Is it possible to transfer between terminals at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion airport without leaving air side?

9/10/2019 11:43:15 AM

No, it’s not possible.

Update: having now done the trip just a few weeks ago, I can 100% confirm the answer is no.

I asked officials in the airport if it was possible, and they said I had to leave air side, get the shuttle bus, then go back through security, which is what I did.

Some more notes from my experience, to add detail to @yetanothercoder’s very useful answer:

  • I got out from air side very fast on arrival (10 mins after getting off the plane), perhaps because I was on an El Al flight meaning I had an extensive security questioning at Johannesburg airport. My flight arrived around half an hour early
  • Terminal transfer was as in @yetanothercoder’s answer – every 15 minutes, takes 15 minutes. There’s an additional risk that you don’t get the bus because at least in my case, there were quite a few people trying to get on and not all were successful
  • Passing through passport control and security at Terminal 1 (no checked in luggage) took approximately 45 minutes. As a man travelling on my own all of my electronics were thoroughly swabbed

Overall, I had tons of waiting time and would say that you could probably do the transfer with 2 hours between flights if you’re lucky.

5/29/2019 11:43:08 AM

Unfortunately as far as I’m able to find there is (still) no air-side transfer between terminal 3 and terminal 1.

There is a shuttle service between the two terminals that you can take.
It leaves every 15 minutes and should take about 15 minutes to get to the other terminal, worst case this means a travel time of 30 minutes if you just miss a shuttle.
It does require thought that you transfer land-side and depending on crowds can take you between 30-60 minutes to exit the airport. Additionally you will need to make sure you’re allowed to enter/transfer through Israel.

As you’re flying with hand luggage only it will shorten the advised check-in time allowance to 1.5-2 hours (if I recall correctly).

All in all it’ll probably take you between 2.5-3.5 hours to make the transfer.
As you’ve got 2:45 between flights, theoretically if everything goes smoothly, you should be able to make the transfer.
If you booked the flights through a travel agent I’d advise you to get in touch with them to see if the time between flights can be increased so you can make a less stressful transfer.

Note: I travel frequently to and from TLV but have never transferred through TLV so this is information found based on a search on the internet after attempting to find the information on the airport’s website.

Credit:stackoverflow.com‘

About me

Hello,My name is Aparna Patel,I’m a Travel Blogger and Photographer who travel the world full-time with my hubby.I like to share my travel experience.

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