BA_Jfan

I go to school in Israel and returned o te states for the Jewish holiday of Passover. Because of the cash fares and other factors I decided to use miles for the trip. I was extremely limited in travel days and couldn't find OW or *A award space that worked. I did have some orphan El Al points to dump and sure enough they had an award seat in business on their Toronto-Tel Aviv route. I instantly booked it and then went to United.com to book an award from my home in Chicago to Toronto. Because ORD-YYZ is under 509 miles the one way costed only 10,000 miles instead of the normal 12,500. This trip report covers the following:

ORD Ground Experience & New T2 United Club
ORD-YYZ in UA Y
YYZ Transit & KLM Crown Lounge
YYZ-TLV in LY J

I am posting from my iPhone so I can put pictures up but will try to upload them as soon as I can.

BA_Jfan

I arrived at ORD at 825am for my 1104am departure. The Premier Access checkin area was deserted. I was seen immediately by a very friendly agent. Thankfully, the agent was able to interline my bags to LY, saving me a lot of time on the ground at YYZ, or so i thought anyway. She reminded me that my flight was in T2 and that as a Star Gold flying internationally I had access to the brand new United Club at T2. She seemed to think that I had Star Gold thru "star alliance partner el al and 1k with united". While I do have 1K with United, which comes with Star Gold, I don't know how she got the idea that El Al was a Star partner or that I had status with El Al. (I don't). The line at the Premier Access security was on the long end and I didn't get Pre-Check.

BA_Jfan

Once thru security I walked over to terminal 2, grabbed a Starbucks iced coffee and headed for the new United Club. Upon entrance, there actually was the smell of new construction even though it had been open for a few months. My boarding pass was scanned, and the attendant greeted me with "Welcome, Mr. BA_Jfan". The club did look new, and the interior was spacious. I didn't take so many pictures because there were a lot of people in the club and didn't want to bother them. There was free wifi, which did not require any password or other login information. Many tables also had canvas bound menus with the drink selection. There was alcohol for sale, and surprisingly some free alcohol too.
While I haven't been to a United Club in a long time, I have never seen free alcohol on offer. It's a definite upgrade for those of age. There was also an abundance of outlets, at almost every seat, another definite plus. Some seats even had USB ports. The USB ports really should be expanded to be offered alongside every outlet. Soft drinks were available at the bar, served from a gas pump style machine. I had half a cup of Diet Coke. I also had a latte from the machine and a strawberry yogurt. As one would expect at a UC, the food offerings were sparse. There bagels, fruit, cereal, and pastries. There was also packets of Ghiradellhi hot cocoa. Newspapers on offer were the Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today. I did see one copy of the Financial Times in the business center. The business center had an all in one fax/print/scan machine. It seemed to support wireless printing but my iPhone couldn't connect to it.

BA_Jfan

The lounge had no boarding announcements so at around 1040am I went down to gate, where boarding was in progress. There was no Premier Access lane. We had to walk down the Tarmac where 2 little regional jets were parked side by side and there was a guy directing people to the right plane. Flight time was called at 56 min and there were 41 passengers on board and a hand full of empty seats. There was one FA. Flight was a normal domestic flight with a beverage service but no cans offered. At the beginning of the initial descent Canadian immigration cards were distributed. Annoyingly, like in the US transit pax need to clear immigration. We landed 20 minutes early at a gate.

BA_Jfan

Upon landing there was a short walk to customs. There was a bit of a line for visitors. I was thru in about 20 minutes. I decided to go to United baggage services to ensure that my bags were being sent to the next plane. There was a 10 minute wait and it took about another 15 minutes for them to tell me I needed to pick up my bags. I was very happy I decided to double check, otherwise, I may very well have landed without my bags. I rented a cart for $2 (Canadian) and followed signs to connections. The woman at connections didn't know where El Al was, but thankfully, I looked it up before leaving ORD and knew it was T3.
I took the elevator up to departures and grabbed the bus to Terminal 3. It took about 10 minutes. I quickly found the board showing checkin locations and walked a few minutes to the El Al desk. It was closed so I needed to wait around half an hour. Checkin was efficient and as my bags were already checked to TLV, they just attached the El Al security tag. I was issued a lounge invitation and directed toward departures. The premium line was closed but the lines weren't horrible and I was thru quickly.

BA_Jfan

There are elevators to the lounges across from gate 32. There was the KLM lounge, British Airways lounge, and a 3rd party Plaza Premium Lounge, with a big Priority Pass banner. I handed the attendant my lounge invitation and she invited me in. It was a pretty lame lounge, I'd have to say by international business class standards. There was a small food bar with soup, sandwiches, packaged crackers and cookies, instant soup cups, and yogurt. There were bottles if red and white wine, but I don't remember the winery. There was also a red sparkling rose, but no champagne on offer that I saw.
There was a section of alcohol, mostly middle shelf and bottom shelf labels. There was also a chrome shaker, which I rarely see at lounges. There was a fridge with soda cans, bottled water, and glass Perrier. There was Heineken, both on tap and canned. I was let down. I was looking forward to trying Molsons while in Canada.
There was no business center. Printing was offered upon request only if the document was on a flash drive. No sign indicated this; I only found out when I asked. Toronto Airport has free wifi, and this was available in the lounge. It was very weak on my laptop but fine on my phone. Would be nice if lounge offered its own wifi, independent of the airport. No showers or spa in the lounge, also a let down. The lounge had very few outlets and they were mostly located in inconvenient locations. There were also a lot of magazines in foreign languages, and a whole rack of stuff in some Asian language. I left the lounge at 6pm figuring that there would be a second security before boarding.

