Are planes flying from Israel to the US for Pesach?

amother

Tue, Mar 09 2021, 10:39 pm

And how would I find out?

I'm hearing that they are closing Israeli airports but when I called the airline (United) they said that the flight we are booked on is flying as scheduled. Is this true? Do "people" know something the airlines don't know????

Anxiously awaiting DC coming home for Pesach.

amother

Brunette

Tue, Mar 09 2021, 11:37 pm

There's only one international airport in Israel, and it's not closed, though it has limited entry to the country.

Some flights have been cancelled, but not all. There's not much you can do other than wait. The problem, in part, is that if no one is flying to Israel, then the planes aren't there to fly passengers out.

If your daughter is not an Israeli citizen and is leaving the country, there's no guarantee that she'll be able to get back into Israel after Pesach.

I hope things work out for you.

amother

Ruby

Tue, Mar 09 2021, 11:59 pm

My neighbor's son arrived this afternoon!

Rappel

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 12:11 am

Just be aware: if she gets on that plane, she's probably not coming back after Pesach. She should pack everything with her.

amother

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 12:25 am

Thanks everyone! It's my son and he's coming home for Pesach iy'h and not going back (at least not now). I'm aware that they're not letting anyone back in!

Zehava

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 12:40 am

It’s a mess with many parents trying to rebook flights to get their sons home

amother

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 12:45 am

Zehava wrote:

It’s a mess with many parents trying to rebook flights to get their sons home

Why are they rebooking? Are the flights cancelled? I just spoke to the airline and they said his plane is flying on schedule. Are they giving me wrong information?

Zehava

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 12:47 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Why are they rebooking? Are the flights cancelled? I just spoke to the airline and they said his plane is flying on schedule. Are they giving me wrong information?

Not all flights but some flights are randomly being cancelled which has people scrambling to rebook on other flights.

amother

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 12:58 am

Zehava wrote:

Not all flights but some flights are randomly being cancelled which has people scrambling to rebook on other flights.

Thanks! So far it's not cancelled so I'm hoping for the best.

amother

Lawngreen

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 2:32 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Why are they rebooking? Are the flights cancelled? I just spoke to the airline and they said his plane is flying on schedule. Are they giving me wrong information?

My nephew was supposed to fly back this Thursday on united, and his flight was canceled. My sil was busy all day trying to get him on another flight, they had nothing available next week.

DrMom

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 2:45 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

Why are they rebooking? Are the flights cancelled? I just spoke to the airline and they said his plane is flying on schedule. Are they giving me wrong information?

They'll always say that until they know otherwise.

Sesame

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 2:53 am

A lot of flights get cancelled last minute
Of course one of the reasons is because airlines need to fill up planes both ways
But a large reason is that Israel is cancelling permits or not giving permits in the first place for the airlines to fly. Each airline and each flight requires approval to operate. And Israel is not necessarily revoking permission in a fair or timely manner. So a flight has the potential to be cancelled last minute and that has been happening

amother

Bisque

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 4:00 am

Unfortunately, the Israeli government has stopped as low as to last minute cancel a flight from Berlin coming into Israel. On Yom Shishi!! Frum Jews from all over flew specifically to Berlin for that flight then we're stranded in a foreign country with no Shabbat plans and no time to make them. It was outrageous and people got very up in arms about it, so hopefully won't happen again, but you can't trust them!!

Still, it pays to be optimistic. Just have a back up plan if they cancel last minute. Praying for you and for everyone who wants to see their loved ones 💞

amother

Apricot

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 6:59 am

DrMom wrote:

They'll always say that until they know otherwise.

Exactly. Completely different scenario but I was once supposed to fly from Ben Gurion to JFK when all flights in and out of JFK were cancelled due to a blizzard. Meanwhile my flight from Israel looks like it's still leaving on time. I posted on Facebook something about hoping my flight doesn't get cancelled, and a generally connected friend of mine commented that flights cannot take off until they get clearance from the arrival airport, and an airport only gives clearance when it is viable (in other words, they only give clearance when the snow is all cleared enough for planes to land; they don't give clearance to flights if they're not clear, even if they anticipate they would be shoveled by the time the planes landed.)

Anyway my flight app was acting like it was leaving on time (or maybe slightly delayed)? I tried to call but of course got nowhere. When I arrived at Ben Gurion I could see they were already checking people onto the flight but I couldn't shake what my friend had said. I went to the helpdesk and couldn't get a clear response on whether the flight would leave on time. I told her I wanted to change my flight to the next night. She called someone and I could see from their convo that based on which flight I was talking about, they immediately bumped me to the flight the next evening, free of charge. When I left they were still checking people.

Overnight, I checked and the flight kept getting delayed in small increments. It was one of those 9/10/11 pm flights (I forget exactly) and it ended up leaving at 6am the next morning. It was checking people in a couple of hours before takeoff the night before, so you can imagine all those people sitting in the airport or on the plane for around 9 hours before a 10-12 hour flight.

And the airline had an inkling that something like this might happen. They clearly didn't get clearance to take off while they were checking people in. But you think they're going to tell people that they're going to be delayed indefinitely? No way. They know a lot of people would prefer to just reschedule than sit around waiting and they don't want that mess. So they delayed and delayed until they could finally take off. But they don't tell you everything they know.

I hope everything works out perfectly for you and DC, OP. But definitely have a backup plan just in case.

DrMom

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 7:04 am

amother [ Bisque ] wrote:

As people advised, it's not a stable time to travel. We are trying to clamp down on a pandemic. It does tend to ruin vacation plans...

Java

Wed, Mar 10 2021, 8:36 am

amother [ Bisque ] wrote:

I agree, the irresponsibility of flying into Berlin on a Friday and then hoping to get to Israel before Shabbos during a worldwide pandemic is quite outrageous.