The Ultimate Israel Mileage Award Chart

Is it possible still to transfer American express to a other name account???

How much is ANA fuel surchage on AC? Not easy to find on their site

Dan, It’s posts like this that make you the MAN!

Thanks.
Is a trailing domestic ticket allowed when flying Delta TLV-JFK booked with flying blue points?

Dan, thank you for this! כתיבה וחתימה טובה לך, ולכל המשפחה

@dan in regards to #7 with the trailer flight. How do you book that? Clicking on multi city bookings?

If delta has bugs, what’s the best way to search for business availability?

+1 to dan being the man

Dan thanks this is a great report i would like to ask is there anyway you can make the same report between NYC and Ukraine
Thanks

@joseph:
Over the phone, yes.

@sammy:
Probably the same as on a paid flight.
You can look that up by searching for a paid flight on the ITA Matrix and looking at the fare breakdown.

@Dan’s the Man:
Thanks!

@Anonymous:
Sure.

@wam:
Thanks, you too!

@Nate:
Depends on the airline.
With some you can do it online with multi-city. With others you’d have to call.

@ash:
You can also try the Air France site, but it’s buggy as well 🙁

@Lazer Ungar:
Unlikely, sorry!

But maybe I’d do Hawaii or Paris, or something if people want.

Amazing as always. Making the world a bit more accessible. Thanks!

American OneWorld, El Al.

Fuel surcharges apply for flights on British Airways.

$75 close-in fee for non-elites plus mandatory $35 phone fee even for flights that can’t be booked online like El Al. Coach: 80K via Europe between 10/15-05/15.

Coach: 90K via Europe between 05/16-10/14.

Coach: 90K nonstop.

Business: 135K

First: 180K One-way allowed.

I thought american does not fly to Israel?

@CL:
Thanks!

@Anonymous:
They can book you on their partner OneWorld airlines or El Al.

7. Don’t forget to book a free domestic trailing flight anytime in the year after you arrive back to your destination. Delta, United, and USAirways will allow you to fly NYC-Tel Aviv-NYC and then stopover in NYC for up to a year before continuing on to say, Los Angeles, for no extra miles.

How exactly do we do this? is the trailing flight one way only?

Dan, I’m Jewish — and yet I’ve come to loathe the surplus of Israel-travel-centric content on the blog. If you were writing a deal/travel blog for JTA, fine, that would make sense. But if this is meant to be a deal/travel blog for the general population, it’s waaaay too much. Are you writing for the Jewish population or EVERYONE?

@Dan:

Dan are you sure you can transfer AMEX points over phone to another name. I tried that maybe 6 months ago to Flying blue and they said no unless you are the primary card holder or authorized user. Did things change recently or is there a “trick”

@I Can See for Miles: are you kidding me?

@dan/anyone who knows,

I want to use thankyou points to transfer to airfrance and fly delta coach (50K rt without fuel surcharges) from jfk-tlv direct. 2 questions:

1) is availability impossible to come by? any tips?
2) i have an upcoming paid flight on delta i want to earn airfrance miles instead of delta miles – how do i change my ffn on the reservation?

many thanks

Dan, great post.

1.you write in #7 “Don’t forget to book a free domestic trailing flight”, seems that only applies if you didnt use already a stopover in europe. example: EWR-FRA-TLV-EWR, can’t have another continuation to LAX after EWR for one year. EWR_FRA_TLV_LAX will work though. 2. you write in Star Alliance “By utilizing free stopovers and open jaws the possibilities are endless if you take the time to research your options leg by leg.” But you cant book it for 85k around trip, only as separate legs (many ramifications), unless you call up and pay the fee, unless you went to the seminary and know how to get around the fee 🙂

Dan, Great post! you wrote for Singapore RT in Business-115K / First 150K. They fly JFK-FRA, so for FRA-TLV i would assume you can add an LH flight, are there any other options? also what are the fuel surcharges?

AC fuel charge on the dates i checked is $556. If that’s ANA’s charge it’s high
Thanks for posting!

@Anonymous:
With United.com for example you can use multiple destinations to do that. Though it’ll be easier over the phone.

