I flew SOF-TLV on LY last night and had an aisle seat in the first row of Biz. When the door was shut, and I knew that the window seat would remain empty, I put my blanket and pillow on it.

Then, a woman I estimate to be in her 40s, walked up from somewhere behind me, didn't say a word, threw everything onto the floor and plopped herself down in the window seat.

One of the FAs saw this and came up to her and asked her where her assigned seat is.

"Row 5", she answered. As the first row of the plane is Row 10, the FA asked for her boarding pass. The woman gave her a dirty look. The FA insisted and finally she took it out. She was in one of the last rows in the plane. She, apparently, had simply decided to upgrade herself.

She was not at all thrilled when the FA sent her back to her seat.

Women will do almost anything to sit next to you, Dov.

Not surprising. Have seen this at least 5x on LY flights (including one who pulled it off)

Not specific to ElAl:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/turki...ng-into-j.html

Shuly

More than a bit of Chutzpa. Deranged I'd say.

would it work if you printed a fake ticket?

No - they have a manifest which shows the pax. They go over before so they'd know why someone is there who shouldn't be.

They'd find your name sitting in Y and shunt you back there.

Haven't seen it in business. I did see it when I flew from TLV to BCN, sitting in premium economy. Section was ⅔ full and there was a row of 3 that was empty. Guy ( not always women) came forward as we were getting ready for take-off and seat belt signs were on AND FAs were seated with their belts on. He sat down and FAs didn't say anything. As soon as the FAs were able to get up he was bounced back. (he really must have thought he was successful. )

I was once flying ORD-LHR F on AA. About 20 minutes into the flight, a man rushed the cockpit and was tackled by FA's and passengers. His father raced up and said he was a severe diabetic and when he has hypoglycemic attacks he has sometimes become delusional and violent. After a glucose tablet or two, he returned to normal but captain kept in in F so that FA's could keep a better eye on him. My comment was: "Oh, so that's how you get upgraded to F." The feeble attempt at humor was not appreciated.

It's not just an airline - it's Israel

^^^

Nothing specific to Elal - happens on all airlines and I have been witness to it as well. There are numerous articles and blogs and "How to"'s with recommendations on how to do it:
http://sammysgenericblog.blogspot.co...ss-flying.html

Now THAT is unbelievable chutzpa!