El Al Israel Airlines

Not Verified | New York JFK to Tel Aviv. Worst airline I have ever flown. Terrible food, and good luck getting drinks because the airline is cheap and only offered drinks twice on an over 10 hour flight. And the airline staff? They are the rudest people I have ever encountered! Shame on them! When the plane landed, some passengers got out of their seats while we were still moving on the tarmac. The Captain came on over the intercom and told people to remain in their seats, but they didn't listen and continued to remove their luggage from the overhead compartments while we were heading to the gate. Where was the flight staff? Absolutely no where to be found. This is my second time visiting Israel. The last time I flew United. Same price, wonderful airline. I thought it might be fun to fly on an Israeli airline this time. Big mistake. Bad food, broken down, archaic airline, rude staff and I am so embarrassed I flew this airline with my friend. I could have flown United and had a wonderful flight. This airline isn't just cheap, it's miserly. Awful.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Tel Aviv. Rude and hostile cabin crew who behaved differently depending on whether you are Jewish or not. As I am not they were quite nasty to me. I definitely won’t fly with them again.

✅ Trip Verified | Mumbai to Tel Aviv. When I entered the airport (3 hours before boarding) there was a long queue to check in the bags and I had no idea about pre security checks of El Al before issuing boarding pass. There were many Israeli citizens behind me in the queue but they were called before us for pre security and issued boarding pass before people like me ie Indians. This type of discrimination by the airline security staff should not be done and made me upset. The security asked me lots of questions which I answered to their satisfaction and to be honest I was never questioned so much in my entire life. Also just before boarding my all carry on items were opened and checked by the same security. During the flight the usb plug points were not working. Seating and food served was good and to the satisfaction. Just before landing in Tel Aviv the air hostess told me that my checked in bag has not been loaded on the plane and I’ll get the same within 24 hours. She informed me to collect the property irregularity report from lost & found at Tel Aviv and assured me twice that I’ll receive my checked in bag within 24 hours at my hotel in Tel Aviv. It has been two days that my baggage has not arrived and as per the customer care of El Al my baggage is still in Mumbai. My entire vacation in Israel is ruined because all my winter clothing / shoes is in my checked in bag. The airline is providing me a mere compensation of $100 to buy clothes for entire trip. This entire time I had to follow up with airline again and again, there is no communication from their end which surprises me. I’m still waiting for my baggage and I hope airline takes this seriously. Very disappointed with the so called national airline and there is lack of professionalism.

✅ Trip Verified | Tel Aviv to New York JFK. Boeing 747-400 is an old plane but there is no other experience like the upper deck. Seat layout is 2X2 with old version of flat bed. Service was very good, food was good and overall experience was ok. No WiFi and very old entertainment system as its old aircraft.

✅ Trip Verified | Milan to Tel Aviv. Good European Business class with separate cabin and full business service. 16 Seats in configuration of 2x2. Air crew was professional, nice and welcome, food was good. WiFi worked well and it was free.

✅ Trip Verified | Flying with El Al is unpleasant every time. From preboarding to on flight service, it is not about customer service. It is about safety ( good thing , but it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice being a nice person). I choose El Al because of the direct flights from Los Angeles. I cannot stand the employees, almost all are unpleasant to interact with. They seem like they enjoy being terrible people.

✅ Trip Verified | I'm a Brazilian, I already visited Israel flying with Aeroflot. The day before yesterday I bought business class for the flight from Vienna to Tel Aviv. During check-in (I was one of the first to make check-in) procedure I was informed my luggage gonna go in another airplane and come later. I need to show my phone, search my name in google and explain why I bought a ticket at the same day as the flight is, why my flight was booked from the Russian travel agency (my wife is Russian so she used to book for me tickets for the last 6 years - nobody ever asked it). Despite I booked business class I am allowed travel only in economy class. When I refused and ask to give me any document where will be written that they dont allow me to travel - they refused - saying that they allow and that I am refusing. I asked to write that they offered me to travel in economy instead of business and I refused - They said that they cannot give me anything because they dont need explain the security reasons. After me insisting and calling to the agency - they asked airport security to check cameras of the airport and check what I was doing before approach check-in. Of course my luggage was checked 3 times. I felt myself like a suspect to be a terrorist or something like this, despite the fact that I have 1000-s of stamps from all over the world - yes there 2 stamps from Emirates - but even if it could be because of them - its not the representative of the airlines who decide to allow the entrance to the country- and this stamps are old - after this I already visited Israel. Ridiculous, non-professional, rude - worst service I ever saw in my life.

✅ Trip Verified | Tel Aviv to Toronto. Fantastic timing, being a night flight and arriving early morning. Excellent king David lounge in Tel Aviv. Lounge in Toronto is shared with KLM, which is a little lousy. Inflight service was very friendly. in a couple of months the Boeing 787 will be in service for this route.

✅ Trip Verified | London to Tel Aviv. Fresh new Boeing 787-9 with very nice business class, seat configuration is 1x2x1. Seat is very conformable with wide screen and very good entertainment system. Kit was nice with Ferragamo brand kit. The seats is isolated with direct access to aisle. Team was very good and professional.

✅ Trip Verified | Sofia to Tel Aviv. I haven't experienced such a poor customer service so far. During the security screening process I received completely unprofessional treatment, this person was asking me questions and after each question was leaving me alone and was going to consult his supervisor for further steps. Therefore the procedure was very long and humiliating. I was travelling with 4 friends for holidays from Sofia to Israel on 2nd of November 2018 Friday with a flight LY0552 at 11:55. After the admission interviews we have checked-in together, therefore the company representative who attended us checked my luggage under the name of one of my friends by mistake. So basically my luggage was registered under the name of Nikoleta Boerikova. Prior the boarding the security informed my friend Nikoleta that they have removed few items from her bag for further checks and they were going to send her the stuff in a separate box once we would arrive on the airport in Israel . We have arrived on the Ben Gurion Airport around 14:20 and we didn't receive any box with the missing items. Nikoleta claimed the missing box thinking that this was part of her luggage(Attached the number of the report filled on the airport ). After we have left the airport and went to the hotel. As soon as I arrived in the hotel I have noticed that all my cosmetics , perfume Bulgari and black swimming suit were missing from my luggage and immediately realized that the removed items were from my luggage not from Nikoleta's one. Respectively we have noticed that on my luggage there was a sticker with the name of Nikoleta Boerikova and on her briefcase there was my name instead. During my vacations I had no cosmetics and no swimming suit because they have removed the most important things for a traveling person on vacations and on top of everything you have registered my luggage under the name of another person. I have claimed the missing items 1 week ago and still pending at least an answer! I am extremely disappointed! This is unacceptable service.