There is now an update to the BA rebooking policies covering

1. Cancelled flights up to 25th October being able to be rebooked onto El Al.
2. If flights are still operating then you can rebook to Athens or Larnaca on BA

BONDY

And as a further update, it seems the BA team can now select seats on El Al which saves having to speak to El Al directly (as you cannot seem to manage your booking with El Al even when their app shows the trip).

This is my experience over the last two days with the GGL team and flying in business. Once the El Al flights have been loaded into the app, I could see the seats allocated by BA so I suspect this does work. This is for 5 flights in 3 separate bookings so not a one off.

BONDY

Now been updated to include all tickets issued by 23rd May, and as BONDY posted above this also now includes cancellations for flights until 25th October 2025.

So we have an AA award flight on BA from TLV to LHR on Octiver 26th. I'm not hopeful this flight will actually occur. I know the policy is only through Oct 25 as of today but would AA be able to rebook us on El Al or only cancel and refund the award. What are our options?

1) As of this morning BA are selling seats from 1st August to TLV and 2nd from Tel Aviv. Expect cancellation of route to occur 11th July (so avoiding e261 compensation)
2) I was rerouted on the 16 June TLV-MAD-OVERNIGHT-MAD-LHR on LY/BA as the only direct flight on LY was 3O June (I am on Avios-Y-Class and only a Blue). Question: Can I claim expenses for hotel at Madrid airport?
3) My Avios/AE companion flight in CE on the 15 July was changed to El Al on same day in J class. At the moment the return in August still BA CE.

1) I doubt compensation is payable regardless of when the cancellations are done.
2) yes

1. I can see a policy for up to 25 October, but that says nothing about el Al rebooking. The el Al rebooking policy only seems to relate to flights up to the end of July.

https://www.britishairways.com/trave...uation0#latest

the rebook on to el Al policy is only until the end of July atm.

the rebook to el al policy between end of july and 25 october only applies if your flight is cancelled. if not cancelled, the policy for up to 25 October allows rebooking to ATH or LCA, or to another date -14/+14 days. Atm those are you options, so tbh I would wait for now.

Hi Karfa

You need the other policy which is at the link

https://www.britishairways.com/trave...l--ly--#latest

And, because why should anything be simple with BA, you need to scroll down as the updates are not in order. You need the one called "23-MAY-25 16:50"

This covers cancelled flights only.

Also for BA 125 tickets only to address the earlier question about AA ticketed

BONDY

Thanks for the info. We have some flexibility so we can stay watch for now and see how situation develops over next couple of months.

Please note that the BA policies only relate to their own 125 tickets. If/when the flight on 26th October is cancelled I would personally not wait too long to discuss options with AA as they ticketed. Coincidentally, I am currently booked on the BA405 TLV - LHR on this date so am keeping an eye on this.

I say this as I had a Qatar ticketed RTW booking that included a BA flight to TLV in February this year. When that was cancelled by BA, it took some time to convince BA that they were responsible as the operating carrier. I did get rebooked onto El Al by BA eventually but it took them a while (a number of weeks) to acknowledge their responsibility to get me to TLV so I don't know how the AA/BA combination will work and who will take responsibility.

I'm not a huge expert but I believe both UK261 and the Israel Aviation Services Law apply here and they both put the onus on the Flight Operator to support the passenger. The Israel Law says a passenger is not entitled to benefits under the law "if he has received a Flight Ticket without payment or a Flight Ticket has been acquired at a special tariff which is not given directly or indirectly to the public, unless the ticket has been issued to him by virtue of his membership in a program for the giving of bonuses of a Flight Operator or Organizer.". I interpret this to mean that a miles ticket is covered.

Hope this helps

BONDY

I have heard or picked up in a newspaper that Israel suspended its EC261 equivalent rule in order to encourage non-Israeli airlines to resume flights to Israel.

Also, a few years ago an aviation lawyer who works (worked) for �DLA Piper� told me that Israeli airlines do not have a �duty of care� unlike European airlines. (I do not know if that has changed, but l think not).

However this only impacts if one�s ticket starts and ends in Israel

i have no idea, but regardless you would have coverage on a BA flight to and from TLV under UK261, and duty of care would apply as a result.

for EU<->Israel, coverage from EC261 would apply for any airline flying from EU to Israel, and would apply to any European Community airline flying from Israel to the EU.

Appreciate all the info. We will definitely have a backup plan.

The operating carrier (BA in this case) on a booking ticketed by another carrier would only have responsibility to rebook if travel was within 48 hours - otherwise further in advance its a case of cintact the carrier you are ticketed by to rebook you.