brizzieLizzie

Hi

I am arriving at Ben Gurion airport at 22.30 and have booked into a hotel in Tel Aviv which lists airport shuttle ( surcharge) on contacting them they advised they can organise a taxi for me for NIS 250.

I have just read about a shuttle service -Flo Shuttle which can provide varying levels if service ( from shared to private) on the hour for much less. It seems to be a new service but they ( or an affiliate) have been operating in Eilat for some time.

Has anyone used them or can offer any thoughts?

Thanks

mbgg

There is no need to have the hotel "organize" an expensive taxi for you. The taxis at the airport are well regulated and the prices are fixed (and cheaper than 250 NIS). Ignore anyone who approaches you in the arrivals hall, go out the main door, walk down to the road and turn to the left to the taxi line. The rates are clearly posted and there is even a printer that will give you a slip with the price. You can also check the rates here:
http://www.iaa.gov.il/en-US/airports...alculator.aspx
The rate after 9 PM is about 170 NIS. Floshuttle is cheaper for one person, but the problems are (a) you have to book and prepay (b) it goes once per hour, while a taxi will leave immediately (c) it drives around dropping off passengers so if you are the last one let off it will take longer than a taxi.

There has been a long discussion about Floshuttle on Tripadvisor, with explanations from the company:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTo...da-Israel.html

brizzieLizzie

Thanks mbgg for the links. I will do some more reading. I am travelling solo so guess I need to balance the cost vs potentially having to wait at the airport for an hour for the shuttle.

As a general rule how long does it take from landing to clearing immigration? 30 mins or 1 hour?( I arrive at 23.20 if a late night arrival nakes any difference)

mbgg

Assume one hour to clear Immigration and retrieve your luggage. The airport is busy 24/7.

If you are not arriving on a Friday evening you have a third option: take the train to one of the Tel-Aviv stations, then take a taxi to your hotel. This will cost approximately the same the Floshuttle since the train fare is 13.5 NIS and the taxi will cost about 50 NIS. You can check the train schedules on the Israel Railways website. What hotel are you staying at?

brizzieLizzie

Thanks mbgg. I am arriving on a Tuesday night but having travelled 31 hours by the time I arrive due to a long layover in Hong Kong (using FF miles) I think I would prefer a direct transfer whichever one I choose. I am staying at the Brown Boutique Hotel.

brizzieLizzie

Have just returned from Europe and wanted to provide feedback on my airport transfers with FloShuttle. While I may have thought it was unlucky once, two No shows made me regret not following Mbgg advice just to take the taxi in the first place.

Booked Flo shuttle for transfer to and from Ben Gurion airport to my hotel in Tel Aviv- 34USD/48AUD/130NIS each way. I booked the 1 am shuttle from the airport ( 1.40 hrs after scheduled arrival.) Plane was late and with immigration I arrived at pickup point just before 1 am to find no shuttle. I attempted to contact company on 24 hr emergency number but no response. So caught a taxi ( 170NIS ) - easy.

On emailing company , was advised that shuttle had left at 12.45 with other passengers and returned at 2 am, promising to refund my money within 2 weeks.

They confirmed my return pick up for 2 am on my departure day. At 2.40, after my hotel had tried twice to contact the company on the emergency number with no answer, they organised a taxi for the return trip ( (167NIS)

I have now, after 6 weeks just received the refund of one fare which has coincided with an investigation by my credit card company.

Oreet

So sorry to hear that your interactions with Flo Shuttle did not go well - and thanks for sharing it is good for others to know that this new service is not all that it is cracked up to be.

Elkaz

Thanks for getting back to the forum. Unfortunately, I've seen other negative reviews of this shuttle service on other online travel websites. The fact that a shuttle booked for 1, should leave 15 minutes early is really unconscionable.