El Al Matmid - TLV-YYZ in C - LY? LH? None of the above?

Hi all,

After a one-year break, much helped by the economic crisis, it would seem I'll be joining the GL/PL club once again.
I'll be flying mostly TLV-YYZ. I understand the route is served by 762/763. Are business class seats there adequate for a 12 hour flight?
Direct TLV-YYZ on ElAl is currently about $500 more expensive then doing TLV-FRA-YYZ on LH, and about $400 more expensive then doing TLV-NYC on LY and then connecting with CO or DL.

I need some help deciding - how does C on 762/763 compare with the two other options: flying C on LH, or taking the 747/777 to NYC and then connecting there.

Much obliged,

J.

I would say the 767 are quite ok as for the seats, I dont know what the others
offer... I am not sure what ticket class you took under C, but i would
recommend you to check the fares of Z class (Discount Business with C Class
Points).



Thanks,
Ebzed...

AC not an option? they have an excellent C cabin!

i would
recommend you to check the fares of Z class

Thanks for the tip. Spoke with ElAl, and Z is slightly more expensive than W, with an additional 150 points each way. Worth thinking about.

AC not an option? they have an excellent C cabin!

Never flew AC, but their website does indeed show what looks like a good C cabin (lie flats, suites etc.)
apirchik, ever hitched a ride with them? How is their service? FF plan?

Thanks again,

J.

I often do TLV-YYZ and YYZ-TLV.

I find the business class seat quite reasonable (better than the old 747 seat). It's basically a cradle seat which is comfortable for sitting in and not too bad for sleeping in. There also tends to be more availability to/from YYZ than NY even though there are only a few flights a week and on a smaller a/c.

The lounge at YYZ is nothing to write home about - I usually use the adjacent BA lounge.

I would never choose to connect via the US when going to Canada if avoidable because of the hassle of US immigration and generally prefer direct flights whenever possible. Last time I flew into JFK the immigration queue was 2 hours long even though I was one of the first of the plane - I ended up jumping the queue when I realised I was going to miss my connection.

According to the AC tv commercial in Israel TV, It looks much better then
EL-AL, But the main question is what worth to you more ? points or comfortability...
Once you get sleep AC or EL-AL would be the same.... 8-) but you would
wake up with 350 more points in EL-AL

If you are considering a connecting flight, you might want to think about BA instead of LH.
Better C product and prices should be similar.

If you are considering a connecting flight, you might want to think about BA instead of LH.
Better C product and prices should be similar.

Wouldn't LH or AC be better for connections in Canada considering that they are both *A and AC has a larger Canadian network I'm guessing than you'd have access to via BA and their OW partners?

If you are considering a connecting flight, you might want to think about BA instead of LH.
Better C product and prices should be similar.

If you collect the miles from the BA flights using an AA account (which you can do for the whole trip, since the transatlantic portions are from Canada, not the USA), you'd even be able to redeem the accrued miles on El Al in future. Perhaps that's the best of all worlds.

Thanks everyone for your time and help.
I think I'll give LY a try this time.
The problem with BA is connecting in LHR - it's about a 4 hour layover, which is a tad too much for me.
I suppose if LY lets me down I'll switch to AC and start collecting miles in *A.

Thanks again,

J.