SFO777

Our very pleasant El Al Experience


We got back to The King David just after 1pm, so Mrs. SFO777 and I had roughly 3 hours before our driver was to pick us up for ride to the airport. Since it was Shabbat and the hotel restaurants really weren't functioning, we went across the street... believe it or not... to the YMCA. Our guide recommended it. Indeed, this was like no YMCA I've ever seen.











While not gourmet, lunch was pretty good.











With a late checkout, we left The King David around 4:30pm for the 35 minutes drive to Ben Gurion TLV airport. TLV is one tough place to get to and from in comfort. We had originally booked Korean First on the 10pm TLV-ICN 77W but my waitlist for that 2nd award seat on the connecting ICN-LAX A380 never cleared. Then a few months ago, we decided to go to Santorini in May for our anniversary. So I bought a cheap ATH-LAX-JTR round trip and used the last of my 2017 SWUs to upgrade to AA First on the LHR-LAX-LHR AA legs. Alas, we needed to get to Athens and El Al had a reasonably priced 7:30pm nonstop. The money we saved on an extra night at The King David paid for our El Al flights, the ATH hotel and then some. I'd never flown El Al and hadn't heard a lot of good things. But today's positive experience changed that perspective.

Since it was Shabbat, TLV was deserted and our two lovely VIP "escorts" escorted us to security where we were the only passengers and then thru the spacious and attractive concourse.











... to El Al's King David Lounge.







To the right of the front desk is the First Class Lounge.



... where I took a quick peek and pic. Get a competitive long haul First Class hard product and I'd definintely fly you.















OK, this is nice. Very attractive and spacious lounge. It certainly helps when you are the only passengers for most of our stay.

















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OMG... yum, yum!





There is a spacious mezzanine level to the lounge, dubbed the Glenvit Lounge.













At around T-35, we headed out for the short walk to Gate D7.









Tel Aviv TLV to Athens ATH
El Al LY 543
B738
7:25p-9:45p (sked)
7:20p-9:10p (actual)
January 13, 2018
Departed 3/16
Seats 2ACWith a very light load, our Gate Agent invited everyone to board.







Not the newest cabin, but way, way better than Euro-fraud Business that most EU airlines fly to TLV.



















Excellent and attentive service throughout the flight, which isn't hard when there are only 3 of us in the cabin. LOL. PDB open bar although we just went with water.





Whoa, an amenity kit on a 2 hour flight.





After take-off...



And showtime, El Al regional Business Class style.



We were both full but I took one for the team and the photo op. The meal was nothing fancy... just a cold meal although the chicken with dressing was quite tasty.







Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by El Al. I had low expectations going in so the bar was low. But I would definitely fly them again and absolutely choose El Al over the crap Euro-fraud on the likes of LH, LX, AF, etc...

SFO777

Thank you nequine. We loved our visit to Israel.

I was just going by what our guide told us... whether or not it was true is another matter.

Thanks so much aquamarinesteph.

Innocent Abroad

LY is phasing out First Class so I don't think there is much hope here. And reviews of the new J cabin on the 789 are rather ambivalent.

Yes, it does look great. The total opposite of the Dan lounges all other airlines use.

One could argue that the only aspect where LY is better is on those European routes where other carriers don't offer a proper J cabin. LX, BTW, uses A333 on the route so they are innocent (as well as BA, TK, IB and SU that almost always send wide bodies).

SFO777

The Sofitel Athens Airport and Lounge Hopping at ATH


Our El Al flight arrived early and we were the first to deplane.



We cleared customs and were out in short order.



Another reason for opting for Athens was the proximity of a comfortable on site hotel. In this case, The Sofitel Athens Airport. That and a virtually free room from our recent stay at the Sofitel in Xian.





I went for basic not palatial. Amazingly, this was an upgraded room due to my new Sofitel Elite status. Yikes.





Some 8 hours later, we're back... for one of the worst flight in a long, long time. The only good thing was there was no one at the Priority check-in lane.











At Athens, BA uses the Skyserv Lounge...



... along with a few other ailrines. LOL.

Basic utilitarian with god awful decor.





Dreadful food offerings which made your basic Admirals Club look good in comparison.











I left Mrs. SFO777 and decided to explore. Lo and behold, next door was The Goldair Handling Lounge, a Prioirty Pass lounge.



Wow, so much better than the crap lounge we were in.






















And the rest of the lounge selection in the ATH international concourse.

SFO777

Yes, there is indeed an airline worse than Air Canada!


Athens ATH to London LHR
British Airways 631
A320
8:00am-10:05am
January 14, 2018
Club Euro-fraud
Seats 4AC


Mea culpa, mea culpa. OK, sometimes I try to overthink things and try to get too cute. But this was a really bad idea. I went for the cheap ATH-LAX-JTR rountrip alternative and got burned big time. I naively figured how bad can 3 hours in BA Club Europe be when I get First Class from LHR. How bad? Really bad. Especially when you can't get the bulkhead. So bad that it nearly drove Mrs. SFO777 to tears. OMG, the profanities were rolling as well as the choice one liners.



O.M.G. "I am so sorry" sweetheart.







30" pitch is not Business Class in any book. This is disgraceful.



We haven't even pushed and someone is very unhappy. "This should be illegal" and "who do we sue?" were a couple of the best lines. And then to make matters worse, a 30 minute ATC hold.



The safely announcement was funny but it only lasted a few minutes.





Hopefully, she'll keep sleeping and forget we're in this piece of crap tin can.



Jeez, that's a long way.







Time for breakfast, which BA is not yet charging for in Business.





While Mrs. SFO777 slept, I had the English breakfast.



