Emirates Air (or something else) home from Jerusalem

[VisionaryJax]

Howdy! Anyone who flies to the USA from Israel, or from Jerusalem to Houston, specifically, I have a question.

 

We will be cruising Dubai-Jerusalem, and we want to fly Houston to Dubai on Emirates because we have heard such great things about the airline, and this is our special 25th anniversary trip and we want everything luxurious so we will go business class. It looks as if we can fly home on Emirates as well, but we fly from Jerusalem back to Dubai to connect.

 

If the service and everything is as great as we've heard on Emirates, I don't mind that (except it seems a waste of time going backward), but if anyone has flown Jerusalem to Houston (or somewhere in the continental USA) on a different airline, I would be curious to hear of your experience and if it would be a better ending to our trip of a lifetime to take a more direct route home.

 

Thanks in advance for any information/opinions.

[Zach1213]

Just a heads up, there's not any international airport in Jerusalem and you'll be flying to/from Tel Aviv (TLV). I assume your cruise also ends in Tel Aviv or at least somewhere near Tel Aviv since Jerusalem is very much not a coastal city. 

 

Emirates Business Class is quite nice, so I would probably recommend that. I would say, after that, look at Turkish via Istanbul. There are plenty of other business class options between TLV and IAH (BA via London, Air France via Paris, Lufthansa via Frankfurt, KLM via Amsterdam, American via NYC, Delta via Atlanta/Boston/NYC, United via Chicago/Newark/DC) which will be fine, but I do think Emirates is a step above in both hard and soft product. If you don't mind backtracking a couple hours (going east TLV-DXB to go west DXB-IAH), you're sure to have an enjoyable flight. 

[Gardyloo]

It might be worth noting that according to ITA the TLV-DXB segment connecting to IAH will be operated by Emirates' low-cost subsidiary FlyDubai.  Assuming your flight is on their 737Max 9 planes, you'll have business class seats that are quite good (and almost unique for low-cost airlines) and you'll have a 4 1/2-hour layover at DXB, plenty of time for lounging.  But it does make for a VERY long day, over 24h in transit, which could be reduced significantly if you took another carrier.  

 

Longhaul business class products are becoming much more competitive and comparable, and the differences are shrinking.  While Emirates' reputation is high (much more their first class service than business class) whether it's worth the premium in price or length of time, is your call.  

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, Gardyloo said:

It might be worth noting that according to ITA the TLV-DXB segment connecting to IAH will be operated by Emirates' low-cost subsidiary FlyDubai. 

 

Interesting, I didn't know both FlyDubai and Emirates did TLV-DXB. My how times change! 

[CruiserBruce]

So, the purpose is to experience Emirates? Otherwise El Al or United fly from TLV to the US.

[FlyerTalker]

Be careful with Emirates (EK) business class.  Some of their 777s still have their old seating, which is a ghastly 2-3-2 configuration.  The difference between their A380 and old 777 business product is huge, with the new 777 biz seating somewhat better than before, but not at 380 level.  And most of their promotional photos are of the 380 interior, not the old 777.

 

You might want to consider flying Etihad through Abu Dhabi.  Even though Etihad doesn't service IAH on their own, you can get a ticket with the final segment into IAH on JetBlue or AA from either JFK or ORD.  I'd put the EY product above the old EK 777s, and as good or better than the new 777.

 

As for "going backwards" - in the big picture, it's a rounding error.  Your flight time from DXB to IAH is longer than you might suspect.

 

Just a few thoughts, but you definitely need to research the specific cabins on the aircraft used for your routes.

 

 

[VisionaryJax]

On 2/2/2023 at 11:15 AM, Zach1213 said:

Just a heads up, there's not any international airport in Jerusalem and you'll be flying to/from Tel Aviv (TLV). I assume your cruise also ends in Tel Aviv or at least somewhere near Tel Aviv since Jerusalem is very much not a coastal city. 

 

Emirates Business Class is quite nice, so I would probably recommend that. I would say, after that, look at Turkish via Istanbul. There are plenty of other business class options between TLV and IAH (BA via London, Air France via Paris, Lufthansa via Frankfurt, KLM via Amsterdam, American via NYC, Delta via Atlanta/Boston/NYC, United via Chicago/Newark/DC) which will be fine, but I do think Emirates is a step above in both hard and soft product. If you don't mind backtracking a couple hours (going east TLV-DXB to go west DXB-IAH), you're sure to have an enjoyable flight. 

Thank you for this! I did know we had to fly out of Tel Aviv; the cruise line is calling our final port Jerusalem, so I did, too. and thank you for the information/suggestions! Further down it was suggested Emirates business class and first class are quite different. Any thoughts? We've only every now and then upgraded on United, but we've seen such glowing reports about Emirates!

