Transit at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport?
Help! I can't seem to find any information on transiting / changing airlines at Ben Gurion airport.
We are considering an itinerary from Rome to HKG via Tel Aviv: Rome to Tel Aviv on El Al arriving at 2:15AM, then connecting to a mileage ticket on CX flight at 12:45pm onto Hong Kong. It doesn't seem like there's a sterile transit facility at Ben Gurion thoug, so does this mean we will have to clear immigration and customs at Ben Gurion and go through CX check-in in the departure area? Will this be a lot of hassle, given how tight security is at TLV? Other option is to catch a nonstop flight from Rome to Hong Kong, but this will cost us a lot more miles. |
Security is tight at TLV but they're entirely reasonable people - it seems unlikely to be any sort of problem if you have an onward ticket. There's nothing to do near the airport between 2am and noon anyway.
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TLV has a transit area, however according to some previous reports here it might only be open to use by Israeli citizens, it is of course only relevant in case you have no checked luggage, nothing to lose by giving it a shot.
Having said that, TLV airport is hardly a place to spend 10 hours in, I would look to get a hotel room around Tel Aviv beach, sleep for a few hours, have some breakfast and head back to the airport around 9:30AM. |
Originally Posted by Ditto
(Post 28989543)
TLV has a transit area, however according to some previous reports here it might only be open to use by Israeli citizens, it is of course only relevant in case you have no checked luggage, nothing to lose by giving it a shot.
Having said that, TLV airport is hardly a place to spend 10 hours in, I would look to get a hotel room around Tel Aviv beach, sleep for a few hours, have some breakfast and head back to the airport around 9:30AM. |
Originally Posted by craz
(Post 28990320)
Could be the extra cost wont make sense
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Originally Posted by Ditto
(Post 28990807)
For 2 PAX, I would say around 130-150$ (including breakfast) for a hotel, and 70-80$ for taxi both ways, one could also opt for hotels closer to the airport and save some money on the taxi as well.
sort of doing this myself tomorrow when I heading to HAN via HKG and having to overnight @ HKG. In @ 8pm out Weds @ 8am so < 10 hrs in the hotel, but no way was I gonna spend the night in the term, so 30k for a room @ The Marriott (been to HKG a few times and seen it all) then again its like a 16 hr NS from EWR to HKG will love the hot shower/bath and a nice bed for some sleep |
Originally Posted by Ditto
(Post 28990807)
For 2 PAX, I would say around 130-150$ (including breakfast) for a hotel, and 70-80$ for taxi both ways, one could also opt for hotels closer to the airport and save some money on the taxi as well.
so theres a savings of 80k on 2 J tkts, but thats offset by buying 2 FCO-TLV-FCO tkts, the taxi and hotel night. In the end there will be savings but not sure its something Id do |
Originally Posted by craz
(Post 28992482)
Just saw this other post by the OP; https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...aviv-rome.html
so theres a savings of 80k on 2 J tkts, but thats offset by buying 2 FCO-TLV-FCO tkts, the taxi and hotel night. In the end there will be savings but not sure its something Id do |
Originally Posted by Ditto
(Post 28989543)
TLV has a transit area, however according to some previous reports here it might only be open to use by Israeli citizens, it is of course only relevant in case you have no checked luggage, nothing to lose by giving it a shot.
Having said that, TLV airport is hardly a place to spend 10 hours in, I would look to get a hotel room around Tel Aviv beach, sleep for a few hours, have some breakfast and head back to the airport around 9:30AM. |
Originally Posted by SkyTeam777
(Post 29410380)
Has anyone been able to confirm is US citizens can transit TLV without clearing immigration and staying in transit area? Do they still conduct the same type of lengthy interviews to travelers with only 2-3 hour transit time and not entering the country? They did have to get someone to do the bag screening and power up the xray, but it was efficient and the interview was only a couple questions, and we got leve 2 on the yellow security sticker) Definitely prefarbale to going thru the hassles of entering and leaving the country. |
Originally Posted by rankourabu
(Post 29411324)
I did transit in TLV without leaving the transit area in 2016. It was on the same ticket and we had about 2.5 hours to transit. IST-TLV-YYZ (TK to AC).
They did have to get someone to do the bag screening and power up the xray, but it was efficient and the interview was only a couple questions, and we got leve 2 on the yellow security sticker) Definitely prefarbale to going thru the hassles of entering and leaving the country. |
Originally Posted by SkyTeam777
(Post 29411376)
what's the yellow security sticker? https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...587c8ba3b4.png |
Dear all,
I'm extremely passionate about aviation and hence travel to as many airports as possible, try out new airlines, fly with new aircraft types etc. Example: to fly BAs new A350-1000, I will be flying LHR-DXB-LHR in one night, directly returning to London on the same plane two hours after my arrival in Dubai. Regarding Ben Gurion Airport: Is it possible to remain airside for connecting flights? I'm considering to book Amsterdam-Tel Aviv-Amsterdam, arriving at 02:20 and leaving again at 05:15. Of course, such a strange routing will raise questions, but I have nothing to hide, the itinerary is purely aviation related :) Would you disadvise from booking such a ticket? I have a Swiss passport, only US stamps (if this matters). |
As long as you have your boarding card for the next flight, you can go through transfer security. What level of security you'll get is anybody's guess. I've had the maximum level a few times, and it basically means that they do a manual search of everything that you've got. But if you're traveling HBO, it should only take 15-30 minutes. Basically, there's no need to worry.
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Originally Posted by RJ1H
(Post 30917170)
Dear all,
I'm extremely passionate about aviation and hence travel to as many airports as possible, try out new airlines, fly with new aircraft types etc. Example: to fly BAs new A350-1000, I will be flying LHR-DXB-LHR in one night, directly returning to London on the same plane two hours after my arrival in Dubai. Regarding Ben Gurion Airport: Is it possible to remain airside for connecting flights? I'm considering to book Amsterdam-Tel Aviv-Amsterdam, arriving at 02:20 and leaving again at 05:15. Of course, such a strange routing will raise questions, but I have nothing to hide, the itinerary is purely aviation related :) Would you disadvise from booking such a ticket? I have a Swiss passport, only US stamps (if this matters). You should ask in this thread https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mile...please-16.html |
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