Elal First Class

[Bp]

Both considering service and food.

egreed, the soft product is just heads over anything else if you keep kosher,
Dan have you flown ly f?

[PlatinumGuy]

You would rather have to sit next to a stranger with poor avod than have a private seat because of some saran wrapped steak?

Being some double wrapped short ribs with you.

You don't realize how much I travel.
I've watched everything on most airline IFE so there's never anything there for me unless it's EK.

You can't bring a wrapped meal if you've been away from the major Jewish cities for a month. And besides I don't care so much about food but it's fun to have it there.

I don't mind sitting next to someone in the middle. Nobody has to claim over each other which is what matters. Unless it's some A Hole who threatens to call the pilot since you're phone is on, it's actually nice to be next to someone. F pax are biased towards the more interesting portion of society. Also ua has u next to somebody too in the middle.

Elal attitude is far superior to UA which is the main differentiator between private and commercial aviation. I can't stand being manhandled and Im lucky to be able to pay top dollar to avoid it.

[meshugener]

Thank you. Nice report.

[Dan]

Thank you. Nice report.

+1

[Dan]

egreed, the soft product is just heads over anything else if you keep kosher,
Dan have you flown ly f?

I've never flown LY period.
For me soft product is only applicable after the hard.  The soft SQ product is gravy on top of the hard product.  What's the ikur and what's the tafal when you're buying a first class seat?

[sky121]

Seems pretty crazy you've never flown LY. Isn't that mandatory as a Jew? 
 Some of my best memories were those LY flights when I was younger and the amazing atmosphere when landing in E"Y.
Even now there is something special about it, though not like it once was.

[jaywhy]

Great TR.

[damaxer91]

The Food; the part everyone is waiting to hear about…. – Since we took a day flight, lunch/dinner was served about an hour after take off and breakfast 3 hours before landing. All in all, I was very satisfied; besides for one thing. Let me explain. Since everything is Kosher, it needs to be wrapped separately. I was under the impression that El-Al’s food is just like any other first class food, besides the fact that it’s kosher, which is not necessarily true. For the first meal they served us in two courses. For the first course they served fresh salads with turkey, eggplant, hummos, croutons and olives. I was able to mix everything around and it tasted phenomenal. I really felt like I was eating at regular restaurant. For the main course, we had a choice between beef, chicken, and fish. I choose the beef, while my wife chose chicken. Maybe my expectations were too high, but I was expecting this huge piece of steak. I mean isn't that what First Class is all about?!!! They brought out a wrapped piece of beef with some vegetables and couscous. The beef very good, but again, nothing out of this world. For those of you that have flown El-Al First Class, was my expectations too high? Are the main courses usually better? Please tell me so, because I definitely wasn’t wowed. During the meal, I asked for some bourbon, which they didn’t have, so instead I opted for some Glenmore single malt scotch, which was alright.

During the flight – I slept a little, did some work, watched a movie, and of course, my wife and I took turns going to the economy area to check up on our daughter. We actually brought her to the first class cabin twice, for a couple minutes, which none of the crew members minded. Three hours before the flight, they served breakfast. Again, the first course was amazing with hot bagels, tuna fish, lox, a couple different types of yogurt, salads, cream cheese, and cheese cake. For the second course, it was either an omelet or shakshuka. My wife and I both choose the omelet. Again, it was a nice little omelet served on a plate, but didn't taste like anything special.

Did you get the regular Kosher or the "Regal"?

[damaxer91]

You don't realize how much I travel.
I've watched everything on most airline IFE so there's never anything there for me unless it's EK.

You can't bring a wrapped meal if you've been away from the major Jewish cities for a month. And besides I don't care so much about food but it's fun to have it there.

I don't mind sitting next to someone in the middle. Nobody has to claim over each other which is what matters. Unless it's some A Hole who threatens to call the pilot since you're phone is on, it's actually nice to be next to someone. F pax are biased towards the more interesting portion of society. Also ua has u next to somebody too in the middle.

Elal attitude is far superior to UA which is the main differentiator between private and commercial aviation. I can't stand being manhandled and Im lucky to be able to pay top dollar to avoid it.

Agree 100%. The UA and DL seat is better (not by a ton) but the atmosphere and service in El Al F makes up for it 10x. The crews that DL and UA use on those flights are @#$% and it hard to even get a drink sometimes without getting serious attitude.

And when flying LY F I've always sat next to someone interesting or had the seat next to me open. Sure beats sitting next to a Yid chowing down on Lobster on UA

[TimT]

Sure beats sitting next to a Yid chowing down on Lobster on UA

huh ? Not kosher

[MEIR613]

Did you get the regular Kosher or the "Regal"?

Regal

It seems the food everyone raves about is the regular kosher food, not regal.

[Dan]

Seems pretty crazy you've never flown LY. Isn't that mandatory as a Jew? 
 Some of my best memories were those LY flights when I was younger and the amazing atmosphere when landing in E"Y.
Even now there is something special about it, though not like it once was.

Never got to go to Israel as a kid.
First trip was in 2007. Flew CO J thanks to a $100 off prestige coupon that CO.com interpreted as a confirmed upgrade cert.
Next was DL J.
Last trip was from Europe.

[Dan]

Agree 100%. The UA and DL seat is better (not by a ton) but the atmosphere and service in El Al F makes up for it 10x. The crews that DL and UA use on those flights are @#$% and it hard to even get a drink sometimes without getting serious attitude.

And when flying LY F I've always sat next to someone interesting or had the seat next to me open. Sure beats sitting next to a Yid chowing down on Lobster on UA

We weren't arguing about LY F vs. DL/UA/US J.
Was arguing about a theoretical LY F vs UA F.

All else being equal I'd definitively fly LY F over UA J but the same is true for most F vs J scenarios.

[damaxer91]

Regal

It seems the food everyone raves about is the regular kosher food, not regal.

Yup

We weren't arguing about LY F vs. DL/UA/US J.
Was arguing about a theoretical LY F vs UA F.

All else being equal I'd definitively fly LY F over UA J but the same is true for most F vs J scenarios.

My experiences with UA F have been average at best and I'd go with LY for sure (as an Orthodox Jew)

[sky121]

Never got to go to Israel as a kid.
First trip was in 2007. Flew CO J thanks to a $100 off prestige coupon that CO.com interpreted as a confirmed upgrade cert.
Next was DL J.
Last trip was from Europe.

Awesome.

[PlatinumGuy]

Agree 100%. The UA and DL seat is better (not by a ton) but the atmosphere and service in El Al F makes up for it 10x. The crews that DL and UA use on those flights are @#$% and it hard to even get a drink sometimes without getting serious attitude.

And when flying LY F I've always sat next to someone interesting or had the seat next to me open. Sure beats sitting next to a Yid chowing down on Lobster on UA

At my age it was sometimes hard to get a drink at all!

UA and DL are full of Non revs which can be annoying

[MEIR613]

Yup

What hechser is it?

[PlatinumGuy]

What hechser is it?

From NY all OU from TLV all rabanut

[MEIR613]

From NY all OU from TLV all rabanut

So from NYC regular kosher meal is under the OU?

Damn.

[PlatinumGuy]

So from NYC regular kosher meal is under the OU?

Yep