Israel to Turkey
Okay….I thought the Israeli security at Cairo airport was bad. The Israeli security at the Tel Aviv airport was unbelievable. As with my Eurorail pass, my travel agent upgraded my ticket from Israeli to Istanbul to Business Class. Unfortunately she didn’t make me aware of it. This poses a problem for security officials who’s job it is to ask you all sorts of questions that don’t seem important.
Many of these questions are trick questions, in which they ask you the question once, then later ask it again but add a peice of information that is incorrect such as “What class are you traveling to Instanbul?” then later “I understand you are traveling Business Class?”
Naturally I responded to such a question with “No, I’m traveling economy” since all my tickets were supposed to be as cheap as we could get them. Red flags flew up! They informed me my ticket was business class. They asked why I would pay SIGNIFICANTLY more for this flight and not others, and why I didn’t know I was in Business Class.
Honestly the ticket itself doesn’t clearly state “Business Class” it just says class “C” and cost almost $700. I noticed the price before I left and asked my travel agent specifically about it. She said it was probably because I was flying between two countries that don’t get along–a muslim country and Israel. I didn’t question it beyond that. That made sense.
I was forwarded on to many different supervisors and supervisors of supervisors. Each time I was grilled and asked similar questions and then questions that more and more directly questioned my integrity, often implying that, even though I’ve been completely honest, I was lying. There aren’t many things that set me off more than questioning my integrity and honesty, especially since I work very hard to ensure I have integrity and am honest. But I kept my cool out of necessity.
I was then brought, with my belongings to a “security only” back room. The made me strip down a bit as they maticulously scanned my clothing and patted me down. Of course, as usual, they took EVERY item out of my bags (I have since purchased a small day pack to carry a few useful items I’ve picked up along the way.) Every item was tested, scanned, sampled, etc. Again some items were determined that they needs to ship them separately. I protested, citing they had previously permanently lost my belongs just 1 week earlier. The ensured they were going to be on my flight and sealed with VIP status thanks to my upgraded ticket.
After the whole ordeal I was escorted past ALL lines. Now THIS finally felt like Business Class. It made me glad I came to the airport 6 hours early. I had just enough time to grab something to eat and head to my gate. I hit McDonalds then headed to the Business Class Lounge. No one told me you get FREE EVERYTHING in the Lounge. A Wonderful selection of food and beverages were available to guests as well as free internet, tv, everything! I was stuffed from McDs, but forced some veggies and other goodies in. They had my two favorite veggies sliced and ready to eat! Fresh green peppers and fresh cucumbers! Soda, water, jucies, coffee, tea, wine, everything, free!
The plane was hardly different than the lounge. Extremely comfortable, reclinable sleeper chairs with a huge gourmet meal, free drinks, newspaper, tv, snacks and impecable service–all for a simple 1.5 hour trip. I was surprised I wasn’t sitting next to some celebrity.