Arkia Israeli Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | The worst airline I have seen. First they don’t respect their customers, they only see money in front of them if you have 1 extra kg you will pay for it. They don’t smile. This is the 3rd time I’m flying with them and every time the flight is delayed minimum 2 hours. Do not fly with them even though they give cheap prices. You will end up paying extra and waiting for a very long time.

✅ Trip Verified | What a horrible experience, booked a flight to Rome from Tel Aviv. apparently this was a charter flight operated by SmartWings. Flight was originally scheduled at 7:25 AM, a few days after ordering the ticket we got an SMS saying it is delayed to 11:00AM. a few days further another SMS and another delay to 14:00 PM. we were at the airport with our 1.5 years old baby, at 11:00AM , 3 hours prior to our flight and not to our surprise, another delay, first to 16:00PM, eventually we took off at 18:00PM (from originally 7:25AM flight). when talking to people on the plane, this is a well known tactic of Arkia airline. Early online check-in was not possible due to site crashing. Ground staff was so rude when i asked to sit with my wife and kid, telling me i should have checked online. They didn't care at all when i tried to explain i couldn't since their website is as basic as it gets. We arrived in Rome at 10:00PM, losing a whole day (including a payed night up north) and needed to pay the extra night in Rome too. This is by no doubt the worst ever flying experience i have ever had.

✅ Trip Verified | We were late arriving to SSH, and only an hour and half late departing SSH on our flight back to TLV, but that seems normal for Arkia. Buying a ticket was easy on their website, but in no place did I notice that this was a charter flight. The expensive ticket price was not charter air fare price. A few days after baying the ticket received notice departure from SSH was changed three hours later making us miss the last train for the night. Arkia can only be reached via WhatsApp the problem is they never bother to answer no matter how many times or how many days we try to reach them. After paying for the tickets Arkia total disconnect us we were on our own unable to change our tickets . Arkia's own luggage regulation means nothing the Arkia rude ground crew do as the please. Our carry on were sent to to luggage hold in the plane but other passengers seemed to be excluded and carried on the plane two carry on and personal hand bags. In the carryon bin above our seats were other seats carry on luggage. I asked the crew why we were forced to give up our carry on while other did not, I just got a dirty look and walked away. First and last time for me on Arkia. Even free would never fly with Arkia.

✅ Trip Verified | Flight was delayed by 2 hours, the airline did not attempt to contact and notify on the delay (aircraft hasn't left the origin country on time, so it was known to the airline at least 8 hours in advance). Upon arrival at the airport, we saw the flight was delayed, so sat for a cup of coffee. We came to check in 3 hours prior to take off (updated time), to discover our premium economy (bought and paid for) seats were given to other passengers. The ground crew was incredibly rude about it.

✅ Trip Verified | Bucharest to Tel Aviv. If you’re not Israeli don’t ever fly with this company! They have a separate security area in the airport and they are searching only the passengers who are not Israeli. I’m flying 17 years to Israel, I’m married with an Israeli citizen and I have never had such an unpleasant experience as with this airline They don’t have check in online And when I finished with the security and I finally arrived on the plane (who was 2,30 hours late) I was seating in the place that I had paid for (30$). The plane ticket costed me 182€. Before takeoff the stewards came to me and they asked if I agree to move from my seat because they have an old man in wheelchair. I asked them why they don’t place the man on place 1D who was free (and also on aisle). The answer was: those chairs are for the crew. So, they placed the man and his wife next to me, uncomfortable for them and for me. I’m attaching a photo with the places 1D, 1E and 1F which were free during the whole flight. The announcements made by the pilot during the flight were ONLY in Hebrew I would never recommend this airline

✅ Trip Verified | Chisinau to Tel Aviv. Today, 15.07,2019 (flight IZ310), my 21 year old sister was supposed to fly to Israel. She had an invitation, a return ticket, a stay of one week and cash - 700 euros. The security service of this airline mocked her: a lot of questions of a personal and intimate nature. They demanded her phone to view contacts and correspondence, dug through all the luggage that they were looking for is not clear. The mother who accompanied her daughter was also interrogated (they wanted to catch him in a lie). She refused to give the phone for inspection and also refused to undergo a personal search in a separate room. A single word about the Arkia security service argued her actions by saying that the girl looked younger than her years and seemed suspicious to them.

