I beg to differ. My CAI-LHR next Friday has 14 rows in Club Europe. That is actually more premium seats than on the previous Dreamliner. In fact, I might argue the exact opposite, the doubling of frequency and downgrade to short-haul aircraft has more than doubled the premium capacity on the route. The only difference is that passengers, in my opinion, no longer receive a premium standard product.

That said, fares ex-CAI, especially for further afield than LHR, are a fraction of those from TLV while tickets generally have better flexibility and refund options. That I suspect, along with carrying increased connecting premium traffic via LHR, are the main reasons for deploying SH aircraft on the medium to long haul sector.

I loved the days of being FLUB'ed in a 787-10 from CAI, but while long-haul premium fares from Europe have soared, my CAI to LHR to anywhere in the USA fare has remained stable and is now roughly half of what a similar itinerary originating at LHR would cost while still allowing free stopovers and being fully changeable for peanuts. I save the last sector to CAI to fly just before starting my next ex-CAI booking, usually with a couple of days in CAI in between to enjoy the culture and food.