It actually wasn't that bad and it killed three minutes of this flight to eternity,



Despite the late departure, we arrived on time and taxied to Gate... zero as in no gate, or rather a Terminal 5 bus gate.







Since we needed to transfer to Terminal 3, this was actually convenient as the transfer bus departed from the same location.

SFO777

American First Class to LAX


Unlike last month, today's flight departed from Gate 22, the most remote and inconvenient gate in Terminal 3. The long, long walk...



London LHR to Los Angeles LAX
American 109
777-300ER (77W)
11:40am-3:10pm
January 14, 2018
Seats 1G and 1J

And then there was the most incompetent doc check staff and procedures. Three agents with two of the three agents bogged down with ticket issues with a 4th guy just standing there. Meanwhile, 15 Priority passengers wait. The clueless agent in the middle kept calling up passengers from the non-Priority line, until I yelled at her and asked "why the hell are you not processing Priority passengers?" That outburst got her attention and moved the Priority Line. It also earned me extra security questioning.



Mrs. SFO777 had boarded 20 minutes earlier while I went back to the main terminal (that's a long story for another time). Cabin pics from last month.





The usual classy AA First Class suite, packed full of pillows and duvets. I tossed them in the overhead, where they all should have been in the first place.



By all means, let's not even unwrap the amenity kit.



My view most of the flight. Who needs a curtain?



Today's menu...










And wine list, which continues to be just about the only impressive thing about AA International First Class.





In the air, showtime, AA style.





The Lobster starter...



... was quite good once tossed with dressing.



The Jerusalem Artichoke Soup was tasty.



Salad was OK.



But the Barbeque Short Rib of Angus Beef was really disappointing. Terrible cut of mostly fat.



The Victoria Spice Crumble was quite good, although a little more crumble would have been nice.



Still no curtain...





The again, not much difference even with the stupid sheer curtain. Unlike the 77W last month which had a solid curtain on this side. Nice job on a consistent hard product AA. Oy.





Around 90 minutes from landing, our snack was the Spaniard Gourmet Hot Dog.



Now, that's a hot dog!



Unlike last month, a rather mediocre and disappointing flight. But the good news is that we arrived some 40 minutes early and a Gate 41, which afforded a quick exit as we used the T-4 CBP station. Thank you for following along on this nearly 2 weeks saga. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to beautiful Israel and hope to return some day.




For many more pics and an HD version of this report, please visit SFO777.com.

HD versions with more pics posted on SFO777.com...
• Is there a worse airline than Air Canada?
• Marriott Montreal Airport Hotel
• Trying to outrun the Nor'easter
• Lufthansa First Class to Frankfurt
• Lufthansa First Class Terminal in Frankfurt
• Lufthansa Euro-fraud Business Class to Tel Aviv
• VIP Club Arrival Services at TLV
• The Norman Hotel Tel Aviv
• Jaffa and Tel Aviv
• Caesarea, Megiddo and Nazareth
• Scots Hotel Tiberias
• Around the Sea of Galilee
• Private Sea of Galilee Chef Lunch
• The Golan Heights and the Syrian Border
• The King David Hotel Jerusalem
• Jerusalem Day 1
• Jerusalem Day 2
• Bethlehem
• The Dead Sea and Masada
• El Al Lounge at TLV and El Al Business Class to Athens
• Sofitel Athens Airport and Lounge Hopping at ATH
• British Airways Club Euro to LHR... yes there is an airline worse than Air Canada
• American First Class to LAX

SFO777

LY must have really done a number on you.
Yeah, I searched for the LX 333 but it is not consistently scheduled and indeed on our days, was replaced with the same old Euro-fraud A321 as it's cousin.

schrodingerdog

I'd like to ask the chef or the person who created the menu where is the link between the hot dog and Spain

Nevertheless, looks good!

Innocent Abroad

That is also a story for another time

offerendum

Euro fraud nails it. Booked a paid J inner European flight with Swiss a few days ago. You book and and you absolutely know it’s wrong....

shefgab

Nice photos from Israel & Palestine. That Scottish hotel looks lovely - i'll have to pop that on my list for next time.


Now, I don't want to be a BA apologist but....

BA doesn't promise a lie flat seat, and as you say you knew about this in advance....not really fraud? It looks like there were about 9 rows of Club, so clearly quite a few people think it's worth paying for.

Ok, why was the flight so awful? Ok, the seats are economy size, but what else? Were the crew awful? Rude? Were you massively delayed? Food poisoning? No catering? Diversion? Something must have happened to cause your wife to be on the verge of tears. The vast majority of people i'm sure can deal with seating like that on a 3 hour flight without having a meltdown.

Ok, so if you can sleep, it can't have been that uncomfortable?

There are no plans to charge for business class food. And BA did actually cater their flight, unlike the "better" AC.

So you did like the food? You got your first choice? That must tick a box or two?

As far as I can see, the only issue is with the seats (that you knew about when booking), which are no different to any other airline on that route, nor indeed 99% of European flights.

gav0106

Nice report and photos
HoweverI really don’t think you need to yell at people and use the language you did.

ESFLYER95

Edit: Deleted

ESFLYER95

Looks like the most eccentric man in golf was having some ticket problems boarding for LAX....Miguel Angel Jimenez probably on his way to Hawaii for first Seniors tour event of the year.

kosy91

@SFO777

Very detailed trip report, enjoyed it!

Out of curiosity, why did you choose to fly BA in Club Europe. Its the same seats as econ, you already had lounge access through priority pass. The only benefit you got was a free middle seat and some food. You probably could have saved money by flying Econ (ET) and use the savings to buy M&S on-board

So basically the only benefit was a middle blocked seat....