Security interview by El Al staff at NYC was deeply unpleasant. Apart from that everything was good.
The service, the crew, the cleanliness, and most of all, the comfort and space between seats in the economy class was excellent! The seat spacing was better than all my international flights in recent memory.
Extremely expensive airlines! Very tights leg room although I was upgrading my seats. Flights attendants hit you when they walk by due to very narrow gap. Food was bad. Cold AC, they did not agree to change it. Wi-Fi did not work. Do yourself a favor and avoid ElAl!
The space between my knees and the chair in front of me was the smallest I’ve ever seen. I could not reach the blanket that was on the floor. The entertainment included very many Israeli movies and tv shows. The El Al app did not update to tell me the gate. The most important thing you should know is that El Al is very security conscious. Prepare to go through a security check at the gate. They look through the passport and boarding pass, through your carry on bags, ask questions, etc. Then they give you a sticker and only then can you board. So get to the gate about half an hour before you would otherwise.
The entertainment was mostly Israeli movies and tv shows. Food was good though. Flight was incredibly full with very religious Orthodox Jews. Maybe they had a convention.
We got upgrade to premium It’s another way and feeling flying premium then economy…
Clearly an inexperienced cabin crew. Boarding took much longer than usual. Food took much longer to be distributed than usual.
Poor service! If I can I will never fly with them again.
Great quality food. clean cabin and bathrooms. Fast boarding and overall comfortable flight for the duration and times.
Underpricer was a nightmare to deal with they would not help us and blamed the airline and the airline said underpricer just lies. So no we were not happy! The crew on the plane was wonderful.
Crazy and confusing check in process for connecting international flights. Extremely uncomfortable seats in economy, bad in flight service with useless attendants, 10 year old movie selection, inedible food + only 1 full meal for 12+ hours long flight - 2nd snack was a cold bun with 1 slice of tomato and 1 slice of cucumber; 3rd was 2 breads - 1 hot and 1 cold. Finally absolute bad information on arrival time - in flight suggested we will reach at 12 AM until last minute, when we landed it was 1:15 PM
The crew was business like and not very friendly. It was very disappointing in that they handed out the meal at the beginning of our journey. Eight hours later, they handed a sandwich and a drink. During their eight hour break all they did was sit in the back, looked at their phone and read. They never came down the aisle during those eight hours and offered another beverage or to See if there was anything they could do for the passengers.
The price for Premium Economy seats very competitive and ITA beat the big guys in terms of fair. However, seat comfort was below expectations. Movie selection was poor. Food - absolutely horrible!! I felt like a prisoner for 13 hours being fed cold damp rolls and room temp water. NOT what I expected for Premium Economy!!
Comfortable flight Attendants are professional Had a luggage delay at one destination but was delivered the next day
ITA cancelled fligh rebooked with Lufthansa. Flight good, but 2hour connection in Frankfurt was HORRIBLE, took 1.9 hours to get through scanner, customs, another security, got to gate after running all the way, so caught it but stressful and terrible start to trip.
The boarding process was organized and efficient, and the crew was friendly and attentive throughout the flight. Food and drinks were typical economy class, but good. The aircraft was old, and the restroom was not very clean. However, we arrived on time, so overall the experience was good.
In Prem Econ, safe and timely flight, good amount of space, mostly comfortable seats. Little irritants: When lying down, seat kept shifting on me...as a short person w/light weight, my seat often reverted to semi-upright. Footrest was broken. TV screen didn't work, after I asked a few times a FA rebooted it to work again. And food was marginal. I don't expect much from airplane food...surprisingly, ITA didn't even meet expectations.
The flight I initially booked from Los Angeles to Florence. I made sure had a layover of about 90 minutes in Rome, so there’d be enough time to connect. A couple weeks before the flight for some reason I was updated that that flight had changed and I was only gonna have 60 minutes to connect. From LAX we were delayed by 45 minutes meaning making the connection was unlikely. The crew informed me that my connecting flight would not wait and they would rebook me on one four or five hours later. I wasn’t happy, but I accepted it. It is what it is. Except when we got closer, two separate flight attendant approached me eagerly and said they had great news that my connecting flight would in fact wait for me, but I needed to hurry through the airport so they didn’t have to wait too long. I was first off the flight. I ran about 4000 steps. And got through passport control all in under 15 minutes. When I arrived to my gate, I was greeted by a flight attendant there who was completely indifferent, said they didn’t hold the plane and they just closed the doors. Had they even held it for two minutes I would’ve made it. She simply told me that the flight attendant on my flight lied about the plane being held, and that they do it all the time. These were all employees of the same company ITA. I was absolutely livid at her indifference and having been lied to and then having to wait five hours and waste a day in Europe at an airport.
