dena

My son and a friend will be in Israel this summer for a 10 day trip. Upon completion of this trip, he wants to fly to any of the above cities and backpack thru Europe for about one month. I have done some research for discount airlines and have found Israir, but their international website does not work, you need to call Israel to get a reservation. I have tried that without much success, sent e-mails and also a fax. No response thus far. Can anyone provide me with information as to how to get to Europe for a reasonable fare from Tel Aviv? El Al and Alitalia are about $600.00 roundtrip. By the way, he does need a roundtrip to Europe, as his ticket from Tel Aviv to the U.S. is already paid. I appreciate any help I can get, he is leaving for Israel on May 19th and will be there for 10 days. He would like to be in Europe from about May 31 to June 29, 2006. Thanks to all in advance!

barbmike

There's a VERY limited choice on www.whichbudget.com. Good Luck!!! Mike

dena

anyone else? Please?

valtor

Do you need only one way ticket Tel Aviv to Rome or Paris or Rome?
Where from he will return home?

Intrepid1

I used www.opodo.com to check for flights Tel Aviv to both Paris and Rome and the costs are roughly the same...about 360 British Pounds.

Flying to London was even more expensive >400 Pounds

You need to face the hard facts that your son and friend need to be more flexible than flying to just one of these three cities and using a budget airline as listed at www.whichbudget.com unless you want to pay these highre prices.

dena

Good morning,
He needs a roundtrip from TLV to Rome, Paris or Prague. He already has a roundtrip from TLV to the United States, he just needs a roundtrip from TLV to a major city in Europe,where he plans to backpack for a month, then return to Tel Aviv and fly home to the US.
Thanks for any help.

Intrepid1

As a follow-on...unless there are religious or other objections, look at the possibility of an Air Berlin flight to Berlin and the several hour train ride from there to Prague.

dena

Hi Intrepid1,
He will fly to any major city in Europe we can get a decent fair to, he is not opposed to any one particular place. I just posted these choices as a start, we are flexible. I don't think the flight to Berlin, then train to Prague is such a good idea, unless it is a short trip. He will be on plenty more trains the rest of the month and we wanted him to get to a major city by plane to start the trip.

Steve_James

Dena - Try Hapagfly.

They have return flights to Munich for $300-400.

http://book.hapagfly.com/westsite/co...g_001158.shtml

They seem to have flights to other places in Germany too.

Hope this helps ...

Steve

AAFrequentFlyer

As posted by <b>dena</b>

<i>we wanted him to get to a major city by plane to start the trip.</i>

and Berlin is NOT???

It's pretty obvious that your first 3 choices will not be cheap, so you either accept the fact that they may need to fly into a different major city or just pay the going rate if you insist on Rome, Paris or Prague.

The above observation is based on the posts not on actual research.

danski

I hope the following will help, because a return trip to Rome from TA should not cost so much. It will almost definetly be cheaper to fly to Rome or Prague than to Paris. You should check el al's website, they sometimes have surprisngly good deals, so this should be the first place to look at. Other websites, like opodo, don't always have the best deals which are mentioned in the elal website. Czech Airlines also fly to Tel Aviv and you can check their website as well.
Otherwise, I would suggest that you call a travel agent in Israel. It shouldn't be too much of a hassle. Make sure he understands that your son is leaving Israel AND coming back. I would even try to find out what is the price of going to, say, prague, and coming back via another city. Also, if your son is a student or under 26 don't forget to mention that as well, and ask how this affects the price.
I suggest two travel agencies. One is probably the biggest in Israel. Their service is not always very good, but they usually have the best deals. The number is of their call centre, so just ask straight away for someone with very good English. The number is +97237777711. Israelis like to think their English is better than it actually is, so if you feel the person you are speaking to does not undestand you ask for someone else, and don't be afraid to be pushy.
The travel agent I use for many many years is a company called rishontours, and their number is +97239663242. I have always been happy with them.

Gardyloo

The global student travel agency, STA, has affiliate offices (ISSTA) in TA, Jerusalem and Eilat. There are a number of deals ex-Israel for flights/holidays in W. Europe that look pretty affordable. The Israeli site is in Hebrew (with no English screens that I could find) otherwise you can get contact info from www.statravel.com.

As I mentioned on the Middle East site, your best bet (IMO) might be to get him to Athens or Istanbul and then use low cost carriers from there into western Europe. Be advised that the nature of low cost carriers is that they seldom fly into major airports like CDG or FCO because they'd rather not pay the high landing fees and gate rent. If he's backpacking for a month he should get used to making up his itinerary as he goes; flying into Berlin or Basle or Dusseldorf is the least of his concerns.

Keren

Try this website:
http://www.lowcost.co.il/default.asp
It sells Israir flights for lower prices. I hope it works for you.