✅ Trip Verified | Recently I experienced flying with Arkia from Ramon Airport to Sde Dov. Check-in in Ramon Airport was quick, and ground staff were really nice and friendly, I don't recommend coming to the airport more than 1 hour before departure. Flight length was 35 minutes, cabin crew were friendly and gave water and cookies to the passengers. (Business Class passengers may order soft drinks as well), The airplane had a Business Class, but there is no difference in the seats or anything, upgrading costs about 40 Shekels (about 10$), but for a 35 minute flight really doesn't worth it. Landing was good. The airport is really small and cozy, the Israeli government has plans to shut down the airport in the next few months. I paid for the ticket 230 Shekels (about 60$), It is the average price for this route, I ordered my ticket one day before the flight, if you plan in advance you can fly from TLV airport to Ramon for only 90 Shekels (about 25$). There was no inflight entertainment system and no WiFi, not really important for a 35 minute flight.

✅ Trip Verified | Rome to Tel Aviv. They had us waiting 2 hours just to check in, because they lacked staff to conduct interviews for all the passengers. They never communicated with us why this check in process was so long (keep in mind, this is before going through security for the airport). Our flight was delayed two hours because of this, not because of mechanical difficulties or weather, but because of something they have control over, staffing. We did not get our meal voucher for a flight delayed two hours even though we are entitled to one. Once we got to our destination, all of us (150+) people were waiting 20 minutes at the baggage carousel before an Arkia staff member came to us to tell us most of our bags did not make it onto the plane. She didn't give us a reason, just told us to file a lost baggage claim. That line was over an hour long since there were so many of us. The Arkia worker at baggage claim asked me to fill out a paper about my bag, asked me for the address where I'd be staying, and my phone number. He said my bag would get here today and that I should receive my bag the same day. No. Thankfully I had my Israeli boyfriend with me to make my calls because there was no way this process could have been handled in English. It took them 4 days to get me my bag. I was literally in Israel this entire time, at the same place. Their reason? "You gave us an American number, we can't call that. And you are in Timrat, you really think we're going to try our luck in Timrat?" (Timrat is a really small town). I'm sorry, the instructions the Arkia baggage claim guy gave me was to write down my address of where I'm staying and my number, at no point did he say he needed an Israeli number or that Timrat was too far. After making four days of nightmare calls (they don't answer 90% of the time), we were able to get a hold of the driver (who was part of a different company) and he agreed to meet us somewhere so I could get me my bag. Basically, if we hadn't called a billion times, I would have never received my bag until I was leaving Israel. As if this wasn't a nightmare already, when I emailed Arkia to complain and to demand compensation for the headache they put me through, their customer service responded saying I needed to mail them all these kinds of documents that I do not have anymore and that it could take up to 10 weeks for them to make a decision. They should already know details about this flight and they should've contacted each passenger to offer compensation. This is a terrible company and I would highly advise, for your sanity, to take any other airline.

✅ Trip Verified | Tel Aviv to Stansted. Old plane, uncomfortable seats, disgusting food. Now have to fly back with them and can't get anyone from customer service to answer me a simple request for a change of date. Also in Israel they are known to have very bad customer service.

✅ Trip Verified | Flew Tel Aviv to Stansted. Arkia Israeli Airlines is just an awful airline. Website can offer no more than booking. Check-in is only available at a counter in the airport, so no seats can be chosen before. If baggage has not arrived you may find your baggage in another country (no info on the website regarding baggage). Hope mine will arrive soon. Ground service cannot provide any information on delayed flights. All they can say - You have to wait!