Last week, when visiting the El Al office in Tel Aviv I got my hands on a official printed timetable. To my surpise, inside the timetable there are seatmaps for all LY aircraft including cargo planes ... !

Below are my observations for every LY plane type:

There are 2 configurations for this plane:
1. 408 seats in 3 classes.
2. 482 seats in 2 classes.

Upper deck for both configurations
Platinum (Business) class with 6 rows, 2 seats on each side (A,C - H,K). Rows are 72-74 and 77-79 with row 77 being the exit row. There are 3 lavs in the upper deck - 2 in front on the right side, one in the back on the righ side.

Lower deck - on the 3 class configuration:
First class - 2 rows in the front cabin (rows 2-3), seats A,C and H,K.
Platinum class - 4 rows in the 2nd cabin (between the 2 doors) - rows 10-13. Seating 2-3-2 - A,C - D,E,F - H,K. There are 2 lavs in front of row 10 - 1 on each side.
Coach - 3 cabins - rows 21-32, 34-44 and 45-60. Seating 3-4-3 - A-C, D-G, H-K. Rows 21-24 run allong the galley so there are no D-G seats there.
Rows 57-60 have only 2 seaters next to the window (B,C and H,J).
Exit rows - 21, 34-35 (row 34 is missing the A and K window seats - similar to a 737 exit row configuration) ans 45.
There are 10 lavs for coach passengers - 4 in the center area between rows 32 and 34 and 6 in the back.


Lower deck - on the 2 class configuration:
All coach !!!
2-2 seating in the front row (2) and 3-3 seating in the rest of the front cabin - rows 3-8.
3-4-3 seating in the rest of the plane. 2nd cabin - rows 10-16. There are 2 additional lavs behind row 16.
The rest of the cabin is similar to the other configuration.

2 class configuration - 430 seats.

Upper deck
10 Platinum class seats in 3 rows - 71 - 73. Row 71 has only H,K seats. 2 lavs in front but not so close to the seats.

Lower deck
Platinum class - 4 rows in the front cabin (rows 2-5, seats A,C - H,K).
4 additional seats in the 2nd cabin on the left side (rows 8-9, seats A,C). Rows 8-10 on the right show as coach 3 seaters and I guess these are crew rest seats.
Coach - 3.5 cabins. Rows 17-20 are in the 2nd cabin. The chart shows 4 rows on the right side and 3 in the center and left so I'm not sure which is which. The front row is bulkhead.
The other 3 cabins (starting at row 21) look very similar to the 747-400.

3 classes - 283 seats.

First class - 1 row (2), 2-2-2 configuration - A,C - D,G - H,K. 1 lav in front in the middle (door is in the front not turning to the passengers).

Platinum class - 3 rows in the front cabin (10-12) and 3 in the 2nd cabin (14-16). 2-3-2 seating - A,C - D,F,G - H,K. Row 14 is missing the A,C seats. 3 Lavs - 2 between row 12 and the exit doors on both sides and one in front of row 15 on the left.
Seems like there is no wall between row 14 H,K and the right exit door.

Coach - 2 cabins - rows 21-34 and 45 - 58. 3-3-3 seating - A,B,C - D,F,G - H,J,K. Row 21 is bulkhead. row 45 is an exit row with no D,F,G seats. Rows 34 (AB), 57 (JK) and 58 (AB) have 2 seaters.
6 lavs - 3 behind row 34 and 3 in the back.

2 classes - 198 seats.

Platinum class - rows 2-5. 2-2-2 configuration - A,C - D,G - H,K. 1 lav in front next to the flight deck.

Coach - Rows 21-27 and 30 - 49. 2-3-2 configuration - A,C - D,F,G - H,K. Row 21 is bulkhead, rows 30 and 31 are exit rows. Row 31 D,F,G is also bulkhead. There are 2 lavs on the sides in front of row 30 and 2 in the back on the sides behind row 47. Rows 48-49 has only D,F,G seats.

2 classes - 180 seats.

Business class (not Platinum) - 6 rows in the front cabin (rows 2 - 7) with 3 seaters on both sides that convert into 2. They use the same planes for weekend charter flights and can easily make it an all-coach plane.

Coach - rows 8-34. Rows 8-9 have only a 3 seaters on the right side (seats D - F) with a small galley on the left. It seems like row 8 is an exit row. Row 10 on the left side (seats A - C) is a bulkhead.
The seat map does not indicate where the wings are but show a little more space for rows 15 and 16 so I guess these will be those exit rows. Knowing from other airlines, the front exit row will not recline so the 2nd is much better.

There have 2 lavs in front of the 2nd door set (behind business class) and 2 in the back. There is an additional lav next to the flight deck.

2 classes - 110 seats.

Business class - rows 2-5, 2-2 configuration - A,C - D,F.

Coach - rows 10-25. 3-3 configuration - A,B,C - D,E,F. Row 10 is bulkhead. Rows 14-15 are exit rows when row 14 is missing seats A and F.

One lav next to the flight deck, 2 more in the back behind row 25.

2 classes - 146 seats.

Business class - rows 2-6, 2-2 configuration - A,C - D,F.

Coach - rows 10-30. 3-3 configuration - A,B,C - D,E,F. Row 10 is bulkhead. Rows 16-17 are exit rows.

One lav next to the flight deck, 3 more in the back.

If you ever want to travel in a container on the LY Boeing 747-200 cargo plane, there is also a map of this plane with container locations ...

Note that there is no row 1 on any class on LY but there is a row 13 on most planes (except the 767).

Thanks a lot for this detailed description. In fact, I happen to have one of those printed timetables but it's quite outdated. I'm not sure the seatmaps are accurate (Alitalia, for example, prints seatmaps that bear no resemblance to the actual configurations of their aircraft). But this is certainly better than nothing.

Incidentally, on my flights row 13 was all available, in contrast to the rest of the front section of the aircraft.

Shuly

your posting is very very helpful ..however as a simple man coudl you help me out..in january i fly to new york ,,,i have silver membership of the frequent flyer programme on el al.....on tlv-nyc the plane is a 777 and on the way back its a 747-400........each time i fly el al i get stuffed with terrible seats...can you advise which ones to ask for and which ones to avoid using your posting
a million thanks

You can now view the LY seat maps apirchik used to write these descriptions. apirchik was kind enough to fax me the seat maps, and I've made a rough web page with all of them:

http://lyseatmaps.tk/

Let me know if you have suggestions for improving the display.

antsyb0y, what can we help you understand from apirchik's posts? In general, the coach seats on both the 747-400 and the 777 are mostly the same. The only variations have to do with bulkheads (walls in front of you instead of other seats), lavs (proximity of the toilet), galleys (kitchens), and exit rows (self-explanatory). Read through apirchik's descriptions of which rows are which on the 747-400 and the 777, and look at the seat maps I've posted. Do you still have questions?

Having flown on both LY's 747-400 and 777. The 777 is nicer (to me) and a lot more quieter. The 777 seemed a lot cleaner too. My only gripe is being seated in an exit row and have been awakend by inconsiderate **** who think their right to pray (practically standing on top of me) is more important then that of those whose sleep is interrupted by physical contact and audible contact. I do fly LY because of the security though.

Thanks for the seat maps - very helpful.

On the map provided, what is the "S" behind row 74 (also behind row 79)? It doesn't seem to be covered in the legend.

Also, anyone have comments about row 74 seats (upper deck) on 747? Is row 74 (upper deck) preferable to row 12 (main deck)? Any other suggestions on best/worst seats? Of course seatguru doesn't cover LY.

Thanks.