Tel Aviv Airport

Airport is very modern and once past all security checks and passport control and having walked for a few minutes you find yourself in a central area surrounded by restaurants coffee shops and duty free shops. Tel Aviv airport is to my knowledge also the only airport giving you a free storage service for your duty free purchases which you can then pick up when you return. El Al King David lounge is nice and clean. Airport is clean and there are enough lavatory's. Arriving in Tel Aviv passport control can be slow depending what time of the year you arrive luggage service is acceptable and taxis are well organized.

Terminal 3 is great but checking in at Terminal 1 for a flight departing from 3 (easyJet) is a very strange set up. Otherwise facilities are very good and both arrivals and departures procedures are coped with efficiently. The staff however are astonishingly rude throughout both terminals. Not a single smile please or thank you. So an overall good experience is ruined by the surliness of the airport personnel.

Have had 10 trips here between 2007 and 2012. The airport had plenty of space newly updated superb in all ways. Immigration personnel horrible. They need to know how to handle people coming in to their country. Baggage claim fantastic - quick and efficient. Personnel mostly polite but look very bored. All routine for them. They will grade your luggage and take it all apart if they have to. Security quite quick if you are lucky. Sometimes it feels it's easier to arrive into the country than to be allowed to leave. Free wi-fi massive space in the transit hall. Never tried many of the shops but can be regarded as expensive.

Departure and arrival - very good and efficient ground service. Quick check-in normal security check (more efficient and quicker than other airports. Good waiting area good shopping options and short distance between points.

I don't mind security checks but staff were hit or miss. After 2.5 hours going through security we barely made it onto our plane. My favorite was the rude security agent who dumped everything out of my suitcase then 2 minutes into me trying to re-pack my suitcase said "Can you please hurry up? We have people waiting?" The rest of the security personnel were quite friendly however most of them were standing around. The world's largest duty free shop could've been nice to see if I only had more time.

I recently flew out of TLV on Turkish Airlines Business Class. Check In was much easier than I had anticipated security screening quick. Terminal 3 is very nice with restaurants and shops. I used the Dan Lounge and thought it was too crowded but a decent buffet selection.

Recalling the old terminal I love the new terminal 3. Arrival procedures were quick and efficient. I was out of the arrival are in less than an hour. Public transit access to Tel Aviv and elsewhere in the country has been vastly improved with frequent rail service. On my departure check-in was simple and quick. The central waiting area is very pleasant and airy Security is what it is because of on going threats. Scrutiny is easy to accept and security personnel were professional.

After I stepped off the plane I was already interrogated but it was friendly and quick. Immigration was a breeze and I asked the officer not to stamp my passport and it was no problem. Baggage came quickly and we were out and on our way in no time. Departure was a bit of a different story. We arrived 2.5h before departure and there was a long line for our LX flight to ZRH. However somehow we were asked to come to the front and the interrogation started. It took almost 2h as they searched my bag asked me questions and passed me to three other officers who asked similar questions and then I had to go to some back room to get searched again. The staff was very friendly though and it is just part of the trip if you visit Israel. After that immigration was a breeze and I had some time to get back my VAT and buy some duty free before boarding started. Terminal 3 is quite nice and modern so besides the security checks it is a very pleasant airport to use and it is not far from town.

Security procedures at this airport are so onerous and badly organised it is a wonder anyone visits Israel. When I visited the airport in May 2011 to catch a flight to Cairo (which El Al Israel Airlines had cancelled without telling me beforehand) I was interrogated and searched at the checkpoint outside the airport then subjected to another lengthy interrogation bag screening etc inside the terminal. I don't object to sensible security checks but I do object to being made to queue for nearly an hour especially when most of the security staff are standing around talking and not doing their jobs.

Arrived 3 hrs 10 min prior to a Lufthansa flight. By the time we made it through security and passport control we had no time whatever to even look at the shops restaurants or restroom facilities in the airport. We arrived at our gate just as boarding began unable to take advantage of using the business class lounge for which we had paid. I have no quarrel with the intense security measures at TLV but I do have a quarrel with a totally inadequate number of staff to handle this many people within a short period of time. I would fly out of Israel again only under severe duress and would strongly recommend that people who value their time visit other countries.