Terminal 3
I spent most of the day at Terminal 3 of Ben
Guerion Airport in Tel Aviv
When I landed in Tel Aviv at Ben Gurion Airport, I
was greeted by an El Al employee, who took me to an empty check-in area and had
my bags with her, also. She checked me in for my flight to Mumbai, and had my
bags transfered so I wouldn't have to schlep them around the airport with me for
eight hours.,
After all, my flight for
Bombay (Mumbai) is not for another eight
hours.
I got some shekels (New Israeli
Shekels, to be exact) from an ATM and I am shocked to tell you that my first
meal in Eretz Yisrael was a "McRoyale" at MacDonald's. I had a real Israeli meal
of salads later on. I also noted that the McDonald's had McShwarma and McKebab.
The cash registers allow payment for up to six
currencies.
Terminal 3 opened in November
and some of the airport workers think it's "too big." They clearly never saw
Continental's Terminal in Newark Airport, which is far bigger than all of
Terminal 3 alone.
The terminal is
arranged in a circle with four wings spreading out from it, as well as a food
court. A fountain graces the middle of the circle, and a big electronic board
shows every flight time leaving the
airport.
Around the fountain are some
cushy leather chairs. I felt rather safe there, after my experience with the
transfer agent, so I pulled up a chair, put my feet on my bags, and slept for a
few hours.
Why must airlines lie to
customers? When I asked about how full the plane was, they said it was a full
flight. Well, that was completely untrue. I had an empty seat next to me, as did
everyone else.
I slept again on this
overnight flight to Bombay.
Posted: Wed - March 16, 2005 at 01:41 PM