Tag Archives for israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House and speaks to Congress this week. His travel to the U.S. is on board Wing Of Zion, Israel’s Air Force One. And this is the first trip abroad using the reconfigured aircraft. Here’s a first look inside while the plane is in its intended operational service.
They refuse to show a Jewish sitcom and thinks that this isn’t ‘taking sides in the conflict,’ indeed perhaps the most objectionable thing is British Airways not wanting to take sides against Hamas, terrorism, and the mission to cleanse Jews ‘from the river to the sea’ (and, indeed, beyond).
Pollster Frank Luntz took to social media on Friday to decry a Qatar Airways for not recognizing Israel. For someone so politically savvy, that struck me as naive. The obvious answer here was that Qatar doesn’t recognize Israel. It would be more of a scandal for Israel to appear on the moving map of its state-sponsored airline than for it not to.
Yet this morning a Qatar jet flew from Doha to Israel. It had to make a technical stop in out of the way Cyprus in order to avoid operating the first non-stop between the two countries.
Hilton Houston Post Oak by the Galleria has backed out of hosting the “Seize the Moment US Campaign for Palestinian Rights National Conference” planned for October 27 – 29, which was set to be keynoted by Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American congresswoman and member of ‘the squad’ known for her opposition to Israel.
It wasn’t always this hopeless. Things seemed so much better at the turn of the last century. The 1995 Oslo II Accord included international funding for Yasser Arafat International Airport in the Gaza Strip. Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands donated a Boeing 727 and 2 Fokker 50s to help launch Palestinian Airlines.
The new Gaza airport opened in 1998, and Bill and Hillary Clinton attended the official grand opening. At the time there were plans for a port and for a… casino!
El Al doesn’t fly on Shabbat, from sundown Friday evening until sundown Saturday evening, as a religious observance. However they will operate from both the New York and Bangkok this Saturday to assist in bringing reservists back to Israel as part of the country’s call up of 360,000 (4% of their population).
El Al will not be charging for these flights. Instead, the cost “will be borne by El Al and large US financial institutions” according to the airline.
Israel’s air force has reportedly taken out both the Damascus and Aleppo airports in Syria. This follows Hezbollah claiming responsibility for firing anti-tank guided missiles into Israel yesterday, as well as missiles fired from Syria that Hamas claims credit for.
British Airways flight 165 from London Heathrow to Tel Aviv turned around while on final approach on Wednesday, as Hamas launched a rocket attack at the city. The carrier had been operating a single daytime flight, allowing crew to immediately return to London, however has now decided to suspend operations to Israel.
Passengers on the flight took a 9 hour 47 minute flight to nowhere, and options to fly into the country are increasingly limited.
One passenger showed up at New York JFK and bought tickets for everyone looking to travel to Israel with a notice to join the reserves. The country has activated 360,000 civilian reservists, representing around 4% of the entire population.
Reportedly he paid for 250 seats on an El Al Boeing 787-9 which holds 282 passengers.
Sometimes there’s no avoiding it, and you need to put more than one airline in the same reservation. That’s supposed to be the point of airline alliances, and joint ventures are supposed to work even better, though in practice they rarely do.
And sometimes it’s cheaper to book a codeshare or partner itinerary. Just know that this savings isn’t ‘free’ but rather comes at a customer service cost if there’s a schedule change or if your plans change.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
