El Al stopped flying to Canada last year, but that doesn’t mean demand from Canada to Israel has dropped.
Montreal-Tel Aviv seasonal service with 3 weekly flights used to be operated pre-COVID by an A330-300 with 27 business class seats, 21 premium seats, and 244 economy seats. Last year the route was served by a 787-8 with 20 business class seats, 21 premium seats, and 214 economy seats. But this year that route has been upgauged to a 787-9 with 30 business class seats, 21 premium seats, and 247 economy seats.
Toronto-Tel Aviv daily service is currently operated by the 787-9, but for the first half of June it will alternate daily between a 777-200 with 40 business class seats, 24 premium seats, and 236 economy seats and the airline’s flagship 777-300 with 40 business class seats, 24 premium seats, and 336 economy seats, for a whopping 400 seats. It will retain the 777-200 daily from June 16-October 27 before going back to the 787-9 for the winter season.
Meanwhile, United currently has their flagship 777-300 operating daily on the San Francisco-Tel Aviv route through October 26, before it reverts to the smaller 777-200. Sadly for business class passengers, the Newark-Tel Aviv route still hasn’t seen the return of the 777-300 service that it had pre-COVID, though that’s a win for economy class passengers in a 9 across configuration instead of 10 across.
Due to American’s odd ditching of their Miami-Tel Aviv route, we’re not looking at any record breaking numbers for North America-Tel Aviv flights (that stands at roughly 109) despite added frequencies from Delta and United.
Of course the real question is will American continue to fly to Tel Aviv at all if their partnership with JetBlue is killed off? Maybe they would welcome El Al to join OneWorld and codeshare their passengers to El Al instead of continuing to fly to the holy land?
For those keeping score at home, here are the up to 106 weekly flights being offered by airlines between North America and Israel at peak times this summer:
- Atlanta: 7 weekly flights on Delta (A350-900L)
- Boston: 3 weekly flights on Delta (A330-900neo) and 3 weekly flights on El Al (787-8)
- Chicago: 4 weekly flights on United (787-8)
- Fort Lauderdale: 1-2 weekly flights on El Al from 9/13-10/12, regular service to begin Spring 2024.
- JFK: 7 weekly flights on American (777-200), 7 weekly flights on Delta (A330-900neo), 16 weekly flights on El Al (787-9)
- Los Angeles: 6 weekly flights on El Al (787-9).
- Miami: 6 weekly flights on El Al (787-9).
- Montreal: 3 weekly flights on Air Canada (787-9, seasonal service through 10/25)
- Newark: 14 weekly flights on United (787-10), 11 weekly flights on El Al (787-9)
- San Francisco: 7 weekly flights on United (777-300 through 10/26, then 777-200)
- Toronto: 7 weekly flights on Air Canada (787-9, with 777-200 service on alternating dates from 6/1-6/15 and daily 6/16-10/27, and with 777-300 service on alternating dates from 6/1-6/15)
- Washington DC: 3 weekly flights on United (787-8)
Which airline do you prefer flying to Israel?
HT: yandmk
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40 Comments On "After El Al Retreat, Air Canada Upgauges Israel Flights; Roundup Of 106 North America-Israel Flights"
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I love elal but there isn’t enough good deals through miles
Bad news for economy travelers. 787 economy seats are narrower than A330, and 777 seats are even narrower.
On the other hand, more seats in a market should translate to lower prices and more mileage availability.
Prefer: AA from Miami, why’d they drop it?
What’s the difference between United’s Polaris seats on the 787-10 and the 777-300?
777 is a wider seat.
The one that offers the best price… At the end of the day, it’s all about getting to the other side of the pond…
That’s like saying you can take a greyhound bus from NY to Seattle, as the bus will (eventually) get you there.
Allowing Elal to join the One World alliance is an interesting proposition, but I think there’s probably a lot of politics around that. But do they NEED to be part of the alliance in order to code share? How does Qantas do it?
They don’t need to, but it could make for a closer relationship.
Maybe we hit our peak. Unless Delta adds Detroit or Minneapolis, or United at LAX, I’m not sure where else they can add in the US.
El Al at BWI?
Delta at DTW?
United at IAH or LAX?
More likely are added frequencies or upgauges.
BWI would be nice. Baltimore has more frum Jews than Chicago, LA, Boston etc. Dulles is a shlep. It is almost easier to fly BWI through ATL/YYZ/YUL/Chicago/EWR/BOS. which of the big 3 have a significant presence at BWI? (I always fly southwest) The question is how many flights could be sustained; who would feed flights in. Can you imagine SWA flights to EY 🙂
El Al from BWI would be great but ain’t gonna happen anytime soon. They wouldn’t have any feeder partners and they’d be competing with United in IAD (with their lounges and strong connection options), and even EWR (with its combined 4 daily flights), which is only a comfortable 2 hour train ride from Baltimore’s Penn Station which is just a 15 minute drive from the frum community.
United can up their IAD route to daily. South Florida can expand. Texas, etc. Plenty of room for expansion
There was a direct El Al flight to Las Vegas that was suspended during COVID. It was great–a 5 hour time savings as opposed to a layover in Newark.
Do you think united will return its 777-300 from Newark at all ?
http://ask8ball.net/
Prices from Toronto have gotten insane since Elal dropped. Why would AC lower their price when they have the only direct flight?
