Update, 8/18: El Al has finally officially confirmed that they are cancelling all flights through September 30th. Meanwhile, their competitors are operating sold out flights to Israel and are adding new routes from the US to Israel…
Update, 8/5: El Al has closed sales of all flights through September 30th, effectively giving up on the peak High Holiday/Sukkos season.
Originally posted on 7/24:
With Israel’s borders closed to foreign nationals through at least August 31st, and El Al in a pilot dispute, the airline remains in hibernation mode and has closed sales of all flights through August 31st and most flights through September 30th.
El Al operations have been suspended since March 27th.
The only routes that I could find with flights still for sale in September are very limited flights to/from Tel Aviv-JFK, Los Angeles, Miami, London, and Paris. It remains to be seen if they will operate those flights or if they will be closed to sales or cancelled at a later date.
El Al has been rebooking some passengers on United. You can try emailing creditrequest@elal.co.il to ask about reaccommodation.
Generally speaking, you can see if your flight will be cancelled based on which flights the airline is still selling. Based on researching which flights El Al is currently selling, below is a roundup of apparent route cancellations. Of course this is still subject to change until a flight is formally cancelled and flights can still be further delayed as well.
- North America:
- Flights between Boston and Tel Aviv are cancelled through March 13, 2021.
- Service launch between Chicago and Tel Aviv will be delayed until March 14, 2021 at the earliest
- Flights between JFK and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th and reduced to 6-8 weekly flights through October 24
- Flights between Las Vegas and Tel Aviv are cancelled indefinitely.
- Flights between Los Angeles and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th and reduced to 3 per week through March 25, 2021.
- Flights between Orlando and Tel Aviv are cancelled indefinitely.
- Flights between Miami and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th and reduced to 1-3 per week through October 24
- Flights between Newark and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th and reduced to 1 per day through October 24
- Flights between San Francisco and Tel Aviv are cancelled through March 13, 2021
- Flights between Toronto and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th and reduced to 3 per week through March 25, 2021.
- Europe:
- Flights between Amsterdam and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Athens and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Barcelona and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Berlin and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Brussels and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Bucharest and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Service launch between Dublin and Tel Aviv has been delayed indefinitely
- Service launch between Dusseldorf and Tel Aviv has been delayed indefinitely
- Flights between Frankfurt and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Geneva and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Kiev and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Larnaca and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between Lisbon and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between London/LHR and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30th
- Flights between London/LTN and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30 and reduced to 0-2 per week through October 24th
- Flights between London/STN and Tel Aviv are cancelled indefinitely.
- Flights between Madrid and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Manchester and Tel Aviv are cancelled indefinitely.
- Flights between Marseille and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Milan and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Munich and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Nice and Tel Aviv are cancelled through October 25th
- Flights between Rome and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Paris and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Prague and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Sofia and Tel Aviv are cancelled through December 8
- Flights between Venice and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Vienna and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Warsaw and Tel Aviv are cancelled through October 1
- Flights between Zurich and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Rest of world:
- Flights between Bangkok and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30
- Flights between Beijing and Tel Aviv are cancelled through October 23
- Flights between Hong Kong and Tel Aviv are cancelled through October 2 and reduced 3 per week through October 24
- Flights between Johannesburg and Tel Aviv are cancelled through October 3 and reduced to 2 per week through October 24.
- Service launch between Melbourne and Tel Aviv has been delayed indefinitely
- Flights between Moscow and Tel Aviv are cancelled through September 30 and reduced 3 per week through October 24
- Flights between Mumbai and Tel Aviv are cancelled through October 24
- Service launch between Tokyo and Tel Aviv will be delayed until March 10, 2021 at the earliest
If you are holding El Al tickets for US flights, you can file a DoT complaint to try to get a refund or you can always try disputing the charge with your credit card.
El Al has been pushing travel agents to keep selling tickets, but I can’t imagine buying an El Al ticket at this point in time. They may as well offer a donation receipt instead of a ticket in return!
Are you booked on an El Al flight that appears to be cancelled?
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48 Comments On "[Update: Now Confirmed] El Al Is Cancelling All Flights Until October"
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I only pay cash via a travel agent for my ElAl tickets, oh….. the irony….. (sarcasm)
lol- me too
classic;-)
Didn’t you post earlier that Elal gave up on ORD?
