TPE-TLV: Quick trip to Israel on TK in whY

[trentusjuventus]

Day 4 - Around Tel Aviv

As our friend had to work on Monday, we had the day to ourselves to check out the sights of Tel Aviv. The city is quite compact and easy to navigate, but an even better way to do see it is to rent a bike from the public bike sharing program Tel-o-Fun. There are stations all over the city where you can rent and return bikes. For tourists, all you need is a credit card to register, and you can do it at the electronic kiosks attached to every rental station. Just swipe your card, enter your details (skip the bit about an ID number and phone number), and then choose a bike. There are two parts to the rental, a daily "access fee" (NIS 17) which gives you access to the program for the day (you can buy multiple days or months if staying longer), and then a rental fee. From memory, the first 30 minutes is free, then the price goes up from there. We paid about 32 shekels and 2.5 hours, which was more than enough. The bikes are heavy and a bit coughbersome, but you can't really expect much more from a public sharing program.






As it was our last night in town, we headed out to a restaurant on the recommendation of a local friend. Goocha (or Goo Cha, I'm not sure) is predominantly a seafood restaurant with what I guess you would call 'Israeli fusion'. We sat outside, but there is also a bar which faces the kitchen with a glass barrier so you can see the chefs at work while you eat, which I'm told is very popular. They also have a great wine menu with some very nice Israeli wines.

 

[trentusjuventus]

Day 5 - Heading home

I had the day to myself on my last day in Tel Aviv, so just did a big walking tour around Tel Aviv, down to Jaffa, and then back up along the beach. Nothing new to report here, except that I might have found the cheapest (and best) Felafel in town! Rightly or not, Felafel has become the national snack of Israel and there are stores everywhere selling these crispy fried balls stuffed into a pita with a bunch of salad. I stumbled across this place on King George St called Ratzon Felafel (16 King George St). I don't remember there being any English signs (or menu) but you can't miss it because there's usually a line out onto the sidewalk, as well as hoards of people tucking in to their felafels.





From what I can gather, the average felafel in Tel Aviv costs around 15-20 shekels, so you can imagine how impressed I was when I found this place selling them for the princely sum of 6 shekels!! And with the number of locals eating there you know it must be alright!

I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town until it was time to head to the airport. I will detail my experiences at the infamous Ben Gurion in my next post.

 

[trentusjuventus]

One food highlight I forgot to mention was Shakshouka, traditionally a breakfast dish but also eaten throughout the day in Israel. Most restaurants have at least some version of it and you can even get it in a pita or sandwich. It's basically a tomato based stew with spices, and eggs poached on top, definitely comfort food!

This one was the "Bulkan Shakshouka", with feta cheese and olives added:

 

[trentusjuventus]

Day 5 - Ben Gurion International Airport

I must admit that this part of the trip box excited me and scared me at the same time. I'm sure many people have heard tales of what is supposedly one of the most highly secured airports in the world, especially for outgoing passengers. Everyone advised me to arrive at the airport at least 3 hours early, as there would be rigorous security checks and passport control scrutiny. So doing as I was told, I arrived at Ben Gurion just over 3 hours before my scheduled 2125 flight.

The airport was actually pretty quiet, with no major queues in the departures area. Before even checking in, you and your baggage must pass through airport security. There is a channel in front of every block of check in desks, with around 10 officers taking aside every passenger and questioning them. I don't think these were immigration officers, just security officers. The woman who spoke to me was friendly enough and just asked basic questions about my time in Israel, what I'd done, and then a series of questions about my luggage; had anyone asked me to carry anything from Israel, had my bags been in my possession since I packed them, did I pack them myself. After about 1 minute of questions, she put a barcode tag on my luggage, and then a yellow sticker on my passport with a barcode and number on it. From what I understand there are certain numbers on this sticker which indicate your "risk level" and later on they use this to work out how to process you through security.

