TLV voted one of top 10 airports in the world
 

Now you can appreciate it more, luxurious Dan lounges included ... ;)

http://www.travelandleisure.com/worl...national#intro

I find TLV to be a great airport in general, if a bit overcrowded (especially the dan lounges)

I'd like it if the train ran on a more regular, frequent schedule (Every 15 mins would be nice)... and if they'd build a *A lounge or UA or TK club there

Not surprised. The Jerusalem stonework throughout the airport evokes the image and feel of Israel. The shopping promenade feels more like a mall than an airport facility. It can get crowded as most airports do, but all in all, an efficient facility.

Having recently spent eight hours on a Saturday in the airport on the outside of security and another three hours inside security at the Dan Lounge, I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. The lounge was small, crowded and featured a disgusting bathroom. The food was sparse.

I'd flip DOH and SIN. Why no American airports? ATL, DTW and even MSP are better than TLV. So are KUL, SVO and BKK. While not great, and BKK lounges are bad, they are better than TLV.

I think the airport is beautiful, and yes, it does feel more like a mall.

But facility wise, especially nice lounges (unless you travel LY), lack of a Star alliance dedicated lounge, and ground services for First passengers etc it's lacking, and I find iy hard to believe it would be considered one of the top ten.

I'm going to have to disagree on ATL, MSP and SVO unless they have all been renovated a lot in the last 4 years or so. The DL lounge last time I was at ATL was even more crowded than the Dan at TLV and the whole airport is a mass of humanity. Part of what makes TLV so great is that it's physically quite small - from taxi drop off to gate in both time and distance (with hand baggage only and an Israeli passport) is probably faster than any airport I have frequented recently with the exception of CGN.

I find Ben Gurion a bit unpredictable. Morning departures in Club (generally on BA) can easily take 45 minutes from taxi to airside, with the security interview, check-in, security and immigration (and I've never had a security interview last more than two minutes, once I've gotten in front of an officer).

On the other hand, I've done the same thing in about ten minutes for afternoon departures.

The stonework really is a nice touch, and the centre court is pleasant enough. I find the retail options lacking pretty badly, however, and if you're not on El Al the lounges are really garbage.

That's the definition of most airports, during peak hours it will take longer to get through the airport, especially if you need to go through multiple steps.

45 minutes sounds like a lot though, it normally takes me more like 20 minutes during morning departures:
~2 minutes queue for for first interview
~2 minutes for the interview
2-5 minutes to check-in a bag
2-5 for the security check
1-5 minutes for immigration

I like it though I find I'm always walking a ton in T3. One of the beauties of T1 (which, unlike T3, is physically ugly IMO) is there's very little walking involved.

I also like T1 , the main advantage over T3 beside the short walking distance is the great view, depending on the wind conditions and which runway is used you can see planes taxing , taking off and landing . I do wish they had a few more better food options. T3 has one of the worst Airports Views, you can hardly see the runway and you can hardly see the planes from the gates.