BA_Jfan

LY 32
YYZ-TLV
Depart: 645pm (schedule) 717pm (actual)
Arrive: 1250pm +1 (schedule) 1pm (actual)
Seat: 10H (Business)
Equipment: B767
Configuration: 2-2-2

Boarding finally started at about 625pm and I was quickly on board. I was greeted by a well kept but old fashioned cabin. At the door I was simply directed to the other aisle with no other greeting. I sat down and was quickly offered water or orange juice from a tray and newspapers in Hebrew or English. I was surprised that the wifi from the airport stretched so far. Usually once on board there is no access to airport wifi. The pillow was pretty big by business class standards. The El Al logo was at the bottom right. There was a light brown plastic wrapped blanket with the logo of Bank Leumi Private Banking at the top. I thought it was a little shoddy to sell advertising on a business class blanket. 15 minutes after boarding, no menu or amenity kit had been offered not was there any kind of welcome announcement. The seat controls were below the arm rest on the wall of the seat, very inconveniently located in my opinion.
Between the 2 seats there were outlets and what looked like headphone plugs. This was odd to me as no IFE screen was apparent. Inexplicably, I lost wifi 20 minutes free boarding. A safety video started playing in Hebrew randomly, with no announcement. There were English subtitles. After it ended, it started over again in English. Following the safety video, there was video of El Al employees talking about home. The video was only in Hebrew. Take off was at 717pm about half an hour late. Flight time was called at 10 hours and 30 minutes. The official flight time listed in Atmosphere, El Al's magazine was 12 hours and 45 minutes. The seat next to me was empty. 5 minutes after take off the fasten seatbelt sign went off and the crew distributed cold bottled water. I had trouble getting the power outlets to charge my iPhone, I flagged a crew member who apologized and said the system would be turned on momentarily. White cloth amenity kits were distributed. They had the El Al Business class logo on one side and the logo of a company called Laline on the other. It was unfamiliar, so I assume it was Israeli.
The kit contained socks, an eye mask, hand cream, tooth brush, tooth paste, and ear plugs. Very basic, but it does the job. iPads an chargers were also distributed. An FA walked around offering magazines in Hebrew and English. In English they had the economist and the jerusalem report. The iPad was charged 87%. Dinner menus were also distributed. The menu only contained alcohol and dinner. Hot towels were offered and orders were taken soon after. Beverage service began and I ordered the Recanati Chardonnay. The FA asked me if I wanted anything else. I asked for a diet sprite and she offered it with ice and a lemon. Drinks were served with packaged almonds.
Oddly, they came around with white table clothes after the drinks were served. A cart came down the aisle with drink top ups and appetizers. The salad and the chicken were on one tray. Portions were very small. Warm bread was offered from a basket. A few minutes after, more bread was offered and appetizer plates were cleared. I decided to check out the selection on the iPad. It was pretty bad. Mostly old movies that I saw or didn't want to see. The headphones were horrible. They were 2 pronged so they didn't for in the iPad and the sound quality was also horrible even cranked to maximum volume. I had the beef main course. It was good but portions were pretty small.
A dessert cart came around offering fruit, plastic wrapped cookies and plastic wrapped cake. I asked for a chocolate chip cookie an I was proactively offered a raisin one in addition. The fruit was good as was the cookie. Coffee and tea were also offered.
I watched a little but of Zero Dark Thirty, and decided to try and nap. I don't sleep well on airplanes and was hoping against all odds this flight would be an exception. The blanket was not big enough, though the pillows were great. The seat doesn't fully lie flat, nor is it horizontal, which can be bothersome. It was also a tad too narrow. After resting for about 2 hours I decided to check out the galley. There was a fruit tray, the wrapped dessert cookies from dinner, and some other packaged cookies. There was an FA who promptly offered me a drink. It was a pretty sparse offering for a 10.5 hour flight in business class, but it did the job. I noticed that FAs walked around the cabin occasionally bringing trays to seats. I'm not sure what was served. If there was a snack menu, I was unaware of it. I got a Diet Sprite and some chocolate chips cookies and returned to my seat. I put my head down for about another 45 minutes before giving up on trying to sleep. When I woke up, an FA immediately came to my seat to clear my sprite and offer me a drink. I asked for an iced coffee but was told it was unavailable.
The bathroom was actually decently sized and even had a little vanity space. There were Sabon branded cosmetics in the bathroom. The only item I used from the amenity kit was was the ear plugs which were better than nothing but didn't do a ton. I used my BA First eye mask. I noticed a lot of people sleeping upright and not reclined. Why fly business class if your not gonna lie down? The reading light wasn't very adjustable an kinda just annoyingly hung. With about 3 hours to landing drinks were offered to passengers who were awake. I continued watching Zero Dark Thirty on the iPad. With about 2 landing hot towels were offered. FAs offered water and orange juice. Breakfast menus were also offered.
I think it's classier to offer separate menus for dinner and breakfast. Breakfast was served all on one tray. The omelette and cheese plate were good. The fruit bowl was just pineapple and blueberries. I was offered vanilla or strawberry yogurt and chose vanilla. The bread basket came around and I chose a croissant. After a few minutes more bread was offered and I received my espresso. It seems that whatever machine they use can't make lattes cappuccinos or hot milk.
One thing I noted was that there was no champagne or sparkling wine offered. The 767 service between Toronto and Tel Aviv is business and coach, with no first class. That said, I think that since business is the only premium offering on the route, it ought to be more substantial. The crew was great and no real complaints on the service end. The hard product, food and IFE could use some work however. The amenity kit was very bare bones and seemed cheap. I think they should use products that people identify as uniquely israeli, like from one of the myriad of dead sea companies. The retail price is really low, and El Al could probably get an even better deal ordering in hue quantities. Oddly, the first row of the plane was 10. There was a galley and bathroom in front.

