El Al Israel Airlines

We visited the Middle East in May 2011. Before leaving New Zealand we made bookings with El Al (via the Web) to fly Tel Aviv to Cairo. When we arrived at the airport to check in for the flight El Al staff informed us that the flight had been cancelled. They arranged for us to fly to Cairo via Amman with Royal Jordanian the same day but we are cross that they didn't bother to inform us of the cancellation. The booking was made in September 2010 and they had an email address to reach us at.

EWR-TLV B777 business class fantastic staff good food. Business class seats not comfortable for 12 hour flight TLV-JFK on old 747 business class. Food good and nice staff nice lounges in Newark and TLV.

BRU-TLV-BRU Economy. I fly this route regularly and on the two very rare occasions I saw this flight cheaper than Brussels Airlines I chose it. Never again! On all 4 legs of the flight I was treated like a criminal by ELAL security the front room staff are rude ask the same questions without listening to the answer they left me in a room for over an hour each time and failed to advise why. I appreciate security is very much needed but it must be professional. Israelis were barely checked! The plane was old service awful noisy and safety terrible as airline regulations not enforced such as bags in emergency exits and people removing bags on landing!

JFK-TLV. Security top notch food pretty good and I found flight attendants attentive but the seats on both the 777 and 747 were horrible - the tightest I've ever had to endure. Unless they reconfigure seating I'll never fly El Al again.

TLV-JFK. Flight was overbooked and denied boarding even though we were on a tour. I understand this is a common occurrence and that Israelis are given preference over residence of other countries. El Al wanted to place us on standby even though there were seats in business and 1st class. EL AL wanted to place us on the 600am flight from TLV to Barcelona with transfer to AA plane to JFK. So instead of arriving 600am we would arrive 300pm with no sleep. Not acceptable. Wanted to purchase 1st class ticket EL Al did not want to sell. Finally convinced El AL to sell me the 1st class tickets. Once I became a paying passenger I guess a group ticket does not count as a paying passenger attitudes change and El AL became friendly. Flight was pleasant lots of space seats folded flat FA attentive. Unless you fly business or 1st class cannot recommend this airline.

LAX to TLV recently and the worst flight I've ever been on. Bad leg room terrible food and an elderly lady next to me trying to take over half my seat I've come to expect nothing more from most flights. What I do care about is the careless way they treated my luggage. All of my luggage except for my violin were messed up (and I mean messed up) when I got them back.

EL AL between London and Tel Aviv 4 times now and each time has been stressful in one way or the other. B767 has really bad legroom and is very cramped with very poor IFE. You don't get a choice you just watch whatever is being shown and Iwas a good 4-5 meters away from the pathetically small screen. Many passengers refuse to conform to any rules ignoring the crew instructions. El Al needs to be more forceful in maintaining a level of decorum. Food is very good service was friendly on flight and the airport. Security is lengthy but the security staff are polite. Since I don't have much choice of carrier for business flights I can be sure that I will be flying with them again but after 8 flights with El Al I'm as prepared as I can be - some good earplugs an eye-mask (they keep the lights on too long overnight) an ultra-small laptop to watch my own movies on the cramped seating area and the all-essential neck-pillow. Try to get the thursday evening flight out of Tel Aviv rather than the Friday morning flight - its a lot less busy albeit no less noisy and irritating.

The restrooms and aisles were blocked for long periods of time as men congregated to pray. The seats were awful - narrow and hard. My wife asked for some orange juice; never got it. The security is great but terrible at the same time. I felt safe but was worried I would miss my connecting flight due to some searches taking 30 minutes each. I will never fly El AL again.

I flew El Al for the first time this past week and will never fly this airline again. I was seated next to the galley and the attendants left the curtain open at all times. I kept closing it so I could get some sleep since it was a 1 am flight but the attendant always opened it again. There was so much noise on this flight that I could not get to sleep at all. The reservation desk of El Al made a mistake with my return flight and it took 2 hrs at the airport for them to fix it. The food was the only good thing about this airline.

New York JFK-Tel Aviv Tel Avi to Newark. On the way to Israel B744 old seats old LCD screens with poor quality image. Food okay flight attendants nice and polite. JFK is a nightmare to connect. EL AL security personnel polite. One complaint is that they kept the lights on to allow them to sell Duty Free items for another hour. TLV-EWR newer B777 but not with IFE on demand. Service for dinner only a sandwich since it was a midnight departure. I got a Gluten Free meal which was nice and actually had a taste. The seats on B777 were nicer. EWR much easier to connect. Check in staff in Tel-Aviv excellent. My father in law was 83 they allowed us to go to a special check in desk where the security personnel came and cleared us instead of standing a long line.