Has anyone done this, or if at all, possible? I'd like to travel PDX to TLV and since it's my birthday, thought I'd splurge a bit and fly First Class one way and Economy one way as I cannot afford the full first class fare.

I normally go through Orbitz or Expedia but do not see this option available (on their Advanced Search). I've also visited various airlines website and no option available EXCEPT for Continental which asks you what status you want for each leg of the flight. That's great.

I guess my only option is calling the airlines directly? I was hoping to be able to book my flight online, thereby allowing me to view my itinerary easily.

What you want to do is to book 2 x one-way itineraries. You can easily do this on kayak.com as well as some of the airline sites.

No, if you do that, often you'll find that the one-way fare goes sky high.

Some airlines (going to the individual airline) make doing what you propose very easy, because they come up with various options for each leg on what you're going to purchase. Like Air New Zealand. We did this for our 25th in 2010 -- business to London, economy to LAX. That way, we'd be in the cocoons for the overnight portion of the flight and rested, then who cares coming back. ANZ had these options.

But other airlines -- and I know this since I'm trying to do the same thing for this summer for MY birthday -- booking on Air France or KLM to Nice with a return, they don't have the online option, at least not that I could see. And when I tried to do the one way option, the business class ended up being some ridiculous amount of money!

Good question, though and I hope you get more responses, because I'd sure like to know how to do it with the airlines I want to work with!

If you have frequent flyer miles you can them use for upgrades either one way or round trip. It's a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a First or Biz class ticket.

Just call the airline if it doesn't offer that option on their website. They should waive the phone booking fee (if any) if it's for something that's not doable on their website.

Usually book an econo RT cheapoair.com or BIZ Class RT
NYC TLV great deals through Kiev for me last. On US
carriers I do the econo simply buy the leg upgrade
I want or pay with points on check in. airawards.com good deals for me in the past bizclass also. Many cheap econos do PDX NYC always save with them.

Not to be too pedantic, but there is such a thing now called a "travel agent," a travel professional who specializes in booking these kinds of trips. For a reasonable fee, an actual professional will search through airlines and find the best deal for you on your travel dates and may come up with some alternatives that you didn't think of. Try that rather than calling a half-dozen airlines directly. There are many Israel specialists.

I book on the airline sites and you can book each way in different class if you want.

A couple of considereations

1. "travel agent" Before you book as a few question.. (A) Are they insured and a member of a professional association or is this "bubba owns a computer" (B) do they provide a 24/7 call service. When you book via a TA they "own" the reservation so at 2 AM in the US when you can't get on the plane you need to be able to call them. Once again if this is a 'hobby I do when I am not transporting the kids to stuff" RUN!

2. I have done this, but I find it easiest to just call the airline. I am not sure why "I was hoping to book my flight online, therby allowing me to view the itinerary easily" is even a consideration. for example right now I have several flights booked on Delta for both work and pleasure. Work was booked via American Express Travel Agency (which does have a 24/7 contact service ), personal was booked via Delta.com and one personal was booked over the phone. All of them show up when I log into my account on Delta. You should be able to see "online" regardless of who you book with.

The gist of CarolA's suggestion is spot on: not all travel agents are suitable for the work that the OP needs. However, being "insured" and a "member of a professional association" are pretty much irrelevant to the agent's ability to get the job done right and to be available if things go wrong.

[I own a home-based travel agency and have some insight into the situation. I am insured, but that insurance would do absolutely nothing for any of my clients if something goes wrong -- the insurance protects only me.]

By insurance I really meant something like USTOA which gives the consumer if the TA goes bankrupt between the time they take your cash and the time they pay the travel supplier.

But for me the biggie is 24/7 coverage. Crisis rarely occurs at 2:00 pm eastern. More likely 2:00 am