Check in for TK did not look busy, but there were only four desks operating, of which only one was for "internet bag drop" (I'd checked in online but didn't have a boarding pass). There were about 6 people in front of me but I still managed to be waiting in line for almost an hour just to drop one bag and get my boarding pass. This was partly due to the fact that it was looking like our flight would be delayed (or maybe it was the flight after) and there were people who might not make connections, so they were taking up a lot of time at the counters. Also, a number of people had managed to completely avoid the pre-checkin security and thus had no barcodes on their bags or passports, so had to go back to security, get checked, then come back and cut back in line to finish checking in, quite frustrating. As I got to the front of the line, the agent's computer stopped working and she had to wait for a technician before she could continue. This is where I would say that the TK ground service is not that great and generally pretty disorganized. I was surprised that my checked baggage was not searched before I checked it in, I guess it would have been X-rayed before being loaded, or maybe they have the right to open and search as well.

After checking in I headed for security, preparing myself for the most possible scrutiny. My friend who left earlier that day sent me a message from the airport saying how thorough they were with her luggage, confiscating liquids under 100ml, and she was even subjected to what she described as "extremely an thorough" pat down from two female security officers).

There was an officer at the entrance to departures, which is a big glass wall with a few channels in it. I was directed over to a lane on the side of the security hall, which appeared to be where they were sending the few "non-European" tourists (there were some Americans, Taiwanese, Filipino, and Australians in the line and that's about it). Carry on is X-rayed as normal, but all electronics including cables, chargers etc must be taken out and placed in a tray. They also made a big deal about separating what was on my person from what was in my bag, putting stuff from my pockets in a separate tray.

I had to walk through the metal detector twice, and then an officer swabbed my shoes. After that they took my boarding pass and passport and kept it in a little pigeon hole behind the desk while an officer went through my bags. He asked me to open all compartments and he thoroughly swabbed everything. He was polite but not friendly and didn't ask many questions. The officer checking the American guy next to me was very interested in the satellite phone the passenger was carrying and enthusiastically asked questions about the usage costs, coverage, and how it worked (for his own interest) while swabbing the guy's bag. It took about 2 minutes of checking and I was good to go. I headed down to passport control and waiting in line for no more than 2 minutes. They took the stay permission slip from my passport and then gave me an "exit permit" which looked exactly the same but was printed on paper with a pink tinge. There were no questions about who/what/where/why in Israel, I don't think the officer even spoke to me, and with that i was through and into the departures area.

All in all, my experience of Israel's airport security was a lot easier than I was expecting, I think I've had more problems entering and leaving countries such as the USA and Canada. As people have mentioned in this thread, there is probably a lot of "invisible security" behind the scenes, but as for visible security there is very little (I don't think I saw one single armed officer. However I get the feeling this is definitely a YMMV situation and people will likely have different experiences for reasons which I or they might not be aware.

 

[trentusjuventus]

Flight: TK 789
Route: TLV-IST
Date: 5/5/2015
Departure: 2125 (sched.) 2210 (act.)
Arrival: 2250 (sched.) 2358 (act.)
Flight Time: 1h 48m
Aircraft: A330-200
Seat: 8G

So it turned out that this flight was rather delayed, and boarding didn't start until almost the scheduled departure time. The staff were getting quite frantic and walking around the departure lounge trying to hurry the stragglers along, as they were aware that there were quite a few people (including myself) who would have tight connections in IST.

The flight was relatively uneventful. Meal was again decent for Y and they had Effes beer which kept me entertained.



We landed in IST and taxied to an actual gate which was nice, and I was one of the first off the aircraft, which was good because the fun of transferring in IST was about to begin...

 

[Bindibuys]

TLV planned for last week in September next year, so this report is right up my alley. Thank you!!

