Related post: Which Miles To Use To Fly To Israel?
I’ve been blogging about about Air France/KLM Flying Blue’s promo awards for many years now. They’re a bit of a mixed bag. You can go to or from select cities in North America (the cities rotate every 2 months) and Europe for half of the regular rate. The good part about the awards is that Flying Blue counts Israel and Russia as part of Europe. The bad part is that they’re only good on Air France and KLM and are therefore subject to heavy fuel surcharges.
You can book these by logging into a Flying Blue account on AirFrance.com
The rate in coach is 12,500 miles each way and in business class it’s 25,000 miles each way.
That means you can transfer 20,000 Starpoints or 25,000 American Express Membership Rewards points into enough miles for a round-trip promo award ticket in coach or double those amounts for a round trip business class ticket.
Fuel surcharges for JFK-TLV round-trip add a whopping $540. Searching for a ticket from 01/14-01/21 for example shows the cheapest option is $969 on KLM. Thus using 20K Starpoints or 25K AMEX MR points miles is really only saving you $429 or a value of 2.15 cents per Starpoints or 1.72 cents per MR points. Plus on top of that you don’t collect miles when using miles on an award ticket.
The current cities valid for travel in January or February are Chicago, Houston, JFK, Montreal, and Washington DC.
Another probably better option with Flying Blue is to use their miles to fly nonstop on Delta in coach (25K each way) or business (50K each way) without paying fuel surcharges. To book these you’ll want to use the award calendar on Delta.com, locate “low” (green) level dates, and then plugin those dates on Air France to book them with Flying Blue miles with no fuel surcharges. Low level dates on Delta can be hard to find at times though.
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24 Comments On "Tons Of Flying Blue Promo Award Availability To Israel…But Is It Worth It?"
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ihave 40,000 chase saphire points. could i book (transfer points etc….) with those points a flight, like this, toisrael?
Dan- Sorry to bug you, but i found dates on Delta.com, now looking for those same flights on Airfrance.com to book there as per your instructions. But they are only showing me KLM flights. Looking for TLV-IAH on July 30th.
Thanks!
@first responder;):
No you need 60K BA or 80K United.
On the plus side, no fuel surcharges with those options.
@Bert:
There is no “low” level availability on the Delta.com award calendar for your date.
The promo for business is only from Chicago – and there is no availability whatsoever there.
Why not sell your MR or AA points for the market rate and purchase an el al ticket direct with no stopovers and no fuel charge? Isn’t that the best way to get to Israel right now?
The 25k RT + $540 is only for TLV- ORD/YUL/JFK/HOUSTON/DC?
If I wanna do an OW, it’ll cost 12.5k + $270?
Thanx!
@hunch – look at the calendar pictures above. The fees listed in each picture are the one way fees, respectively.
Can you book Delta skymiles for just 50K as well in economy or only flying blue points?
If it’s only flying blue points, what’s the best way to collect them?
Thanks. I’m sorry for the noobie questions
The Flying Blue promos are only for 2 months in advance I believe
And in many instances, if you’re only buying tickets to Israel < 2 months in advance, the cost of them will be such that even getting the Economy promo will be worth it
It can also be strategically useful for LA or other western cities where the prices are often far higher than they are from NYC
Delta in Economy would be 80k. SPG transfers to flying blue.
Hi
Do you think you will have low price flight to Isreal around July?
Thanks
Sorry ….Israel
is there any way to know what the next select cities in North America will be for March – April?
Dan, I am always reading all your posts and really appreciate them, you have saved me in the past 2 years a good few thousand dollars. May you always be able to help others.
I have over 100K chase freedom points, What is the best way to get these points into a business class ticket to Israel (non stop)?
thanks!! keep up your great work!!
dan- if i have ink mastercard, can i waive collision insuranse on rental car in israel?
how do I find delta award calender on deltas site?
@jojo:
Firstly, you (or your spouse) will need to have a Saphirre Preferred (or one of the Ink cards with an annual fee) in order to transfer Freedom points into miles. Assuming you do, the cheapest option is using BA Avios on Air Berlin, it’s exactly 100k points for business and no surcharges. However, it may be tough finding Air Berlin availability for your dates and of course you will need to stop in Germany. Your other option is using United miles- with them, there is usually plenty of availability and of course you can fly non-stop, all without fuel surcharges as well. However, you’re a little short on points- it’s 120k for business. So you either need to earn 20,000 more points (buying Vanilla Reloads with your Freedom at CVS this quarter will get you a great start with 7500) or fly on coach for 80k.
Hi Dan.
I have approximately 50,000 starwood points in one account and 30,000 in another account. I would like to travel to Israel.(direct flight)Weds. Jan 30th, eve. and return either Thurs Feb.7 eve. or Fri Morning Feb. 8. Any sugggestions the best way for me to use these points, or do you know of any good deal,direct flight under $1,000.00 Thanks so much for your time to research and answer me.
Shevy
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=7985
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=7986
dan, could u answer question 15 about chase ink mastercard. ya’asher koach!
Dan:
how do i get Delta’s award calendar, to find the Low Level (green) dates ?
Hi, I wanted to know if there’s any way to use Sky miles points to buy a ticket through Flying Blue. Thanks
I opened a flying blue account and want to fly to london I HAVE AMEX MILES and they tell me that you need 50,000 miles for lhr according to you only 12,500 needed please advise
can someone please post a direct link to the flying blue promos calander