El Al Israel Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | You pay extra for baby seats, you won't get it on board. And then you have to contact customer service to get your money back for the extras. You paid extra for using an airline that has baby seats. But it is fake marketing, better pay less and get better alternatives. On board we were ignored and treated poorly even though we didn't complain or annoy the staff, there is just negative energy from the staff. We didn't receive our food, I had to go specially to the attendant and ask why we can't get food and rudely answered "But you got drinks. Better take another airline.

Not Verified | We flew at 11:30pm and there was no tv on the flight. No place to charge your phone. Toilets were dirty. Could not get water very easily. The security was very good on South African side. When we arrived in Tel Aviv not much help with the passports.

Not Verified | Had refundable business class tickets to Israel on El Al in February 2023. Unfortunately due to health issues we had to cancel. El Al told us we would get our refund in 6-9 weeks. We received all other refunds on hotels, tours and museums within days. When the 9 weeks passed without getting the refund, we called and were told our issue was being sent to billing and at a minimum we would get a status email if not payment in 24-48 hours. When we received nothing, we called again and spoke to a supervisor who can only say our claim is a priority. When we asked to speak to his manager, he said he was the highest level English speaking supervisor and since we don’t speak Hebrew there was nobody else to talk to. Issue is still not resolved

✅ Trip Verified | First of all I received an email from Elal informing me that the check in counter opens 4 hours before the flight due to the high number of passengers. I arrived at the check in counter with my 4 years old daughter and waited 1 hour before the staff finally opened the check-in, the staff was siiting at their counter but not doing anything. I checked in two suitcases. Few minutes before landing, a flight attendant came to me and told me "for security reasons your suitcase was sent in the flight, please approach the lost and found counter at the airport" I had 2 suitcases and the flight attendant could not tell me if both luggages were left behind. When I filed a report for the missing suitcase the El Al staff told me "your luggage will be send in the very worst case in the third flight from Paris to Tel Aviv, I am exaggerating, 3 flights is the maximum". So I tracked all the El Al flights from Paris to Tel Aviv and after the fifth flight I called the hotline for luggage irregularities, "sir, no news about your luggage". That is crazy to be so incompetent, they are abusing the passengers, this is not abusive security, this is a pure example of people abuse. I had fresh food carefully packed in an isotherm bag, it's all wasted. I have important documents for an appointment at the consulate in Tel Aviv. No clothes for few days. At the time of writing, my luggage is still in Paris for security reason. I won't fly El Al again, terrible airline, disgusting service. Few words about the flight itself, it was a very old boeing 737, dirty plane 0 comfort with their dirty seats. No flight entertainments, no drinks and no food.

Not Verified | Before the boarding they questioned me and treated like a terrorist. I was flying back to Yerevan from Mozambique, from a business trip, using multiple transfers. Two security officers questioned me for more than 2 hours. Then they took off my luggage and sent it back only on a week. Service is nothing close to the first class. They treat you like a lower class person not allowing even to book a seat next to the window.

✅ Trip Verified | They downgraded us at the last minute to make room in Business Class for their own employees. I ended up in coach and no way to get compensation for their deliberate overbooking. They have no problem moving your flight or cancelling it whenever they feel like it with absolutely no remorse or concerns for their passengers. This will be the last time I ever book with them.

✅ Trip Verified | Worst airline I have experienced. Not only is the security detail so annoying with all the interrogations. But the worst part is my baggage. 5 days into Israel and no baggage. I have important stuff in there. My Christmas has been completely ruined. Every contact number they give me doesn’t work or tells me to call this other place only to tell me there is nothing they can do but keep checking. I’ve contacted them via Facebook messenger, whatsapp and I don’t even use whatsapp. I’ve sent emails, I have a file number, but what good will that do? This airline and airport is a Joke, no respect for their flyers or customers.

✅ Trip Verified | My fiancé and I flew from JFK to Tel Aviv recently. I am not Jewish and have a New Zealand passport. My fiancé is Jewish and has an Israeli passport. While waiting to check in, we were questioned by 3 different people. I was pulled away from my fiancé twice for questioning. I was asked personal questions about my religion (if you are not Jewish, how are you planning to get married to a Jewish person ? (My fiancé is not very religious and we respect each other’s religions.) What Jewish holidays do you celebrate ? How did you guys meet ? Do you speak Hebrew? (Despite telling the El Al rep that I don’t speak Hebrew, I kept being asked to tell them what I know in Hebrew) How do you communicate at home if you don’t speak Hebrew? (We live in Australia and speak English) What will you be doing in Israel on each particular day (it was a holiday and we were planning to just take it easy). What are the names of your fiancé’s relatives? What do you do for work? Who paid for the trip? Eventually we were allowed to check in, but were told to meet El Al rep at the gate in 30 min, as he needed to speak to us for 5 mins before we board. No problem. We were at the gate on time. EL Al reps were not. We had to wait for another 30 min for them to arrive to the gate. After that we were taken to a small room with another 5 Non Jewish people. We were swiped for bombs twice. Our phones were swiped for bombs. Then El Al rep told us that they will take our bags away and search them in a different room (not in our presence). At this time my fiancé lost it and told them that if they are going to search our bags, then it has to be in front of us, as we have valuables in our carry on. Of course they refused and took our bags away. Later they came back with an unopened brand new iPhone that we bought as a gift for my fiancé’s mum and demanded that we unpackaged the box. Since it was a present, we begged not to open the brand new phone. Showed receipts from an apple store, but were told that we won’t fly if we don’t open the phone. We had no choice, and of course they found nothing. They never apologised for wasting 3 hours of our life and treating a simple couple on a holiday like criminals. That’s not the end of the story. When we arrived in Tel Aviv, we realised that our suitcase didn’t make it on the plane. It was still in USA. Luckily it arrived next day and we had to drive back to the airport, as they don’t deliver lost luggage like other airlines around the world do. It took us another hour to pick up our suitcase, as everything was very unorganised. While waiting we spoke to many other frustrated EL Al customers. Also, couple of month ago my fiancé’s mum was refused to check in for her flight, as they overbooked it. This airline is a joke.

✅ Trip Verified | Traying to check-in online for the flight from London to Tel Aviv is impossible since the website doesn't accept neither the booking code (used to check-in on line from Tel-Aviv) nor the ticket #. Contacting El-Al on Whatsapp is like talking to an idiot since they provide the link to the same check-in website and it doesn't work. This is not a surprise with Israeli websites which have a tendency to fair and not respond. Trying to get any help by calling in the phone number published for UK (London/Manchester) all you get is a holiday greeting (Halloween?) This is a screwed up airline - expensive with the worst customer service. Fly whatever other airline but not El-Al.

Not Verified | El Al ask to be at the terminal at least 3.5 hours before the flight. However, they themselves did not show up on time and we just waited for hours to check in our luggage. I also had issues with them in the past, and they are very expensive.