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British Airways extends Tel Aviv cancellations, allows EL AL rebooking

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British Airways has announced that flights to Tel Aviv will remain suspended until 14th June.

As we covered last week, Virgin Atlantic has permanently cancelled its Tel Aviv route so this is not available as a rebooking option.

British Airways has, however, agreed a comprehensive deal with EL AL.

If you have a BA ticket to Tel Aviv for travel up to 15th June, you can ask to switch to an EL AL service from Heathrow. This includes redemption tickets.

If this is not convenient or there is no availability on your chosen date, there is an alternative. You can be rebooked on British Airways to various cities in Europe and then switch to a connecting EL AL flight.

Options include Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Larnaca, Madrid, Milan and Paris.

You can, of course, also request a full refund if your British Airways flight has been cancelled.

Further details can be found on the BA trade website here.

Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (19)

  • Soho Smoked Salmon says:
    8 May8 May 02:35

    Will they let you switch to LY to/from LTN if an LHR flight on the day you want to travel isn’t available?

    Reply
    • Tracey says:
      8 May8 May 08:41

      Yes, I know someone who had done this. Probably a win for BA as ElAl flights from LTN are generally cheaper than from LHR.

      Reply
  • Dvir says:
    8 May8 May 07:03

    We were booked for early next month w BA, and managed to get a LY rebooking. From BA’s bus-like a320 to LY’s long-haul configured 787, feels like a free upgrade.

    Reply
    • Jonathan says:
      8 May8 May 08:47

      Just about anything is an upgrade from BA on their flights that last around 4 or more hours and they use A320 family aircraft to operate the route

      Reply
      • Charlie says:
        8 May8 May 18:02

        Including Etihad’s Residence for one lucky couple recently flying in BA economy!

        Reply
  • Tracey says:
    8 May8 May 08:39

    Another option is to leave your BA flight on the table and use it for a future trip. Can be very beneficial if you have a future trip planned for peak times.

    Reply
    • JDB says:
      8 May8 May 14:17

      I wouldn’t count on that as being an option. The rebooking window is circumscribed within the BA policy and those who took the Article 8.1(c) provision “at a later date at the passenger’s convenience” too literally in covid times lost their cases.

      Reply
      • Rob says:
        8 May8 May 14:28

        …. although, when Virgin cancelled my Cape Town flights for last month in late 2024, they were happy for me to wait 3 months until December 2025 was bookable and then rebook into super-peak pre-Christmas dates 🙂

        Reply
  • Ben says:
    8 May8 May 08:46

    Just spoke to BA, they are only offering to cancel or change to a flight to Athens but not from Athens to TLV. She was utterly incompetent

    Reply
    • Rob says:
      8 May8 May 09:29

      Call back. The link in our article clearly shows that is wrong.

      Reply
    • Londonsteve says:
      8 May8 May 19:21

      How can they possibly consider Athens an alternative when you booked a flight to Tel Aviv? Have these guys had more than an hour of training?

      Reply
  • Bernie100 says:
    8 May8 May 08:58

    Had this with BA last October. Our outbound flight was moved to Luton and the return was via Barcelona.
    It did take 3 calls to BA to get this sorted as not all operators are aware of this option.
    Obtaining Avios and Tier points on this involuntary reroute is challenging.
    ELAL’s service is vastly superior to BA.
    BA will cover additional incidental expenses. This was handled promptly and met in full.

    Reply
  • Sam says:
    8 May8 May 09:00

    I am travelling next week and there was no availability on elal from Heathrow, so they put me on elal from Amsterdam

    Reply
  • JulieSoul says:
    8 May8 May 14:30

    Called British today as I have a flight booked for 30 July and wanted to know if they would waive the cancellation fee of £35 per person due to the instability (and wanted to rebook with El Al myself). The agent simply wasted half an hour of my time – offered to rebook me to El Al, then took ages to check, then said actually he can’t as flights in July are not affected. Then claimed that if I cancel my reward flight I would use the full cash component and only get my avios back (so would lose £243 rather than £105). This is what is showing if I try to cancel online as well. I am sure this is wrong and have had this issue before but think it’s best to just wait and get rebooked when the time comes if necessary. But certainly nervewracking. Already missed out on a trip in October when BA originally cancelled our flight and was unable to rebook at the same dates. At least this time in summer holidays we are more flexible!

    Reply
    • AL says:
      8 May8 May 16:32

      The policy is up to (and, I assume, inclusive of 14th June), so the answer was surely fairly obvious before you called?

      Reply
      • JulieSoul says:
        8 May8 May 18:36

        Yes I only called to ask about the cancellation fee to ascertain what that would be, but he offered to rebook me despite me telling him the flight was in July! And then giving me the wrong information about the refund of the cash part. So total shambles of a call.

        Reply
  • James says:
    8 May8 May 18:39

    If you were booked on BA Club Europe and they only have Premium economy on ELAL available, would this be considered an involuntary downgrade and due reimbursement/compensation?

    Reply
    • BA Flyer IHG Stayer says:
      8 May8 May 19:55

      I’d say that PE on ElAl is way better than BAs CE on a shorthaul aircraft.

      Sure you’d lose the empty middle seat but in return you get a bigger seat.

      Check the dimensions on Aerolopa

      Personally I’d take that as a win

      Reply
    • Rob says:
      8 May8 May 20:37

      Unlikely given the vast number of other options they have given you.

      Reply

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