Originally Posted by
Dovster
In June, I flew SOF-TLV on El Al, with a late night departure. The plane was late in getting into SOF (not an usual situation with El Al) and they rushed the passengers to board, saying that if we don't depart in time to arrive by a certain time (I think it was 1 a.m. but am not certain) we would not be able to take off for an additional 3 hours, as TLV would be jammed with large flights arriving from North America.
Im aware of several wide-bodys departing for the US in the 1am area, but cant think of a single Airline that arrives into TLV from the US anywhere near that hour. I think LY has a flight getting in @ 5am some days There are several European Carriers that arrive bet 2am & 3:30am and depart from 4:30am - 5am
The worst is YomTov time when all the LCCs are full of the pilgrims coming in and Immigration goes over PP and Visa (if needed) with a fine tooth comb. Which only becomes clear after you reach the booth area, then even a short line takes forever. Too bad they dont have kyosks for the non-Israelis to use as they do for departures but I fully understand why they dont
Dov, I just realized what it is, doesnt TLV have a curfew @ 2am that lasts for 3 hours. So they wouldnt be able to take off until they left enough time to arrive after the curfew ends. Was it a rent-a-crew that handles the flight