Transit at Larnaca
 

I shall be arriving in at LCA with BA, then departing to TLV on LY. I remember that there is a transit route for arrivals. I shall be HBO and have my LY boarding pass, will I have to go through the security interview at check in or will there be an opportunity to have it conducted at the gate so as to avoid crossing the border?

Many thanks

I have no experience from LCA but for all LY outstations I flew from it was possible to pass the security interview at the gate.

I remember not being successful in transiting in LCA without crossing the border and going landside. It was about 5/6 years ago though.

Thank you both, I have contacted LY and they have replied pretty swiftly. As I am not on one ticket they have asked for my ticket details and are seeking "authorisation".I shall update the post for future reference once I have a definite answer.

There is technically signage in the airport for transit without going lanside but i have never seen it in use when I've needed it. Elal security can be done by the gate. Thats what i do when HBO.

And the result was.........exit to landside then re-enter and do it the normal way......pretty painless though.

Bumping this thread to ask if you’ve had any more recent experience with this BA to LY separate-ticket transfer at LCA? Considering booking a backup LCA-TLV flight for someone who’s got a BA booking to TLV which (given geopolitics) might get cancelled.

Are there pleasant places to wait at LCA (like a pay-for-entry lounge) if there’s a lot of time between the flights?

Alternatively would it be more relaxing/pleasant to find an airport-adjacent hotel to stay in overnight and do the LCA-TLV hop the next day? That’s less appealing because there are fewer flights if something goes wrong but it does make for an earlier bedtime on the day of the long segment and also perhaps more wiggle room.

However, if there isn’t a hotel connected to the airport terminal at LCA (or at least very close) like LHR T5 Sofitel, that becomes much less attractive.

On a recent outbound I think I had about three hours, and as I have PP I used the lounge that is used by BA. On the Hermes (airport owners) website you can buy use of the lounge. Pleasant outdoor area that passed the time away before my LY flight around 10pm. On the return, having got the morning LY flight I hopped into a taxi, having left my luggage at the LL place in the departures and had a nice couple of hours at a restaurant on Mackenzie beach, organised the same taxi driver to pick me up and return to the airport for the BA flight.
There is also a Chabad House in Larnaca and a few kosher places if you keep kashrut.
All in all using BA reward flights means the return in CE is 50p each way and the LY flight around £140 retn.
I also paid 5Euro on the outbound LY flight for fast track security which really does help, no need upon return as I was in CE.
Hope this helps, I have done it twice now since the war began ( volunteering stints with Sar El )and will do it again in a couple of weeks.

davidcamp6 This is all incredibly helpful detail. I’m actually doing this just as a refundable backup for something else but it’s really good to hear it’s not difficult and that there are good options. Time between arrival of BA flight and departed of LY flight is about 4.5hrs — unfortunately the LCA-TLV leg is more expensive than you found but that’s to be expected because it’s for travel just before Passover.

I use a travel agent for the LY segment based in Haifa. I have not used one for over 25 years, but my rationale was that they do get access to cheap fares, and more importantly if things go wrong, having an Israeli who deals with LY all the time would be of benefit to deal with any difficult situation.