Appreciated being met with a glass of sparkling wine - also the warm cleansing towel offered before the meal. The food was tasty!
They lost my checked in bag and have not helped me.
The lady at the check-in got into a complication with the computer and didn't know how to get out of it even though they came several times to help her and direct her until finally the lady from the other position did the check-in. Just before take off they announced a delay that took two whole hours and caused a lot of trouble starting with the fact that we were hungry and they didn't even give us a glass of water (we asked and they said no) I am a sick person who takes medication (diabetes and heart disease). And this delay made me sicker. order a taxi again. after to work. and more
The flight was late with no explanation given to the passengers.
Overall a good experience for a short low cost flight . Boarding and departure was on time, crew was nice, airplane conditions were ok. The Heraklion airport is not convinient at all, especially as it doesn’t have an air conditioner. But this is not related to BlueBird.
I think I will never fly agsin with Blue Bird
The check in was really bad. This was my worst experience as far as i can remember. Very slow without any real reason.
There was a delay on the flight, in addition although there was a delay there was a last boarding sign earlier than the boarding time. So overall - stressed to come quickly to board and then waited a long time and arrived later than planned
Awful. Got charged full price for bags at the airport because there is no way to pay in advance even though it says you can. Plane wasn’t loaded with enough paper cups for the whole flight to even have water.
From New York to Tel Aviv, the flight was horrible unfortunately we were delayed standing in the aircraft for four hours, when we got off Tel Aviv, the belt was broken and we had to wait additional two hours for our suitcases. Finally, when I received my suitcases one of them was broken and when I got home the entire content all of my clothes and gifts were soaked in water, since they broke my suitcase and due to the fact that the suitcase was outside in the rain, I tried to contact arkia, but couldn’t get in touch. Also my suitcases was returned however they made me pay additional 100 shekel for a replacement and the suitcase that they broke was much more expensive than the one they replaced overall the experience from JFK to Tel Aviv was horrible, not comfortable by all means and to top it all up all of my gifts and content was soaked. I had to dry clean all of it.
As a low-cost flight, I understood that not all amenities would be included. However, booking through a Kayak agent rather than directly with the airline created significant issues. We were unable to add checked bags in advance and had to pay $140 per bag at check-in. We also couldn't select seats and were assigned to the last row. Most frustratingly, there was no customer support available—neither Arkia (who didn't answer phone calls or emails) nor AirfareAssist (who also didn't respond to emails) could help resolve these issues. Once aboard, the flight experience met expectations for a low-cost carrier. No complaints there. Recommendation: Book directly with the airline to avoid these third-party booking complications.
The flight was 3 hours late. No notice in advance. The plane was not clean.
I wasn’t registered for the Flight Took them long time to approve Thanks god, the flight wasn’t full. After they approved to let me fly, they fight with me about luggage ( I paid in advance for 2) It was a nightmare The airplane was very dirty and I was very disappointed I will never fly with Arkia
This airline is known for shifting flights timetable, cancelling them altogether and overall you feel that you are in a charter flight (oh they do that too quite often). Rates aren't so cheap to make up for the overall experience so it is advised to mind the alternatives before booking.
The flight was cancelled. I'm still waiting for a refund from the agent from which I made the order on Kayak app
TERRIBLE. THE ONLINE CHECK-IN REQUIRED CHOOSING FROM A DROP-DOWN MENU THE AIRPORT OF DEPARTURE. PARIS WAS NOT A CHOICE AND COULD NOT BE ENTERED MANUALLY. THE WHEELCHAIR SERVICE RESPONSIBLE TO TAKE ME From My Arrival Delta three hours in advance refused to take me from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 without the Arkiya Boarding pass. I was helpless and missed the flight to TLV. I had to buy a separate ticket one way on Elal at 14:30 from Terminal 3 and PAY $715. ADDITIONAL MONEY. I DEMAND THAT ARKIYA REIMBURSE ME FOR THAT $715.00 DUE TO THEIR INOPERATIVE ONLINE CHECK IN THAT PREVENTED. ME FROM MAKING THE FLIGHT
Crew was super nice, boarding was fast (all trolleys were asked to be checked in), no entertainment at all, food - well, better if one brings ones own, and, surprisingly, they kept the schedule. This time around - 2 thumbs up.
I liked: Helpful, informative, pleasant crew. Could be Better: Check in. Stowage space General cleanliness especially toilets. Ugh!
