joshwex90

If something happens to your luggage during your El Al flight (lost luggage, damaged, missing items...) contact EL AL in the following manner:

Submit your claim in writing to the nearest office. From the USA, submit your claim to the New York office. From Israel or from a country without an official EL AL office, submit your claim to EL AL's head office.

NY Office:
EL AL Israel Airlines, Ltd.
Baggage Claims Department
15 East 26th Street
New York, NY 10010

Fax: 212-852-0793
Email: [email protected]

Head Office:
EL AL Israel Airlines, Ltd.
Baggage Claims Department
PO Box 41
Ben Gurion Airport 70100
ISRAEL

Fax: 03-760-2255
Email: [email protected]

EL AL Worldwide Offices

Please note the following timeframes for submitting claims:

• Claims for missing items or damage to your baggage must be submitted in writing within seven days of receiving the baggage.
• Claims for delayed baggage must be submitted within twenty-one days of receiving the baggage.
• Claims for lost baggage should be made only after twenty-one days have elapsed.

EL AL Baggage Claims Form (download PDF file)

All claims must include copies of the following (please retain the originals until your claim has been settled):

• Flight ticket(s)
• Boarding pass(es)
• Baggage tag(s)
• Report filed at the airport (Property Irregularity Report and/or Damage Report)
• Applicable receipts

Also helpful to call:
Israel: 03-977-1111
USA: 800-223-6700

Hours: (in local time of office)
Sunday to Thursday: 7:00 AM – 12:00 AM (07:00-00:00)
Friday: 7:00 AM - 9:00 PM (07:00-21:00)
Saturday: 4:00 PM - 12:00 AM (16:00-00:00)

NOTE: IF YOU'RE IN ISRAEL AND WOULD LIKE TO CHECK THE STATUS OF YOUR LOST BAG, YOU CAN SEND A TEXT MESSAGE TO THE NUMBER "3525" WITH THE MESSAGE "BAG" AND YOUR LOSS REORT NUMBER. FOR EXAMPLE: IF YOUR LOSS REPORT NUMBER (GIVEN TO YOU BY EL AL AFTER SUBMITTING A CLAIM) IS XXXXX12345, THEN YOU WOULD TEXT "BAG XXXXX12345" TO "3525". THIS SERVICE IS AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR ISRAELI WIRELESS CARRIERS.

joshwex90

Ben Gurion Airport, referred to as TLV, (its IATA code, the commonly used code,) LLBG, (its IACA code, and generally used in conjunction with domestic flights,) or Natbag, (an acronym of its Hebrew name, Namal Teufa Ben Gurion,) is located in Airport City, Israel, in the Gush Dan region (greater Tel Aviv area,) about 15 km/9 miles from Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city, and right next to the city of Lod.







It's about 15 minutes from Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city. TLV is LY's only hub. (Though this may change if and when the new Eilat airport ever becomes functional, as well as Israel's second planned international airport.) TLV is also Israel's international gateway. TLV is a highly modern airport, and is also the hub for Israel's second largest carrier, Arkia, and third largest, Israir. Basically all of LY's operations take place out of Terminal 3, the newest and main terminal at TLV. (In general, ALL flights in and out of TLV take use Terminal 3 EXCEPT domestic ones and select flights from discount carriers such as easyjet, which use Terminal 1.) At TLV, LY operates a special check-in desk for First Class pax, and another for Business Class pax. These desks are also for ranking Matmid members.
Terminal 3 is one of few terminal in the world to offer unlimmited, high-speed wi-fi throughout the terminal, to ALL pax, FREE OF CHARGE.


TLV , or LLBG, refers to Ben-Gurion International Airport, officially located in Lod, Israel, though it's actually just outside. It's about 15 minutes from Tel Aviv, Israel's second largest city. TLV is LY's only hub. (Though this may change if and when the new Eilat airport ever becomes functional, as well as Israel's second planned international airport.) TLV is also Israel's international gateway. TLV is a highly modern airport, and is also the hub for Israel's second largest carrier, Arkia, and third largest, Israir. Basically all of LY's operations take place out of Terminal 3, the newest and main terminal at TLV. (In general, ALL flights in and out of TLV take use Terminal 3 EXCEPT domestic ones and select flights from discount carriers such as easyjet, which use Terminal 1.) At TLV, LY operates a special check-in desk for First Class pax, and another for Business Class pax. These desks are also for ranking Matmid members.
Terminal 3 is one of few terminal in the world to offer unlimmited, high-speed wi-fi throughout the terminal, to ALL pax, FREE OF CHARGE.

joshwex90

EL AL awards points and has certain rules associated with different booking classes. For example, though two people may be seated in the same Economy Class cabin, and appear to receive the same service (which they do on-board,) one who purchases a more expensive "Y" ticket has more flexibility with his ticket, such as the ability to request a full refund, then someone who purchases a cheaper "T" ticket.

