El Al will begin rolling out a refreshed onboard experience in November, with new menus, bedding, amenity kits and an upgraded entertainment system across its economy, premium economy and business cabins. The Israeli flag carrier presented the changes at a launch event at Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) on Monday, October 19. The upgrades arrive gradually, depending on the destination, and some are reserved for premium cabins. The rollout comes as El Al adds six Boeing 787 Dreamliners to its fleet.
New Menus Onboard
El Al offers Glatt kosher special meals that passengers order in advance, as covered here before. In economy on short-haul flights to Europe, passengers will be able to choose between a sandwich and a poke bowl. The poke bowl shown at the launch was developed with Israeli chef Assaf Granit and is a tofu poke bowl in a 270 gram pack.
In premium cabins, new menus and serving ware will be introduced under Granit’s direction. El Al says the menus were built with a dietitian and focus on healthy, protein-rich dishes, with nutritional information shown next to each dish. Premium passengers also get a wider selection and a dessert cart.
Sleep Kits, Amenity Kits and Chocolates
Through a partnership with Israeli textile brand TAKEANAP, blankets and pillows will be replaced in all three cabin classes. Business class adds memory foam pillows with cooling technology, pajamas, slippers and a calming fragrance spray. On flights to North America, El Al says it will become the first Israeli airline to offer mattress toppers.
A partnership with British fragrance brand Jo Malone London brings new amenity kits to business and premium economy, with items such as socks, an eye mask and skincare products. Business class kits come in leather pouches, and on long-haul flights they add perfume and hand and body cream. Business class passengers will be served a chocolate collection from De Karina, a boutique chocolate maker at Kibbutz Ein Zivan in the Golan Heights, as part of the welcome service on long-haul flights.
Entertainment, Wi-Fi and App
The new entertainment system offers personalized recommendations and lets passengers resume a movie or series from where they stopped on a previous flight. It also adds a frequent flyer login at the seat and, for the first time, a dedicated content category for religious passengers with programming for observant Jewish travelers. Free high-speed internet through Starlink is planned to be introduced gradually across the fleet starting in 2027.
El Al is also adding a “Travel Mode” to its app, which opens 48 hours before departure. Its new AI customer service assistant, Ella, gives the first response to phone inquiries, identifies the reason for the call, pulls up the caller’s booking details and either handles the request or passes the caller to the right service representative, which El Al says will cut wait times.
Airport Experience
At the airport, El Al is adding baggage tag printing, faster security screening and bag-drop at designated counters.
Via Ynetnews, The Times of Israel and El Al.