Nothing certain yet, though I think that’s a likely outcome.
What if I got my ticket through miles and then accepted an open ticket for a year. The period by when I have to book a new ticket it October. Do I have any hope of getting my miles back?
With Israel’s borders closed to foreign nationals through at least August 31st, and El Al in a pilot dispute, the airline remains in hibernation mode and has closed sales of all flights through August 31st and most flights through September 30th.
I thought El-Al came to an agreement with pilots already?
Sort of.
The pilots did not want to agree, but their union did against their will so that El Al could get funding.
Not sure where that actually leaves things.
Call me ignorant but are the pilots really that poorly paid compared to the rest of the world?!? If yes, they should just work for another airline.
No, they are very well paid and are almost exclusively ex-IDF pilots.
They are some of the highest paid pilots in the world earning an average of $300,000 per year. They are a bunch of spoiled brats and they should all be fired.
WHAT? the union boss/head/designee went against all of his members?
The union IS the pilots?
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/business/.premium-israeli-labor-union-chief-threatens-el-al-pilots-to-accept-pay-cut-1.8997537
Does this preclude them from running charter flights for Yeshivas and Seminaries?
No, this is just for commercial flights.
Donate now to put your name in a raffle for a chance to “win” a refund in 6 months!
Please be aware that El Al right now its not flying.No scheduled or cargo o charter.
Seminaries and Yeshivot negotiate with a travel agent in Brooklyn and we cannot assume their commitments.its unfortunate and gullible to believe now what will happen then. It looks more like the schools want to assure they get their fees. Flying full for yom tov selling business is lucrative not shuttling.
How can I go about trying at least to get rebooked on United. Flight from Tlv – Newark Sep. 17
Try emailing creditrequest@elal.co.il
Good luck!
@dan is there a way to contact ELAL I had filed an insurance claim for a interrupted journey (before corona) and they wouldn’t refund me without proof that ELAL did not give me credit for the unused flight, I tried the contact us option on their site several weeks ago with no reply. Any ideas?
Dan – FYI
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/284209?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook
I disputed my CC for a flight in March elal just rebutted the following · “Receipt showing the transaction was an in person purchase and merchandise taken at time of
transaction” it was a flight not a candy bar. how could I have taken the merchandise at the time of the sale?
They cancelled my flight because of covid. they even refunded the points part that I used to pay for it. they never refunded the $310.34 for the balance of the fees. in June I disputed the charge after getting nowhere with them. they now rebutted the CC dispute with the following
File a DOT complaint.
I booked a ticket on Qantas for a elal business for jfk couple of months ago for August 12th and I got this email
Dear EL AL Passenger,
Due to the COVID-19 situation EL AL flights that were scheduled to depart on 09-18.08 have been canceled.
At this period your ticket will be kept for future use.
When EL Al returns to normal operation, we will offer you an alternative for your ticket or monetary refund, per your selection.
You can follow our flight schedule on our website: http://www.elal.com
We wish to apologize for the inconvenience.
EL AL.
what do you recommend doing cancel the ticket or keep it
I reply to the email to push the ticket to November no response
Finally heard back from DOT regarding my ELAL 6/22-7/14 roundtrip from LAX to Tel Aviv that never happened. I submitted to DOT an email from ELAL stating “At this period we will freeze your ticket. Change of a destination or receiving a refund for your ticket will be done once we will return to a full operations.”
Dan, can you possibly shed light on what the DOT is saying below? It doesn’t look like I’m getting anywhere:
Dear Mr. Kaufman
This responds to your communication regarding your reservations. The U.S. Department of Transportation seeks to ensure that all airline passengers are treated fairly. Complaints from consumers are helpful to us in determining whether airlines are complying with the law and to track trends or spot areas of concern that warrant further action.
Generally, passengers who purchase non-refundable tickets on a flight that is still being operated without a significant delay are not entitled to a refund. A passenger is entitled to a refund if an airline cancels a flight and the passenger chooses not to accept an alternative flight on that airline. A passenger is also entitled to a refund if the airline makes a significant schedule change or significantly delays a flight and the passenger chooses not to travel due to the significant change or delay. Additionally, passengers may be entitled to a refund based on the terms of an airline’s contract of carriage.