 

[trentusjuventus]

Flight: TK 24
Route: IST-TPE
Date: 6/5/2015
Departure: 0105 (sched.) 0151 (act.)
Arrival: 1745 (sched.) 0622 (act.)
Flight Time: 11h 31m
Aircraft: A340-300
Seat: 7K

Probably the best word to describe international transfer at IST at midnight is a zoo. With only an hour until my next flight departed I knew I would have to move pretty quickly to get through, and luckily I was quickly off the plane and heading for transfer, which was conveniently located at almost the other end of the terminal from where we disembarked. About halfway along was a sign clearly stating "international transfer" and a few passengers went towards the doorway only to be turned back by a security guard because the transfer point was closed. I got to the transfer point and there wasn't much of a line, but within minutes there were literally 100 people lining up behind me. Security was disorganized, made worse by a group of what appeared to be some kind of religious pilgrims on a tour, about 100 people and mostly men who had absolutely no idea what was involved in an airport security check. They were blocking the way to most of the security lanes and no one appeared to be moving them along. Luckily I managed to get through to a lane down the end where there was not much of a line. There were definitely some cranky passengers behind me who were about to miss connections but only one staff member there to keep the line moving. The tour group was then crowding around on the other end of security, with passengers having to fight their way through to the escalators to go upstairs. IST was again busy despite the fact it was after midnight and I made a beeline for the gate which was a fair distance and downstairs (yep, a remote gate). I arrived at the gate just as boarding was commencing and had time for a quick bathroom stop before getting on the bus.

I was lucky to score a bulkhead seat right at the front of Y, and although I couldn't stretch my legs out fully, there was enough room to get up and move about without disturbing the guy sitting next to me, which I much prefer on a long overnight flight. I was exhausted and practically asleep before we even took off, and proceeded to sleep for the next 6 or 7 hours (so no picture of the dinner service, but I would guess it was similar to the flight over).

Again there was an amenity kit, this one was in a metal box and kind of looked like it might belong in the 1950's, but the contents were the same.





I think I forgot to mention earlier that the IFE on the TK A343 is woeful. The screens are small, they're supposed to be touch screens but not very responsive, and the selection of movies and TV is pretty rubbish. The "documentaries" section consists almost wholly of CNN specials and the movies were rather old. I couldn't get the inflight map to work so was stuck with the blue screen displaying flight information.

Again there was a self-serve (I think) drinks station at the back



Breakfast was served about 3 hours out of Taipei. I know everyone had just woken up, but by now it was 3pm local time and I could have used something a bit more substantial



We touched down in TPE and again I was one of the first off the aircraft, straight through the e-gate immigration and to down to the carousel, where I was surprised (or not really) to see my name on a board to contact ground staff, as my bag had not made the connection in IST. I suppose it was nice of them to give me a heads up so I didn't waste time waiting for all the bags to come out before realizing that mine wasn't there (not looking at anyone in particular, RJ). Ground staff confirmed that it would be on the next days' flight and would be delivered to my home, no big deal.

 

[Daver6]

Great TR. Will be in Israel for a couple of weeks next month.

 

[boomy]

Great TR. Will be in Israel for a couple of weeks next month.

Me too
Maybe we should organise an AFF event in the other side of the world

 

[JessicaTam]

Thanks for the TR trentusjuventus.

 

[trentusjuventus]

Thanks everyone for your comments, I'm glad that I can be of assistance!

So a few take-aways from this short trip:

Turkish Airlines - Decent hard product in Y with decent food, however the IFE is somewhat dated. On-board service is more than acceptable, but ground service not so much. I get the feeling that TK might just be too big, and IST lacking in capacity on order to support such a large fleet and diverse route network. I'm not sure I would take TK if there was any doubt at all about the possibility of a connection being tight.

Israel - Generally a safe place to travel. As long as you take any of the precautions you would in any other European country there's no personal safety issue. Of course, with the political situation and actions of neighboring countries, this could change at short notice so keep that in mind.

Ben Gurion Airport - It's likely that you might have a different opinion of the security every time you pass through. For me, no problems at all. I think the key here is to be careful what's in your luggage, know the details of your trip (who/when/why/where), and be patient and polite.

Thanks everyone for reading, I hope I've been able to answer some questions for people along the way as well.

