Originally Posted by
phil_flyer
I've tinkered around a bit. I think I will buy a oneworld explorer and go on to HKG from TLV. Looks like the 763 service on AA to budapest and malev connection offers the best sleep.
Did you look at the connecting times at BUD? IIRC it's something like a 14-hour layover most days, making you arrive at TLV at oh-dark-thirty. Also remember no Plat/EXP status bonus on MA flights.
If you have the clock time available for that sort of long connection, I might suggest you look at the morning AA or BA departure from JFK to LHR, sleep in a real bed at LHR, then take the morning BA flight to TLV. You won't arrive in Israel that much later than if you'd spent the day wandering around Budapest, but you may feel more human for having slept in a real bed in London, rather than on a faux airline "bed." In our experience the daytime TATL eastbound flights really whack jetlag.