When we planned to move to Israel for a year, we looked at numerous flight options. In the end, we decided to fly with Israel’s home carrier, El Al. Not only are they one of the safest airlines in the world, but they are also great with pets. Which was important as our dog was traveling with us to Israel. So, what was it like to fly El Al Airways?
Booking The Tickets For El Al Flights
El Al’s tickets were a little harder to find than most airlines because they don’t show up on all travel company websites. But, when you do find them, you’ll find something unique about them. The price of the ticket is surprisingly consistent between days of the week or flight of the day. Ticket prices don’t fluctuate as much based on how full the flight is or the preferred travel times. It makes choosing a flight time a little easier because they are all the same price.
Note, though, that El Al does not fly during the Israeli weekend, also known as Shabbat. Shabbat runs from sundown on Friday to sundown on Saturday. Since Israel generally observes Shabbos, it is not a great time to fly into Israel. Most public transportation and stores are closed. Additionally, the airport works on a skeleton crew.
Interested in another one of our airline reviews? Please take a look at this review of IcelandAir.
Flight Seat Classes
Flying El Al has First Class, Premium Class, and Economy Class seats. Within Economy, they also have El Al Space seat. El Al Space Seats recline a little more and have a little bit more legroom. The price differences between the classes are significant, but the perks of the higher classes are also significant. Unfortunately for us, we went for an El Al Space seat and not something in First Class. We did pass the first and business-class seats upon boarding, and they looked very comfortable. I do hope that a future post will be about our experience in one of their higher classes.
Checking In & Security to Fly El Al
With most airlines, you check in either at the counter with a ticket agent or using an automated kiosk. Then you head to TSA Security. However when flying El Al, you will speak with an El Al Security officer first. Then you’ll be able to check in or get your tickets. Because of our unusual situation (traveling with a dog in a big ol’ crate), we were pulled out of line to review all of the dog’s paperwork and discuss the plan for her. But we then had to go back into line while an airport staff watched the dog so we could go through the El Al security screening.
The security screening includes a lot of expected questions such as: why were we going? For how long? Where would we stay? But then, questions got more intense: Who do you know there? Do you have any friends or relatives from the Middle East? Do you plan on visiting any other Middle Eastern Countries? Although the questions make sense given Israel’s geography and history with its neighbors. It was much more intense than your usual airport screening process. In the end, the security screener mostly thought we were crazy for moving to Israel for a year without knowing anybody there and having never been there before. He put a sticker on our passport indicating that we’d been screened and marked our luggage.
Check-in Process
Some of the incredible El Al staff accompanied us to a TSA Oversized Baggage screening point to screen our dog and her crate. Then we sealed up the crate and said goodnight to our dog. The El Al staff, along with El Al security, took her off to the baggage area. We then proceeded through TSA Security, which was about what it always is.
The Waiting Area and Boarding
We arrived to the waiting area about 1.5 hours before the flight was scheduled to depart. Each different seating area on the plane has their own boarding time. The El Al staff made regular announcements for passengers connecting on to Israel that you need to complete El Al Security screening. It was clear if you did not complete security screening then you would not be allowed to board.
Boarding is done by zones, and El Al Security staff would check to confirm the security sticker in your passport in order to allow you to scan your boarding ticket. Boarding is fast and efficient. The staff helpfully got everyone settled in. I will admit that we bribed them a little bit with a box of chocolates and a photo of our dog. We wanted to ensure that they would tell the captain the dog was on board. And keep us updated throughout the flight that she was doing okay. We were ready for our El Al Flight.
Taking Off
As we pushed out of the gate, we saw another El Al procedure that is uncommon with most airlines. El Al Security staff were on both sides of the plane as we finished boarding. And then an El Al Security vehicle followed the airplane all the way out to the runway and sat on the side of the runway until we were airborne. In looking at the experience of others, this is common with El Al. They genuinely do take security to another level.
Now that you’re heading to Israel don’t forget to check out the critical things you must know!
Airborne On Our El Al Flight
Our fight over the Atlantic was just over 10 hours long. We had the benefit of not having anybody in the aisle seat of our row. So we got to spread out a little bit. The seats were as comfortable as you would expect in economy class. The inflight entertainment included movies, radio, games, and books. Enough to keep you entertained for a while. Of course, this was an overnight flight for us, so we slept more than anything else. This was one of the longest flights of our lives, so we were glad to be flying El Al.
Largely due to the gift of chocolate, we assume, we had a flight attendant who regularly checked in with us to see if she could do anything to make us more comfortable. Every couple of hours, she would check in with the captain and confirm that the temperatures and pressure in the cargo hold with our pup were safe and being monitored. Although we’ve heard reports of unfriendly flight staff on El Al from others, that definitely wasn’t our experience. We didn’t see much of the flight crew between meal services (which was the middle of the night), but then again, we didn’t need to. The plane was dark and quiet, and we wanted to sleep, so we didn’t need anything from them. But, I am confident that they would have been responsive to any of our needs.
We don’t have a lot of needs when we travel because we plan ahead. Read our suggestions for the things that you need to be comfortable during a long international flight.
Meal Service
We had two meals during our El Al flight. A dinner about an hour after taking off and breakfast about two hours before landing. We were pleasantly surprised by both the quantity and quality of the food. Although I can’t say we liked everything, I would say that I didn’t ever get hungry during the flight, and the meals were adequate.
We had a pasta dish, bialy with hummus, couscous salad, a chocolate dessert, and a container of purified spring water for dinner. The pasta dish was hot, and everything tasted good despite it being airplane food. For Breakfast, we had an egg omelet with potatoes, a bagel with cream cheese, a tuna salad, yogurt and granola, and another container of purified spring water.
Arrival at Ben Gurion Airport
We arrived at Ben Gurion Airport, just a little bit outside of Tel Aviv, Israel, at around 5PM local time. We did the automated immigration process where you scan your passport, and it takes your picture and prints off a border control pass. Take the border control pass to the immigration booth and then scan the pass to get into the baggage area. The whole process was fast and efficient and took no more than 20 minutes.
After arrival in the baggage area, we had to wait a little while for our luggage. It was a reasonably full international flight, so we expected that. They personally brought our dog up from the baggage area, and she was doing great. She was smiling and excited to be reunited with us again. We received our luggage and headed off to Customs.
Initially, we went into the “something to declare” section because of the dog, but they referred us to the “nothing to declare” line. They just confirmed that she had her paperwork and approvals, and then we were off to the arrival hall. The arrival hall was busy, and once we got outside, it was even busier on the street. But we were able to find our ride, get everything loaded up, and head into Tel Aviv without issue.
Now that you’ve landed where are you going to live? Check out our guide to renting an apartment in Tel Aviv.
Conclusion: Flying With El Al Airways
Although we heard from some other reviews that El Al Airways is very strict, that they can be rude and that the food wasn’t good or enough, we didn’t find any of these to be the case. We are generally travelers without many needs, but they quickly provided anything we needed. Of course, traveling with our adorable dog (which everybody wanted to give attention to) and the box of chocolates probably improved our experience a lot too.
So, in conclusion, if you’re flying to or from Israel – I would recommend El Al. They provided the same level of comfort and service that we would have expected from most US Airlines for a bit more of a fixed price. They also take security very seriously, so you can feel safe flying with them while heading into a country that is constantly aggressed by its neighbors.
Not sure what to plan for when traveling internationally? Here are some of our considerations.
