El Al Israel Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | I was treated very badly by a rude receptionist at the Business Check in Desk, I spent £1600.00 and they wanted to move me to Economy with no explanation, just saying the flight was over booked. When I booked the flight 3 weeks before most of the seats in Business were free and I choose my sit. Someone they knew or someone who payed more money got priority over me, the lady at the counter even shouted at me and the 2 shift managers just lied to my face and did not give me any explanation why was I the only one that had to except being downgraded, I was not even offered any money back, just a flight free flight to Europe which was of no use to me, as I will never again fly EL AL, they just give a bad name to Israel and ruined my whole trip. If you are reading this avoid EL AL and book instead in British Airways as I always got a first class service with them.

✅ Trip Verified | 3 hour wait to get to baggage drop. They let all the Israeli citizens cut through the line. All non Israeli passengers ended up standing in line for hours. I waited 3 hours. Then another 30 min for security. None of the staff were helpful. They were all rude and did not care. They had 3 staff on at baggage collection with hours of passengers to go through. Highly recommend never using this airline!

Not Verified | Cancelled our flight on the departure day "for operational reasons" . Did not suggest any alternative flights or residence. Did not answer our calls in any office in Germany (it was a working day afternoon). Did not answer our calls to Israeli office for at least 1 hour. In facebook messenger answered in 2 days only, in WhatsApp in 1 day. Did not bring money back, just suggested a 1-year voucher for 300$. Do not answer calls and do not call back at all from the Israeli office, don't suggest a proper customer service in their call-center

✅ Trip Verified | El Al has the best Premium Economy product on this route, US carriers don't compare to the seat pitch, width and comfort, impeccable service from the flight crew , the food served on china, a large selection of IFE, and even the goodie bags. I like the curtain they use to cut off this section from economy.

✅ Trip Verified | Complete lack of customer service. If you book and need any support, forget it. Web Booking was relatively easy, but after that forget it. Web logon as a user just doesn't work and cant reset a password by any method. WhatsApp doesn't work just get in a loop with the bot that refers to the call center Call center - no chance of an answer - I received a call back after three days and was on hold for 20 minutes with no answer! I guess I wont be able to get a call back from a human. I thought to give ELAL a second chance after they cancelled a flight on me 2 months ago with only 2 days warning, but now I cancelled a flight due to warnings of pilot strikes - received a coupon after 2 days but I want a refund. By law refunds are available - but there are no automated web or app buttons that work for that option (I wonder why?). Low cost airlines give much better service. ELAL get your act together!

Not Verified | Wish I had read the comments on here before booking with El Al. This was hands down the worst experience I have had on any airline ever. It is virtually impossible to speak to anyone on the phone at El Al. Online booking system was relatively straight forward and even booked and paid for exit row seats. Flight departure time changed one week out from departure. Exit row seats not honoured at online checkin. Blatantly lied to at check in with assurances that we had just been moved to different exit row seats - the new seats were not exit row seats. Delayed or deliberately withheld my bag from the flight and only delivered the bag 2 days later. Impossible to contact anyone from El Al and the WhatsApp option is just a joke. Food terrible, service terrible and toilets disgusting. Thankfully it was only 3 hours of hell. There is not much to like about this airline. Flight times on this route are also elongated by about 30 min as compared to non-Israeli airlines due to geo-political concerns for Israeli flagged carriers.

✅ Trip Verified | Troubles start when you try to contact them: call center is open only in the morning of working days. They suggest you to use their whatsapp H24 contact that is a total mess: you spent hours with the system asking your name again and again with no solution at all. Their app is not working at all, only a beautiful screen with a pic of the sky. So if you do online check-in you must print boarding card on paper, as pdf on smartphone is not contemplated. It is mandatory to be at the airport 4 four before scheduled departure, also if you have only hand baggage and have check-in done. At the airport you have to go through different counters, which aim is not clear, but still you are at the gate 3 hours prior to takeoff. Gates have not enough seats for all people waiting for the flight. Only at the moment of scheduled boarding time the flight was delayed 90 minutes. Later, they changed four times the gate of departure. At the new boarding time the crew was not yet on board, they arrived with no hurry 10 minutes later. So takeoff was with 120 minutes of delay. Once on board, just a "sorry for the delay" from the captain, no reason provided at all. Cabin service was rude, food on board (4 hour flight) was a sandwich with a very small bottle of water. It was my first and last experience with them. Low cost service at full service fares.

Not Verified | El Al is simply the worst airline I've ever been on. Even before the flight I was experiencing major problems with them. First I booked from TLV to EWR and I paid for extra legroom. The first thing they did was switch the time of departure by a few hours. Then they downgraded my seat after paying for one. And finally they switched the airport where I was supposed to be landing and taking which for me is not a feasible option. They simply changed every detail of the flight without some sort of compensation or communication. I tried calling their customer service and after an hour someone picks up and I explain to them what the situation is and they put me on hold again and never returned. I tried calling them multiple times but they don't answer their customers. On board the staff was rude and unpleasant making this entire ordeal miserable.

Not Verified | Unfortunately El Al just can’t seem to get their business in order. I booked a return flight to Dubai and last minute (literally the day before I returned) El Al changed my flight time from the evening to the middle of the day, which meant I was unable to complete my meetings and work as planned. There was no offer of an alternative flight, or compensation, and I was only aware of the time change due to spending hours trying to contact their customer service only to be cut off (while I was paying international charges) 6 times. I didn’t receive a text, email or call to let me know of this change. Once I boarded the plane it was clear something strange was going on, I was on the only woman on the flight, other than the staff. Travelling solo as a British person but an Israeli citizen I found the experience horrible and overwhelming. The plane had been booked out for a male company trip and I was one of very few passengers who weren’t part of the company. I sat squeezed behind a row of men who were far too large for their seats and was squashed, pushed and shoved the entire journey. When I asked if they could stop, I was ridiculed. The plane was obscenely loud as they all shouted across rows to one another while the staff did nothing to stop this, with no regard for the passengers outside of their organisation on the plane. The men were rude, offensive and the whole experience was traumatic. As someone who moved to Israel and travels multiple times a month, El Al should be the go-to airline but unfortunately it’s a total shambles. Don’t fly with them, it was a horrible experience and one I won’t be having ever again. I highly advise using any other airline to fly anywhere to or from Israel.

✅ Trip Verified | Don't bother with premium on El Al. The airline provided has no dedicated check in for premium seat holders. Premium seat holders get no preference in boarding and staff allows all upper stowage to be utilised by none premium seat holders. Took 3 hours to pass security and check in (and I pre checked - of no use). Worst airline ever.