Review of El Al Israel Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv in Business

Hello and welcome to this review of the flight from Amsterdam-Schiphol Airport (AMS) to Ben Gurion Airport (TLV), which I took on 26/27 February 2024 coming back from the NordicFuzzCon furry convention in Malmö, Sweden.

This flight has a special significance to me, as it was my first-ever time flying alone.

Unfortunately, due to this being a red-eye flight as well as the hectic nature of the layover, I did not take many pictures of the flight, and this report will be image-poor. I can only offer my apology for this.

BACKGROUND

NordicFuzzCon is an annual furry convention taking place in Malmö, Sweden. As of the initial writing of this report, I attended its 2024 and 2025 editions, and have my convention ticket, hotel, and (most importantly for this site) flights booked for the 2026 edition.

My attendance at NordicFuzzCon 2024 was my first-ever time going overseas on my own, and involved a lot of advance planning.

Initially, I booked my flights to and from Copenhagen-Kastrup airport (CPH) - which serves not only the Danish Capital but also the Swedish region of Scania right across the Öresund, where the city of Malmö is located - with Lufthansa. The initial itinerary I booked was:

though due to itinerary changes resulting from the security situation in the Middle East, it eventually changed to:

However, on 18 February, Lufthansa's ground staff on Frankfurt Airport announced a strike starting 20 February, the day I was scheduled to depart, which led to the cancellation of around 900 flights, including LH687 and LH832; my parents helped me book a last-minute ticket with El Al. In retrospect, given how my experience with Lufthansa's short-haul product actually turned out, this strike proved to be a blessing in disguise.

Therefore, my final flight itinerary was:

FROM SK553 TO LY336

Flight SK553 from Copenhagen landed in Amsterdam at 19:56, a significant delay relative to the scheduled time of 19:35, and was taxied to the B section in the far south of the airport. After deplaning, I had to get to gate G8 in the far north of the airport, where the security interview for connecting passengers, part of the extra security measures for flights to Israel, would take place.

Due to the sheer size of Schiphol airport, as well as the fact it was completely unfamaliar to me, this was a much harder task than it sounds, and I was essentially required to go from one end of the airport to another:

Following the advice of my dad, my plan was first to locate my flight's gate, and only then to return to the airport's food court for dinner. (Since this was my first time flying alone, the mere thought of heading to the lounge instead of waiting at the gate alongside economy-class passengers eluded me - not that I would have had time to make proper use of a lounge, given the tighter-than-expected layover.) However, the cross-airport trek was so long that, by the time I started going to the food court, it was already time to return to the gate and begin boarding. However, my parents assured me (through correspondence on WhatsApp) that this would be no big deal, since I would be served dinner in Business class either way.

THE FLIGHT ITSELF

Aircraft Information:
4X-EHI "Kiryat Malachi"
Boeing 737-958ER (serial number 41559, line number 5818)

Delivered new to El Al on 18 March 2016; 8 years old at the time of the flight.

This was my first (and as of the initial writing of this report, the only) time flying on that plane.

The flight itself was nothing special. However, as I would later learn, the vastly increased legroom in the Business-class seat would prove beneficial, since my fursuit head bag, a large personal item, does not fit into the overhead compartments on 737s with the older PSUs, and is hard to stow under the seat in front of me in the proper economy class cabin.

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.

Since El Al's 737-900s are significantly younger than its 737-800s, their interior cabin still has the original seats from the mid-2010s; on the 737-800s, new seats were installed in 2020. The differences are negligible in Business class, but very noticeable in Economy class (which I'll cover in a future flight report).

The seat was wide and comfortable, and legroom was plentiful. At the time I found this beneficial, since my fursuit head bag, a large personal item, does not fit into the overhead compartments on 737s with the older PSUs; I assumed this would be the case for 737s with the newer PSUs (such as this one) as well. I would later learn that this is not the case.

Each seat has one USB-A plug and one AC plug, which are located at the end of the seat's middle console. Compared to the 737-800's business-class seats, the location is easier to access, but there are no USB-C plugs.

Due to me misremembering my ticket, I attempted to sit in Seat 3K, and entered into a small argument with the passenger actually booked to sit in it. This argument was quickly ended when the other passenger showed me that they were, indeed, booked to sit in 3K, and I quickly apologized and took seat 3H.

Though boarding was timed around the scheduled departure time of 21:30, the actual departure was delayed by exactly 30 minutes, and we took off at 22.

Around 20 minutes after takeoff, we were issued the menus for the flight:

As well as a pack of Abadi pretzels:

An alcoholic drinks menu was also issued at this time, though I didn't notice it until landing; though the choice of alcoholic drinks is extensive, since I am a teetotaler, nothing in there appealed to me.

Dinner was served around an 40 minutes after departure.

El Al uses the same menu for Business and Premium Economy. In late 2023, El Al introduced a brand-new in-flight menu designed by celebrity chef Assaf Granit. Though the Assaf Granit menu remains El Al's current menu as of August 2025, it was slightly revised sometime in laste 2024 or early 2025 (as I noted on my PRG-TLV flight report.) I encountered the first version of the menu on this flight, and would later encounter it again on my Premium Economy flights in June 2024.

I opted for a meal that would quickly become my favorite: the Beef Shoulder in roasted pumpkin Hamusta sauce and Sha'ariya rice. As expected from something that would become a favorite, the meal was excellent:

I also found it mildly funny that my dessert, a Bavarian cream, was eaten 30,000 feet above Bavaria:

After eating dinner, I proceeded to attempt to sleep. Remarkably, despite this Business class only having recliners, I managed to sleep for a significant portion of the flight.

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 on the 737-800, the economy-class seats have a device-holder built into them, the 737-900's older seats don't; in Business class, the situation is reversed, with the 737-900 having tablet holders and the 737-800 having none.

Since I slept for the vast majority of the flight, I did not make use of the In-flight entertainment system.

The landing itself was uneventful, though it took some time for my luggage to arrive despite the priority service accorded to Business-class passengers. I also had trouble with customs on leaving the baggage claim. I suspect that this was due to the peculiar packing I did for this flight: since I knew I'd have an increased baggage allowance, I used my suitcase to carry the costume I wore for the convention (called a fursuit in the furry fandom's internal parlance), and a retractable duffel bag for my street clothing and laundry bags.

Initially, I believed the reason I was called to pass through the red/goods to declare lane was merely due to carrying more luggage than is ordinary for a solo traveller; however, in hindsight, I suspect that the real reason was that, due to both the duffel bag and my flight's origin, customs suspected that I was smuggling drugs from Amsterdam.