Conference taveng::bagels

    When we went to Israel we took a TWA flight.  EL AL is not the only
    carrier which flies there.
    
    If you want prices, call a travel agent.  Flights to Israel stop
    in Europe, so you may be able to get a lower price by finding a
    discount fare to Europe and changing planes (you might also want
    to take a day or two in England or France).
    
    				Paul
    

    TWA does indeed fly to Tel Aviv: either thru New York Direct, or
    through a change of planes in Paris. You can take them directly
    from Boston, and then change accordingly (NY or Paris).
    
    Last time I looked, it was $700-800 for an economy ticket on TWA,
    depending on when you fly, length of stay, etc.
    
    One advantage to TWA is their frequent flyer program. Make sure
    you sign up with them if you fly them to Tel Aviv. With enough miles,
    you can earn free tickets back to Israel!
    
    Jack

    Arkia also flies charters from Europe to Israel

    I have used Dan Air in the past from Gatwick. For the real atmospherics
    El Al is best. 

    Can you possiby mention some of the past prices
    you have paid for these European flights ?

    It is possibe to find a Boston/London flight
    for about $300 roundtrip.

    I'll have to look it up in a the Jewish Chonicle as the price I paid 
    is out of date (being 3� years ago). It's meant to be cheapish at the 
    moment with the � doing relatively well against the $ and the hotels 
    being empty due to Americans staying at home.  

    It also depends upon which travel company you book through for charters
    and your flexibility in time arrangements.
    
    

    Mike, generally it is cheaper to fly from the U.S.  The prices from
    Europe-Israel usually run higher.
    
    There are charters that fly from Europe, and quite a few fly direct
    to Eilat.  I understand that El Al will also be running direct flights
    to Eilat starting in January.
    
    David
    
    

    Before joining DEC, I used to do a lot of traveling. My preferred
    airlines were Swissair (Boston-Zurich or JFC-Zurich and then Zurich-Tel
    Aviv). Swissair is recommended for the service and as well for
    security.
    
    On the security matter there is no better than El Al. The service
    might not be the best available. 
    
    Swissair fligths dayly from JFK, I guess some 3 times a week from
    Boston. El Al has one (or sometimes two) dayly direct flights from JFK 
    and also an overnight flight which lets you save lots of time. Direct
    flight is about 14 hrs and you may be asked to join a minyan for
    Mincha.
    
    Eilat is very nice, a 'must' when you are here but don't forget
    the rest of the country - being only in Eilat might be for a non
    Israeli like for a non-American having been only in Coney Island and 
    then try to give a conference on the U.S.A...      
    
    Juan Carlos
    

    I seem to recall paying about $900 for my tickets on EL AL both times that
    I went to Israel ('82 and '84).  Maybe you can get a better deal.
    Personally I wouldn't fly any other airline except EL AL to Israel.
    They are by far the safest and you feel like your in Israel while
    your on the plane.

    From Brussels you can get a ticket to Tel Aviv for 16.990 bf (Apex
    deals). From Boston to Brussels Apex tickets go for something like
    15.000 bf. In total, you would end up paying approx. 32.000 bf or
    roughly 700 us $ (1 $ = 45 bf).
    (I am talking return tickets of course..)
    
    The conditions for the Brussels/Tel Aviv ticket are: 
    minimum stay 6 days
    maximum stay 1 month
    reservations for going/return at time of purchase and no change
    going/return with the same company (= Sabena or El Al)
    no deadline on advance purchase date - based on availability of
    seats
    
    
    That is already 200 us$ cheaper than price mentioned in .9 !
    
    Fransou
    

El Al operates out of Boston on Wednesdays only, but it is non-stop, leaving
at 22:40 and arriving the next day at 15:55.  Their fare is $769.  A B-767.

TWA flight 812 operates one stop service (in Paris) to Tel-Aviv just about
daily.  Flight 812 is a 767 from BOS-CDG and an L-1011 from CDG-TLV.  Their
mid-week fare, requiring a 14 day advance purchase and a minimum 6 day and
maximum 2 month stay is $749.  On weekends it goes up $20.

Sabena offers the $749 fare for a connection in Brussels with no additional
charge for flying on weekends.

Add $3 Tax and $10 customs charge to all of the above fares.  There is probably
a $10 security charge added to the TWA fare.

I might go TWA in consideration of their excellent frequent flyer program (from
which I recently obtained a free trip to London for my wife in return for only
258 miles plus the miles earned by my accompanying flight).

But I might throw that consideration away in favor of the non-stop El Al flight.
I certainly would if TWA made me go through New York, but CDG is not a bad place
to spend a short stopover.

/john

    re .11
    
    El Al will fly you from Boston to NY for free if you want to take
    one of their NY flights. And it's possible to get a discount from
    the full $769 fare from some travel agents. (not much - $700-$725)
    
       mitch

When paying for the flight myself, I've flown Tower Air out of NYC.  It's
often much cheaper than El Al, and the security strikes me as being pretty
good.  There's also more of a Jewish atmosphere on the flight; El Al's is
more Israeli than just Jewish.  On the negative side, you may feel more
like a sardine on Tower.

Buying a ticket on Tower is an experience in itself.  You may get a wide
range of prices, depending on whether you talk to an agent who has a
"connection" with the airline.  Two years ago, I got a good price from B&D
Travel (I think) on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.  There's also a frum woman
in Brooklyn (I think) who sells tickets from her home; supposedly you can
hear her kids yelling when you call to make reservations.

All in all, Tower is never boring.