departure security at Tel Aviv - El Al vs. other airlines
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 84
departure security at Tel Aviv - El Al vs. other airlines
I know El Al has special security that no other airline has. I also know that Tel Aviv airport has general security for all airlines. My question is what security at Tel Aviv airport do departing passengers on El Al have to or might have to go through that passengers on other airlines don't have to go through. Basically, what is the difference between general security and El Al security there?
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 84
Yeah, I knew that. I guess what I meant is, why do people often have such an ordeal flying with El Al out of Tel Aviv, but relatively no problems with other airlines if all airlines go through the same security? If El Al has extra measures, do they believe that the general airport security isn't enough for them? If so, why? I mean, it's in Israel - their home country, so one would think that the security there would be designed to be good enough for El Al.
#4
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 377
why do people often have such an ordeal flying with El Al out of Tel Aviv, but relatively no problems with other airlines if all airlines go through the same security?
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 84
Where did you hear that more people have a greater "ordeal" with El Al compared to other airlines ? I would assume that those specific people would have exactly the same "ordeal" if they had chosen a foreign airline and were being questioned by the same security person. Having flown out from TLV many times on both El Al and other airlines, I have seen no difference while standing in the line in the general length or style of questioning (I'm referring to the other people in the line).
So would you agree then that it's possibly more arduous flying with El Al only when departing another country and flying TO Israel, but if you're departing FROM Israel, it's all the same no matter what airline?
#6
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 377
So would you agree then that it's possibly more arduous flying with El Al only when departing another country and flying TO Israel, but if you're departing FROM Israel, it's all the same no matter what airline?
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: HaMerkaz/Exit 145
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Just what I've read in related threads on various online forums.
So would you agree then that it's possibly more arduous flying with El Al only when departing another country and flying TO Israel, but if you're departing FROM Israel, it's all the same no matter what airline?
So would you agree then that it's possibly more arduous flying with El Al only when departing another country and flying TO Israel, but if you're departing FROM Israel, it's all the same no matter what airline?
#9
Join Date: Oct 2012
Posts: 377
People don't depart on two airlines simultaneously so it is rather difficult to compare. The comparison would have to be between two different flights, likely months or years apart. The general security level probably changes all the time due to alerts passed on by intelligence services worldwide, so it just many be a coincidence that security was tighter on the day that person flew El-Al.
In any case, any flight by a foreign airline leaving TLV will have a large number of Israelis on it, so there is no logical reason for the security personnel to "discriminate".
In any case, any flight by a foreign airline leaving TLV will have a large number of Israelis on it, so there is no logical reason for the security personnel to "discriminate".
#10
Join Date: Jul 2000
Location: 6E Westbound, 4E Eastbound
Programs: AA EXP & 3MM, Priority Club Plat since 1984
Posts: 6,293
There is only one airline (non-domestic) that is "owned" by Israel.
And sometimes things Israeli are held to different standards for the oddest reasons.
So there is no difference in treatment, just halo affect. And an eagerness to tell the world what "those people" did.
Random groups of travelers treated exactly the same by the same people, but only those associated with EL AL get the most complaints. Sounds like a Freshman Psychology class experiment.