A Friend of mine was flying yesterday in Economy (ticket was S class),
Called EL-AL to make sure he can get to the lounge (Invested 60 Points on
my best friend to work...)

Then tried to get him a good seat, First try was bad, Since he booked the ticket from now to now, all good seats were taken, so he was in a middle seat.
Then EL-AL called me to say they managed to get him 45H which is an Aisle Exit row and that they will continue to work on a better seating.

He got to the lounge everything was nice, Then i was informed that they found him a better seat and he was upgraded to business (no points were taken from me, and as far as we know no points were taken from him as well...).

This guy is even not a silver in EL-AL...

This is what i call a good service...

You showing off again...

By the way, came on here just an hour ago thinking how quiet it was with not a single new thread or post in two days and suddenly there are 4 in just the past half hour!

Edited to add: just realised they were all by you...

This is what I call vitamin P...

No, I am not, As said it was a flight from now to now, and it was
very late when i was notified he is flying, The people i have talked to
didnt know me, They only knew i am a TPL.
For my opinion they did above and beyond.


Well that's because i am in vacation..., So just had the time to relax and check my favorite forum...

Fair enough, and I was just kidding but then again this is not exactly the normal standard of service your average LY passenger can expect to receive.

Hope you’re enjoying your vacation, and realise it doesn’t get you off the hook, you still have to post here...

I agree
I always get great service from reservations.
They always able to solve problems that a travel agent do.
I book most of my flights alone and they are doing a great job.

in the air: Took my son to BCN Sunday morning and we got F class service
on the small 737. All the F/A where acting like it was singapore F class.

On the way back on Monday night we got the worst F/A in Elal

99% I am very happy with Elal so this last flight was the 1%
No one is perfect

LiorM

I am...

i would change the title to : "What a Kombina". this one better suits this story.

Its not a Kombina, Its a good service,
I dont f*ck the system, I dont trick anyone or earn anything from it beside making the life easier to a good friend, I believe that some people in this forum also benefited a little bit when they asked me to help them with something with el-al (from lounge entrance, seating or upgrades), Dont be negative all the time.

If you will see the other post i have made on preferred seating, You will see
that even being a TPL i had to argue about the amount of people flying with me
that entitle preferred seating, So not everything is perfect and its not whenever i whistle, EL-AL start to dance....

+1

You know the right people to talk to and they do your bidding, it seems that if you're in really good with LY, that its commutative. LY can't provide solid, consistent service in general. I'm glad they kiss your butt and bust theirs for a buddy of yours; they don't even have a working website.

On the way back the guy got bad seating, and i had to argue over the phone with the station manager, and call el-al customer service - So it was quite the opposite...

EL-AL is built from people, there are some good ones and some bad ones, and the above is the proof, you will have it with any other air-line or service provider... - I got good service on the first, bad on the second... This is not butt kissing...

I am using the web site quiet often, Its true its not the best site, but it does work for what i need (including booking tickets) and have most of the required info...

Seriously, Its a nice forum, i am "new" in the forum comparing to the rest of you guys, But i believe i am flying a bit more than most of you guys, I am the worse customer every company can have (Cellcom, EL-AL, Yes and who not...), I am jewish (so i like to complain) - But the negativity that goes here on the forum is far beyond from what el-al deserve...

I didnt saw any post on the Eilat Red Sea 1st flight and the new configuration (with much more space for the legs), I have not heard anyone talking about the upcoming iPhone application EL-AL is working on, Or the many other nice aspects in EL-AL, you grump all day, "Achlo Li, Shatu Li" (Someone drink my drink, someone eat my food) and keep flying EL-AL... Hallas... 8-)

Probably because no one here has tried the service yet (didn't it start just a couple of days ago?) or knew about the extra legroom, though this is good news!

So what's the seat pitch?

In regards to the iPhone, I didn't know they were working on one, but that's good news too, as long as it's actually decent.

I have to agree with ebzed here. You get some great service and some poor service (and I say this as a 'lowly' PL, nowhere near TPL). However, I ALWAYS make a point of sending EL AL's customer relations feedback, whether the service was particularly good or whether it was particularly bad. No business will ever improve without feedback, and for those of us who are pretty much tied to EL AL for our own reasons (flight schedule convenience, or whatever) we all have a vested interest in giving as much feedback as possible.

One example which I have posted here before (I think) is the appalling state of the SKML in First from Israel (and also returning from London) until 18 months ago. The food was so bad that the crew always apologised to me for it. I almost 'terrorised' Haim Romano about it, sending printed photos by registered mail, cutting up my PL card and my wife's GL card and sending them with the photos in the envelope, etc, etc. Without belaboring the point, it didn't take more than a month before they arranged for me to visit the catering company in Netanya, which resulted in my sending them a report. 6 weeks later things began to change, and a month or so later saw the whole thing completely changed, and the food and presentation at a perfectly acceptable standard (although still not nearly as good as Hermolis, but they can't afford that).

But it is vitally important to give them feedback if service is particularly good as well as to complain if it is bad. That way the better employees get encouraged and the whole picture gets better.

In regards to iPhone App - its complete cr@p, so i guess there's your answer.

In regards to LYs new ETH route - its pretty standard for a 40min flight. Obviously the plane is nicer than the Israir's and Arkia's of this world but that aint exactly a 'yard stick'.

And finally... "you grump all day, "Achlo Li, Shatu Li" (Someone drink my drink, someone eat my food) and keep flying EL-AL... Hallas... 8-) "

...That's why i stopped flying LY (internationally anyway) but not so much for pax munching my food but more for the flexibility of using OneWorld alliance, better Business/ClubWorld product than LY and excellent Lounges around the world, apart from....you guessed it...TLV!

Just my 2�'s

I don't think you're a "newbie", nor am I knocking your ability to grease the wheels at LY, clearly you're a valuable customer to them. I also think that LY can be excellent (the best in the world sometimes) when it comes to inflight service, if you have the right crew.

I think a lot of the negativity comes naturally, from the country where everyone thinks they should be the PM or the RAMATKAL.

There are a few big problems with El Al, some are due to management and a corporate structure that was used to being a state-owned entity. Some due to the incompetence of the IAA. Service-wise, there are a lot of problems dealing with us jews. a friend of mine who was a FA said that Israelis don't know how to receive service. And that's not even talking about the shtuyiot of the ultra-orthodox.

But that doesn't excuse the selection of 2 generation old premium seating. Or the shortsighted selection of 777s and more old 747s over 787 orders.

El Al's competitors mint money on TLV. Does LY "lose" money because they don't fly on שבת, probably, but the loss in two areas: lost usage of the planes (~10% of the operational cost of flying, which is when flying, planes sitting on the ground don't cost much money since lease terms and value depend on cycles and operating hours), and the fixed cost of corporate staff. Pilots, FAs and other staff are paid for the work performed so that cost scales with the flying time.