Dovster

Confession: My flight will be on Delta, not El Al, but I am posting here because I think that I will find more posters with experience on the LY Forum.

On Dec 25, in the evening, I will fly JFK-TLV. The plane is a large one (747-400) and I am trying to figure out who the heck will be on it.

I have only flown twice on Christmas -- once to South Africa and once to Italy -- and both flights were close to empty. Of course, they were leaving Israel so that might make a difference.

Will American Christians be flying on Christmas day? I doubt it -- most will want to be home with their families. Those who want to be in the Holy Land for the holiday will have arrived already.

American Jews? Yes, there will be some but I suspect that most planning on visiting Israel will have come during Hannuka. Jewish businessmen, however, probably will fly in their usual numbers.

Israelis returning from the US? December is not a big month to visit the States, so I don't see many tourists being on the flight. As Dec 23, 24, and 25 generally see very little business being conducted in the States, I doubt that many Israeli businessmen will be flying back on the 25th.

That's how I see it -- a very large, mostly empty, airplane. In fact, if it weren't for the fact that it will probably be full of American Christians on the return flight on Dec 26, Delta might change equipment to a smaller plane.

I would be interested, however, in the views of others who have flown into Israel on Christmas Day, especially from the US. Were your flights empty? If not, what kind of people were on them?

clubman

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You'll be surprised to learn that your flight is actually extremely busy in Economy and about half full in Buz.

ELAL

Doesn't really answer your question, but I flew from Israel to Europe last christmas eve, it was a weird experiance, the airport was totally deserted, not even one passenger to be seen at the security line or check-in desk (in the zone I was checking in from at least), of course never had such a smooth and quick transfer thurough TLV.

On the flight in economy there were 28 passengers!

mkilmo

Israelis who live and work abroad tend to take advantage of the Xmas break to come home to visit family and friends. My guess is that half of your flight will be MIT/Harvard/NYU/Stanford students going home to visit.

Airports tend to be on the empty side (flew once via ATH on 25th's evening, you could identify the Israelis not because of their behaviour, but because, well... if they had no airport tag, they were Israelis heading home). Flew once on LH on Xmas eve... one German FA, and three obviously Asian FAs... guess they are less "keen" on Xmas.

Also, the new year's eve flight are rather interesting... Flew last new year's eve with misskilmo back from BRU with SN. Airport as deserted as possibly be (some Israelis and a few Turkish people). Flight filled with Israelis being Israelis (don't ask), and poor FAs who had to miss all the fun to handle that flight... The pilot was so depressed he did not even bother to say something like happy new year at midnight (this was on a Sat eve flight, so no orthodox people on board).

Dovster

After you posted that I looked at the Delta flight map and not only was I surprised but I am also very sceptical.

All the very worst seats are filled up and it looks like Delta is doing its best to sell either the Economy Comfort or the Premium Economy seats to make extra $$$.

I am in Biz Elite, sitting upstairs, so it really has no impact on me but I am not going to believe what I am seeing until I actually get to JFK.

badatz

I once flew LHR-TLV on BA on christmas eve and the airport was deserted. There was just one other flight to somewhere in the mid east.

In the lounge there were about 4 people and we basically volunteered to leave there early so the staff could close up and go home to their families.

The plane was full

simba8

i've flown yyz-tlv on the 25, and the flight was full.

joshwex90

I'm wondering if they serve a traditional Jewish Christmas meal - Chinese food!

awayIgo

Flew business last year on Dec. 25, LY008. Plane was full. The 25 is the first day the fares drop slightly and anyone looking to save a few pennies was on it.