I've been on El Al several times, and service was, well, OK, and the planes were in good shape and neither overcrowded nor lacking in normal amenities. Seat pitch was approximately equal to economy on European airlines' holiday/leisure services. The food was OK considering it has to be kosher, thus limiting a lot of options; it was better than on most US domestic services, but not as good as on typical EU or Asian carriers. The flight attendants were pleasant, but seemed more like the usual run of American carriers' FAs, or those on LH or BA - that is, efficient and to the point. And they seem to speak every language of the world! One FA was particularly nice to my then 80-year old father, who had misplaced his blood-sugar testing kit (it was in his checked luggage by mistake) and they actually had one in the plane's medical kit, as well as insulin and glucose, and were very gracious about getting it for him. Then, of course, there's El Al security, which is a subject of its own. :-) -- Michael C. Berch mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx On Aug 28, 2004, at 10:41 AM, Dennis W Zeuch wrote: > flying El Al from Lax to Tel Aviv > > For years El Al was infamous for having the worst > seating/overcrowding/bad > food and extremely rude - downright nasty inflight service. I assume > they still > hold that honor but seems most other carriers have come down to their > level.......so.... not as much difference these days. > Dennis >