The following is a list of different fare classes:

First Class: (Available on 772/744 selectively on routes to/from: JFK, EWR, LAX, CDG, LHR, JNB, BKK, and HKG)

• F (Regular Fare)
• A (Discount Fare)

*For all destinations (other than the above mentioned ones) that feature an F-equipped plane, (such as BKK,) Plats and TPLs will be able to select F seats when seated in C at any point, and Golds will be able to from OLCI, all for free. All other C pax can select the F seats at OLCI for a fee. The service will be regular Business Class service.
Note about F service: If there is little to no demand for F a few days before the flight, F service will be unavailable, and the same rules for selecting F seats will apply as to any route serviced only by Business Class.

Business Class/Platinum Class: (Available on all routes except Eilat. Referred to as "Platinum Class" on routes to/from North America and Far East; otherwise referred to as "Business Class.")

• C (Full Fare) Upgradable Fare to First Class; Requires A inventory
• I (Regular Fare) Upgradable Fare to First Class; Requires A inventory
• Z, D (Discounted Fares)
• J (Deeply Discounted Fare)

Economy Class:

• Y, S, M (Full-Fare) Upgradable Fares to Business Class; Requires R inventory
• B, Q (Regular Fare)
• K, H, N, L, V (Discount Fare)
• O, G, U, T (Deeply Discounted Fare) For LY5000 and LY6000 (AMM flights), each flight earns 7 points on these fares

Reward Travel Fare Classes: (These classes are for travel redeemed with points and do not earn any points.)

• P (First Class)
• W (Business Class)
• E (Economy Class)

Note that tickets purchased via a combination of points and money, even if ticketed in in a regular fare class and not a reward class, do NOT earn any points. Only tickets purchased exclusively with money earn Matmid points.

This table shows the point accumulation based on both destination and fare class. Note though the changes in zones, found here.

Matmid Bonuses:

• Silver: 10%
• Gold: 25%
• Plat/TPL: 50%

Earning Matmid points when flying partner airlines:
American Airlines

Earning miles/points on partner programs when flying EL AL:
American Airline
Qantas
South African Airways
Aeromexico (100% miles in Y; 125% in C; 150% in F. Only applicable on routes between TLV and the following destinations: JFK, MIA, MAD, CDG)

joshwex90

Always do a search before posting. Chances are the search has it. If you can't find your answer, make your thread title as descriptive as possible. And try not reviving years old threads!

Bretteee

I don't think you mentioned that LY Y class miles are not fully credited on AA. Isn't it 33% or 50%? Maybe I am wrong.

joshwex90

Do you mean crediting LY earned miles into an AAdvantage account, or AA earned miles into a Matmid account? I'll look into that though...

joshwex90

Certain econ fares with LY (B, M, Q, S, Y, W, K, H, R) earn 100% miles for AAdvantage, and other econ fares (G, L, N, T, V) earn 50%. All other fares do not earn miles. In addition:
Also, as a note, A class fares on LY, which is discounted First Class, earn miles for AAdvantage like all Business Class fares!

AAdvantage earning structure on El Al

gleff

Stickied

Regards,
Gary
aka gleff
Senior moderator

joshwex90

Thank you very much gleff!!

I look forward to working with the rest of the wonderful of LY community to get the finalized FAQ page up and running!

hnussbacher

The site:
http://www.elal.co.il/ELAL/English/A...lAlloeance.htm
lists the rules for checked luggage and includes the details for an infant stroller or car seat (see bottom of page) that can be an additional piece of luggage.

There is a loophole here since it does not state that you have to be traveling with an infant and I know people who have actually used this loophole to bring to Israel a newly purchased stroller or car seat as a 3rd piece of luggage.

joshwex90

To all: I started updating this thread, and help try to put it together during my limited time,) and I compiled a list of the fleet. (I included links to LY's seat map about the Boeing variant, and links to FlightAware to track individual planes,) but I realized that we constantly discuss pros and cons of specific ships, and figured it'd be good to put these notes where they are relevant. For example, I belive 4X-ELE is the old SQ plane, but what are some notes about it? It has numerous technical difficulties, the AVOD doesn't work, there's no AVOD...
What's the IFE situation on the 777s and 744s? What has AVOD, the VOD box, looped entertainment, AVOD in F/C only...? Do all 744s and 777s have the same F and C? (Except the old SQ one...and what's with that one?) How are they different...

All help appreciated!

On a different note, what are the updated access rules to the KDL, both at TLV and abroad? Access based on Matmid level, class of travel, membership cost, day pass... Who else has access? What can I access if there's no KDL in the airport? Guest policy? Unfortunately, LY may be turning a profit, but none of that extra money seems to be going into maintaining the website

thanks!

p.s. posts updated: 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, 14, 18, 22

sn1ke

If it's ok, I'm going to copy the information about KDL lounge access rules into my thread about lounges...that way, we can have one thread just about lounge info..

joshwex90

Of course that's ok! But I do plan on leaving the information here as well, as I'd like to keep this updated with as much info as possible, so that hopefully, one day, (when I have the time,) I can convert this into a decent looking FAQ page. I think that'd make a nice welcome to people who are flying LY, so they don't have to try to navigate the FT search, and can have many basic questions answered right here (especially considering LY's website is still in the 90's.)

sn1ke

No problem, and thanks! I've listed you as a source for it
Feel free to copy/paste from my updated info re KDL access into here.

I'm hoping that my thread might just become a sticky...

entropy

ELF is LY Cargo, not a passenger plane....