IF YOU CAN AVOID LOT, PLEASE DO!!! This is the worst airline ever:
On September 28th at 8pm my husband and I were scheduled to depart from Toronto and travel to Israel (scheduled to arrive Sept 30 at 4am local time) with one scheduled stop in Warsaw. We arrived at the airport for 5pm to check in. By 8pm no announcements had been made in terms of any delays but our flight was not being boarded. The flight crew was 15 minutes late. When travelers started making inquiries it was announced that repairs (presumably mechanical) were being made to the plane and it would be delayed for at least another hour. Boarding was not announced for our flight until 11 pm, once the flight was boarded we spent another hour in the plane waiting for the flight to take off.
Sometime midway through the flight, it was announced that the plane was having issues with its transponder and that an emergency landing was being made in Iceland (around 8am local time). Upon arriving in Iceland, no food or hotel vouchers were handed out, and no information was provided as to next steps for at least an hour. Between my husband and I, we spent no less than $70 on food, coffee and water while waiting at the airport. Food vouchers were not provided until 2pm – about $15 per person which was not enough to buy much more than a drink and sandwich with the astronomical prices at the airport. Information about the flight to Warsaw was not provided for 3-4 hour after landing, with no definitive instructions as to when another plane would be available.
Because of these issues we missed the day that we planned to spend in Warsaw and also the connecting flight from Warsaw to Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Once we finally arrived in Warsaw we were thankfully given hotel, taxi vouchers and boarding pass to Tel-Aviv through Moscow.
In Moscow we spent roughly another 4 hours at the airport and another $100 between the two of us for food (no vouchers were provided).
From Moscow we finally caught a flight to Tel-Aviv, arriving in Israel 20 hours later than expected – 12am local time on Oct 1.
On the 30th we had a scheduled day trip across Jerusalem ($120/person) that we missed because of these delays.
Overall we were extremely disappointed with the service received – 3 lay overs instead of the scheduled 1 – and the lack of communication between the airline and travelers.
We missed 2 days of our trip and spent over $170 in food during the layovers in 3 different countries; however, this does not even compare to the stress caused by these delays to ourselves as well as the family and friends that was expecting to receive us in Israel and took time off from work.
Lot refused to pay any expenses!!!
I strongly suggest not using this airline!!!
