Israel Check in on Yom Kippur and high holidays
 

Anyone with experience on YK or the other High Holidays? Is it possible? I'm looking at a flight that lands in TLV at 8:50pm the night YK starts. I suspect there will be some sheruts to Tel Aviv available, perhaps at a permium, but what about checking in? Would I be better off staying at the airport the first night?

Are you 100% certain that there will be a flight landing at that time? I believe the airport will not be open at all and there will be no flights landing.

Article from 2008: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...606907,00.html

I was surprised as well.

Meridiana S.p.A. Flight IG7720 on an Airbus A320 (jet) in coach class
(lunch, movie)
Departs Rome, Italy (FCO) Fri, Oct 7 5:30p 3 hrs 20 min
Arrives Tel Aviv, Israel (TLV) 8:50p

Bookable on orbitz.

Anyway....
 

Even if I arrive earlier. How about experience checking in during the holiday after sundown?

This is an error for sure.
The airport closes a few hours before yom kipur starts.

Are you asking about checking in to a hotel or to a flight?

Was actually looking at a flight. Since it appears that this is a goof, I'm going to shift the trip a bit. We'll be in Israel for YK (the TATLs cleared my CP upgrades already!) and figure some downtime that day. Will we be able to find food while the rest of the country fasts? I'll work to already be checked in, but is it possisble to check out on YK? Might transit from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem after sundown.

Yom Kippur is a special day in Israel when the whole country is shut down for 25 hours - all businesses except for life-saving services are off. Hotels, are open for business, serve food and you can check out during the day but you will not be able to transit anywhere until sunset. All restaurants, grocery stores and other food sources are closed.

The airport shuts down about 3-4 hours before the fast and open for business about 2 hours after the fast is over with the first flight leaving about 4 hours after the fast.

On the flip side, don't just plan to be in the hotel. The eve is an amazing night with the streets filled with people walking around in the middle of the street. Many kids learn to ride their bikes on YK. The streets are really full of people as there almost no cars about. Many bikers head to the major freeways and bike between towns.

While I can't vouch for Tel Aviv, I can say for sure that all the major roads in Jerusalem (Highway 1 especially) are filled with kids on bikes.

Most restaurants, even in Tel Aviv I would imagine, are closed on Yom Kippur. I would be very surprised if the airport is open on YK. Likely, the airline simply has that in their schedule as the regularly scheduled flight, and hasn't updated it to account for YK.

Very odd that they are selling seats on it. I ended up moving the dates and am now arrving in Israel OCt 6 after spending time in Jordan (rather than doing it in the reverse order). So, I'll be in my hotel before YK starts. Havent decided if to stay in TLV near relatives, or in Jerusalem. Seems that there are no hotels in walking distance ot the relatives, and it sounds like there is really, really no driving. So prob will be in Jerusalem and walk around, see the Wall during the holiday. Only trouble is I's like to break the fast with the relavites in Tel Aviv, and I suspect it will be tough to get there till late.

Interesting thing about the Western Wall ("Kotel") on Yom Kippur: It is virtually empty! The reason is quite simple. It's quite hot outside, and people are fasting, so most stay in their synagogues/houses/indoors... Chances are you will never see it as empty as it gets YK day.

Sleeping mid-day is a popular activity to kill time and stay out of the heat. You don't want to be traipsing all over the hills of Jerusalem on foot. Be near relatives.

For one who's not fasting, this may actually be one of the better days to walk through Jerusalem, considering it will be much emptier (in the streets,) making it easier to navigate.
Just bring your own water supply!

:confused::confused::confused:

+1. Very sloppy on the airline's part. :td: At what point do you think their ops people will get the message that their flight can't operate as scheduled? Hopefully soon enough to rebook the few early-purchasers that are already on that flight. If they finally figure it out in late September, it'll be a bit of a problem for them - and the people booked on the flight.