Review of El Al Israel Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Bucharest in Economy

Inrtoduction

Hello and welcome to my flight report about my flight from TLV to OTP.
I hoped to fly with Elal on the 737-800s with the new cabin, which I finally experienced this time, after hearing from family and friends that it was pretty good.

TLV Airport - Terminal 3

As usual, I arrived 3 hours before my flight to the terminal.

I went to the self check in kiosk and received my boarding pass, as well as labels for my suitcase.

The process was easy and fast.
However, there was an issue with the baggage system in the airport, so I got stuck in the line for 20-30 minutes before I could send my suitcase.

Then, I made my way to the security check and the passport control:

Shortly after, I made my way to the duty free area.
But I made some plane spotting on the way, as usual.

Elal Boeing 777-200ER (4X-ECF):

On my way…

Elal Boeing 777-200ER (4X-ECF) and Boeing 737-800 (4X-EKH):

Elal Boeing 737-800 (4X-EKH):

Almost there…

While walking in the duty free area, I found a new restaurant in the terminal, Moses, which is a known burgers restaurant in Israel:

Usually I eat something small before my flight, so I didn't want to eat a hamburger, but hopefully in the future I'll share some experience about this restaurant :)

I made my way to James Richardson duty free shop:

Nothing special to tell about.
Sometimes they have some good promotions.

The terminal:

The food area:

I bought a square (yes…) of pizza:

It wasn't cheap, something like 25ILS (6.66$ USD).

More photos from the dining area:

More photos from the terminal:

Shekem electric, the electric duty free shop:

It won't be my flight report without the toilet review ;)

And as you can see it wasn't that clean this time.

I started to make my way to the gate area:

Behind the jet bridge, our aircraft was hiding.

On my way to the jet bridge:

And finally, our aircraft for this flight:

Flight experience - TLV to OTP

Aircraft information:
Boeing 737-85R(WL)
4X-EKK
Started it's service with Jet airways (December 2014 - April 2019 as VT-JTB), sent to Elal in February 2020 and immediately stored until September 2023, making it ~9.5 years old on our flight.

The new cabin:

My seat for this short flight was 44J:

The legroom was ok, as you can see Elal installed also USB-A and USB-C sockets beneath the seats, as well as smartphone holder on the seat in front of you.

The newer PSU:

Wing view from my seat:

Elal logo on the headrest:

More photos of the cabin:

It's also important to mention that Elal installed IFE solution which you can use from your mobile device, which worked pretty good on my Iphone 14 Pro Max.

There's no take off video this time, since I sat in the middle seat.

Shortly after take off I went to the toilet:

And as you can see, the toilet condition was very good and it was clean.

Cabin view:

The IFE:

As you can see, I could see movies and TV shows, play some games or listen to music.

Evening meal is served:

I couldn't choose since this was the only meat option (Pretzel sandwich with chicken breast) and a bottle of water.
It was ok, but I still prefer the old meal style and not a sandwich.

My wife chose the vegan option:

Pretzel sandwich Vegan Sabich, I didn't try it, but she said that it wasn't tasty.

The rest of the flight was pretty standard and nothing special to tell about.

Economy class cabin during deboarding:

The business class cabin:

OTP airport

Goodbye 4X-EKK!

On my way to the baggage claim area:

I found it strange that near the baggage claim there was a duty free shop… I never saw such thing.
It took some time to receive my baggage.

In my opinion this area should go through some renovation. It looks pretty old.

After I found my suitcase, I went to the rental car area.

On my way:

The car rental area here is pretty small:

Luckily I arrived when it was empty.

Like my previous visit in OTP, there's no parking area for the rental companies in the airport, you need to take a shuttle from the airport to the car rental parking.

SIXT parking:

Thanks for reading!