It’s only good for a one-way, so you would have to buy the one-way back home.

@I Can See for Miles:
If you loath it so much why keep visiting?

@Anonymous:
HUCA 😉

@Redbull3:
1. Search for saver dates on Delta.com
2. Call Delta or give the number to an airport agent.

@Kidooo:
You can also book a suites flights using Singapore miles (57K+$200 JFK-FRA) and then use other miles to get to TLV.

@sammy:
Right, that’s why ANA is best for United.
And United is good for partners thanks to lack of fuel surcharges.

@Dan:
A lot of people can use a chart for Ukraine. Why do you have to hate on Uman?

Hi Dan when you write by aeroplan Cancellations aren’t allowed within 21 days of departure but you can change to a flight outside of 21 days and then cancel.
Can you advise if thats a full refund of miles or a one year credit that you need to use within the year?

@Judah:
Who said anything about hating?

Writing a post like this is a massive undertaking and making one for Ukraine just isn’t a priority.

@IL:
Full refund. Though you’d be subject to 2 $90 penalties.

Dan, my dad just signed up for the southwest card he likes the southwest airlines because they fly to where he needs to go like florida to chicago. I told him he might do better with a different card. What should I advise him to do?

One note for couples or persons traveling as a pair. U.S. Airways flight is configured with seats 2-4-2 in Coach. So, if you get the outer seats, the two of you are together with NO third person.

@Dan:
I appreciate all the hard work you do and I understand that these charts take a lot of work but Uman is a place where thousands of yidden go every year and where every yid should go.

@south west:
May be better off with BA Avios.

@Judah:
And millions of Jews go to Israel every year and that’s probably where they should go more than they “should go” to Uman.

If I had unlimited time I’d love to do a chart like this for every city in the world. But that’s not going to happen.

At any rate considering that everyone goes to Uman on the exact same dates it would be pointless anyway as mileage seats are a limited resource. The best deal is probably using a Barclay Arrival card for a ticket booked in advance.

Dan, I like the blog AS A WHOLE, which is why I read it. Please don’t be defensive. It’s just I sincerely don’t understand why you choose to overemphasize travel-to-Israel deals, and I find this aspect of your blog to be a turnoff. Yes, you’re Jewish (as am I). Some points/miles bloggers are Indian. Some are Russian. And still others are, well … you get the point. They don’t lean so heavily on how to fly to one specific destination, however. Many of your readers are Jewish. I would venture to guess more of them either aren’t Jewish or are Jewish but have an interest in visiting other destinations besides Israel. So I think I’m asking a valid question: It’s something, obviously, very important to you, but is it not too much of a focus for a general readership?

I dont have any immediate plans to travel to Israel, but i just wanted to post my comment just to let you know that this is a great article and will be extremely helpful when i firm up my travel plan to Israel. Great work, Dan. Kudos.

Thanks Dan for sharing your extensive knowledge on these matters. The point about Israeli address for Lufthansa (Miles & More) rewards may prove helpful. I better make sure to take care of my mileage for Swiss flights which didn’t qualify for United miles.

@Dan can you calibrate on Why a Barclay Arrival Card Would be the best choice Thanks

@I Can See for Miles: dude – all of Dan’s real FOLLOWER’s visit Israel – or at least want to. He’s just making it happen for more of them. Dan also posts a lot of baby junk? Don’t have a baby, skip em. Don’t need a memory stick (cause do people really buy them that frequently). Skip em… you get my drift.

Dan I’ve been learning from your blog all year and just now got free miles tickets to Israel for my family of 6 for next summer. Ata HaMelech!

Dan I have 2 accounts with Barclays/Lufthansa about 50k points in each but the fuel charges make it not worth using – they are a Star alliance partner, so is there a way to transfer the points out to United and then use them on a United based ticket?

@DAN. BA AVIOS. IS THAT A BRITISH AIRWAYS CARD. CAN U ELABORATE MORE ON WHY THIS IS BETTER THAN A SOUTHWEST CARD? Again THIS IS ONLY TO FLY ON SOUTHWEST AIRLINES in US. Chicago to Florida

@I Can See for Miles: he has probably seen more feedback, bookings through his referral links, and publicity from posts about getting to Israel than everywhere else combined.

