txp

Hi everyone,

If you used the Fattal private terminal at TLV Ben-Gurion, I would appreciate it if you could share your experience. I have a BA flight out of TLV to LHR at 6:30 am in J. My three choices are:

1. Do not use the Fattal terminal (saves $500); arrive at the airport around 3 am to go through security & rest of the formalities;
2. Use the Fattal terminal the day of departure (arrive there around 4:30 am);
3. Arrive at the Fattal terminal the evening before the flight, go through security that evening, and then sleep in one of their bedrooms. On the morning of the flight, they will take care of passport control and airline check-in. The bedroom use is about $240, but it saves me a hotel night in town, so this is not an incremental expense.

I would appreciate your thoughts on these three options.

Thank you!

mbgg

$500 to save 1.5 hrs in the middle of the night? Is there a question here?

txp

Yes, this is precisely the question. I am looking for advice and suggestions since I have never been to Israel before. In an ideal world I would not have selected a 6 am departure but that was the only way to get an upgrade to business class at a decent price.

Moreover, assuming I rule out Option 1, I still need help choosing between 2 and 3.

mbgg

Ok - it's your money to throw away as you please. Between options 2 and 3, I would choose option 3 - at least you get a good night's sleep for your money.

HouFlyer61

So did you use the service? I'm interested for the same reason you were...middle of the night travel to the airport and unknown security queues. If you used the Accommodation service, how early did you need to be out of your room before your scheduled flight, still 2 hours ahead? Thanks!

uhoo

They pick you up (for the drive to the boarding gate) at pretty much the last minute, right when boarding has started, then take you to the front of the line.

You clear security in the lounge itself, so I guess they don’t want you hanging around the public holding area.

Also, don’t even try to tip them.

Given that the drive from Tel Aviv to Ben Gurion at that time of night takes about 20 minutes, it’s really an unjustifiable expense, but if you can afford it - why not.

txp

Yes, I ended up using it, and it was fantastic! Worth every penny. The only thing that did not go as planned is that they do not offer accommodation services to the general public. They told me that their rooms are for flight crew only. So I ended up spending the night at a hotel in Tel Aviv. The rest was a great experience:

My BA flight was scheduled to leave at 6:40 am. The chauffeur arrived at 4:20 am, and by 4:45 am, I was inside the Fatal terminal, one of the first passengers to arrive. Once there, the security interview was very quick and courteous. After the security interview, an agent took my passport and boarding pass and took care of the check-in formalities. I was able to enjoy their great breakfast and relax before the flight. Around 5:55 am, another agent took me through the security screening (five minutes), after which we rode a sedan to the gate of the aircraft. The agent stayed with me until I was on the plane.

Two hours is definitely more than enough to complete all departure formalities, unless one is assigned a higher security risk code in which case the security interview could be much longer.

Overall, an absolutely outstanding service: A+.

joshnyc

I reserved arrival service at the Fattal Terminal, but I neglected to include a car to my hotel when I reserved. I assume there's no taxi stand at the private terminal. Is ordering car service through Fattal the only way to leave the terminal?

HouFlyer61

My trip was delayed and I am now scheduled to use the terminal next week. I can let you know then. I booked a car through a different agency, for a lower price than Fattal Terminal offered. I used Israel Welcome. The provided me with the driver's name and number, which I sent to Fattal.

joshnyc

Thanks! I also just checked out a map of the private terminal. Apparently it's right next to the old Terminal 1, so presumably there are taxis nearby, as well as transit to the main terminal, if necessary.

worldiswide

Great to hear good reports on this service. Trying to decide whether it's more useful for arrival or departure. In October afyer the holidays. Arrival is 5pm on a Sat from JFK. Departure is 7am BA to London on a sunday morning . I'm trying to understand all the options. You can use the tetminal only or also book transportation to the terminal? One of the posters indicated they booked a driver through someone else ..can they share who?

HouFlyer61

I booked the service both inbound and outbound. Yes, it was expensive. And yes, I'd do it again.

I booked the car service through Israel Welcome, for $149 USD each way to Jerusalem. I booked the Fattal Terminal service with them directly after contacting them directly via email: [email protected]; they also offered car service to Jerusalem though it was about $100 more, at $255 each way; I suspect their cars were nicer. Israel Welcome was a bit late picking us up for the return. When you book the Fattal service you given them your driver's name and phone number; Fattal stays in contact with the driver both on the inbound and outbound.

