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El Al flights can be pricey, for good reason. If you need to get to Israel you can roll the dice and hope another airline flies you there and back without canceling, or you can book El Al. With higher demand for El Al, prices have gone up as well. That’s not price gouging, that’s just econ 101 supply and demand.
One way to save is by using miles, and I’ve written many posts about how to use miles on El Al, the latest new booking options, and how to find award space.
But here’s an interesting way to save on El Al tickets, book them via a JetBlue codeshare. In the past, booking this way has been occasionally cheaper, and currently it is cheaper for nearly all dates that I checked! Take advantage of that while it lasts.
Note that El Al won’t be able to service your ticket for changes if you book via a codeshare.
For example, an El Al flight in coach from ElAl.com from 12/9-12/16 is $1,197:
But the same El Al flight sold on JetBlue.com with their Codeshare is just $1,026:
An El Al flight in business from ElAl.com from 12/9-12/16 is $5,520:
But the same flight sold on JetBlue.com with their Codeshare is just $4,912:
You can pay for the ticket with “hybrid points” such as AMEX or Chase points with a card that allows your points to be used at an increased value for airfare in addition to be able to transfer points into airline miles.
If you have an AMEX Business Platinum Card you will get a 35% rebate of points used on all business/first class tickets or on the US airline of your choice in economy or premium economy. You can register for an airline here.
You can login to your account and redeem AMEX points for travel here.
Best of all, while tickets sold by El Al don’t qualify for a rebate, if you are registered for JetBlue you can get a rebate, even though the flight is operated by El Al!
If you previously registered for an airline besides JetBlue, you can chat with AMEX online to change the airline that you’re registered for.
The El Al flight in coach is 102,605 points when sold by JetBlue with their Codeshare. That’s 66,693 AMEX points after the Business Platinum rebate:
The El Al flight in coach from AMEX without the JetBlue codeshare is 115,905 points and wouldn’t qualify for a Business Platinum rebate:
The El Al flight in business is 491,205 points when sold by JetBlue with their Codeshare. That’s 319,283 AMEX points after the Business Platinum rebate:
The El Al flight in business from AMEX without the JetBlue codeshare is 552,005 points or 358,803 points after the Business Platinum rebate:
If you have a Sapphire Reserve you can redeem points for 1.5 cents each towards travel. If you have a Sapphire Preferred or Ink Preferred you can redeem points for 1.25 cents each towards travel.
You can login to your account and redeem Chase points for travel here.
The El Al flight in coach with the JetBlue codeshare is 68.4K Sapphire Reserve points:
While the same flight without the codeshare is 77.2K points:
The El Al flight in business with the JetBlue codeshare is 327.4K Sapphire Reserve points:
While the same flight without the codeshare is 368K points:
Will you book any El Al travel via JetBlue to save on the ticket price? Take advantage while it lasts!
HT: Aharon W.
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54 Comments On "Here’s How To Save Big On Paid And Hybrid Bank Point Redemptions For El Al Flights!"
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I’m waiting on being able to use “JetBlue” points for El Al flights :o)
not worth doing with b6 to save a few $
Why not?
Being able to use the MR points with rebate is the bigger win…
What about canceling any way to get a voucher?
Of booking with JetBlue code share and have Mosaic status will that give me anything on ElAl?
Why am I having a problem searching nyc-TLV flights on JetBlue.com it’s telling me no flight results ??
Me too
If you are mosaic you can get two free bags per person on elal to Israel if you book through JetBlue
I would recommend booking Amex /Jetblue codeshare if you have any doubt you’ll need to change fights,
I had few months ago that I booked thru Amex / Jetblue codeshare and had to change the date,
You cannot imagine the headache and the hours spent for this change, hours on the phone with Amex over the course of 3-4 days to get this change…
Amex international rates desk is an only by email department so the phone reps have to wait for email response and cannot call theat department, they had to contact Jetblue which had to contact elal to get the change done,
It simply wasn’t worth the savings of $400-$500 for this business class ticket for the amount of hours I spent…
I believe if it wouldn’t be a Jetblue codeshare flight it would be much easier and simpler to make the change…
You should have contacted Jet blue directly like I did
You think i didn’t try that route… They claimed they can’t touch the ticket since it’s a travel agency ticket…
I’ve redeemed Chase points for travel multiple times. But I don’t understand how to redeem them and get the JetBlue codeshare discount. I don’t understand how to connect Chase to JetBlue to get to ElAl?