With half an hour to landing, the seatbelt sign was illuminated with no prior warning. About 20 minute out blankets were collected and folded as well as the iPads. Kudos to El Al for collecting the iPads so close to landing to allow people to take maximum advantage. An FA came around offering lemon and mint sucking candies. 10 minutes before landing, I looked around and realized how empty business class was. Only 13 of the 22 seats were occupied. Landing was smooth, and about 10 minutes late.
The line at customs was pretty long and it took me around 25 minutes to get thru. But when I got to baggage claim my priority bags were out. I grabbed a cart, free in TLV and headed towards my taxi. I used a company called Daka99 and paid 200 shekel (~$55) for my ride to the old city of jerusalem with 2 big bags.
I realize its not under El Al's control but I think a priority immigration line would be nice.
Verdict: It was a decent service which I would use again if it was only option. It lacks a lot, but for the convenience I guess I won't really complain. I do think that there's a lot they could upgrade without much cost to them. For example, using the BA lounge at YYZ instead of KLM. Whole I haven't been to the YYZ lounge specifically, BA lounges tend to be good. As an LY partner, maybe a deal is negotiable.
not that I would have used it on this trip, a TLV arrivals lounge would he nice too.

BA_Jfan

El Al Business Class Menu, Toronto to Tel Aviv - April 2013

Alcohol
Campari
Smirnoff
Gordon's Gin
Jack Daniels
Chivas Regal 12 year
Glenmorangie 10 year
Alexander beer (Israeli
Heineken

White Wine
Upper Galilee Chardonnay 2010, Recanati
Fume Blanc 2010, Dalton

Red Wine
The Chosen Aquamarine Cabarnet Sauvignon 2009, Binyamina
Yarden Merlot 2008, Golan Heights Winery
Reserve Cabarnet Sauvignon 2007, Barkan

Mevushal Wine
Israeli Merlot 2009, Teperberg

Dessert Wine
Yarden Dessert Wine 2010, Golan Heights Winery

Appetizer
Chicken breast with apricot sauce
Fresh tossed salad with vinaigrette dressing
Assorted warm rolls

Main Course
Herbed roast chicken thigh, tomato rice, grilled vegetables
Braised beef in onion Demi-glaze, mashed potatoes with chives, sautéed zucchini
Herbed filet of salmon, saffron rice, baby carrots, and green beans

Dessert
Cake selection
Fruit of the season
Coffee, espresso, tea

Will post breakfast menu soon. And meal photos.

kcmd

doesn't seem like a very good international business experience, sounds like a domestic flight?

economyman

Interesting report.

A couple of comments:

1. Laline is today a pretty well known brand in Israel with some 70 stores spread all over the country and they also have a store in San Francisco. So I think to Israelis it's quite meaningful to have an amenity bag from them. I have no idea about the actual content or quality as I haven't flown LY for some time.

2. I don't see how LY could do a deal with BA in YYZ - it's a BA-operated lounge and LY is not a partner of BA.

More generally, I think LY really need to up their game in the YYZ-TLV route - the 767 business class product is so dated it's a real shame.

clubman

Thanks for the report! ^

Captain bother to make any announcement/s?

camsean

Interesting tr. Thanks for posting.

BA_Jfan

I think there was one or two announcements from captain.
And I thought BA and LY code share some flights from LHR-TLV? Even if they don't, no reason they can't have a business partnership at YYZ.

clubman

No, they don't.

NYC2TLV

When it comes to airport operations, all carriers deal with each other. If you recall, a number of years ago LY used the BA lounge at EWR. Unfortunately for LY, BA kicked them out for what they deemed "inappropriate passenger behavior."