@Lazer: The Barclay’s Arrival card points can be used to pay the bill of a travel related expense. So buy your ticket, hotel, car rental with the Arrival card and use it’s points to pay off the charge.
Then you’re free to use any airline, hotel, car rental and get a bargain and then use points to pay off the bill.

@Musk: Depends on what you would want to use them for? you can book a ticket with Lufthansa points on a United flight in the US on business for only 17,500 points with no fuel charges.

How do you use Flying Blue with Delta points (or can someone link me to a post that explains that)?

Thanks for the breakdown.

Thanks, Dan. If you do focus on Paris, it would help me. I have a trip to book for next September. Can travel from Newark or Philly.

Also, like others, I am unsure how to do the trailing domestic flight thing.

@Dan: I am (sadly) a total novice when it comes to using points for travel, so thank you so much for this post! One question re: Delta’s FF plan. My husband has a Delta Amex and I have an Amex Premier Gold. Since Delta is changing its FF plan (and everyone is panning the new plan) my thought was to use up my husband’s miles, have him drop his Delta Amex and get into a better program. Is there a particular program you recommend or does it just make the most sense–and provide the most flexibility– to get another Amex Premier Gold?

Thank you dan great post
Any way to post as a word doc so can keep handy ?
Also UA said a stop over on rt no longer allowed n will be charged additional domestic miles
No benefit if combined w international
Asked several UA over phone
Are u aware?

where can I find availability from any AA European city to TLV?

From my experience, before chagim its nearly impossible

any tips?

3 tickets

Dan: I searched the website but haven’t been able to find a “getting to Israel with Chase UR points” post, similar to the post(s) you did about getting there with Starwood points. Have you done one and I’m missing it? If not, that would be a huge help if you ever had the time to do one. Thanks & gut gebenched yur!

When I called Lufthansa, they had very high taxes and surcharges to Israel in the summer. Is there a specific route I should be taking to avoid the surcharge? I tried various routes and direct with United and surcharges (or taxes) seem high to me. Also, if you put an Israeli address on the account, does that mean you are subject to VAT or anything else to be concerned about.

When calling British Airways for booking flight from NY to TLV via Berlin, they said the taxes or fees was $129. You wrote that it’s $91.74. Did it go up? Or did I do something wrong?

El Al is no longer affiliated with AA at all (or any other airline for that matter), so you can’t use AA miles for booking. They claim they will start some new airline relationships in 2015, but we’ll see. Similarly. you cannot earn miles for flying El Al on any program other than Matmid.

Is there a way to transfer US airways dividend miles to starwood points (or any other hotel points)?

@YitzyS:
No.

Dan-this post is better than ever. Thanks!
Regarding the trailing domestic flight (one-year stopover): I already booked BOS-FRA-BOS on Lufthansa with United miles. Can I change the itinerary to add a trailing domestic flight, or are such changes even allowed to reward travel? Thanks.

Dan- if i want to fly on united, but only have United and UR points, is there anyway to transfer those points to ANA, to book w/ ANA?

Dan,

Can you go a little more in depth on how to book star alliance through the United website? Just tried and not seeing anything

Hi Dan!

Any significant differences booking EX-TLV?

Do any airlines still allow the off-season rate round-trips that have only the first leg in the off-season period?

@Zow:
Thanks.
A change like that would set you back $100.

@Funnyman:
No.

@DK23:
You’re searching for NYC-TLV and clicked on award travel?

@Boruch999:
Only on Lufthansa as shown in the post.

@joetraveler:
Those airlines price travel for each way, so you’d pay half of the peak and half of the off-peak rate.

@Dan
Yes I only see United though

do all or most international flights from us to israel on business class have flat lie-down seats?

it would be awesome to see you give all the ins and outs on booking that free trailing domestic flight?

Does anyone know a good award ticket booking agent for israel? I have a bunch of points and this seems like a job for someone who does this frequently.

Hi dan!
if I just started with credit cards, does it hurt my credit score more when i apply for new ones now than later on in life? Because I pay in full every month but my credit score dropped 19 points after applying for one card…
Thanks!

