moe8555

Would love to know what they offer in this lounge if anyone happens to know!

benberg2013

I'll hopefully pop-in tomorrow to see...

More details here - http://www.iaa.gov.il/he-IL/airports...belLounge.aspx. seems that it is only opened when ordered in advance.

kmersh

Hi All!

A little bit of background, my Parents went to Israel in 2015 and had a wonderful time which prompted my wife and I to go and we too had a wonderful time in Israel which in turn has now prompted her parents (my in-laws) to take their family, including my wife and I to Israel.

I am the go to travel guy I guess because I read this site and know slightly more than they all do, but sometimes I get questions that I cannot answer and for which Google is useless or almost useless and the Arbel lounge is one of those times.

My Father In-Law was browsing the TLV airport website and came across the VIP section and read about how security/etc. can be handled in the lounge and he thought that sounded very much like the Lufthansa First Class Terminal in FRA which he has been in a few times over the years and very much enjoyed that experience and asked me if it was worth him paying for this sort of thing for the family as a sort of last treat before the trip ended.

As my Wife and I departed TLV the regular way and it took about 45 mins to hour all said and done till we got to the rather mediocre contract lounge, I did not think it was so bad as to warrant a VIP experience, but Google was worthless searching for any info on the Arbel lounge and the last mention here on Flyertalk was 2013, so I decided to see if anything has changed since then.

My Father In-law again emailed me today to ask about what he is now calling the Lufthansa First Class Terminal like experience, I am posting to see what others think.

Thank you for your time and experience.

Yoshi212

There are a few different "VIP" experiences at TLV.

VIP Lounge

This won't be anywhere near the level of the LH FRA FCT.

BATLV

Exactly.

I've been to Masada lounge a few times. It is appalling compared to LH FCT and BA CCR. Heck, it is even appalling compared to BA F. The food is ...., the rooms are small and cramped. The fact that tehy do the passport control for you is convenient only if use your own jet - and thus spared from actually waiting in the lounge.

kmersh

I take it, this lounge is very substandard and not worth the cost of admission?

Admittedly I know next to nothing about TLV airport, I found the contract lounge last time around to be mediocre at best and it appears from the comments here that the Arbel lounge is not great as waiting in the lounge sounds most unpleasant.

My Father In-Law knows even less about TLV airport than I do and I guess to his mind having security/passport control/etc. done in the lounge sounded like a nice benefit all while enjoying a beverage and maybe I snack.

My Wife and I went via the regular process last time and it was all fine, my biggest complaint last time around was that we go the airport very very very early as we had heard that security can be lengthy and unpleasant especially for foreigners and thus we arrived almost 4.5 hours early and in fact we had to wait for the airline to open their check-in desks which was somewhat annoying and our security screening seemed only slightly more lengthy than what I was used to.

entropy

the advice about arriving TLV 4 hours in advance is ridiculous. Maybe 3 hours if you're traveling in Y, but in general, these days I'm arriving <90 mins out and have never gotten close to an actual issue. (in J). The only time I've seen slow lines(mostly the WTMD security) is late night (midnight ish) departures when a bunch of NA bound heavies depart.

kmersh

In our case, friends had told us of their horror story leaving Israel and then we found articles (admittedly on the internet) about the experience leaving the country and we figured that if we were unlucky enough to have to endure the arduous process we might as well arrive early so as we do not have to sweat bullets watching the clock tick by.

In actuality I would describe the process as a little more than we are used to in the USA dealings with the TSA though everyone was much more professional and courteous in their dealings with us. In fact one of the screeners complimented my Wife on her necklace which made my wife's day and as I always say, Happy Wife, Happy Life.

BATLV

Only if you are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to avoid the general queue at the passport control and security when exiting.

Yoshi212

The airport security in Israel has one major step up from others, especially TSA, is their professionalism and attitude. It's part of their program to put people at ease & disarm people. I still don't quite understand/agree with the process but I have never felt violated going through it unlike my pre TSA Precheck days. Watching them question my brother and then gf (now wife) get questioned about why they aren't married yet live together in front of my mother was priceless.

TWA884

That is anything but professional.

From my personal experience, and I am a fluent Hebrew speaker, some of their security screeners, the ones who ask the questions, are jerks.

NYTA

This is the kind of thing just about every Israeli would do. Prying into your personal life and giving unsolicited advice is part of the culture in Israel, not just at the airport.

kmersh

Admittedly my one and only experience with Israeli Security everyone was polite, courteous and professional, but I can see where they could be jerks, most TSA employees can also be jerks.

The only thing I found odd was that the screener asked me twice if I spoke Hebrew, I don't. In the vein of language I fit the bill of the ugly American Tourist, I barely speak my own language well, I am unable to speak any other languages at all and while I realize English is not spoken everywhere that is the only language in my possession so that is what I use and I find that places used to dealing with tourists are able to speak a modicum of English.

My wife said that the guy probably just felt more comfortable in Hebrew and would rather converse in his own language which does make sense, but asking me twice just in case, I don' known, I might have forgotten that I can speak Hebrew just seemed silly.