TLV whatever!
 

Hi guys,
I'm a usual CO poster, but I figured for this I should come say hi to you frequent TLV flyers.

My friend needs to get from NYC to TLV sometimes at the end of this week (Thurs. if possible) or next week in the worst case. She's planning on staying there for as much as 2 months, so her return date is really flexible. Unfortunately all fares today are around $1300 (coach, of course) or more, and that's not an option for her.

So any advice, tip, or good deal you've found would be welcome! With ELAL or any company whatsoever! Especially if you know of "Open return tkt" of some sort. She's a student, so this might help as well.

Thanks!

For what it's worth, my friend just came over in the other direction, and couldn't get any better than that either. The usual advice is to find a good travel agent IN Israel, but as noted, even in this case someone with some "protektzia" (connections) couldn't do any better.

One more thought, though...I have some family acquaintences (I really don't know them well) who came over on a Ukraine airline, and apparently got a better-than-usual deal.

In general the current prices are the norm for this time of year. Odd of course considering that many of the planes may be flying half empty. I'd think that the local LY office might be trying to find people to fill seats so maybe call them and ask. Better hurry before the rush to get back to Israel for the start of the school year.

Before I moved to Israel I used to get cheap open tickets through the Jewish Agency's education department. That might be a route to try.

Last minute fares are always high, especially in August (altough planes are empty nowadays - the published fares are high). Not only you are looking for a less than 7 days in advance departure, you look for a 2 month ticket (the usual lower leisure fares are for 30 days).

You should try searching European airlines - they might have specials to TLV to fill their planes.