Jet blue is just cheaper. In short the same flight is Available from both jetblue and Elal. Book the Jetblue flight which is operated by ElAl.
It’s a codeshare flight, so therefore you can book a jetblue flight which is operated by ElAl. And use your chase or amex travel portal to pay with your points should you like vs paying cash.
319k+ points for J round trip is still a whole lot of points. Equal to ~160k per way, and you can do much better than that by transferring points to an airline that flies to Israel. The only problem right now is finding one that does and then also finding availability on points. So I guess if you must go and want J then no choice but to blow at least 320k points.
Read the post “If you need to get to Israel you can roll the dice and hope another airline flies you there and back without canceling, or you can book El Al”
Why are is there no availability some days?
Does it count for Elal status if you add your matmid?
Should count if paying cash and or using “cc miles”.
No it doesn’t
You wont get JetBlue or matmid points for these flights.
why do you say that?
why wouldnt you get matmid points and diamonds?
I got points on Matmid when booking thru Chase Elal
Anyway to book it through JetBlue when using Chase travel portal to book using Chase points?
Yes, it’s in the post.
What the cancellation policy when booked through chase or AmEx?
Can you use JetBlue travel bank credits for this?
No, JetBlue travel credits can’t be used on flights from partner or codeshare airlines:
Travel certificates: These are not valid for bookings on partner or codeshare flights.
Travel Bank credits: These can’t be used for the flight portion of a package that includes partner airline flights.
Can I book premium economy on elal with jet blue code share ? Only giving me economy or business
I didn’t see any premium available.
i tried checking paris to tlv on jetblue.com and nothing came up does codeshare only work for flights originating in the us?
I also could not find anything except for flights originating in US
Can we use JetBlue points to book this?
No
I tried booking with jetblue and received this error message: Your flight is booked, but something went wrong when we issued your ticket.
Does anyone know what this is about?
Contact JetBlue.
thanks! they told me that the price was changed by elal after I put through the order, before I was ticketed. and therefore they will refund my card and i will not receive a ticket despite receiving a confirmation….
Try booking through Chase or AMEX.
Me too.
I saw the same thing for Delta, I am planning to choose Delta on AMEX Biz Platinum and I feel comfortable with Delta as my 35% airline.
Is there any way to get reimbursed for an ElAl flight that was booked in June and was bumped up 7 hours. Will they cover another hotel night?
If you book this way, via JetBlue do you get elal status benefit and do you get elal diamonds/ points?
Do you recommend any other methods to use Amex 35% points back when flying with elal?
Using Delta skymiles isn’t much a cheaper option?
has delta been good about rebooking on elal if their flights get canceled? cuz their prices are pretty reasonable now, too
Booked elal via chase . Can’t use return bc of war, and 1 yr from ticketing arriving . LY say they can’t help booked via chase. Does chase warranty pay un used half ticket bc of war ?
Could not find any flights originating outside of US.
2 questions Dan.
1) is every El Al flight bookable through JetBlue or only some?
2) if I already booked tickets through El Al, is there anyway to still get the 35% rebate through the Platinum card? Meaning is it retroactive at all?
I’m not familiar enough to have a strong opinion either way, but isn’t it a strong argument to say that this is a case of price gouging since it’s not due to regular market conditions, it’s due to a war and now people are much more desperate due to the competition dropping out?
Like if only one grocery store was willing to operate during a war, and the others are scared, wouldn’t it be price gouging to then significantly bump up the prices even though it conforms to the principals of supply and demand?
1. Groceries aren’t dynamically priced for real-time supply and demand, airfare is.
2. There are generally connecting options available, if you want a nonstop, you’ll pay a premium.
Thanks for the reply. It still feels pretty subjective to me. Are there any universally accepted guidelines for determining when something has crossed over into gouging?
DAn – awesome.. i save hundreds, if not thousands with this. didn’t believe until i tried it.
@dan
i do need to book a tlv to europe flight that isn’t doable on jetblue.
any luck using amex portal to give the option of Protect?
Looks like this might be dead. Jetblue options are no longer appearing. Any idea if this is temporary or permanent?
wondering the same. i checked yesterday and there was plenty of availability in April… check again now and virtually everything is sold out. very frustrating as i was about to book. is booking elal thru JetBlue finished?