I usually buy my airline tickets through Tauck.. Is there any way to do this without waiting on the phone? email etc? Trip is in Oct so there is time but wasn't sure it was a go until now...
We were on the Sept. 1 Rhine/Moselle cruise(re-scheduled from last year) and had Business class flights through Tauck for $3300 round trip from Orlando. Due to the uncertainty in Europe we cancelled and booked a US tour instead. Hope you have a great journey.
Von, unfortunately you have to do it by phone. Too much interaction/conversation required. The agent needs to know your preferences, exact dates (many people add days to their trip that aren't part of the actual tour) and then you need to know what flights they have contracted rates and availability. You can do some research on your own which helps you make a more informed decision. Sorry.
We called Tauck to arrange air for our 2022 Israel Jordan tour about 12-45pm today and waited less than ten minutes. Tauck’s contracted routes were dreadful and unacceptable to us, so the agent looked at the public schedule ….we had already looked before we called so knew more direct routining was available. The agent booked those for us….and surprisingly, they were $800 less each for business class than we paid this year before our 2021 tour was canceled. It’s always worth doing some research on routing and prices before you call. We fell fowl of Tauck’s choices in our early days of travel with them
Sometimes Tauck's work and sometimes not. They didn't work for us when we booked flights for Switzerland 2020 so I booked my own saving money and a better itinerary. Sweated getting a full refund but ultimately did last summer. For 2021 I played it safe using Tauck. Out of curiosity, I just checked how much the flights we currently have booked with Tauck would cost if booked today. Not counting a short flight from Zurich to Paris between our Switzerland and French tours, the flights are about $5,000 more. The originals weren't cheap but much better than these.
I paid $2300 in 2019, Toronto to Tel Aviv, via Istanbul and then Amman,Istanbul, Toronto on the return using Turkish Air. Did on my own, not Tauck air.
We booked our air thru Tauck for April 2022 Israel Jordan. Business Class Airfare was about $3700 from Chicago-Frankfort-Tel Aviv and Amman-Frankfort-Chicago on Lufthansa.
So our Tauck air was also Lufthansa via Frankfurt, but from Philly, so we are saving around $500 or $600 but in March. Also, the landing fees to Chicago could be more. Either way, it was cheaper than if we had gone this year.
Jan 511 - Our TA booked our Business air 2 weeks ago on Lufthansa with Tauck - Dulles - Frankfurt - Cairo for our March 24th, 2022 Egypt Jewel of the Nile trip. Cost was around $3500 per person. So the rates are similar. We even have our seat assignments and we are on the upper deck where there is only Business class seating. The best part is we didn't spend a dollar and do not have to until final payment is due.
We did the Israel Jordan trip in October 2018 and it is an outstanding trip! We loved Israel. Enjoy !
Virginia Travelers, same for us. Upper deck seating and no payment until final! We have not yet been able to make our air reservations for the Tauck Best of Hawaii in February. Perhaps in another 10 days or so.
BKMD - it is a 747. Off the top of my head I think it is a 747-800. Don't know what other planes have upper decks but it was amazingly quiet and we loved it except for the seat arrangement. We had to keep raising our seat window dividers between us at the window and our neighbor in the aisle seat and the staff kept lowering them (see below).
Jan 511 - We were on an upper deck flight on Israel/Jordan but with BA. It was great being on the upper deck but BA is a terrible Business class seat arrangement where you sit facing your neighbor from a foot away and then when leaving a window seat have to literally hop over the person in the previous row who could be sleeping. Even worse we had to deal with Heathrow. Told our TA never book us on BA and Heathrow again.
Happy to hear you are on Lufthansa. A great benefit of being in Business is when landing in Tel Aviv and heading to immigration. We were the second couple getting off the plane and got to immigration before anyone else. Passed through quickly and we were on our way after 2 other couples arrived. I remember we got to our Tel Aviv hotel sometime in the 1:30 AM timeframe. We had the gift of time so rested in the AM, had breakfast, and then walked around the Med beach and the Carmel market. It was a fantastic start to the trip.
