giomark

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.

ClimbingCook

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.

Ditto

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.

craz

I agree 3-5 hrs I can see staying at the airport, 10 hours no wayYou'd need to taxi it to the hotel can use bus/train to get back to save some money but more time. Could be the extra cost wont make sense

Ditto

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.

craz

factor in the extra flying time of stopping vis a non-stop or a few hours instead of 10 and it all IMO depends on how many miles I will be saving. Plus the LY flight/s might be rev tkts so that too has to be added in

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

craz

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

Ditto

It does sound like OP will either way have to buy a ticket TLV-FCO, a one-way with LY will be far more expensive than a r/t, there are of course cheaper airlines though.

SkyTeam777

rankourabu

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.

SkyTeam777

rankourabu

It goes on the back of your passport, supposedly the first number determines your threat level. Google it, there are threads on FT

RJ1H

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).

RedChili

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.

rankourabu

I cant imagine how this is a good idea.

You should ask in this thread
Mileage Runs turnarounds / turnabouts / transits:- Experiences please