 

[boomy]

Thanks again trentusjuventus for a very informative TR and nice photos.
Ben Gurion airport can be intimidating at first but once you learn the routine and know what to expect there shouldn't be any negative issues. I'm not sure it's necessary to get there too early. I'll say maximum three hours before departure to really be on the safe side. The DF area is ok but beware from ridiculously overpriced f&b. The Dan lounges for pax traveling in J on all foreign airlines can all be described in one word - cough. In contrast, EL AL King David flagship lounge is very nice!
Btw, did you notice the hidden sniper posts high up in the main hall?

 

[drron]

Thanks for an interesting and different TR.

 

[Daver6]

Thanks again trentusjuventus for a very informative TR and nice photos.
Ben Gurion airport can be intimidating at first but once you learn the routine and know what to expect there shouldn't be any negative issues. I'm not sure it's necessary to get there too early. I'll say maximum three hours before departure to really be on the safe side. The DF area is ok but beware from ridiculously overpriced f&b. The Dan lounges for pax traveling in J on all foreign airlines can all be described in one word - cough. In contrast, EL AL King David flagship lounge is very nice!
Btw, did you notice the hidden sniper posts high up in the main hall?

I dont suppose OW emeral and ruby have access the the King David lounge?

Is there fast track security for J pax?

 

[boomy]

I dont suppose OW emeral and ruby have access the the King David lounge?

Is there fast track security for J pax?

Only EL AL elite pax can access King David.
Indeed there is fast track security for J pax.

 

[trentusjuventus]

Btw, did you notice the hidden sniper posts high up in the main hall?

Agreed 3 hours is enough. No, I didn't notice them, as I said I was surprised at how little visible security there was, will definitely have a look next time I'm there!!

 

[althaluss]

Trentusjuventus - thank you so much for the GREAT trip report! Over the past decade, I've visited Israel four times and your experience, especially in dealing with Ben Gurion airport security, corresponds with mine and is spot-on! People complain sometimes about security levels and the delays they cause, but I'd rather have too much than too little, considering some of the nutters in the world who see us Westerners, and especially Jews and Israelis, as disciples of the devil.

BTW, in answer to another question, I fly J into Israel on a Qantas-issued, One World ticket, through Amman, the last leg being on Royal Jordanian whose J class is amazingly good. As far as J class lounges go at airports, I've found the King David Lounge to be very ordinary and fairly run-down for what it professes to be. On Royal Jordanian you have access to two Dan lounges which are far better.

If your credit card gives you free access to a pay-lounge, I'd check that out. I haven't done that at Ben Gurion yet and I'm not sure which ones are available.

 

[Daver6]

Trentusjuventus - thank you so much for the GREAT trip report! Over the past decade, I've visited Israel four times and your experience, especially in dealing with Ben Gurion airport security, corresponds with mine and is spot-on! People complain sometimes about security levels and the delays they cause, but I'd rather have too much than too little, considering some of the nutters in the world who see us Westerners, and especially Jews and Israelis, as disciples of the devil.

BTW, in answer to another question, I fly J into Israel on a Qantas-issued, One World ticket, through Amman, the last leg being on Royal Jordanian whose J class is amazingly good. As far as J class lounges go at airports, I've found the King David Lounge to be very ordinary and fairly run-down for what it professes to be. On Royal Jordanian you have access to two Dan lounges which are far better.

If your credit card gives you free access to a pay-lounge, I'd check that out. I haven't done that at Ben Gurion yet and I'm not sure which ones are available.

Thanks for the info. Is one of the Dan lounges better than the other?

 

[althaluss]

The one in Concourse B is quite OK ... not the best lounge I've ever been in, but perfectly nice - unless the King David Lounge has had a makeover since I was there last, I'd prefer the Dan Lounge.

 

[boomy]

Glad to see BA refurbished their Dan Plus lounge in TLV. It's not that special but still better then then other Dan lounges which are all rubbish IMO.
Here some photos from the BA lounge.



Most f&b is not interesting but there are some nice dips and canapés available on order.