Agree with you about BA. Besides the terrible seat configuration, their 747s were/are in need of refurbishment, big time. I seem to recall someone (AlanS?) posting a link about them being pulled out of service, so that's a good thing.
While I like Lufthansa's across the pond business class, I hate their intra-Europe (which includes flights from FRA and MUC to the middle east) fake business class, simply leaving the middle seat in an economy row empty. That will be enough for me to look elsewhere when I book my late 2022 Egypt flights.
Anyone who hasn't booked yet and will be booking your own flights for the Israel & Jordan, Jordan & Egypt, and Egypt tours might want to look into Turkish Airlines. No stops in Europe just Istanbul then decent planes to Amman, Jerusalem, and Cairo. Turkish US gateway cities include EWR, JFK, ALT, BOS, ORD, IAH, LAX, MIA, SFO, and IAD. Their price was one of the best for business. We don't fly until 2022 but SmilingSam on them back from his J&I trip. We are using Delta as a feeder (burning miles) so have separate bookings, but they will book with other Star Alliance carriers, e..g. United so single ticket and baggage transferred.
When I booked Egypt the first time, last year, I recall looking at Egypt Air as well. They had nice planes. The only downside, if you're a drinker, is no alcohol on board. I haven't looked at their flights since Covid, so no idea if any routes were cancelled. I'm going Nov 2022, so won't be looking at flights for another 6 months.
We were going to fly Turkish on our postponed Jordan & Egypt tour and plan on doing so next year when it was rescheduled. We've flown Turkish before and were quite happy with the service.
BKMD - we know about the Intra-Europe Lufthansa fake Business class seating and avoid it. Luthansa from Frankfurt to Cairo should be OK for NORMAL business class seating like our flights. Going from Frankfurt to Rome or Paris on Lufthansa is where you run into the seating issue. When we are working with our TA on flights and planes we ALWAYS use seatguru,com. You plug in an airline, a date, a flight number and up pops the plane type and then clicking on that gives you the seating configuration. You can see where your seats would be and even read the comments from previous travelers about seats. Some are also are color coded - red = avoid, green = great etc. It has helped us a lot over the years.
On both our flights from Dulles to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Cairo and the same flights for our return we have 2 side by side seats. The seating on the Dulles flight in the upper deck is a 2-3-2 and we have a window and aisle seat next to it. One has to be really careful with the games BA and Lufthansa plays.
VT - When looking to book the Israel/Jordan trip in 2019, I recall the FRA-TLV flight on Lufthansa used the intra-Europe fake biz class seating. Perhaps that's different for Cairo. I, too, have used seatguru.com for many years.
I, too, always check seatguru.com, but I don't mind the intra-Europe seating. (I'm short.) Aer Lingus has very good business class fares to Europe. They use the "front of the plane, seats A & C or D&E" business class within Europe, which is often a short flight, but I can have a lie-flat seat on the trans-Atlantic flight and then use the business class lounge while I wait for my short flight within Europe. I can also use a business class lounge (if one is available) from wherever I am in Europe before boarding the return flight to Dublin. When I went to Cairo, I flew AF through Paris and had lie flat business class seats from BOS to CDG and CDG to CAI. I'm still a big fan of Turkish Air, though, which I flew both ways on the Israel and Jordan trip, and which I have booked for my "Jerusalem, the Red Sea and Petra" trip next March.
I use Seatguru also, but since Tripadvisor (I think) took them over, the detailed seat descriptions are not available on my iPad. They flash for a moment then disappear.
MCD
June 30
I, too, always check seatguru.com, but I don't mind the intra-Europe seating.
