Charter/Group vs. individual flight from outside of NYC area

tovarena

Mon, Oct 15 2012, 9:14 am

Hi all,
We are planning towards an aliyah date of mid-summer (2013) and are trying to determine which flight option to choose.

For a group or charter flight, we would need to get our family of 4 to NYC.
That means either renting a van and driving 24+ hours and paying a drop-off fee in NY (either both vehicles will be sold by then or one sold and one on the lift - we haven't determined the better option yet) or flying our family of 4 plus all the extra luggage allotted for the group flight. That would mean not just 4 tickets but the extra luggage costs. We also both would prefer to skip the pomp and circumstance of a charter flight if we can.

So leaving directly on US Air via our home city seems REALLY desirable. On top of the luggage issue, we just like the flexibility of being able to leave as soon as our house closes vs. having to find some sort of temporary housing for a family of 4 until we can meet up with a group or charter.

But our major concern with taking an individual flight is handling the teudat zehut and teudat oleh on our own. How much of an extra headache is that? What is the timeframe for getting the documentation arranged if we start it after we arrive? And how important is it really to have the documentation right after landing?

TIA!

Marion

Mon, Oct 15 2012, 9:27 am

Before there was NBN people still made aliyah.You'll have aliyah visas in your passports, so the officer at passport control will direct you to the Absorption office at the airport where you'll get your teudat oleh on the spot. You'll either have to go to Misrad haPnim a few days later for your teudat zehut or, ask NBN if it's possible for them to process it and then you pick it up from them. (I think they do offer that option.) It's really not all that daunting.

grace413

Mon, Oct 15 2012, 9:34 am

I don''t think you can get a free aliyah airline ticket on US Air (but I could be wrong).

I agree with Marion that doing the bureaucratic stuff at the airport is not that difficult.

Have you discussed with your aliyah shaliach/NBN person, whoever? Of course NBN has a bias towards people taking their charter flights.

I know you didn't ask but have you check out all the regulations re importing a car to Israel? That does seem to be a major hassle and frequently not cost effective.

Welcome home.

tovarena

Mon, Oct 15 2012, 10:31 am

US Air is one of the options NBN lists on their website as a free option. That's why it's under consideration. It is encouraging that this sounds like it's not a major hassle. And as getting our family to NY would be a massive headache either way, I think that makes helps. We don't have an "official" NBN counselor yet since the app still has not been submitted (DH is having a bit of writer's block on the essay). So it was just whoever I spoke with in the call center. But they didn't seem to have any info on the process for teudat zehut and teudat oleh if we do it on our own. And like you said, they were heavily pushing us towards only the group or charter flights. I just think that may not make much sense for our situation.

I forgot to ask in my first post how many people are using the individual flight option. Anyone out there that went this direction? Particularly from outside of NY?

In terms of the car issue, we have heard really varying opinions on importing. It's a relatively new mini-van (less than 3 years old) and made in the US so it would qualify for import. NBN's bottom line was that it pretty much depends on the year and what the duties are that year. We haven't done the research for this year to see if it make financial sense yet. But even though DH is leaning towards wanting to bring it, I think it will end up getting sold here regardless because after everything else, it's a gas guzzler.