Hello and welcome to this review of the flight from Prague-Václav Havel Airport (PRG) to Ben Gurion Airport (TLV), which I took on 19 August 2025 coming back from my vacation from Vienna and Prague.
I noticed that while there are plenty of reviews of El Al's new economy cabin on the Boeing 737-800, there's none for the new Business class cabin on the same plane, so hopefully this will be an opportunity to fix that omission.
This is my second ever review on this site (it was written concurrently with the report of the onward flight to Vienna), so please tell me if I made any beginner's mistakes.
BACKGROUND
When I initially booked the flights for my vacation, I planned for a Vienna-only trip; the initial booking was for both the onward and the return flights to be in economy class. A few weeks later, I changed my itinerary and divided it half-and-half between Vienna and Prague, which necessitated changing my flights.
El Al offers three options for its economy class tickets:
- Lite (a cheap, restricted ticket: no baggage allowance, seat choice is always paid, and no cancellation or ticket change)
- Classic (the ordinary economy class ticket: one baggage and one carry-on, seat choice is free of charge only in "normal" seats with "preferred" ones costing extra, and cancellation or ticket change subject to penalty fees)
- Flex (a more expensive ticket: increased carry-on allowance, free seat choice across the board, and cancellation or ticket change without penalty fees)
Because of the conflict in the Middle East, I opted for the Flex option, which would enable me to cancel my flights hassle-free in case of an escalation in the conflict.
When I changed my tickets from a Vienna-only itinerary to a Vienna-Prague one, the only option available on the return flight from Prague was for a seat in Business class. Because my initial ticket was a Flex ticket, all I had to pay was the price difference - which, in my opinion, was quite the bargain.
PRAGUE-VÁCLAV HAVEL AIRPORT - TERMINAL 1
For my last day in Prague, I woke up at about 6 - which I considered a miracle given my tendency to oversleep - checked out of my hotel at 6:30, and got on the Metro at 7.
Unlike many cities in Europe and around the world, Prague does not have a direct rail link to the Airport, which means I had to take the Metro to Nový Veleslavín station, which has a non-stop Trolleybus line to the Airport.
In the end, I arrived at the airport three and a half hours before the flight: early enough that check-in hasn't opened yet. I went to the café at check-in and had a small breakfast - a ham and cheese toast and a hot chocolate - which was pretty delicious.
I finished breakfast right in time for check-in. Oddly, my security interview (part of the extra security measures for flights to Israel) was done not by El Al employees but by a member of the Prague airport ground staff.
After check-in, I went to passport control, and past it, to the duty-free shop. It is there that I discovered Prague Airport's Terminal 1, which handles all non-Schengen flights, has an odd arrangement - rather than the conventional layout of a single security checkpoint right before passport control, each gate (located, obviously, after passport control) has its own security checkpoint. The only other airport I ever recall had this odd arrangement was Frankfurt Airport.
I then headed up to the MasterCard lounge to wait for my flight there.
THE MASTERCARD LOUNGE
The MasterCard lounge in Terminal 1 of Václav Havel airport seemingly serves every possible airline you could think of. The sign outside was crammed with logos, but sadly I didn't take a picture of it.
As far as lounges go, the Mastercard lounge is solid, yet unremarkable. It is a relaxed, quiet room with plentiful seating and a buffet, as well as panoramic views of the tarmac.
I was slightly disappointed with the variety of foods in the buffet - it did not have much in the way of hot foods aside from sausages, and mostly had cold cuts, cheeses, and salads. This is probably because I arrived in the morning, so the lounge buffet was serving breakfast.
The lounge's bathroom was well-kept and was right next door to the shower.
Eventually, I spotted my plane landing and taxiing, signaling that it was time for me to head to the gate.
THE FLIGHT ITSELF
Aircraft Information:
4X-EKF "Kinneret"
Boeing 737-8HX (serial number 29638, line number 2766)
Delivered new to El Al on 31 December 2008; 16 years and 8 months old at the time of the flight.
I flew on that plane on the onward flight to Vienna. In addition, I previously flew on it on a flight from Ben Gurion to Frankfurt on 17 September 2024 (and potentially even before; I have limited records about the planes I took before 2018).
Much like the onward flight, the return flight was uneventful. While I originally booked seat 3K - El Al's narrowbody fleet numbers its seats ABC-HJK, not ABC-D[E]F I later moved to seat 4H to allow an old couple to sit together. El Al's short-haul Business class uses dedicated seats (similarly to Domestic First in North America), rather than Economy class-seats with an unbookable middle seat common in European airliners. This means that the seat was wide and comfortable, and legroom was plentiful. Each seat has one USB-A plug, one USB-C plug, and one AC plug, which are located in the seat's inner arm, making them a bit hard to reach. The flight crew was helpful and attentive.
Cabin views:
[Note: the first picture was taken on the onward flight, though it was operated by the same plane as the return flight]
Lunch was served around an hour after departure.
El Al uses the same menu for Business and Premium Economy. The menu was slightly revised relative to June of 2024 (when I last flew in El Al's Premium Economy class), and my favorite dish from the menu's previous revision - the Beef Shoulder in roasted pumpkin Hamusta sauce and Sha'ariya rice - was gone.
My first choice was the ribeye streak, though it was unavailable; instead, I got the spring chicken with lentil. My choice of drink - apple juice - was available, however. Even though it was not my first choice, the meal was very delicious.
The in-flight entertainment system is a "bring your own device" one: the plane has an internal Wi-Fi network (without internet connection), which you connect your own smartphone or tablet to to use as a screen. While the economy-class seats have a device-holder built into them, the business class seats don't: instead, I just put my iPad on the tray table.
The selection of movies is rather limited (as it is in every airline I flew with, with the only exception being Cathay Pacific), but it's good that there is one; especially when the alternative is European airlines that don't have any IFE system at all on their short-haul fleet (based off my experiences on SWISS, Lufthansa, and SAS' short-haul fleets).
Further complicating matters was the fact I only started using the IFE after I finished my meal, which left me with barely an hour and a half of remaining flight time: the already-narow choice was now even narrower, since I needed to find a movie short enough to not get cut off by the landing.
BEN GURION AIRPORT
The landing was uneventful: the plane taxied to a jet bridge, and my luggage arrived about half an hour after I got to the baggage claim. This flight was the cherry on top of a vacation I enjoyed very much.