For the most part it is not the fact that the intra-Euro business seats are the same as economy seats (with empty seat between), at least for a short flight- it is the fact we are paying too much for those seats!! With seatguru you need to ensure you are looking at the correct aircraft- some aircraft types have 3 and 4 different seating arrangements, depending on model.
I'm still a big fan of Turkish Air, though, which I flew both ways on the Israel and Jordan trip, and which I have booked for my "Jerusalem, the Red Sea and Petra" trip next March.
I went with the recommendations of you and Smiling Sam- we are booked on Turkish for our J&E flights next March. For a month or so I had an issue with seating- the inbound flight/ticket details said the flight from Istanbul (IST) to JFK was on a 787-9 (with 1-2-1 seating) however the seat selection diagram showed a 777-300E (with 2-3-2 seating) cabin. I tried to tell Turkish, but it was like I was speaking Greek. They finally uploaded the correct seating plan about a month or so later.
I'm looking forward to Turkish the aircraft (relatively new 787-9 and brand new A350-900), highly rated in-flight meals (on-board chef(?)), their fabulous lounge in IST, and not stopping in any of the usual western European layover airports either direction. It looks like we will be on a new A321neo from Cairo to IST.
Can someone can tell me which partner lounge(s) Turkish business passengers can use in Chicago and what it/they are like. Hopefully we will be able to use any Star Alliance lounge? I read they use SwissPort at some airports which is kinda of a dump compared to most others. We don't plan to eat there before the outbound flight, instead we will wait for the highly touted inflight and IST lounge eats, but we've got 3 hour layovers - separate domestic US tickets- our feeder airline is not a Star Alliance member so I left more time than usual to retrieve and recheck our bags.
Also, what about lounge access at JFK after the inbound flight (we get that when we fly Delta) before we fly onward to our feeder airport on Delta.
I agree they are sort of false advertising but I figure there is at least the advantage of getting off the plane at the head of the pack heading to customs. And (sorry to be graphic) I have a better opportunity to visit the toilet before landing instead of the usual hunt for a restroom and inevitable long lines that plague women's facilities.
Comments
We were on the Sept. 1 Rhine/Moselle cruise(re-scheduled from last year) and had Business class flights through Tauck for $3300 round trip from Orlando. Due to the uncertainty in Europe we cancelled and booked a US tour instead. Hope you have a great journey.
Von, unfortunately you have to do it by phone. Too much interaction/conversation required. The agent needs to know your preferences, exact dates (many people add days to their trip that aren't part of the actual tour) and then you need to know what flights they have contracted rates and availability. You can do some research on your own which helps you make a more informed decision. Sorry.
Thanks, that's helpful.. I'll just wait on the phone
We called Tauck to arrange air for our 2022 Israel Jordan tour about 12-45pm today and waited less than ten minutes. Tauck’s contracted routes were dreadful and unacceptable to us, so the agent looked at the public schedule ….we had already looked before we called so knew more direct routining was available. The agent booked those for us….and surprisingly, they were $800 less each for business class than we paid this year before our 2021 tour was canceled. It’s always worth doing some research on routing and prices before you call. We fell fowl of Tauck’s choices in our early days of travel with them
Sometimes Tauck's work and sometimes not. They didn't work for us when we booked flights for Switzerland 2020 so I booked my own saving money and a better itinerary. Sweated getting a full refund but ultimately did last summer. For 2021 I played it safe using Tauck. Out of curiosity, I just checked how much the flights we currently have booked with Tauck would cost if booked today. Not counting a short flight from Zurich to Paris between our Switzerland and French tours, the flights are about $5,000 more. The originals weren't cheap but much better than these.
Wow, our business class flights to Israel Jordan were just over $3000 each today
I paid about 4500 two years ago on Air Canada (DEN-YYZ-TLV) and United/LH (AMM-FRA-DEN)
(edited to add details)
I paid $2300 in 2019, Toronto to Tel Aviv, via Istanbul and then Amman,Istanbul, Toronto on the return using Turkish Air. Did on my own, not Tauck air.