Dan-
First time I heard of trailing flights. do you have a previous post that describes the details of how to do this and the rules involved? (if you already have a stopover rome-toronto-ewr, can you still add another leg or just if it’s a direct home flight (london-ewr)? Do you have to add the trailing flight at original booking – if not, until when can you add it? if lets say you book it to miami form ewr and decide to change your plans, can you change that leg at a later time, before the scheduled last leg?
I’m going to europe this summer. flying direct to rome but home need to fly through toronto because no direct flights available, so I was wondering if I can take advantage of the trailing flight on my return (even though I have idea where I would use it for yet).

How do I book United via Singapore Air to Tel Aviv. On singaporeair.com kris flyer there isn’t a listing available for Tel Aviv.

Another question-
I used aeroplan to book my flights to europe on united this summer because I had a lot of amex points . I only found out after transferring about aeroplan’s difficult rules such as $95/ for any changes (I had to change one flight I booked for a loner layover because I was worried the one I originally booked was too short and I wouldnt make it and I had to pay the $95 fee!) and their cancellation within 21 day rule as mentioned above. They told me that within 21 days, my only option was to book the exact same itinerary within 12 months from my original booking and I would have to pay the $95 change fee. Are you saying that if I need to do this and I reschedule for more that 21 days out I can then cancel at that point and the miles will go back to my account. I assume I would have to pay another change fee, thus costing each cancelled flight $190 for this cancellation?

Dan AWEsome work…can only imagine how much time this took to put together….so THANK you..M just fly in on Air Berlin…took a 24 hour stopover to visit where the Germans killed our people….and then on to Israel….makes you appreciate that much more. Got the Air Berlin idea from your site…and way back in Business onIberia. So Thanks

Dan! Just got an email from US Dividend card that they are waiving forigen transaction fees from now on!

Thanks Dan, great work!
which airline would allow stop in NY on the way back and then continue to HI?
I see miles – we like our blog the way it is. If you are looking for a different product, feel free to find it elsewhere
Dan, sorry you need to deal with such comments.

i found flights on US Airways for miles. how would i go about reserving them with BA Avios?

@shoshanamo:
ba.com

what about using avios miles to get back and forth to israel?
thanks

I don’t see Alaska on your chart. They have a few good options.

Thanks for an excellent post!

Can you add something that discusses the availability of award flights?

Dan is not a very good communicator or teacher; he knows what he knows and he is unable (like a good teacher) to understand what someone knew to the subject does not know.

Example:
Dan writes “Check availability at least daily (if not more often) as award seats can come and go quickly.” BUT DAN DOES NOT EXPLAIN HOW ONE CHECKS AVAILABILITY. Of course, Dan doubtless would say to himself, “Everyone knows that.” But, everyone does not know that. A good communicator,a good teacher, would understand that.

I appreciate that good teaching is an acquired skill and, probably, in the fullness of time, Dan will get better; for now, he is not very good.

@chip Yes, @Dans posts are not for entry level mileage/credit fiends. But to criticize his communication skills with a misspelled word in your tired rant is a travesty of justice and principal. He is a skilled blogger.

Hello,

I am looking for flights to Jamaica May 13-17 from NYC. Is there an optimal /best way to get there using miles or just a different booking technique?

Thanks for your time.

You say in the chart above that it should be 85k for a round trip on United. When I go through the steps to make a reservation on the United website and I select my flights it is 85k each way for a total of 170k for the whole trip! What am I doing wrong? Thanks

@Rebwass
You are choosing a standard reward, not a saaver reward

how hard is it to find availability for the alitalia 80k business rt rewards?

@Chip
What right do you have to say such a thing!! Do you have any clue how many THOUSANDS of ppl have benefited from dans help and advice. Hes not able to answer every single question that every person new to this would ask, especially since these Q’s were probably asked a million times already and he cant keep answering again and again which is why he created his forums with threads that were specifically created to help noobies.

Is Korean Air an option?

you can still take AAdvantage of stopovers when flying to Israel.
Please explain

How do you search ba availability. they only seem to have flights to and from england on their website?

Why is this all crossed off??

@Kidooo:
Read the first line.