39 reviews
El Al Airlines offers three options for purchasing tickets: Lite, Classic and Flex. Lite cards are the cheapest, but they offer the least flexibility. Classic tickets offer more flexibility, but Flex tickets offer the most flexibility, including the ability to change or cancel your flight for free and choose any seat in the same class.
The flights from Tel Aviv to Larnaca are operated by El Al's "Sandor" brand, which operates low-cost flights. As a result, there is no business class at all on the 737 (800 or 900) planes operated on this route.
Sometimes (perhaps in times of increasing demand), El Al operates flights on this route in one of the 4 company's 777-200 aircraft. Of the 4 airplanes of this model, two were refreshed and renewed like the company's 787, and the other two still remained with the old classes.
I purchased a flex ticket for my flight from Tel Aviv to Larnaca. This allowed me to choose a seat in a business class cabin, even though the flight does not offer true business class service.
The additional cost for the Flex card was $80. I felt it was a fair price for the experience of sitting in a business class seat.
I arrived at TLV airport one hour before my flight, after checking in online. Due to the security situation in Israel, the number of flights is limited, so I went through security quickly and was on my way to the gate in only 15 minutes.
I only had a hand bag, so I was able to use the fast track (W) security.
Before boarding, knowing that on such a short flight I wouldn't get a meal, I sat down to eat at Aroma Cafe in Duty Free expecting some plane spotting. The windows are coated with a layer of black dots, I don't know if as a security measure or against the sun, but that's why the pictures don't come out clear.
The only plane I saw in those minutes, is an El Al 737-800 (4X-EKS), which picked up passengers en route to Paris CDG.
Boarding began 45 minutes before the scheduled departure time from gate B6, from where I could see the tail end of our large 777-200, hidden behind the jet bridge.
Boarding was fast and efficient, but there was a bit of a bottleneck at the boarding bridge due to the large size of the plane and the number of passengers.
The first time (of the two) when I felt for a moment that I was actually receiving business service, was while boarding the plane. The flight attendants greeted me with a smile and showed me my seat.
The second time was later in the flight, when the flight attendants gave us salty snacks and a bottle of water, while for the rest of the passengers in the economy class, the bottle and cookies were waiting on the seats, due to the short time of the flight and the number of passengers.
In this outdated business class, the seats are arranged in a 2-3-2 configuration which is no longer up-to-date and competitive enough compared to many of the competitors. The department is divided into two, 3 rows of seats in front of the door, and another 2 rows behind the door, in front of the economy class.
The seats themselves are comfortable and roomy, with 20" width and 65" legroom, but they don't offer the same level of quality as the upgraded planes.
My seat was on the far right, next to the window, in the last row in the front section.
The seat is electrically adjustable and includes 3 automatic modes (sitting, comfort and lying down), but even in lying down mode it does not recline to a full bed, but only to 170 degrees, which I assume may be a relative problem on long flights. Of course, on a short flight like this, this is not necessary.
In addition to the automatic directions, you can customize every part of the seat, including even the length of the footrest.
Some of the buttons needed more vigorous pressing to implement the request, but overall all the seat's functions (including a personal reading lamp) worked as they should, despite their age.
After take off, the flight attendants offered us a bottle of water and a bag of salty cookies. As I already mentioned, for the passengers who upgraded a seat to business class, things were handed out personally by the flight attendants, compared to the other passengers.
Of course on such a short flight, there is no in-flight meal at all, so that was also a nice touch that I wasn't expecting.
Beyond that, nothing was waiting for us on the seats. Not a pillow, not a comfort kit and nothing because, as mentioned, this is not a flight with business service at all.
The flight time of 40 minutes is very short, so there is not much time to really experience the in-flight entertainment system, but this is the first impression I got.
Exactly at the appointed time (almost on the second) the plane began to drag backwards.
After 9 minutes of taxi, we took off from runway 26. The takeoff was smooth, after 10 minutes the sign indicating to fasten the seat belts went off, and 15 minutes later it was already on again for the landing in Larnaca.
Tel Aviv, Herzliya and the coastline
Port of Larnaca
Landing at LCA airport, runway 22 at 13:24 (11 minutes before the scheduled time).
The jet bridge that is waiting for us, in the terminal at LCA
Overall, I was satisfied with my flight on an El Al flight. The business class cabin was comfortable and spacious, and the service was friendly and efficient.
However, it is important to note that this is not a true business class experience. The seats are comfortable, but there are no toilets or other amenities, such as meals or drinks.
The price of $80 is a great value for the experience.
6 Comments
Understandable that there's no meal on such a short flight, but you would expect at least one quick drink service in Business class. Nevertheless, still a cool experience for this short hop.
Thanks for sharing and welcome to Flight-Report!
Although in the meantime this has only been done in 2 of the 4 active ones (4X-ECE and 4X-ECF), but as far as I know, the plan is to do it in the other two during 2024.
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