We booked our air thru Tauck for April 2022 Israel Jordan. Business Class Airfare was about $3700 from Chicago-Frankfort-Tel Aviv and Amman-Frankfort-Chicago on Lufthansa.
So our Tauck air was also Lufthansa via Frankfurt, but from Philly, so we are saving around $500 or $600 but in March. Also, the landing fees to Chicago could be more. Either way, it was cheaper than if we had gone this year.
Jan 511 - Our TA booked our Business air 2 weeks ago on Lufthansa with Tauck - Dulles - Frankfurt - Cairo for our March 24th, 2022 Egypt Jewel of the Nile trip. Cost was around $3500 per person. So the rates are similar. We even have our seat assignments and we are on the upper deck where there is only Business class seating. The best part is we didn't spend a dollar and do not have to until final payment is due.
We did the Israel Jordan trip in October 2018 and it is an outstanding trip! We loved Israel. Enjoy !
VT - Is it a 747 or A380? I don't think any others have an upper deck, or do they?
Virginia Travelers, same for us. Upper deck seating and no payment until final! We have not yet been able to make our air reservations for the Tauck Best of Hawaii in February. Perhaps in another 10 days or so.
BKMD - it is a 747. Off the top of my head I think it is a 747-800. Don't know what other planes have upper decks but it was amazingly quiet and we loved it except for the seat arrangement. We had to keep raising our seat window dividers between us at the window and our neighbor in the aisle seat and the staff kept lowering them (see below).
Jan 511 - We were on an upper deck flight on Israel/Jordan but with BA. It was great being on the upper deck but BA is a terrible Business class seat arrangement where you sit facing your neighbor from a foot away and then when leaving a window seat have to literally hop over the person in the previous row who could be sleeping. Even worse we had to deal with Heathrow. Told our TA never book us on BA and Heathrow again.
Happy to hear you are on Lufthansa. A great benefit of being in Business is when landing in Tel Aviv and heading to immigration. We were the second couple getting off the plane and got to immigration before anyone else. Passed through quickly and we were on our way after 2 other couples arrived. I remember we got to our Tel Aviv hotel sometime in the 1:30 AM timeframe. We had the gift of time so rested in the AM, had breakfast, and then walked around the Med beach and the Carmel market. It was a fantastic start to the trip.
Agree with you about BA. Besides the terrible seat configuration, their 747s were/are in need of refurbishment, big time. I seem to recall someone (AlanS?) posting a link about them being pulled out of service, so that's a good thing.
While I like Lufthansa's across the pond business class, I hate their intra-Europe (which includes flights from FRA and MUC to the middle east) fake business class, simply leaving the middle seat in an economy row empty. That will be enough for me to look elsewhere when I book my late 2022 Egypt flights.
Anyone who hasn't booked yet and will be booking your own flights for the Israel & Jordan, Jordan & Egypt, and Egypt tours might want to look into Turkish Airlines. No stops in Europe just Istanbul then decent planes to Amman, Jerusalem, and Cairo. Turkish US gateway cities include EWR, JFK, ALT, BOS, ORD, IAH, LAX, MIA, SFO, and IAD. Their price was one of the best for business. We don't fly until 2022 but SmilingSam on them back from his J&I trip. We are using Delta as a feeder (burning miles) so have separate bookings, but they will book with other Star Alliance carriers, e..g. United so single ticket and baggage transferred.
When I booked Egypt the first time, last year, I recall looking at Egypt Air as well. They had nice planes. The only downside, if you're a drinker, is no alcohol on board. I haven't looked at their flights since Covid, so no idea if any routes were cancelled. I'm going Nov 2022, so won't be looking at flights for another 6 months.
We were going to fly Turkish on our postponed Jordan & Egypt tour and plan on doing so next year when it was rescheduled. We've flown Turkish before and were quite happy with the service.
