There’s nothing fun about paying for business class and sitting in a seat identical to those in the last row of the plane.  To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, I have split the airlines flying between Tel Aviv and Europe into 3 groups from best business class seats to the worst. 

Group 1: The Lie Flat Seats

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These airlines offer full or partial service between Tel Aviv and Europe on widebody aircraft featuring lie flat seats in business class:

British Airways TLV – London Heathrow

ELAL TLV – London Heathrow

Virgin Atlantic TLV – London Heathrow

Iberia TLV – Madrid

TAP Portugal TLV – Lisbon

Aeroflot TLV – Moscow (SVO) (not all flights)

Turkish Airlines TLV – Istanbul (IST) (not all flights)

Swiss TLV – Zurich (not all flights)

Air Europa TLV – Madrid (not all flights)

These airlines make for great options for either nonstop flights to Europe or connecting flights to the Americas, Africa, and even Asia.    

Group 2: The Larger Recliner Seats

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These airlines offer wider business class seats with additional storage, recline and legroom compared to an economy seat.  Of course, not as comfortable as the lie flat seats, but still among the better options.

ELAL TLV – Most European Destinations

Air Serbia TLV – Belgrade

Aeroflot TLV – Moscow (SVO) (narrowbody aircraft)

Belavia TLV – Minsk

Tarom TLV – Bucharest

Royal Jordanian TLV – Amman

It’s quite strange that these carriers, rather than the more premium airlines like Lufthansa and Air France, feature more comfortable seats in business class.   

Group 3: The up-front economy seats

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These airlines have business class cabins which are just economy seats at the front of the plane with a blocked middle seat.  These seats have no additional width, recline, or legroom compared to standard economy class seats.

Lufthansa

Alitalia

KLM

Air France

Brussels Airlines

Aegean Airlines

Austrian

Finnair

SAS

Ukraine International Airlines

LOT Polish Airlines

Air Baltic

What’s Next?

While it would be nice for all routes to/from Tel Aviv to feature lie flat seats in business class, it’s extremely unlikely to happen.  The routes I would hope to see lie flat business class seats on in the near future are Tel Aviv to Amsterdam with KLM, Tel Aviv to Paris with Air France, and Tel Aviv to Frankfurt with Lufthansa.  These are some of the most premium routes between Tel Aviv and Europe without lie flat business class seats.  I’m certainly looking forward to some improved premium service between Europe and Tel Aviv in the coming year.