Travel out of TLV [merged experience reports & tips]

Old May 6, 2014, 5:17 am
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Travel out of TLV [merged experience reports & tips]

Hello Everyone.

I was not completely sure if this is the best forum to post this question, so I apologize in advance if it should be somewhere else.

I have a early morning flight out of TLV airport later this week. I'm flown out of the airport many times before but with AC, but my flight this week is with Lufthansa.

Can anyone tell me any tips for making the check-in process easier with Lufthansa? With AC I usually try to arrive 3-4 hours before departure, but with this flight being at 7:30am it will not be as easy this time and I would like to be as prepared as possible.

I already noticed that the check-in is on the ground level. Any other pieces of info people can share with me?

Cheers
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Old May 6, 2014, 6:27 am
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Arrive at the airport at around 3:30 it'll be a maf house with all the European early morning departures. Check in and grab a seat in the lounge before it gets over crowded
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Old May 6, 2014, 9:56 am
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You'll be having a sleepless night, no way to go around it. Arrive early as usual, and airport will not be too busy.
Then the overall departing experience depends on your passport stamps.
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Old May 6, 2014, 4:58 pm
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Please continue to follow this thread in the LH Forum.
thanks...
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Old May 6, 2014, 10:27 pm
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Originally Posted by Forrest Bump
You'll be having a sleepless night, no way to go around it.
Actually, there is. Go to bed at 10p.m./11p.m. and get up again at ~3a.m.

I took the 5.30a.m. flight ex-TLV a few times and found it to be perfectly sufficient to get up at 2a.m., grab a taxi and arrive at TLV 2-2.5h before departure.

For anyone travelling in Y and/or with checked baggage and/or with someone else Id recommend arriving 3h in advance.

As mentioned above TLV is a bit of a mad house in the early morning due to all the European departures.
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Old May 7, 2014, 10:19 am
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Well, I would not call it advice but just my experience: for flights ex TLV by LH or OS I make web check in and I come to the airport later than anybody else (usually 1,5 hrs before take off). At that time usually almost nobody at security check and everything runs fast.
But, as said: this is not an advice, go there as early as you think is ok for you
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Old May 7, 2014, 10:50 am
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i always use this service; not cheap, but 2 hours of extra sleep makes it a nobrainer for me...

http://www.israelwelcome.com/airportvipservice.htm
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Old May 7, 2014, 3:03 pm
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Originally Posted by sunseeker
i always use this service; not cheap, but 2 hours of extra sleep makes it a nobrainer for me...

http://www.israelwelcome.com/airportvipservice.htm
Ive considered booking them in the past, but never did.

Could you comment on which of the various service levels you booked and how efficient the process was, especially with regards to security?
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Old May 9, 2014, 6:19 am
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Get an invite: http://www.iaa.gov.il/Rashat/en-US/A...usinessmen.htm
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Old May 9, 2014, 9:34 am
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Originally Posted by mamb0
The company that you are meeting with, has to send filled template letter at least 24 hours before departure. I'm doing it every time when traveling to Israel.
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Old May 11, 2014, 7:01 pm
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I just wanted to comment on the experience that morning.

I arrived at the airport around 5:00am, so 2.5 hours early. I was one of only about 20-30 people in the Lufthansa area, but was able to use the business line and was in and out of the ticketing in less than 10 minutes.

I had a letter from the company I was visiting and went through security quickly. I haven't decided yet if the letter hurts or helps the process, because I have had some long long experiences even with the letter.

But this time, I was through ticketing, security and the final passport check in less than 30 minutes. Next time I would probably arrive a little bit later.

One issue I did have was that the Lufthansa drop off point is not well marked and I had to convince my cab driver to take me to the arrivals area for a drop off. The lounge was busier than usual as well, but I found the Wifi seemed to be working better somehow. I didn't really have any major complaints, which is unusual when leaving TLV. jk.

