msm2000uk

With a war rearing its head in Israel, what is the BA policy for flying into a country engulfed in war?

M

crazy8534

Yes, a worrying time. Current FCDO advice here.
I think that travel to TLV isn't advised against just now, I can't remember at what point they started letting people change Kiev flights or if it was just when they were cancelled?
(Different situation, obviously).

corporate-wage-slave

Lebanon is a better example, when BA flew there. On various occasions BA either stopped flying there, or did back to backs with crew based out of Larnaca. It didn't take much, they changed services when there were just a lot of street demonstrations which impacted road movement, there wasn't much violence going on for that episode. And that's the first focus here, BA for all its faults will not want unnecessary danger on their crews, and if staying in TLV is a risk, BA will typically stop flying and then get agreement to shuttle from LCA in some form or other (e.g. LHR-TLV-LCA).

This evening's flight to Ben Gurion is delayed / under assessment.

JSM8

@corporate-wage-slave: If you hear any change in the status of this evening's flight will you post it? I have relatives scheduled on the inbound service tomorrow morning.
Thanks

sammyg901

Just saw that Iberia have cancelled theirs today

lhrsfo

LH cancelled 2of 3 today. UA turned around a flight from SFO after 7 hours in the air.

Door1Left

BA are fairly good and quick at managing situations like this, we have a kind of crisis group made up of various departments which I’m presuming will have been convened today to discuss operations to and from TLV. They will discuss safety, security and risks all taking advice from internal experts and also outside agencies.

Back up and contingency plans will also be discussed, whether it be shuttles to and from LCA, cancellations, evacuating crews already in TLV and customer comms etc. We also have a fantastic airport manager and team in TLV who are adept, flexible and extremely knowledgeable to advise.

It would be unfair or inaccurate to compare TLV to previous operations in Beirut. The Israeli security is far more heightened than those in Beirut (though it was a very enjoyable layover!)

D1L

Repooc17

From purely an aviation standpoint, that UA flight is 14+ hours to nowhere. Still in the air (at the moment) having now flown 11 hours+:

https://www.flightaware.com/live/fli...315Z/KSFO/KSFO

sweetsleep

I have a friend who was supposed to fly out tomorrow for a 13 day faith based trip and she cancelled her trip earlier today. I do not know which airline she was to fly on from the USA to Israel but I suspect it will get cancelled.

corporate-wage-slave

BA167 has taxied off from stand B43, and is due to take off about 15 minutes from now, so about 80 minutes late roughly. I wasn't going to share many details of the flight but I guess it will all be on public sources fairly soon, so it's an A350, G-XWBO. There were a lot of discussions on whether this would go or not, I suspect a key factor is that there is a crew needing to get home.

mario

Probably waiting to hear from the British government confirming if they have some special troops that need to get there.

BearX220

Notice is given on social media that Delta and American tonight operated employees-only ferry flights TLV-JFK, departing westbound around 2000 local, to evacuate all DL/AA personnel, including ground staff and crews on layover, who wanted to leave. Reportedly, no revenue pax accommodated.

msm2000uk

I'm fortunate to have a lot of access to information within the Israeli government, and there have been assurances given to the British government related to passenger flights - as well as how repatriation shuttles will work if necessary.

For BA as an airline, the main issue will naturally be crew focused.

M

tgsh2006

Given BA’s unfortunate history with the “Last flight to Kuwait”, it seems to me entirely reckless to permit passenger flights to TLV right now. Especially as the situation is only likely to escalate.

mikebg

All flights to/from Israel seem to have been re-routed over the north of the country, to avoid being close to the south where the war is going on.