El Al Israel Airlines

✅ Trip Verified | Bought a ticket for my wife for her Birthday. War broke out a few days later so I tried to cancel the tickets as promised by El AL without any charges, however, it is not possible to do that on their website only through phone call. El Al never answered their phones for several days which is understandable due to the overwhelming call volume. since the flight was the next day I took a voucher with limited credit for 12 months and thought I would get the money when they answered just not to lose my money for "no show". Today they answered after spending hours on the phone, but they refuse to switch the voucher to refund. One Star for you El AL, and I or anyone from my family will never ever fly with you. Just for comparison, The ticket back to Israel was with Turkish Airlines which allowed cancellation without penalty (due to the war) on their website. It took less than a minute to get a full refund.

Not Verified |   Shame on El Al. Was so excited to go to Israel for a family wedding. Ticket purchased for Saturday non stop flight (non stop) from Miami to Tel Aviv on 10/07/23 (Saturday) night. War had broken out earlier that day. Needless to say the wedding was cancelled. El Al never answered their phones for several days (understandable due to overwhelming call volume. However when she did speak to someone all they would offer was a limited credit for 12 months OR…refund but a $275 fee. The other airlines were so accommodating. Not El Al. Trying to make money on us during war time. Do not fly EL Al, we never will.

✅ Trip Verified | Inflight service was excellent. Friendly attentive staff. Excellent cabin and very comfortable seat including the lie flat bed. Cabin has understated tones which feels modern , luxurious and comforting. Staff had excellent knowledge of local wines being served. Ground service however in Ben Gurion and lounge needs a little bit of a further polish. Check in staff were a little too nonchalant and the lounge had a damp smell but good range of food and beverages. The lounge is also in need of a bit of an update.

✅ Trip Verified | When arriving to the destination and after waiting for my luggage for an hour, i learned that EL Al decided not to wait for luggage arriving from transit flights. They didn’t lose our bags, they just decided to leave with out them. Now I'm stuck with no bag waiting for a rude delivery guy that should have shown up today but got the wrong address. What a nightmare. If you want a company that knowingly gets her customer stuck without clothes, medicine etc. for more than 48 hr then El Al is the place for you.

Not Verified | It is never enjoyable to fly 10+ hours but I think El Al did a good job. Flight attendants were nice and responsive. They served 2 meals. Boarding seemed quick. No complaints.

✅ Trip Verified | I have been a loyal customer of El Al for 40 years. I have flown intensively, especially during my years as a global marketing manager for an Israeli company. We are now retired and travel mainly for pleasure. El Al has never been a premium airline, but we usually have been feeling secure, safe and in good hands. Cabin crews have been attentive and an advantage for those that do not communicate in other language besides Hebrew. We pay a premium for that, never mind! Our last flight, May 2023, from Prague to TLV has been a summit of disappointment. First of all, we pay to flight on full fare category and none of the low, low cuts usual these days. You want to be competitive, do it by improving service not the opposite ways with cuts and cuts. To start with, the aircraft was, I think, Sun D'Or vintage, the sometime low cost company of El Al. They had probably rescued the plane from the El Al vintage museum. The aircraft had probably undergone some thorough technical check up (no problems with the flight itself). The cabin had been left for the last and forgotten. My particular seat was found not within the safety norms and we were required to move to another row. Fortunately the emergency exit row was available, but that is not the issue. The widely advertised El Al WiFi inboard was not functioning, in spite of the best efforts of the crew. The sandwich was tasty but, come on, this was not a low cost flight, no food, no coffee, water at the most. We had the option to check our trolleys and avoid the hassles of cabin carrying. For commodity we opted to carry them with us. But with such an aircraft, inside space was very limited and without too many explanations our trolleys were sent to the belly. Big difference : The cabin crew was in generally attentive and managed to do their best. The checking and boarding crew was unprofessional. No Hebrew speakers, no Israeli security personnel. Mind you. We pay a premium to have Israeli personnel in those positions, including stations chiefs. The boss of the departure crew could barely speak Hebrew. So, if you're going to be like the others then the game is open for all the Israeli travellers. If you are not going to receive what you have been assured and paid for the last 40 years, just come into the open and be like the others.

✅ 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.