It would definitely be nice if they improved the food selection in the lounge though.
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Old May 13, 2014, 5:35 am
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Originally Posted by macmet
I just wanted to comment on the experience that morning.

I arrived at the airport around 5:00am, so 2.5 hours early. I was one of only about 20-30 people in the Lufthansa area, but was able to use the business line and was in and out of the ticketing in less than 10 minutes.

I had a letter from the company I was visiting and went through security quickly. I haven't decided yet if the letter hurts or helps the process, because I have had some long long experiences even with the letter.

But this time, I was through ticketing, security and the final passport check in less than 30 minutes. Next time I would probably arrive a little bit later.

One issue I did have was that the Lufthansa drop off point is not well marked and I had to convince my cab driver to take me to the arrivals area for a drop off. The lounge was busier than usual as well, but I found the Wifi seemed to be working better somehow. I didn't really have any major complaints, which is unusual when leaving TLV. jk.

It would definitely be nice if they improved the food selection in the lounge though.
I did the LH early morning flight out of TLV around 3 AM. I arrived to the airport at 11 PM the night before and went to the Dan Lounge where I waited and rested.

A few years back I also did the afternoon LH flight and spent the night at a Frankfurt Airport Hotel for my connecting flight and arrived early as well
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Old Jun 7, 2014, 11:28 am
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*G flying out of TLV - how many hours to budget?

Apologies if a well worn topic. Last thread I saw was 2011. Anyway, I have a LH flight leaving TLV about 2:30 pm. How many hours beforehand should I show up at TLV? Single white Antipodean tourist with small backpack. Is there a *G line to facilitate things?
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Old Jun 7, 2014, 11:42 am
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Originally Posted by dgdevil
Apologies if a well worn topic. Last thread I saw was 2011. Anyway, I have a LH flight leaving TLV about 2:30 pm. How many hours beforehand should I show up at TLV? Single white Antipodean tourist with small backpack. Is there a *G line to facilitate things?
Assuming there are no other aspects that would raise the agents' attention and you don't plan to check any baggage I'd recommend arriving 2.5h before departure. If you want to be absolutely safe, arrive 3h in advance, but arriving any earlier is just a waste of time IMO. Personally, when travelling in J with hand baggage only I usually arrive ~2h before departure which leaves me with >1h for security if necessary (I have spent anywhere from 5min - 45min at security, the latter not being a particularly fun experience, and I still had sufficient time to get to the gate).

IIRC there's some sort of priority line for security, but I can't remember whether it was just for J/F pax or also *G members.
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Old Jun 7, 2014, 12:53 pm
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Originally Posted by Jasper2009
Assuming there are no other aspects that would raise the agents' attention and you don't plan to check any baggage I'd recommend arriving 2.5h before departure. If you want to be absolutely safe, arrive 3h in advance, but arriving any earlier is just a waste of time IMO. Personally, when travelling in J with hand baggage only I usually arrive ~2h before departure which leaves me with >1h for security if necessary (I have spent anywhere from 5min - 45min at security, the latter not being a particularly fun experience, and I still had sufficient time to get to the gate).

IIRC there's some sort of priority line for security, but I can't remember whether it was just for J/F pax or also *G members.
1. *G does not help you at all. The "quick" security check are offered when:
- travelling only with hand luggage (after OLCI + printing boarding passes, go to the "departure gates", just when you are asked to present passport+boarding passes, there is a counter on the right side for security questioning).
- J/F (try to enter the regular queue and ask them to guide you to the J/F queue. in the case of flights leaving from the ground floor (LH,OS,US, if I remember correctly), it is on the right of all the regular queues).

Note that after the questioning, you go throw the security check point like everyone else, and there are no priority queues (usually not needed - the maximum I waited in these is 15 minutes).


2. Personally, I set the timer at 2h. Assuming you are non-threat (have an invitation letter from an Israeli colleague/business partner with their phone number on it), this is more than enough (TLV has a nice duty free and lousy lounges, so no point in rushing through security).
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