latest check in time
 

I am flying LY First from EWR with luggage (on Motzai Shabbat) can i arrive at the Airport 45 min. before departure ?


Thanks

I very strongly advise you not to try it. It would be a close call for any trans-Atlantic flight on any airline. With LY it is truly playing with fire. El Al Security is not going to agree to being rushed and it can sometimes take a surprisingly long time.

Last month I flew LY MXP-TLV in Business Class and, for some reason which I still do not understand, Security was not satisfied with my Israeli passport. I was asked if I had another, I told him that I have an American passport, they asked to see it and then took both passports to a table about 20 meters away and checked the two of them in some way.

Given the fact that after you finish with Security, you have to check in, go through the TSA line (and neither of us knows how long that will take) and then walk to your gate you may well find that you arrived after the doors were shut.

I agree.
LY might try to bend some rules for a F passenger.
LY security might not.
TSA....

Thanks

Whats the latest you think i can arrive 60 min?

With the current reported TSA wait times across the country, but especially at EWR, even 60 minutes would be playing with fire.

I think you are playing with fire and a motzei Shabbat flight for a Dati individual was just not the smartest thing in the world. Even 60 minutes is ridiculous for all the same reasons already written. You have two levels of security--LY and TSA. Neither is going to be rushed. AND TSA doesn't always have a business line open.

BTW last time I flew ( and I go early to satisfy my comfort zone) there was this person trying to cut the TSA line because they were running late. First I ( and then others) told them no! As I said, I leave time to be comfortably in the lounge with no stress. I do not leave time to allow myself to go backwards in line because you or someone else didn't leave sufficient time. ( and I get the Motzei Shabbat bit--that is why I won't fly then)

They are quite accustomed to passengers arriving 45 min before on a summer sat night when Shabbat ends late.

It is also a very quiet time at security because its one of the last flights of the night from that terminal.

As an F passenger they will usually give you an escort through security if you ask.

I've arrived around then and have had no issues

Depends on LY security. I have showed up 90 minutes before a flight from LHR to TLV with only hand luggage and with my BP already printed to find that they had to round up the security team again since they had already left the checkin area.

I have flown many times from Kiev to TLV on UP, and printed my boarding pass either online or in the airport on the self check-in machines (which often takes a few attempts until it works) , and then proceeded straight through securtity without going to the security questions by the check-in, then by the gate, my name was called out to come to the gate to answer the security questions. So it seems that the security screening doesn't need to be done by the check-in area.
One time, after printing my boarding pass from the self machine, after i started walking to the baggage security area, an ElAl agent saw me, looking jewish, and came to me and said i have to go to the check-in desk to go through security question screening. But other times i've just done it by the gate.

I think this is a specific case of LY staff knowing that the Sat night flights from NYC (which attract a high % of Orthodox Jews) and being well prepared for late arriving passengers