BKMD - we know about the Intra-Europe Lufthansa fake Business class seating and avoid it. Luthansa from Frankfurt to Cairo should be OK for NORMAL business class seating like our flights. Going from Frankfurt to Rome or Paris on Lufthansa is where you run into the seating issue. When we are working with our TA on flights and planes we ALWAYS use seatguru,com. You plug in an airline, a date, a flight number and up pops the plane type and then clicking on that gives you the seating configuration. You can see where your seats would be and even read the comments from previous travelers about seats. Some are also are color coded - red = avoid, green = great etc. It has helped us a lot over the years.
On both our flights from Dulles to Frankfurt and Frankfurt to Cairo and the same flights for our return we have 2 side by side seats. The seating on the Dulles flight in the upper deck is a 2-3-2 and we have a window and aisle seat next to it. One has to be really careful with the games BA and Lufthansa plays.
VT - When looking to book the Israel/Jordan trip in 2019, I recall the FRA-TLV flight on Lufthansa used the intra-Europe fake biz class seating. Perhaps that's different for Cairo. I, too, have used seatguru.com for many years.
I, too, always check seatguru.com, but I don't mind the intra-Europe seating. (I'm short.) Aer Lingus has very good business class fares to Europe. They use the "front of the plane, seats A & C or D&E" business class within Europe, which is often a short flight, but I can have a lie-flat seat on the trans-Atlantic flight and then use the business class lounge while I wait for my short flight within Europe. I can also use a business class lounge (if one is available) from wherever I am in Europe before boarding the return flight to Dublin. When I went to Cairo, I flew AF through Paris and had lie flat business class seats from BOS to CDG and CDG to CAI. I'm still a big fan of Turkish Air, though, which I flew both ways on the Israel and Jordan trip, and which I have booked for my "Jerusalem, the Red Sea and Petra" trip next March.
I use Seatguru also, but since Tripadvisor (I think) took them over, the detailed seat descriptions are not available on my iPad. They flash for a moment then disappear.
For the most part it is not the fact that the intra-Euro business seats are the same as economy seats (with empty seat between), at least for a short flight- it is the fact we are paying too much for those seats!! With seatguru you need to ensure you are looking at the correct aircraft- some aircraft types have 3 and 4 different seating arrangements, depending on model.
I went with the recommendations of you and Smiling Sam- we are booked on Turkish for our J&E flights next March.
For a month or so I had an issue with seating- the inbound flight/ticket details said the flight from Istanbul (IST) to JFK was on a 787-9 (with 1-2-1 seating) however the seat selection diagram showed a 777-300E (with 2-3-2 seating) cabin. I tried to tell Turkish, but it was like I was speaking Greek. 
They finally uploaded the correct seating plan about a month or so later.
I'm looking forward to Turkish the aircraft (relatively new 787-9 and brand new A350-900), highly rated in-flight meals (on-board chef(?)), their fabulous lounge in IST, and not stopping in any of the usual western European layover airports either direction. It looks like we will be on a new A321neo from Cairo to IST.
Can someone can tell me which partner lounge(s) Turkish business passengers can use in Chicago and what it/they are like. Hopefully we will be able to use any Star Alliance lounge? I read they use SwissPort at some airports which is kinda of a dump compared to most others. We don't plan to eat there before the outbound flight, instead we will wait for the highly touted inflight and IST lounge eats, but we've got 3 hour layovers - separate domestic US tickets- our feeder airline is not a Star Alliance member so I left more time than usual to retrieve and recheck our bags.
Also, what about lounge access at JFK after the inbound flight (we get that when we fly Delta) before we fly onward to our feeder airport on Delta.
I agree they are sort of false advertising but I figure there is at least the advantage of getting off the plane at the head of the pack heading to customs. And (sorry to be graphic) I have a better opportunity to visit the toilet before landing instead of the usual hunt for a restroom and inevitable long lines that plague women's facilities.