Update, 1/23: American reached out to DansDeals to let us know that they are once again allowing partner bookings to Tel Aviv,
“American continuously evaluates its network and we have nothing new to share at this time regarding Tel Aviv service. Customers who are planning travel to Israel can purchase tickets on aa.com on flights operated by our partner airlines that serve Tel Aviv.”
And indeed, you can once again book award tickets using American miles on AA.com to Israel!
Alas, American has not flown its own planes to Israel since 10/6/23. Do you think they will return to Israel?
Originally posted on 1/13:
US airlines continue to stay away from Israel. United CEO Scott Kirby has been quoted as saying that he has “no interest in returning to Tel Aviv only to pull out for a third time.”
That’s not illogical. Airlines have to plan their schedule months in advance, and holding planes in hopes of resuming service to Israel that can otherwise be used for new routes is costly indeed if it doesn’t pan out. As long as rockets fall on Israel, it will be tough for US airlines to make their way back.
Unions have been a major obstacle for airlines returning to Israel. Understandably, flight attendants don’t want to fly into, and overnight in a place where they may need to find a bomb shelter in the middle of the night. However, it’s not just about safety, after all, unions like the Association of Flight Attendants called for a ceasefire in Gaza just weeks after October 7th.
Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Ritchie Torres have accused airlines of politically boycotting Israel and point to union statements. I’m not convinced that it’s all politically motivated as there are certainly safety and financial reasons not to keep starting and stopping a route as United had to do multiple times in 2024.
However, American’s latest actions have made me wonder what’s going on. The airline hasn’t flown to Israel since 10/6/23 and service remains suspended indefinitely.
While United has also suspended service to Israel indefinitely, you can still book partner travel or use your United miles to fly to Israel on partner airlines:
Delta plans on resuming service to Tel Aviv in April, and is happy to sell flights on partners like El Al and Air France.
However, AA.com is blocking all flight sales to Tel Aviv, even on dates when American partners are selling flights or have mileage ticket award space.
Other OneWorld airlines, like Alaska and Qantas, are happy to book travel using their miles on British Airlines flights to Tel Aviv:
But when you search for flights to Tel Aviv on AA.com, it just returns an error:
Oddly enough, on the very same dates as above, AA.com is willing to book flights from London to Abu Dhabi that connect in Tel Aviv:
However, if you just search for the London to Tel Aviv flight on AA.com, it will return an error saying, “Something went wrong.”
Surely, this had to be a bug, right? Why would American block the booking of partner flights to Tel Aviv, but allow the same flight to be booked if connecting through Tel Aviv to another city?
DansDeals reached out to American to ask why they are blocking tickets to Tel Aviv, but allowing flights through Tel Aviv to other cities, with the examples above.
The airline responded that,
“Due to partner airlines’ evolving flight schedules and operations to Tel Aviv, American has suspended new ticket sales on aa.com for tickets on partner airlines to and from Tel Aviv.”
Honestly, that’s a really lousy excuse.
If American’s partners are selling flights to Israel, American shouldn’t block them. I have never heard of airlines blocking the ticketing of all flights to a country unless the law requires it. If the partner airline does wind up canceling the flights, American can always just provide a refund, no harm, no foul.
While Israel’s aviation services law requires compensation for canceled flights, that onus falls on the operating carrier, not the airline that sold you the ticket. Additionally, no compensation is owed if flights are canceled more than 2 weeks in advance or in the case of extraordinary circumstances not under the airline’s control.
American’s policy when they were canceling their own flights to Israel has been to just provide a refund and nothing else.
Why should AA passengers and mileage loyalists not even have a chance to book these flights?
Do you think American Airlines is boycotting Israel?
Like and share to ask American what they are doing:
Is @AmericanAir Boycotting Israel?
American no longer flies to Israel, but now they also won’t even sell partner award space to Israel!
If you try to book an award flight from London to Abu Dhabi on British Airways, you can do so with a stop in Tel Aviv.
But if you try to… pic.twitter.com/RIFNIV7XNC
— DansDeals (@DansDeals) January 13, 2025
