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.
I stood in line for two hours חודא to drop off my suitcase. When I arrived just before the gate closed and asked to drink the water I bought a minute before boarding, the flight attendant rushed me to throw away the bottle and get on the plane. She spoke rudely, even though I had been standing in different lines for 3 hours; I felt bad and needed water. The delay was the airline's fault, not my fault. I expected understanding, not rudeness.
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.
Flight was super full. I had to check in my carry on bag. They didn’t give me a seat until the very last minute - during boarding.
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.
The crew was excellent. The food was not good. I have taken many international flights and the meal was not good by comparison.
On both flights, TAP Air Portugal messed up the seating choices that I paid for. They acknowledged that I had purchased seating, that they were errant in ensuring my choices, but told me nothing could be done about it. When I asked to be refunded, I was directed to "talk to someone from Air Portugal" Mon-Friday, and then I was dismissed. No help, no phone number provided to me. I was very annoyed both times and feel cheated.
The worst thing was baggage claim. In my return flight I was waiting 90 minutes for my baggage. and when I asked the airport they said it’s the airline. So frustrating after an 8-hour flight.
Business class seats aren't comfortable. Food was not good.
Didn't make announcements during boarding, flight attendant seemed annoyed when I asked for water. Too many hours between flights. Confusing check in at the Lisbon airport.
Chaotic boarding with no announcements. Carry on luggage needs to be checked. Bare minimum zero frill flights. Not a whole lot of anything positive to be said .
It poured rain, our luggage was sitting out in it uncovered on the transport cart while our plane was delayed! Nice business class plane for short flight to Lisbon, but more delay & rain in Lisbon, with terrible Business class seat with no entertainment & cold food on longer flight to London…ALL LUGGAGE AND CLOTHES INSIDE THEM WERE SOAKED THROUGH!!! Could only try with hair dryer to get some drying before quick turn round to train trip.
Delayed at the beginning and the end and almost missed our connection
Menzies group staff not very sympathetic good at breaking up families during the boarding process
The crew was great. There was a big guy sitting next to me who was hanging over my side of the armrest the entire time. Maybe some information about "Be considerate of your neighbors, this is tight space, be kind". The breakfast sandwich was not appealing at all.
Yvonne, was the flight attendant in my area. She was INCREDIBLE!
Delayed getting out for no good reason. Tight connect lead to a missing bag in Hamburg. Waited two hours at the airport to get the bag from the next flight.
Flight attendant was very rude helping me out. Food was discussing did not eat any of it.
Crew was professional and great, flight was clean. However food was pathetic. I ordered a Hindu meal assuming no meat but they served chicken. Need to be very specific- Hindu meal should be categorize as Vegetarian - no meat or egg. Or it should be specific that we are serving meat.
I had a sprained ankle and had to go down the stairs to the bus and then up the stairs to the plane. Food / dinner served cold
A bit more space? Not practical, I know. I felt squished in but part of that could have been the man sitting next to me.
It was chaotic. It was overbooked so we didn't have seats until the end but they turned out to be good seats. The gate was at the end of the airport. We had to get busses to the tarmac and board. It just seemed chaotic. Flight was OK. Food was not so good. Lufthansa used to be such a great airline and now as it's with everything else: If you have money you get comforts but if you don't then you end up below deck with the rest of the cattle.
The plane (Mitsubishi CRJ) felt old, creaking and not very new. The crew was okay. Hot water provision was broken so hot beverages could't be served.
The crew was very nice. The equipment on the 747 felt old.
Flight delays made me miss my connections. I almost missed my connecting flight because I had to get my luggage and go through immigration and then back into the airport. Connecting flight said it would be my problem if I missed it. I had to be rerouted through another city and came in 3 hours later than expected and had to hire an uber to get me home when I had everything planned out
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!
