Israel seminary/ yeshiva plane ticket (from NY)

amother

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:12 pm

Has anyone booked her DD/DS plane ticket for September? We were quoted an open ticket RT NY/TLV @$1600. Wondering if this a good deal. This is through the travel agent who works with a lot of the seminaries/yeshivot.

amother

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:17 pm

PinkFridge wrote:

Is this with a group or the seminary's group? If your daughter's never flown, she'd probably feel better flying with a few friends.

This is with the seminary group. She’s flown before. Just wondering if the $1600 quoted above is considered a reasonable rate.

amother

Emerald

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:22 pm

TBH-I didn't check it out, I will be sending mine on the group flight and done. I want my daughter to go with the other girls on the plane and not have stress. I imagine it will be stressful enough.
My friend is using points and a stopover and saving a lot of money.
If I go to visit her. I will go as inexpensively as I can.

BH I am in a position where I can decide where are places to save and where to spend.

amother

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:28 pm

[quote="amother [ Emerald ]"]TBH-I didn't check it out, I will be sending mine on the group flight and done. I want my daughter to go with the other girls on the plane and not have stress. I imagine it will be stressful enough.
My friend is using points and a stopover and saving a lot of money.
If I go to visit her. I will go as inexpensively as I can.

BH I am in a position where I can decide where are places to save and where to spend.[/quote

Just to be clear I want my daughter on the same flight as the other girls from her seminary but just wondering if I can get the ticket for less
money than the seminary travel agent quoted.
I didn’t ask for your position regarding your financial priorities.

amother

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:30 pm

Mollie wrote:

This is the cost of an open ticket. If you know the date they will come home you can save $500-600

Do you have info on how to do that? Maybe a specific travel agent?
El Al doesn’t have the dates for June 2020 open yet.

amother

Saddlebrown

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:34 pm

That does not sound like a bad price. The travel agent that the schools work with usually get a pretty good deal given the big block of tickets they are working with. Part of the group flight is that the school (well every school I know, but who knows) then arranges a bus to the school which saves a lot of money and hassle when your chid arrives in Israel. The open ticket is nice for the return as well, because friends can arrange to leave on the same flight and share transportation to the airport.

amother

Emerald

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:38 pm

I tried, abet not too extensively, to book separately but on the same flight. I was unsuccessful. Could I have with more perseverance, if I tried different agencies, or if I waited until it got a little closer, maybe?
I don't know. Good luck if you try.

amother

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:44 pm

amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:

Thanks. This sounds like good advice.

Mollie

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:47 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Do you have info on how to do that? Maybe a specific travel agent?
El Al doesn’t have the dates for June 2020 open yet.

Look on Kayak and put in the dates you want

amother

Saddlebrown

Mon, May 06 2019, 4:52 pm

Also, you can check with the travel agent regarding the following if it applies to you. If you are in the NY/NJ area but EWR works better for you than JFK (where I think group flights usually leave from), she can use her open ticket (with hopefully at least 1 or 2 other geographically situated girls) to fly home to EWR. Sometimes EWR is the same price as JFK, but since there are fewer flights there, sometimes it is more expensive--an expense that will not apply to your open ticket.

amother

Mon, May 06 2019, 7:21 pm

amother [ Plum ] wrote:

I was told $1730 for open ticket with free 2nd suitcase

You’re right. I checked my link again and it was about the amount that you quoted, not $1600. I didn’t look at it closely enough this morning. I’m assuming you received the group email from Ariel Tours as well.

amother

Babypink

Mon, May 06 2019, 7:25 pm

amother [ Saddlebrown ] wrote:

IME, group flights leave from both Newark and JFK; you can choose which you prefer. They usually book a couple of yeshivas / seminaries on the same flight. They're not charters.

We were happier with the group flight, not only because of the open return date, but also because we wanted the kids on the flight with their classmates. It also made transportation to school easier. Not to mention that extra bag, that they clearly need.