El Al Israel Airlines

Very uncomfortable journey. Seats not good. Common inflight entertainment. Had ordered for Asian Vegetarian food but got a salad.

Mediocre and lackluster service. Impersonal staff, but not impolite. My friend had indicated vegan on both routes. (JFK to TLV and vice versa) and they had not even registered the option. Inflight entertainment is almost non existent. They play the movies for you and you don't control anything. Seat back screen size resembles a nintendo screen. Flying out of JFK, we were subjected to major harassment in the name of security. Our carry on's were kept at the gate and given to us and personally escorted to the plane. Obviously this is after going through and checking the entire contents of the bag. This is my 3rd time flying to Israel, but first on El Al. Never encountered anything remotely like this before.

Nothing was horrible, just mediocre. The cabin, seats, entertainment system, all seemed to be very old and updated. The carpet was worn and dirty, the seats uncomfortable and not able to lay flat. But beyond the second rate cabin facilities was the very second rate service. Nobody was impolite, it was more like they just weren't focused on the passengers. Every flight I took on this vacation (there were 4 legs) was significantly late taking off but the passengers were either left in the dark about the cause of the delay or we were given some implausible explanation (ATC issues that involved no weather or unusual traffic). I suspect that the real issue is that El Al is so focused on security, and spends so much money on it, that they just don't have resources left to deal with the finer points of running a decent airline.

TLV-OTP-TLV. Outbound Boeing 737-900ER, brand new aircraft with sky interior and slim new seats. Very good entertainment, overhead LCD with TV shows. Food very good some chicken tapas, tahini hummus, pita salad and chocolate mousse. Crew young, smiling and friendly. Got delayed for 2 hours because of some closed routes but kept informing us so no problem. Boarding done quickly and right after takeoff so no waiting on aircraft. Inbound Boeing 737-800. Left before time and upgraded to preferred seat for $50, great seat near window emergency exit with a lot of space, also middle seat empty so felt like European business on other airlines. Again overhead entertainment on LCD screen. Didn't eat but choice was tapas - either tuna or chicken. Given 2 cans of cola and fanta. Crew friendly and young purser was very funny. Captains update on route weather and procedures very nice. Will fly again, definitely improved and with new aircraft cheaper and better than competitors.

Such relief to get on an EL AL flight after other planes. Swiss and El Al are up there then Lufthansa then the rest. You feel like you're finally taken care of. Good well maintained planes responsible professional flight attendants normal seats (better on Swiss but the El Al entertainment was much better). Very good food the attendant offered a second "leftover" plateau when my colleague said he was still hungry. They get the job done professionally and with care. All in all great experience.

May 12th LY32. May 21 LY31. We were very disappointed with our flights to and from Tel Aviv. The seats are the most uncomfortable seats that you can possibly sit in. The seats need to be re-stufffed. They have been this way for a very long time and we do not plan to fly El Al until we are assured that the problem is fixed. As well there were problems with the electrical system as when we tried to read the lights kept going off.

Hong Kong - Tel Aviv on a rather tired B777-200 aircraft. Flight delayed at Hong Kong for an hour as part of an effort to solve the inoperative In-Flight Entertainment System of the aircraft. The IFE remained unusable during the entire 13 hour flight for all passengers. The online seat reservation system indicated a reserved window seat but on arrival at the airport I discovered that no reservation had been made and I was given the dreaded middle seat. The seat was uncomfortable and the adjustable headrest could not maintain its position. The wine revolution that has swept Israel during the last 15 years has obviously deftly bypassed El Al. The red wine can best be described as simple plonk better used for cooking. The meals were a little industrial but average on a world standard. The crew were friendly and tried hard. The purser's announcements were in broken English and thus barely coherent including the safety demo which was performed manually due to inop IFE. This safety demo was without the life jacket explanation leaving the embarrassed giggling cabin staff standing with life jackets in hand. With an aged widebody fleet El Al happily charge a premium price and provide a mediocre flight experience. These particular thirteen hours left a very poor impression indeed.

Flew July 2014 from TLV to FRA with the B737-900ER 4X-EHE at this time it was a month old the crew were very friendly the food was delicious. It was a morning flight so we got breakfast omelette salad onions pitta bread with hummus tea or coffee and light drinks. The seats were extremely comfortable the interior looks like the Boeing 787's cabin the Inflight Entertainment was fair on the main screen 3 movies were screened live news and radio channels. Boarding was fast but when we finished boarding a siren was sounded a rocket was launched to Tel Aviv crew were very calm and said we had to evacuate the aircraft but once we had evacuated almost immediately we got back on. Landing was on time. I'm satisfied with everything on EL Al.

ATH-TLV-ATH on a new B787-800 cabin clean but are between seats narrow. Plane departed Athens with 15 minutes late (on return was on time). Service was nice offered newspapers before boarding the plane. Only a sandwich and a bottle of water was offered. Two television programs was shown on the drop down screens there were 7 music channels with great earphones to hear it. Overall good service but nothing outstanding. Security check was speedy with a lot of station serving the passengers.

I fly frequently from MXP to TLV. Check-in procedure is always annoying both in MXP and in TLV being asked dozens of questions of the reason why I keep flying to Israel is ridiculous and does not feel me any safer. They inspect your luggage and open all bottles (e.g. shampoo creams) so you end up having a mess in your suitcase when you land. Seats are ok crew is never friendly food is great best ever on an airline. There is individual entertainment and the movies they show during the flight are fairly old.