Arkia Israeli Airlines

Short flight from TLV-AMM. Check-in agents friendly and courteous. Flight boarded from a bus driven from a ground-level gate that was very warm. Seats were small, overhead lockers dirty with scratches and seat covers had seen better days. Flight attendants passed out crackers after we boarded then gave out water inflight. We arrived about 15 minutes early and were bused into the terminal at AMM. I would fly again only because their schedule allowed me to leave TLV at 5.30pm and arrive in AMM before sundown. However, I would think twice about connecting over TLV, the transit area was closed when I arrived, and I had to stand in line for over an hour at passport control to go check in upstairs.

Flight 2822 26 Mar 2015. Does a fine job getting people on board giving them a drink and landing safely. As Israel's traditional 'inland' airline the best you can hope for is comfortable seat (its comfortable enough at least on the 757 that I rode) reasonable timliness and a glass of water on a 35 minute flight. All provided.

Flew from Tel Aviv SDV to Eilat ETH and back in February 2015. SDV-ETH with ATR-72 a 40 minute flight. Service was a cold drink and crackers. ETH-SDV with Embraer-195 30 minutes. Opted for business class for 40 shekels extra and it was worth it: Got a sandwich salad and a cereal bar. There was an open bar like on international flights. This service is currently available only on Embraer operated flights. Both flights were on time and the FA were very nice.

TLV-CDG. The plane was supposed to leave at 1.20 pm but a combination of security delays and plane problems (the plane's electricity supply shut off suddenly during the safety video showing) had us leave the terminal at around 1.45. That was deemed to be too late for a take off as Ben Gurion airport shuts off every night. We were brought back to the crowded terminal area where we slept on the floor on a cramped area with only one restroom and finally left at 5 am. Only a very few apologies very clumsy ones at that were addressed to the passengers. Food was cadaverous (a soft drink and a disgusting-looking plastic-wrapped sandwich). No compensation for the incident I will never fly with them again.

We paid over $600 from Tel Aviv to Barcelona and got nothing but a drink. They also didn't accommodate our requests regarding travelling with a child. The crew were not nice the hostess was bitter and not helpful. We will never fly with them again. It is preposterous to pay such high fare for a charter and not even get a bag of pretzels.

TLV-KOS Island Greece-TLV. Full B757-300 each way. 1 hour 20 minutes ride. Crew very efficient in distributing a chocolate muffin and a glass of water to all 270 passengers. Then they sat down in their crew rest seats which where in row 3 smack between passengers and enjoyed a full hot breakfast. You would expect them to eat discreetly in their Galley. They then sold duty free which has great deals. On this portion of the trip it seemed like passengers were unwelcome. On the return flight the crew were more dedicated to service. Again duty free sales. All announcements friendly and clear good Hebrew and English. Nothing amazing nothing horrible. They just went through the motions.

We flew from Tel Aviv to the island of Crete. Flight delayed by 8 hours. On the plane got a glass of water and small cookies. Will never fly this terrible airline.

We flew Arkia from Ben Gurion to Eilat then back to Sde Dov on a day trip from Tel Aviv I was impressed by the quality of the service and cleanliness of the plane. Out was a B757-300 and return an ATR72-500. Both flights were short less than 45 minutes but a drinks service was still managed on the flight with complimentary soft drinks service. Staff were helpful. Having flown many airlines I would rate this airline highly. The only problem we had was a late departure and this was down to a security alert at Eilat before our take off from Tel Aviv so well out of the airlines control.

TLV-GVA-TLV All economy cabin - 757 both ways - a rather inexpensive fare and a rather interesting airline. most notably while landing at TLV a pillow fight raged throughout the cabin for 15 minutes. Now Ive done some travelling and I have never seen that before. The food is decent. Planes are a little worn - from the early 90's/ late 80's. FA's nice IFE is OK. Gets you from A-B. Was OK experience but would rather do El Al next time.

Flew a short flight on Arkia from Tel Aviv (Sde Dov) to Eilat (ETH) and was very surprised by the high quality of service. The flight attendents actually served drinks and munchies on a flight of less then an hour. Flight was on an older B737 and the legroom was very very tight but the attitude of the crew more then made up for the lack of comfort. One thing though - I'd be very hesitant to fly Arkia on a flight to Europe with leg room like that.