On 2/2/2023 at 11:29 AM, Gardyloo said:

It might be worth noting that according to ITA the TLV-DXB segment connecting to IAH will be operated by Emirates' low-cost subsidiary FlyDubai.  Assuming your flight is on their 737Max 9 planes, you'll have business class seats that are quite good (and almost unique for low-cost airlines) and you'll have a 4 1/2-hour layover at DXB, plenty of time for lounging.  But it does make for a VERY long day, over 24h in transit, which could be reduced significantly if you took another carrier.  

 

Longhaul business class products are becoming much more competitive and comparable, and the differences are shrinking.  While Emirates' reputation is high (much more their first class service than business class) whether it's worth the premium in price or length of time, is your call.  

Thank you! I was trying to figure that out about FlyDubai; it looked like it was bookable on Emirates site, and I thought the flight number looked like Emirates. And I agree, it would be a long day home after a long (for us) cruise. I wish I could set it up AFTER we fly on Emirates on the way there to see if it would be worth it!

On 2/2/2023 at 1:33 PM, CruiserBruce said:

So, the purpose is to experience Emirates? Otherwise El Al or United fly from TLV to the US.

Yeah, we definitely want to fly Houston to Dubai on Emirates as it appears to be a direct flight, and we've been curious to try them. We may just do United home from Tel Aviv as that would be more direct. I was wondering if the vaunted Emirates Business Class is worth the backtracking.

22 hours ago, FlyerTalker said:

Be careful with Emirates (EK) business class.  Some of their 777s still have their old seating, which is a ghastly 2-3-2 configuration.  The difference between their A380 and old 777 business product is huge, with the new 777 biz seating somewhat better than before, but not at 380 level.  And most of their promotional photos are of the 380 interior, not the old 777.

 

You might want to consider flying Etihad through Abu Dhabi.  Even though Etihad doesn't service IAH on their own, you can get a ticket with the final segment into IAH on JetBlue or AA from either JFK or ORD.  I'd put the EY product above the old EK 777s, and as good or better than the new 777.

 

As for "going backwards" - in the big picture, it's a rounding error.  Your flight time from DXB to IAH is longer than you might suspect.

 

Just a few thoughts, but you definitely need to research the specific cabins on the aircraft used for your routes.

 

 

Thank you! I am not at all familiar with the set-ups of the various cabins. As I was looking at Emirates online, the differences between Business Class and First Class didn't seem huge, but you are right, they wouldn't showcase older cabins with fewer amenities! I will definitely research more before I book.

 

Thank you everyone for responding! We haven't cruised in ages, but last time we did, I came here beforehand and found such helpful information and folks. I appreciate it!

[em-sk]

No shortage of options.  Every major European international airline is going to fly between Israel and the US.  Within North America this is Air Canada and a number of US airlines.   

 

Dubai will add extra time, in your flying east to turn around and fly west. 

[FlyerTalker]

14 hours ago, VisionaryJax said:

Thank you! I am not at all familiar with the set-ups of the various cabins. As I was looking at Emirates online, the differences between Business Class and First Class didn't seem huge, but you are right, they wouldn't showcase older cabins with fewer amenities! I will definitely research more before I book.

 

Emirates has done a great job of "selling" their airline as one of opulence and luxury.  They did this by having a "wow" first class product and using the halo effect to trickle down to other classes.  EK television spots show their first product, with the suites and showers.  But there is quite the drop down to business from that of first.

 

Is it a good business product?  On the 380 and new-interior 777s - yes.  Is it world-leading even there?  No.  It doesn't compare with Qatar's Q-Suite, nor with the newer products from ANA, Etihad and Singapore. 

 

Other things to consider - you may want to look into the various "free stopover" possibilities along the way.  Turkish will give you free stopover in Istanbul, along with a hotel in business class, for example.  Get to add in another interesting city along the way.

 

Best of luck.  Feel free to post with any other questions.

[VisionaryJax]

On 2/4/2023 at 5:34 AM, FlyerTalker said:

 

Emirates has done a great job of "selling" their airline as one of opulence and luxury.  They did this by having a "wow" first class product and using the halo effect to trickle down to other classes.  EK television spots show their first product, with the suites and showers.  But there is quite the drop down to business from that of first.

 

Is it a good business product?  On the 380 and new-interior 777s - yes.  Is it world-leading even there?  No.  It doesn't compare with Qatar's Q-Suite, nor with the newer products from ANA, Etihad and Singapore. 

 

Other things to consider - you may want to look into the various "free stopover" possibilities along the way.  Turkish will give you free stopover in Istanbul, along with a hotel in business class, for example.  Get to add in another interesting city along the way.

 

Best of luck.  Feel free to post with any other questions.

Thank you ! I appreciate it so much! I will probably be back with more questions as I do more research. I will look into the other airlines you mentions. Appreciate it!