They wouldn’t, but with a smaller plane, fares would be even higher (though Air Canada might be leaving revenue on the table in that case).
Price is not the only issue. Availability is too. It’s happened many times, especially for last minute trips (eg, grandson bris) that there just were no seats available. Do you think there’s any chance for them to return to Toronto? Besides asking the 8ball 😉
I don’t see it happening anytime soon.
They wouldn’t have left unless they were losing badly on the route.
I know that on the one hand this makes sense, but on the other hand Toronto-TLV has been a mainstay for decades (in fact just a few short years ago, it was one of only 4 North American cities with direct TLV service) and still IS very profitable for Air Canada as it always has been. How can it be that all of a sudden it’s still profitable but just not for ElAl? Hard to account for that.
Yes one would think they stopped only for financial reasons. But the planes were always full! Very hard to understand. And very annoying.
I just booked a flight to TLV for which AC was the cheapest other than Egyptair (which we wouldn’t use) and Icelandair (whose short connection time was too risky). This was LGA-YUL-TLV, which is much cheaper than YUL-TLV.
Surprised LY couldn’t make Canada work and why doesn’t anyone (DL) compete with them in LAX.
Really hope AA doesn’t exit the market.
It’s always tough when you’re competing against a dominant hub carrier with a strong connecting network and loyalty program. Air Canada commanded a strong fare premium in the market.
I could see Delta or United try TLV-LAX.
Interesting to me how United is crushing it with the TLV market with 2 flights from EWR and even one from D.C while Delta the industry leader couldn’t even keep the 2nd JFK flight going.
dl and united barely fly to europe from lax
don’t see them going anywhere near tlv
ELAL IS THE BEST IN PRICE BEST BUSINESS CLASS ANN PREMIUM THE BEST SERVICE THE BEST FOOD
My 2 year old and my 5 year old we are all platinum on elal they always try the best to work with you if you late at jfk or tlv they will call you and wait for you I must tell you I really believe they are the best way to fly to Israel Way better the. Delta aa or UA
Michael, ElAl says that your check is in the mail.
United TLV-EWR UA3043 cancelled for 2nd night in a row, first they had 2 hour delay then they just cancelled it.
any details about that?
It was originally ua 91 on 5/22 scheduled departure 11.25 .
At the gate the kept on delaying the boarding process , due to mechanical issues (computer needed to be reset…)
After 1.5 hour they announced the problem was resolved and we have to quickly board the plane , so we could take off before 2 am (ben gurion forbids for planes to take off after 2 Am)
After sitting on the plane for an hour At around 2.05 am they announced that the problem was not fixed and they have to cancel the flight. Our new flight nr 3043 will be leaving 8 pm the next day. Thanks to my great travel agent he already rebooked me on the next flight in the morning ua 85 ( last seat in D class) prior they cancelled the flight and the as soon as it was cancelled reissued my ticket. We had to go back to hotels …
Dan what are our rights ? Can you give us some directions whom to contact to ge refunds for hotels and taxi expenses and compensation .
Thank you very much!!
The story for a lot of other passengers on that flight didn’t end up so smooth as for few of us that rebooked to flight ua 85
The next days 8 pm flight was also cancelled after boarding and returned to the gate.
Ua 91 on that night was also cancelled
Today both flight finally departed with almost no delays.
File for Israel flight delay compensation?
Delta dropped their day time flight right after Covid- every flight I’ve been on in the last year is booked solid- they get a premium over ELAL – I don’t understand from an economic perspective why they won’t bring it back
Delta from Atlanta is best if you’re looking to use GUC as it upgrades directly to Z.
The seats are also best if you’re traveling with companions especially kids. Traveling with kids in their own delta suite can be a nightmare but here they’re right next to you and it is very roomy
Skybus flies nonstop from Columbus to TLV 2x weekly
I find UA to be the best domestic travel experience all around to TLV. My main route is LAX-SFO-TLV. The fares, milage, ability to upgrade, onboard service, kosher meals, and most of all, the ability to do just about everything in the app makes flying UA my first choice overall, and to TLV specifically. I’m a Silver member so i get a little bit of preference but not much more than when i was regular member last year. They’ve been consistently helpful when I’ve had to call. They’ve been responsive when Ive had to email and they’ve compensated and/or resolved any issues that occurred on any flights amicably.
Ive flown the non stop to Israel from LAX to TLV on ELAL and while I appreciate the opportunity to not have think about the food being kosher and that the coach seats, i believe, are slightly bigger that UAs, and traveling with my people, the lack of points (looking forward to the changes in September) and the inability to upgrade (other than bidding which the wealthy will always outbid me) will make EL AL second choice from LAX, ad possibly 3rd as I’m very curious about Turkish from LAX-IST-TLV as its affordable (business class also) and partners with UA for miles and has the long stretch of flight without a middle layover breaking up the trip. I want to go to sleep for the longest leg possible.
I just flew Delta 234 today from JFK-TLV.
The plane was a A330-900. The seats were more comfortable than El Al. Wider and more leg room.
However El Al accommodated a minyan on my last 2 flights to Israel.
They really stepped up their customer service.
Delta did not allow for a minyan. Also I was in row 46. The back of the plane was very noisy.
I had ANC headphones that made the flight more tolerable.
Also the flight was 3 hours late. Did not make for a great experience.
EL AL