[Update: Service Begins Next Month, Wide Open Award Space!] WOW! Goodbye Air Sinai? EgyptAir Applies To Fly 21 Weekly Flights Between Cairo And Tel...
Update: EgyptAir will begin flying between Cairo and Tel Aviv on A220s in full EgyptAir livery starting on October 3rd, spelling the end of...
Israel’s New Quarantine Avoidance Policies Leave Foreigners In The Dark Once Again
Israel's complicated new policy to avoid quarantine upon returning from abroad addresses all kinds of scenarios except one big one. What about foreign nationals?
As...
Israel Will Add Most Of The World To Mandatory Quarantine List, Removes UK, South Africa, And More Countries From Red List; When Do You...
Israel continues to make rapid changes to their arrival rules. Last week they added the US and a number of other countries to their...
Israel Publishes List Of Orange And Red Countries; El Al Will Allow Free Changes With Waived Fare Difference
Starting for arrivals on Wednesday, August 11th, Israel will include the US and many other countries on their orange list.
Countries on the orange list...
[Update: Reportedly Pushed Off To Next Wednesday] Effective Friday, The US Will Be Added Back Onto Israel’s List Of High Risk Countries
Update: Israel's channel 13 reports that the changes have been pushed off from Friday to next Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/newsisrael13/status/1422549873682010115
Israel's list of high risk countries will expand...
OUCH! Air France Flying Blue Hikes Mileage Rates To Tel Aviv By 30%-60% Without Warning
It's yet another reminder of why you should accumulate bank points over airline miles and never transfer bank points into miles until you're ready...
Hyatt Adds More SLH Hotels Bookable With Points, Including In Jerusalem!
Hyatt has added 20 new SLH hotels to their portfolio today.
The list includes their first Jerusalem hotel since the old Hyatt Regency Jerusalem on...
Some People Are Getting Quick Approvals From Israel’s New Entry Application Form!
For the past few months Israel had a messy process to apply for permission to enter the country. You had to email your request...
Israel Cuts Quarantine Time To 7 Days, Still Closed To Tourism
Despite rising COVID cases due to the Delta variant, Israel's coronavirus cabinet has voted to decrease quarantine time from 10-14 days to just 7...
[Update: Confirmed!] Will El Al And Etihad Codeshare And Have Mileage Reciprocity?
Update, 7/1/21: El Al and Etihad have launched codeshare sales on each other's flights, which will further expand starting in August.
Additionally the airlines confirm...
