Okay, I am not referring to El Al's planes -- I am referring to its tickets.

I want to fly to MXP on April 20 and would have preferred doing early check in. This means that I have to have my ticket in my hand.

I called El Al today and they told me that they can not deliver the ticket to my house (about 200 kilometers from the airport) because they need 10 workdays for their special messenger to get from TLV to my house. As there is a weekend in the way, and they only work part time during Passover, they just will not have enough time.

I suggested that they send it by EMS, which will get here in 48 hours, but they refused. Apparently LY does not agree to work with the Israeli Post Office!

So I wound up having to go to the airport even earlier than usual to to get my ticket and check in.

Two points:

1. I would have accepted an e-ticket, but LY doesn't use them out of MXP.

2. I could have gone to a travel agent but the closest one is about 30 kilometers from my house, meaning a 60 k r/t. More than that, the price I got $383 plus tax, has extremely limited availability. The next cheapest ticket is $490 plus tax and I did not want to take the chance of losing the fare before I managed to get to the TA.

BTW, I just got this very impressive e-mail confirmation:

Dear Dovster,

Outgoing on ly381/20apr departure time 0740am arriving time in Milan 1055am local time
Incomming on ly382/27apr depature time 1120am arriving time in Israel 1605pm local time

your resevation number is: XXXXX
And your ticket will be at the Elal cashier in Ben Gurion airport the day of the flight

Thank you for flying Elal, hope to see you on our next flight

1. I would have accepted an e-ticket, but LY doesn't use them out of MXP.
Why the hell not? what's wrong with them?!

LY is pathetic.

Why the hell not? what's wrong with them?!

LY is pathetic.

I have always contended that LY is one of the best airlines in the air and one of the worst on the ground.

Sounds like you already went to the airport. You could have had the ticket sent to some FTer who could have gone to MXP to meet your UIG for you....I mean...who would be willing to send it to you via EMS or maybe is coming up north during the holiday anyway.

Sounds like you already went to the airport. You could have had the ticket sent to some FTer who could have gone to MXP to meet your UIG for you....I mean...who would be willing to send it to you via EMS or maybe is coming up north during the holiday anyway.

No, I haven't gone to the airport. This was all done on the phone. Actually, I had tried ordering the ticket on line first but El Al's computer apparently froze up during my repeated attempts.

I have always contended that LY is one of the best airlines in the air and one of the worst on the ground.

I agree 100% with that. They are great in the air.
But it takes them 3 person*hours to do a simple flight date change.... oy.