First there was the extra-ordinary start time. Awake at 2:30am for a 3am departure from my Tel Aviv hotel arriving at Ben Gurion International at 3:30 for my 6am flight. The terminal was already heaving and I noticed that the first departure was timed for 4:50am. They were already beginning to prioritise passengers for some flights through check-in. Coming into Israel El Al passengers get a grilling but on the outbound they ensure that all passengers for all airlines are treated the same and nobody gets on anything with wings without first getting questioned. All credit to them though - it does seem to work. My office had come to my rescue on the return trip and pre-cleared me so mercifully my encounter with El Al security was brief. So basically you have questioning, followed by x-ray of baggage, followed by more detailed examination of baggage if x-ray shows up anything even slightly dodgy - and then finally you can proceed to check-in. Overall the process took a little over an hour to complete. Incidentally it was interesting to note that El Al had two disabled check-in desks - never seen this before.
So then it was through security proper - no restrictions on liquids here though, through immigration, where I think I got the trainee and finally down a big ramp (arriving passengers heading up big ramp opposite) and into the airside lounge. The main departure lounge was really quite impressive consisting of a large circular area with shops around the perimeter and four exits to the spokes that containe A-D gates. In the centre of the lounge is a waterfall that falls from the edges of a circular lip on the ceiling into the pool in the middle and was quite relaxing for the few passengers that still had any time to spare before rushing for their plane. As it was I only had 10 minutes to throw the rest of my shekels at a chicken burger and fries - it may have only been 5am but I was getting on a 5 hour El Al flight and needed quality food.
So off I headed to gate D3 and straight onto the plane. This time I was seated in a slightly better 27A seat about 4 rows from the back - which in some ways was good as it was slightly behind the wings. A couple sat beside me and immedietly I realised the narrowness of the seat - this was not going to be the most comfortable flight ever. We were a little late leaving - and I guess that is not unusual for an airport so security concious - but were in the air by 6:30 and quickly passing over the Israeli coastline and out into the mediterranean. Almost immediately they started the film on the overhead monitors - another very recent release - Premonition with Sandra Bullock (a personal favourite). Unfortunately I did not even realise the film was on until the began serving breakfast so I missed the first half an hour. It did seem silly to put the film on so early when the flight is 5 hours. Breakfast was OK - they said ommelette and that is pretty much what it was along with a couple of other items that I decided not to partake of. After breakfast I watched the rest of the film and then slept for a couple of hours before getting ready for out Brussels arrival.
We landed just slightly later than scheduled and taxied to the gate. As I was waiting to get off I noticed the cleaners waiting to get on and realised that they were not conventional cleaners. I was reminded that I had heard that El Al staff clean their own planes and these were more likely to be people with two or three roles - cleaning the planes in the morning and then check-in duty in the afternoon. So I disembarked and contemplated my next move which was not as easy as it sounds.
I did not have a boarding card for the next flight as it was BA and El Al could not check me in for this. The flight was not on the monitors so I did not know whether to head for A or B lounge and did not fancy hanging around the coridoor. In the end I reasoned that I had been in B for my BA outbound arrival and headed that way. Once in the lounge I realised that with no check-in facilities I would have to wait until the flight had a gate before being able to check-in so had to sit around the rather spartan lounge for about an hour. Fifty minutes before the scheduled departure, and slightly before there was a gate, I headed through security and parked myself at the empty check-in desk at the gate containing a BA a/c. I was rewarded by a BA staff member arriving fairly quickly and able to check me in. Within 5 minutes there was a queue of around 20 or 30 other passengers behind me so I guess it was the right move.
The rest of it was fairly run of the mill stuff. Boarded and departed fairly promptly. I sat there for the entire 45 minute flight and read the newspaper eagerly consuming the snack that was offered and before we knew it we were landing at LHR. Took about 20 minutes to get across the airfield from 270R to T4 and then ended up being bused to the terminal from a stand. Being BA, they decided to misplace my luggage so more time was taken filling out forms etc. before I departed bagless to my 'long' waiting taxi.
The bag arrived the following morning.
My next flight to LA on VS will be infinitely more comfortable but hard to believe it will be as interesting.
Phil FM
