Do you really have to arrive 3 hours prior to flight time on the Tel - Aviv flight?

not at all, then again if you dont want to fly and cant think of a reason why , now you got it. Really not that bad Ive shown up an hour before at EWR and no problems. However, I always check to see how full the plane is, there is a large # of both No-Shows and Stand-Bys. So if you play it too close (even 1 hr) you just might find that your seat was given away, and theres no room left for you. The same out of TLV.

You should not have any problems so long as you arrive >1 hour ahead of time (if you're elite and such)

Your bags go through more stringent checks than usual behind the scenes, and you get a little interview.

as craz said, they frequently [over] sell out the TLV flights and thus, it would be a good idea to make sure they don't invol you due to not arriving at the specified time.

in TLV, they sometimes seem a bit disorganized and you might have to push your way through to the elite section, they do a much more thorough interview and screen your luggage before you get to the check-in. in addition, you have to wait for passport control and the next screening, that is usually not as long of a wait.

I'd recommend arriving 2 hours in advance in TLV. The shopping mall inside is pretty nice, its actually amazing all the stuff they have there. And the VIP lounges are very nice as well.

Even if you are Elite, I would suggest arriving at least 1.5 hrs in advance in ewr. They have separate screening at the gate and no 'elite access' lines there. Just Israeli security. It took us over 30 minutes to do that in Dec.

I'd also echo the min 2 hours in advance in TLV. They don't even get there until 3 hours before the flight and it can be quite a mess. If you have anything suspicious looking to an x-ray in any suitcase (there are lots of suspicious looking items...they were concerned about our bath salts from the dead sea), expect it to be opened and searched thoroughly, which can add quite a bit of time to your departure. The new terminal is great and there are tons of shops and a nice lounge to kill the extra time.

Is this always true?

On some occasions, at EWR, I'm certain that CO did escort those of us in BusinessFirst to the front of the gate screening line.

However, on other occasions, we didn't get any special treatment.

You can get pre-interrogated and get a smartcard encoded with your fingerprints which lets you bypass the re-screening. (for businessFirst only)
The BF interrogators weren't Israeli, just ICTS, which are Israeli owned....

I think you're all missing something.

Your FIRST trip to Israel you will be interrogated several times by several people. If they don't have any idea who you are they're going to spend a lot of time ascertaining it. Once you have a couple Israel stamps in your passport things get smoother. Until then, I would allow three hours.

Sorry to disagree, could be on the way in they will give you the going over. But once there if you dont fill the Profile or look weird, they might ask a few questions to clear the person of anything. Now if you are of Arab descent then Id agree with the 3 hours, even if a US citizen.

on the way in they are trying to prevent people who are trying to get work (usually not a problem with citizens of A Western Country) or can be a potential security problem/risk.

On the way there you should be there 1.5 hours in advance. On the way back at least 2.5 hours if in coach and 2 in BF.

You're right suitcase, I forgot that they'll give you a harder time your first time.
Also, they try to figure out, and they don't just ask, if you're jewish.

In my experience, one of the questions that the interrogators will sometimes use (when trying to determine if you're Jewish) is something like: "Do you or does anyone in your family speak Hebrew?"

Well I guess that's much better than "Can I see if you're circumsized?!".

Well, most Israeli security types try that line on women...

I'm connecting to CO 90 at EWR, starting at LAX. Do I need to allow any extra time at LAX for screening, or will it be a quick check of the passport at the counter and on I go?

My girlfriend and I both fly from SFO to EWR and then connect to the TLV flight.

In my experience:

• At SFO, the check-in process is identical to the one for a flight to any other international destination. I've only gotten SSSS once.
• After you get to EWR, however, they subject you to additional security checks at the gate. Had you began your trip at EWR, they would have completed most of these checks at the ticket counter, but they do them at the gate for connecting passengers. So, don't head to the gate at the last possible minute.