We only had hand luggage so I cannot comment on how Fattal services checked luggage.

Here's how the service worked.

On the inbound, a representative met us just after we exited the plane. From the time we met the representative to the time we got in the car to Jerusalem took about 30 minutes. After a quick hello with the rep, he took us to an elevator while everyone else exited via the jetbridge to the terminal. The elevator took us down to a van that the representative then drove to the Fattal terminal. The drive took between 5-10 minutes, all across and along the airport tarmac. Our representative stayed with us the entire time until we departed. Once at the terminal, we were greeted by a secruity person who asked only one question -- what was the purpose of our visit. Tourism. She then processed our arrival. The cameras that are supposed to take your photo and print that photo on the little slip of paper they put in your passport (instead of a stamp) -- well that camera wasn't working. So the security person took our passports and went into a little booth where she entered information and took a picture of our passport photo. We were then ushered into an airport lounge like area and offered food and drink. They had quite a spread, and the bar looked open, but we only had some water. We were the only people there, at around 3pm. Within 10 minutes we had our passports back with the entry slips printed and inserted into the passports. Our car service driver had been summoned and was waiting for us outside the terminal. We were free to go. The representative was very kind and helpful.

On departure, our driver picked us up about 15 minutes past the scheduled time. I did speak with him a few times and was assured he was coming. The drive to the airport was uneventful. We followed signs to the Fattal terminal. There was no security check before reaching the terminal as I read about with people who visit the main terminal. The driver approached a security gate and he had to call in for the gate to be opened. 2 minutes later we were back at the Fattal Terminal. We had a different representative on departure, one who was also kind and helpful. We were flying Turkish Airlines this day. I tried to check in online but was unable to complete the check-in; the system said I'd have to visit a check-in agent. The Fattal rep asked if we had boarding passes and I told him my online check in story; said not to worry, he would handle it. He took our passports and got us seated in the airport lounge like area. It was busy this day, around 10:30am, with about 75% of the seats taken at any one time. The food and drinks all looked good but we didn't try anything other than water. A security person came and spoke to us, asking general questions about our luggage (who packed it, had it been with us, the normal questions). About an hour before departure time a different representative urgently came to speak to us -- "Turkish needs to see the credit card you charged your ticked to before they will check you in." I use two different cards for tickets, so I pulled both out and showed them to her. She spoke on the phone and said, "this one"....pointing to one of the cards. She somehow sorted it with the airline and thanked us. I am aware that sometimes Turkish wants to see the credit card used to purchase the ticket so I wasn't totally surprised by this request. About 20 minutes later our representative had returned with our boarding passes in hand. He told us we'd be leaving in about 10 minutes, just as boarding started. He came back and got us, and we then went through a very informal immigration (had another slip of paper printed for our passport -- no questions asked) and then put our bags through a security scan. That all took about 3 minutes. We headed out of the terminal to our waiting car for a drive to the plane. Once at the front of the plane, we headed up an elevator and waited at the jetway while the representative took our boarding passes up to the agent to have us scanned on the plane. He gave us the passes back and we walked a few steps onto the plane. All totally effortless.

Hope this helps. I've never been to Israel so I only have read about how onerous entry and exit can be. We had totally the opposite experience.

worldiswide

Great details. Thank you. We have been to Israel many times and had some quick some not so quick entry and exits. This certainly sounds like a great benefit and just might do the trick for us in October.

mbgg

Is that $149 pp (would a couple pay $298?). The inbound sounds like a waste of money, especially with no checked luggage. The assumption that if you go the regular route everyone will always be subjected to lengthy security questioning and there will always be long lines is greatly exaggerated. Outbound is a different story: more checks and longer lines is the norm.

HouFlyer61

The car service was for two people. Not sure how many more could have traveled for that price. We were in nice Mercedes Vans, so plenty more room.

As for the value... For us it was value for money. My spouse would not have tolerated any challenges. This was the start of a three week trip, mostly in the Balkans, so we had much more ahead. The service is expensive. But for me it was value to manage down challenges and keep a happy spouse. It also made for a happy rest of the trip.