Hello!
Here is my flight report about a Ryanair flight from Tel Aviv to Rome in February 2023.
TLV AIRPORT - TERMINAL 1
I arrived to terminal 1 2 and a half hours before the flight.
Even though I didn't need to send my suitcase, since I had a hand luggage (trolley), the security process was the same.
This was the queue to the security:
Please note that the queue is both for domestic and international flights.
After 25 minutes of waiting, I finished this part of the security check, and made my way toward the passport control and the hand baggage check.
The passport control process was fast as usual.
However, the hand baggage check process was slow and I waited almost 40 minutes in the queue.
I spent approximately a hour in the security process, which means that I hadn't a lot of time to eat or shop something in the duty free shops.
Duty free market shop:
Gate area:
Dinner is served :D
I finished the meal and went to the toilets for a usual loo review :)
As you can see, the toilets cleaning was good.
Near the toilets you can find a change and vending machines with reasonable prices (for the airport) for drinks and snacks.
For example - a bottle of water costs 7 ILS, something like 1.7 Euro.
Terminal view:
I went to the duty free shops, but couldn't find anything that I want to buy.
Looking in the departures schedule, I saw that the boarding started:
So I made my way to the gate area:
The queue to the bus was very long as you can see.
Last photos of terminal 1:
On our way to the aircraft:
Elal Boeing 777-200 (4X-ECA), which didn't return to service even today (July 2023) and according to some information in Israeli aviation groups, it won't fly again :(
Our aircraft:
The previously mentioned Elal Boeing 777 again:
Israir A320:
Our aircraft again:
FLIGHT EXPERIENCE - TLV TO FCO
Aircraft information:
Boeing 737-8AS(WL)
9H-QCF
In service since March 2016, making it almost 7 years old when I flew on it
Cabin view, standard seat:
Finally I had the opportunity to try the newer cabin!
My seat (16A), which had a great leg room!
Cabin view during boarding:
As you can see, this aircraft is equipped with the newer PSU and mood light which I like!
Safety instructions:
The Gopro is ready :)
Take off video:
Cabin view after take off:
The flight was a standard Ryanair flight, shortly after take off the crew started to sell food and drinks.
This time I didn't buy food or drinks, since I brought a drink from the duty free and I wasn't hungry.
Approximately 3 hours into the flight, I went to the toilet:
I must say that the toilet was clean, even very clean, considering the fact that it was close to the end of the flight.
Landing video in FCO:
Taxing to the gate after landing:
Wizz A321:
I found it very strange that our aircraft was connected to jet bridge, but we made our way to the terminal with a bus.
I had a similar experience only in MUC aircraft, 9 years ago.
Cabin view during deboarding:
FCO AIRPORT
Gate view:
The previously mentioned Wizz A321:
The entrance to the terminal:
On my way to the passport control:
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for sharing this FR on FR! A predictable product, which is FR's pro. It's surprising how much better the BSI makes their cabin look, but still the same old tired-looking ironing boards. They take a lot of criticism in Europe, but they are still better than the LCCs in the US.
Likely you arrived at a gate that is only for Schengen departures (where the plane was headed to next) so they needed to bus you to passport control.
In Israel it's the same story, they take a lot of criticism, but in some cases it's not justified.
Sometimes people didn't follow the requirements and then they complain about the flight, I never had a problem with LCC, I flew with Ryanair, Easyjet and Flair (in Canada) and just followed the requirements, never had any problem.
Others may complain about the fact that the flight experience is very basic, but when you pay a lot less than on a legacy airline, what do you expect?
I never came with expectations from low cost flight, knew that I flew with them because it was cheap and I wanted to get from A to B. Maybe thus I never got disappointed?
Interesting, thank you for this information!
Thanks for sharing! Now that I've finally flown FR (to the same destination as you even!), I definitely get why people fly them. You had an exit row seat, so obviously your legroom was good, but it's surprisingly roomy in regular rows, and the BSI cabin does feel more spacious in general. Aside from that it's very basic, but one advantage FR offer is nonstop flights on city pairs that many airlines don't offer or have little competition on, and still have good prices.
Totally agree. FCO has a bit of a bad reputation but it seems undeserved, or maybe outdated, because Terminal 1 is nice and new and super efficient in my limited experience.
Thanks for sharing!
That's right, they (and other LCC) offer non stop flights for some destinations that legacy airlines don't offer.
In fact, there are a lot of such routes from TLV.
For example - Romania, Elal offer only flight to Bucharest, while Wizz offer flights to Cluj Napoca and Iasi.
It's the same story with Ryanair and Italy, although both Elal and Ryanair offer flights to Rome, there are no Elal flights to Bari, Naples, etc.
(Maybe Sundor operate on the route to Naples, but it's only in the summer as far as I remember)