Author Topic: Buying tickets for my sons wedding in Israel - Cancelations/refunds concerns  (Read 896 times)

Offline NuttyChewz

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Hi all, long time reader first time poster.

My son is getting married iyH mid September in Israel. I need to buy a bunch of tickets to Israel but need advice from the travel experts here how to go about it. On one hand I like using American carriers in part because if they need to cancel the flights due to security situations they must give me a refund. That is significant when spending this much money. On the other hand, El Al and maybe others wont cancel as easily due to security situations, ensuring that we can get there for the wedding, but may have different and more difficult rules about getting a refund (I don't want a credit) in case they too cancel flights. I was in Israel during the Iranian attack and experienced having my flights cancelled and having to find my way back home on my own (33+ hours, airlines refunded my money but they were no help at all trying to get me back home. European airlines and El Al were up and running the next day). In the past I would buy cancel for any reason insurance but my experience is that it is not always easy to get a claim paid and there are very few options now due to the security situation in Israel.

Does anyone have any advice for me how to go about this?

Offline yanky1

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Hi all, long time reader first time poster.

My son is getting married iyH mid September in Israel. I need to buy a bunch of tickets to Israel but need advice from the travel experts here how to go about it. On one hand I like using American carriers in part because if they need to cancel the flights due to security situations they must give me a refund. That is significant when spending this much money. On the other hand, El Al and maybe others wont cancel as easily due to security situations, ensuring that we can get there for the wedding, but may have different and more difficult rules about getting a refund (I don't want a credit) in case they too cancel flights. I was in Israel during the Iranian attack and experienced having my flights cancelled and having to find my way back home on my own (33+ hours, airlines refunded my money but they were no help at all trying to get me back home. European airlines and El Al were up and running the next day). In the past I would buy cancel for any reason insurance but my experience is that it is not always easy to get a claim paid and there are very few options now due to the security situation in Israel.

Does anyone have any advice for me how to go about this?
With the current situation I would book with ELAL,  as they did the best job  and priority for their customers getting them back home.  I am sure you're not looking for headache getting back home after a wedding with a whole family.  (You can get insurance with elal for $29/way for travel credit,  that sells easily for 10% off).

Offline yfr bachur

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Hi all, long time reader first time poster.

My son is getting married iyH mid September in Israel. I need to buy a bunch of tickets to Israel but need advice from the travel experts here how to go about it. On one hand I like using American carriers in part because if they need to cancel the flights due to security situations they must give me a refund. That is significant when spending this much money. On the other hand, El Al and maybe others wont cancel as easily due to security situations, ensuring that we can get there for the wedding, but may have different and more difficult rules about getting a refund (I don't want a credit) in case they too cancel flights. I was in Israel during the Iranian attack and experienced having my flights cancelled and having to find my way back home on my own (33+ hours, airlines refunded my money but they were no help at all trying to get me back home. European airlines and El Al were up and running the next day). In the past I would buy cancel for any reason insurance but my experience is that it is not always easy to get a claim paid and there are very few options now due to the security situation in Israel.

Does anyone have any advice for me how to go about this?

שאלת חכם חצי תשובה....

Offline mevinyavin

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Hi all, long time reader first time poster.

My son is getting married iyH mid September in Israel. I need to buy a bunch of tickets to Israel but need advice from the travel experts here how to go about it. On one hand I like using American carriers in part because if they need to cancel the flights due to security situations they must give me a refund. That is significant when spending this much money. On the other hand, El Al and maybe others wont cancel as easily due to security situations, ensuring that we can get there for the wedding, but may have different and more difficult rules about getting a refund (I don't want a credit) in case they too cancel flights. I was in Israel during the Iranian attack and experienced having my flights cancelled and having to find my way back home on my own (33+ hours, airlines refunded my money but they were no help at all trying to get me back home. European airlines and El Al were up and running the next day). In the past I would buy cancel for any reason insurance but my experience is that it is not always easy to get a claim paid and there are very few options now due to the security situation in Israel.

Does anyone have any advice for me how to go about this?
Just pointing out that you don't really want a refund - you want a flight. If, for some reason, El Al needs to cancel the flight, you want them to somehow get you home, not a refund - and they have a good track record for that. As such, it seems a no-brainer to book with them.
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Offline joshjosh

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You can book on the American carriers and it’s much cheaper and buy very good insurance about 100 dollars per flight and make sure that this insurance will cover you to put you on an Ella flight if you’re flight gets canceled I know someone that did this multiple times recently however if there won’t be any availability like right after oct 7 don’t know if the insurance can help you.

Offline David61

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FYI - Chase trip cancellation insurance (on some business cards) does NOT cover cancellation due to "a declared or undeclared War".

https://static.chasecdn.com/content/services/structured-document/document.en.pdf/card/benefits-center/product-benefits-guide-pdf/Ink%20Business%20Preferred_Visa%20Biz%20Sig.pdf

Offline mevinyavin

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however if there won’t be any availability like right after oct 7 don’t know if the insurance can help you.
This here is precisely the problem.
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Offline davidd75

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Hi all, long time reader first time poster.

My son is getting married iyH mid September in Israel. I need to buy a bunch of tickets to Israel but need advice from the travel experts here how to go about it. On one hand I like using American carriers in part because if they need to cancel the flights due to security situations they must give me a refund. That is significant when spending this much money. On the other hand, El Al and maybe others wont cancel as easily due to security situations, ensuring that we can get there for the wedding, but may have different and more difficult rules about getting a refund (I don't want a credit) in case they too cancel flights. I was in Israel during the Iranian attack and experienced having my flights cancelled and having to find my way back home on my own (33+ hours, airlines refunded my money but they were no help at all trying to get me back home. European airlines and El Al were up and running the next day). In the past I would buy cancel for any reason insurance but my experience is that it is not always easy to get a claim paid and there are very few options now due to the security situation in Israel.

Does anyone have any advice for me how to go about this?

doesnt El Al also issue a refund when they cancel the flight?