People struggle to leave Israel as flights book up

Securing direct flights from Israel to the UK has become increasingly difficult with more airlines cancelling flights after the Hamas attacks. Virgin is now operating one flight to and from Tel Aviv a day instead of two and BA is flying one round trip. EasyJet, Ryanair, Wizz Air, Air France, Lufthansa and Emirates have suspended flights from Israel into the UK. One travel agent said he been "inundated" with calls from people trying to get flights back to the UK. Jeremy Segel, director of West End Travel, which specialises in trips to Israel, said many flights were booked up with only the "odd seat" available. He arrived back in the UK on Monday with his family which were part of 44-strong group who journeyed to celebrate the Jewish festival of Sukkot. While his BA flight was delayed, Segel said people were "panicking" in Ben Gurion Airport as they learned of flights being cancelled. At one stage, "everyone started running" in the airport over a false alarm of an attack. "People are very nervous, people are very defensive," he said. BA's website shows that its earliest flight to the UK from Ben Gurion Airport is on Monday 16 October and a one-way ticket costing more than GBP1,300. For the following Monday, a ticket is about GBP226. Virgin Atlantic and Israel's national carrier El Al - which is still operating two flights daily to London Heathrow and two to Luton Airport - have no availability on their UK-bound services until next week. Several airlines have introduced flexible booking policies and allowed customers to change travel dates for free.<br/>