We will forward your complaint to the airline and or agency and will ask the company/companies to respond directly to you. Airlines are required to acknowledge receipt of a consumer complaint within 30 days and provide a substantive response to the complainant within 60 days. If you have not received a reply within this time frame please let us know. If you need to contact me, please include your name and case number (see above).
We have entered your complaint in our computerized industry monitoring system, and it will be counted among the number of complaints filed against this airline in our monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. This report allows consumers and air travel companies to compare the complaint records of individual airlines and tour operators. The data in this report also serve as a basis for rulemaking, legislation and research. Consumer information for air travelers, including the Air Travel Consumer Report and our pamphlet Fly-Rights, a Consumer’s Guide to Air Travel, can be found on our website, http://www.transportation.gov/airconsumer. Thank you for taking the time to contact us.
Sincerely,
Kimberly C. Hargett
Looks good, see what El Al responds.
Thanks for taking the time.
My credit card disputes for this flight that never happened has been resolved in favor of ELAL….. I’m at a loss. I just can’t believe they can get away with cancelling a flight, never offering an alternative, and still not be obligated to give a refund.
Here’s ELAL’s official statement in response to my dispute:
Chargeback refused. ELAL is doing its utmost to serve our passengers the best possible way during this unfortunate time.
The attached is our new refund policy that was implemented in ARC as of March 18, 2020 and was advised to the entire market.
To summarize our new policy, due to the high volume of calls we are trying first to accommodate passengers that their flight is within 72 hours. In general, we are offering all of our passengers a new alternate flight as the first option. in case passengers decline the alternate flights we are offering them a full credit that can be used on any ELAL flight for one year. We are waiving any applicable change fee. If at the end of 12 months the passenger could not complete his journey, we will offer him a refund.
All passengers that will decline both options above will have the option to refund the tkt based on the tkt original policy.
Dan, is this DOT-proof?
No, this violates DOT policy.
Just heard that Israel flights (didn’t hear about any other border crossings) are going to be allowed starting August 16th. Probably won’t change El Al but just in general…
Flights to Israel have never been banned.
does elal refund points if booked through matmid?
Dan, is there any way we can fly from new york to Israe lfor rosh hashana – sukkos? we are a u.s. family. not Israeli citizens.
Thank you for your help!
as of now. no
I have tickets to Israel with Iberia for succos, outgoing from JFK on 9/29. I saw that their not listing it online,so I called them and they said its on schedule. The reason its not listed is because the flight is “fully booked”.
Can this be true?
I have noticed many european airlines have cancelled flights to TLV thru september (or at least they aren’t selling tickets because they anticipate cancelling).
They are probably lying to you and the portion to TLV has been cancelled. If you look there are no flights available MAD to TLV in September yet there are plenty of available flights in OCt.
why would they lie?
My ELAL reservation is still active, I guess they wont cancel flight until right before the flight.
They’re going to wait as long as possible, as they’re on the hook for the refund once they cancel.
do you thin we need to make definite plans to stay in the U.S. based on this?
Yes
We are still waiting to be refunded for 2 cancelled roundtrip Israel tickets from May, 2020.
We filed with DOT. have heard nothing from El Al
We were booked on el al for july1- then the pilot strike happened, and they put us on a united flight
Now we r slated to fly home to Israel on sept 3-why aren’t they putting us on a united flight?
We called the cc company, but bec they haven’t OFFICIALLY cancelled, we r out of luck.- besides, they won’t give us $ back unless they get it from el al, and we all know that’s not happening…..
What recourse do I have??!
Try emailing them?
creditrequest@elal.co.il
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-third-potential-buyer-seeks-permit-to-control-el-al-1001339800 anyone else want to buy??
Seems like they want it like a hot commodity
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-eli-rozenberg-raises-bid-for-el-al-1001340375
https://mishpacha.com/waiting-in-the-wings-2/
Now extended past yom tov; expertflyer showing 0 across the board
Dear EL AL Passenger,
Due to the COVID-19 situation, your flights with EL AL that were scheduled to depart on 01-24/10 have been canceled.
Your ticket will be kept for future use at this stage.
When EL Al returns to normal operation, we will offer you an alternative for your ticket or monetary refund, per your selection.
You can follow our flight schedule on our website: http://www.elal.com
We apologize for the inconvenience anticipate returning back to our regular operation.
EL AL.