After a family trip to England and France, I returned home to Israel. I love Ben Gurion Airport; it is beautiful and impressive. However, from the moment you disembark the plane, a small and annoying chain of queues begins, with non-functioning stations, unclear answers, and finally, luggage carts that simply cannot be released. The place that is supposed to say “welcome home” must improve.
This week, I returned with my family from a trip to England and France. We were with the kids, with quite a few suitcases, after flights, travels, and everything a family vacation includes. But this column is not about our luggage or how long it took for them to arrive at the carousel. It is about something else: how it feels to return home through Ben Gurion Airport (we really have no other option 🙂 ) I want to say something right from the start because it is important to me that this criticism is not misunderstood. We love Israel. We are not among those who return from abroad and explain to everyone how “everything is perfect there” and how everything here is terrible. We were born here, we live here, and we intend to stay here. But perhaps it is precisely because of this that it annoys me so much that in the place where you are supposed to feel you have returned home, sometimes the feeling is that they did not really think about you.
It starts at passport control
Ben Gurion Airport has progressed significantly in recent years. There are automatic stations, there is technology, and the days when every passenger had to go through an officer are behind us. On paper, great. In reality? At least in our experience this week, the process was much less efficient. Some of the stations did not work, passengers moved from station to station trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, and with children, we were eventually required to reach an officer. And here we encountered one of the most “Israeli” moments of returning home. You ask the officer how to pass a baby through the automatic machine? “There.” Where is there? “Right.” And the head returns to the screen. You try to understand why the station does not work. Why can’t it be done here? “Because… because… because of this.” Ah. Because “this.” Now everything is clear. To me, it was mostly amusing and annoying. But I looked at tourists with foreign passports and thought to myself: if I don’t understand what they want from me, how exactly are they supposed to understand? “Go downstairs,” they are told. Where downstairs? Where? Why? What awaits there? What is downstairs? Welcome to Israel, and good luck solving the puzzle.
And if we have already returned home – maybe we deserve a truly fast track?
And this made me think of something. In many airports in Europe, there is a clear separation between local passport holders and other passengers. You arrive home, enter the relevant track, pass, and continue. So why not make entering Israel feel like that? Especially in a period where Israelis travel the world and sometimes feel anything but welcome, I would be happy if at least when we return home, there is a different feeling. A clear path for Israeli passports only. Without guessing which station works and without trying to understand what “because of this” means. If not here – then where?
And then comes the Israeli queue
Or more accurately, the thing we call a “queue.” There are those who stand and wait. There are those who declare they are exempt from the queue. And there are those who simply move forward as if all the people in front of them came especially to create a backdrop for them. And then comes the twist: after they have already bypassed everyone, they discover that the station they pushed into does not work at all, and they move to find another one. You can laugh about it, but at the end of the day, the border control area at arrivals must be much clearer and better managed.
We passed the passports. Now we need to pass again
We received the transit approvals and arrived at the transparent gates. And again – people. And again – crowding. And again, you discover that even to pass a gate, you need a bit of assertiveness and a lot of patience. And here, a good word is due: for families with strollers, there is a dedicated passage on the left, and it works excellently, saving the need to crowd with children and a stroller in the regular passage. When something is good – it should be said that it is good.
And then you arrive at the baggage hall – and it actually looks great
And here I must commend Ben Gurion Airport. The baggage claim hall looks good. The screens are large, clear, and impressive, and the signage is respectable. I was recently in several airports in major European cities, and Ben Gurion definitely does not need to be ashamed of what it has. You look at the screen: the luggage from your flight is on carousel number 7. Great. Now you just need a luggage cart. And this is the stage where the next chapter began.
Alright, where are the carts?
You know the carts at Ben Gurion Airport. To release them, you need to use a terminal and swipe a credit card for a deposit of 10 shekels. I approached the station. “This terminal is not in use – we apologize.” Okay. It happens. There is another station. Go to the next one. Black screen. Well, let’s go to the next station. And there too – you can’t release a cart. And another one. In one place, the credit card terminal does not work. In another, the machine is stuck. On another station, a sign has already been placed asking not to use it. And then you realize the absurdity: There are carts. You see them. You need them. But you simply cannot take them.
“The station is temporarily inactive”
The word “temporarily” is a wonderful word. Tell me, is “temporarily” a long time? Frustrating. Because when a family lands with children and several suitcases, a cart is not some luxury. That’s why it’s there. And in general, I admit I never really understood the issue of locking the carts and the deposit. What exactly are they afraid will happen? That someone will take a luggage cart from Ben Gurion home and use it to take the kids to kindergarten in the morning? But okay. You decided on a deposit? Let’s say it’s acceptable. Just make it work. There is nothing more frustrating than a system designed to solve a problem and turning into a problem itself.
And this is exactly the point
Ben Gurion Airport is a beautiful airport. Really. It has modern areas, impressive screens, a large duty-free, good infrastructure, and quite a few things that work excellently. But a passenger’s experience is not measured only by carpets, lighting, or the size of the screen that tells you which carousel your luggage is on. It is found in the small things. Whether the station works when you arrive at it. Whether it is clear where to go. Whether the employee you met gives you an answer you can understand. Whether there is someone managing the queue. And whether, when you land with four suitcases and tired children, you can take a cart. These are small things in themselves. But when they come one after the other, they turn into an experience.
Especially when returning home
And this is why I am writing this. Not because Ben Gurion is bad. It is not. And not because everything in Europe is perfect. Definitely not. We also went through airports there with queues, impatient workers, and malfunctions. But Ben Gurion is ours. And precisely because it is ours, I would like the moment when an Israeli returns home to be a bit more organized, a bit more pleasant, and a bit more respectful. Border control should be more efficient. The stations should work. The guidance should be clear both to the Israeli and to the tourist who has just landed here. And if you installed a cart system – it simply needs to work. In the end, we arrived home. Tired, loaded with suitcases – but satisfied. And yet, after England and France, I discovered one thing I am willing to defend fiercely: The air conditioners in Israel are the best in the world. Flight Hunter To join the Flight Hunter WhatsApp group, click here
