BA drops Tel Aviv to short haul (A320) with reduced tier points – and will fly via Larnaca

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• PB2 says:

  8 Feb8 February 11:54

  Iberia 330/350 route via Madrid also worth consideration, with 140 TP each way in business – but beware substitution of a Level 330 aircraft (still sold as business but no longer a lie flat bed, rather a PE seat – they get away with this by considering the route as technically SH business).

  • Jonathan says:

    8 Feb8 February 12:14

    Only really worth bothering with if you’re in dire need of TPs, unless you’re going to Madrid (or via there anyway) most won’t bother, as most’ll (generally) always prefer to fly direct without going through the fath of airport security – depends on how long the flight is of course and if there’s a really good seat by making a connection

  • Marcw says:

    8 Feb8 February 13:29

    Iberia outsourced it to Iberia Express since October 23. No more long haul plane but Ib express 321 neo.
    I don’t think theyve restarted the flights though.

• Blair Waldorf Salad says:

  8 Feb8 February 12:16

  Lucky crew overnighting in Larnaca

• danimal says:

  8 Feb8 February 12:17

  Having used been on the Virgin flight to Tel Aviv the problem is the timing – it leaves around 10pm and gets in at 4am – you then end up hanging around all day to check-in to your accom. The return flight departs at 6am. For me the entire Upper Class experience was wasted because of this. I’d happily fly Premium on this route.

  • Jonathan says:

    8 Feb8 February 12:22

    Yeah VS really let themselves down with their flight times on this route(s) of theirs

    • RL London says:

      9 Feb9 February 10:38

      I wonder if this news will make them alter timings…

      • Jonathan says:

        9 Feb9 February 23:32

        You could probably hope so, but let’s not be optimistic.

        I’m fairly certain that VS only created this route in response to tourist demand from the U.S., after Delta probably pulled some strings at VS

• LittleNick says:

  8 Feb8 February 12:18

  “The reason for this is that, if the landing has to be aborted at the last minute, the crew has enough flying hours left to return to London. Without this flexibility, BA would be forced to make emergency arrangements to land at an alternative airport outside Israel.”
  They didn’t have this restriction before so why do they have this now? Does a change of aircraft from 787 to A320 mean crew can’t work as long, slightly puzzled? VS does not have the same issue?

  • Rob says:

    8 Feb8 February 12:36

    We need to see what Virgin does but easier to transport a reserve crew on a big 787.

    • PB2 says:

      8 Feb8 February 12:52

      I imagine the 787 used to night stop in TLV or if not at the very least offer the ability for crew to take proper onboard rest (crew bunks or blocked off pax business seats). The Larnaca plan prevents crew having to go landside in TLV with current associated risks, and ensures the aircraft gets back to LHR in most eventualities, avoiding any knock-on impacts to subsequent flying.

      • PB2 says:

        8 Feb8 February 13:10

        Most LCC’s plan for the same crew to fly in and out of TLV, with a short turn around, but such long duties require additional roster rest either the day before and/or after too. Plus most LCC’s have European bases enroute that could accommodate a divert and provide standby crew/aircraft if required. BA don’t have that base flexibility and may not wish to roster extended duties due to their knock-on impact or may have union agreements preventing them from doing so.

  • HampshireHog says:

    8 Feb8 February 17:38

    you’ve heard about the little local difficulties?

• Sarah says:

  8 Feb8 February 12:20

  Couldn’t they just land at Larnaca if there’s an emergency, why fly all the way back to London?

  • Jonathan says:

    8 Feb8 February 12:26

    Sometimes unforeseeable circumstances can only be made known to the crew while airborne, at least if there’s a secluded stop, then it doesn’t mean the layover airport has to deal with an emergency landing

  • Tracey says:

    8 Feb8 February 14:51

    Baffles me too. Surely most of the passengers would prefer to land at Larnaca in an emergency, giving them a short hop with a few airlines to get to TLV, rather than return to London. Plus passengers would rather avoid the Larnaca stop for routine flying.

    • John says:

      8 Feb8 February 18:07

      Maybe visa’s are a consideration? Not everyone who travels to Israel will have visa-free entry into Cyprus.
      Was a consideration for us on a recent trip to Gibraltar… if the plane had been diverted to Spain (as it was looking like it would), we would have been out of luck as we didn’t have an active Schengen visa.

      • Alex Sm says:

        10 Feb10 February 00:33

        My partner and I were travelling to Gibraltar last year and got diverted to Malaga. But two families onboard (from India and from the Middle east) had to stay onboard and fly back to London as they didn’t have Schengen visas

• Jonathan says:

  8 Feb8 February 12:21

  It did always baffle me why this earned more Avios and TPs than Amman, even though the latter is even further away…

  At least using a short haul aircraft, less fuel is used than the large guzzler wide body aircraft, which’ll make fares lower

  BA definitely do need to at the very least install IFE on all seats for the longest routes that’re classed as CE/ET, why they class them as this is beyond me since anyone who thinks Egypt, Jordan and Isreal could be defined as being within Europe needs some emergency geography lessons !

  • PeteM says:

    8 Feb8 February 13:06

    Or there will be less availability and fares hence higher? In general, though, on mid-haul routes where BA competes with airlines with LH planes or better configurations on SH planes (AMM, BEI, CAI) BA’s fares are cheaper.

    • PeteM says:

      8 Feb8 February 13:10

      *Formerly BEY

    • Jonathan says:

      8 Feb8 February 13:37

      They can always make more flights during seasonal times of the year

  • daveinitalia says:

    8 Feb8 February 16:54

    At one time the A320/1 aircraft with the overhead screens had some versions of these fitted with headphone sockets at every seat. These aircraft were for longer routes like ATH and LCA (CAI, AMM, etc used proper long haul at the time) and entertainment would be shown on the overhead screens rather than just the usual moving map. So at one time BA did some little extras on the longer of shorthauls.

    • Jonathan says:

      8 Feb8 February 17:10

      Then Alex Cruz came along !

• barry cutters says:

  8 Feb8 February 12:28

  Seems a lot of hassle. Cant be very profitable with all this in place.
  Should consider dropping the route all together.

  Only my opinion, but Having been to almost 100 countries, Israel was very near the bottom of that list in terms of places i would like to return to.

  • zapato1060 says:

    8 Feb8 February 13:32

    Was there in August last year so gladly before the attacks. Jerusalem and Bethlehem were a great sight and glad I did it once in my life, but to perfectly honest, itll probably be the last.

  • Chris says:

    9 Feb9 February 07:41

    I think you’ll find it’s a busy route. Lots of business travel and family either visiting TLV or London. Also lots of connecting to US. Flights were always busy

• Richie says:

  8 Feb8 February 12:34

  BA LHR-LCA could do with some B788 flights.

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