Los Angeles to Tel Aviv Flights (LAX to TLV): The El Al Nonstop, Flight Time and Arrival

One of the longest nonstops out of Los Angeles

El Al has flown Los Angeles to Tel Aviv nonstop for decades, and as of recent schedules it is the only airline on the pair. The flight typically departs in the evening and lands in Israel the following evening, local time, and runs most days of the week except around Shabbat, when El Al does not operate. It is one of El Al's longest routes and one of the longest nonstops from LAX in any direction.

No US airline has flown Los Angeles to Tel Aviv nonstop. If the El Al flight is full, does not operate on your day, or you would rather break the journey, the one-stop options are:

• Newark on United: a transcontinental first leg, then the most frequent US nonstops to Tel Aviv. El Al also departs from Newark.
• JFK on Delta or El Al: Delta flies Los Angeles to JFK and on to Tel Aviv; El Al's JFK departures are the most frequent in its US network.
• San Francisco on United: United has operated a nonstop from San Francisco to Tel Aviv a few times a week; Los Angeles to San Francisco is a short hop.
• Europe: Lufthansa (Frankfurt and Munich), Swiss (Zurich), Austrian (Vienna), British Airways (London Heathrow), Air France (Paris), KLM (Amsterdam) and Iberia (Madrid) all fly from Los Angeles and continue to Tel Aviv when their Israel services are operating.

Israel flights across these carriers have been suspended and restored several times since late 2023. El Al has kept flying throughout, but confirm any other airline's Tel Aviv leg is operating before you book.

Flight time and distance

Los Angeles to Ben Gurion is about 7,550 miles (roughly 12,150 km) in a straight line. The nonstop takes around 14.5 to 15.5 hours eastbound and 15.5 to 16.5 hours on the return, when it flies into the jet stream on a northerly routing over Canada and Europe. Via Newark or JFK the total is 16 to 19 hours including the connection; via Europe, 17 to 21.

The eastbound nonstop leaves in the evening and lands in Tel Aviv the following evening; with a ten-hour time difference you arrive a full calendar day after departure. The return leaves Tel Aviv in the late evening or around midnight and lands in Los Angeles in the morning or early afternoon of the following day.

Departing from LAX

El Al departs from the Tom Bradley International Terminal (TBIT), the large international terminal at the head of the LAX horseshoe. El Al runs its own security questioning before check-in, and its counters close earlier than US airlines, so arrive three hours before departure even without checked bags. TBIT's check-in hall is busiest in the early evening when a dozen long-haul flights leave together, and the El Al queue is often separate and well signed.

If you are connecting from a domestic flight on another airline, remember that LAX terminals are linked airside by walkways from some terminals and by shuttle bus from others, and that on a separate ticket you must collect your bags and check in again. The FlyAway bus from Union Station and Van Nuys and the Metro connection via the LAX shuttle stop are the public transport options; allow for traffic on the 405 at any time of day.

Arriving at Ben Gurion and getting into Tel Aviv

International flights arrive at Terminal 3. Passport control prints a small entry card instead of stamping your passport; keep it, because hotels ask for it to apply the tourist VAT exemption. The arrivals hall, taxi rank and train station are on the lower levels and clearly signposted.

The train from under Terminal 3 reaches Tel Aviv's HaHagana, HaShalom and Savidor Central stations in about 15 to 20 minutes and Jerusalem's Yitzhak Navon station in about half an hour. Israel Railways does not sell paper tickets, so buy a Rav-Kav card at the station or use a ticketing app. Official taxis from the supervised rank take 20 to 40 minutes into central Tel Aviv depending on traffic.

The El Al nonstop lands in the evening, which is fine for the train on most days. Trains and most buses stop from Friday afternoon until Saturday evening for Shabbat, so a connection on another airline that lands late on Friday means a taxi or shared sherut.

Time difference and jet lag

Tel Aviv is ten hours ahead of Los Angeles for most of the year. Israel and the US change their clocks on different dates, so for a couple of weeks in March and late October the gap is nine or eleven hours.

Ten hours is close to a full day-night flip. Eastbound, the evening arrival is a help: eat, go to bed at a normal local hour and get morning light the next day. Expect three or four days to feel settled. Westbound, the nonstop lands in Los Angeles in the morning after a very long night, and staying awake until evening is the single most useful thing you can do.

When to fly and when to book

April and May and October to early November are Tel Aviv's most comfortable months, warm and dry. June to September is hot and humid on the coast, stickier than a Los Angeles summer; December to February is mild with most of the year's rain.

Fares follow the Jewish calendar. Passover in spring, the Rosh Hashanah to Sukkot period in September or October, Hanukkah in December and the US summer break are the peaks, and the Los Angeles nonstop serves the whole of Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, so it fills early. The airport closes for about a day over Yom Kippur. Book holiday travel three to five months ahead; in the quiet late-autumn and January to February weeks, a few weeks' notice often works.

Entry requirements

As of recent rules, US passport holders need no visa for short visits but must hold an approved ETA-IL electronic travel authorisation before departure, which the airline checks at check-in. Confirm the current rules on the official Israeli government site a few weeks before you fly, and make sure your passport is valid for at least six months beyond arrival.

Israel does not stamp passports. Security questioning before departure in both directions is routine; answer plainly and allow time for it.

What Los Angeles travellers get wrong

The most common mistake is treating El Al like a US airline and arriving at TBIT ninety minutes before departure, after the counters have closed. The second is booking a separate domestic hop into LAX and losing all protection when it runs late. The third is booking the Tel Aviv hotel for the wrong night, because a ten-hour time difference and an overnight flight put your arrival a full day after departure.