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Update: Several DDF members have received a refund of the extra taxes paid by sending an SMS to Qantas at 1-478-772-6827. One reader said that they were only able to secure the refund after sending Qantas a link to this post 😀
Post your experience in the comments and be prepared to HUCA (Hang up, chat again 😉 )
Originally posted on 6/25:
Related posts (Read these first!):
- Qantas Adds The Ability To Book El Al Award Tickets From 2 More US Cities! 1 Week Left For Dirt Cheap El Al Awards With AMEX Point Transfers!
- How To Search For El Al Awards With Qantas Points; The Trick To Booking From 15 Airports That Aren’t Bookable Online!
- Roundup Of Qantas Program Devaluations And Improvements; Updated Comparison Award Chart For Travel On El Al To Israel
- HOT! Qantas Posts 44% AMEX Transfer Bonus! Will You Get Even More Points? Fly El Al Business Class NYC-Tel Aviv For 54.5K Points With No Fuel Surcharges!
There are just a few days left to take advantage of an incredible 44% bonus on point transfers to Qantas. Qantas points are an excellent way to redeem for El Al awards without fuel surcharges.
I’ve mentioned a few times though that Qantas has been adding a small tax onto premium cabin award tickets that should not be charged on award tickets.
When you purchase a paid one-way ticket from Newark to Tel Aviv, there are 4 fees owed as shown below on the tax breakdown for a paid flight:
However on an award ticket you should only be responsible for the 9/11 fee of $5.60 and the Israel Security surcharge of $4. Qantas has been erroneously charging the $18.60 US departure tax as well and that fee should not apply on award tickets.
On the return you should be responsible for the Israel departure tax of $26.81, the Israel Security fee of $4, the US immigration fee of $7, the US Customs fee of $5.77, and the US APHIS fee of $3.96, for a total of $47.54. Qantas has been erroneously charging the $18.60 US arrivals tax as well and that fee should not apply on award tickets.
Qantas has been charging $94.34 round-trip for premium cabin tickets between the US and Israel, but they have now correctly removed the $18.60 each way US departure and arrivals tax, so the new price is $57.14/ticket on a round-trip:
Qantas is also incredible for infant tickets as they only charge $24.73 tax for a lap child round-trip between the US and Tel Aviv. Other airlines charge 10% of the miles or 10% of the regular fare for lap children!
Only need a one-way ticket?
You’ll pay $9.60 from the US to Israel:
The infant charge from US to Israel only adds $4!
A one-way ticket from Israel to the US will be charged £37.20 (Currently $47.24):
The infant charge from Israel to the US adds £16.20 (Currently $20.57):
If you already paid the $18.60 fee, you can try contacting Qantas for a refund. If that doesn’t work you can technically file a DoT complaint, but personally I’d advise against rocking the boat too much here…
With the 44% bonus for AMEX transfers you can fly one-way from the US to Israel for just 26,250 points in economy, 43,750 points for premium economy, or 54,167 points for business class plus $9.60 in taxes. The return flight has the same mileage requirement, but has $47.24 in taxes.
That’s a fraction of the miles (AMEX points transfer to El Al at a 50:1 ratio) and the $348.84 in fuel surcharges and fees that you would need for a round-trip with El Al Matmid points:
Have you used Qantas points for El Al award travel?
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61 Comments On "Qantas Removes Erroneous Award Fees On El Al Flights! Here Are The Current Fees And The Bargain Infant Fees Between The US And Israel!"
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according to my understanding when reading your posts los angeles even with the crazy sale is not much cheaper thenusing aeroplan or united?
The advantage of this is that El Al has MUCH better nonstop availability than Air Canada/United.
thank you and of course the availability opens and reopens like uniteds.
United or AeroPlan both are not direct flights from LAX to TLV. also availability for the 85k roundtrip super saver is limited in my experience. IMO the lack of stopovers is worth it by itself for me to book with qantas even if it was slightly more expensive
I paid 42,000 points each way for a booking last week. It was literally as the system was switching over (our wed evening, their thurs morning). I tried getting back the difference but had no luck. Any suggestions?
Did you try cancelling within 24 hours?
They wanted to charge me 6,000 points a ticket to cancel and then there was no guarantee of when id get the points back to re-book or if the tickets would still be available. Plus, the return sold out right when i booked it.
Within 24 hours you could have pushed for that to be free, or filed a DoT complaint.
But if it was sold out then there’s not must to do. No guarantees that it would go back into award inventory.
“US airlines also don’t collect the $4 Israel Security surcharge, though Qantas still collects that.”
— The Israeli AP fee is only paid for Israeli airlines – not charged for foreign airlines
Ha, thanks!
Are they issuing refunds for past booked tickets?
Contact them and find out.
is it a bad idea to dispute that amount off the cc charge?
Very bad idea.
can you elaborate more on this?
I wrote 2 options in the post about what to do if you want a refund. Disputing a ticket can lead to the cancellation of the ticket or your mileage account.
thank you. will try reaching out to them via sms
Can’t decide whether to pull the trigger on transferring Amex points or waiting to accumulate some Citi TY points and using those in conjunction with a future transfer bonus. Just seems like Amex points are so much more valuable than citi so hate to use them
I was able to transfer 130000 Amex membership rewards to Qantas. In a few hours it was in my Qantas frequent flyer account. I had to pay 74 English pounds. I got 2 one way business class tickets on ELAL TLV-JFK. This was done yesterday 6-24 How do I figure if I paid that erroneous fee. Thanks
You where not charged that extra $18.60 fee per passenger because that fee was already fixed 2 days ago. The 74 Pound sterling equals
93.91 United States Dollar, which is the $47 charge per pass. charge from tlv to nyc.
I got charged the US tax on 3 bookings done Sunday 11:59PM
Thanks for the explaination
You got charged the correct amount. I have same booking as you (booked this past Sunday) I paid 102 pounds.
I got charged the US tax on 3 bookings done Sunday 11:59PM. Th correct amount for a one-way TLV>NYC should have been about 37.40£
Can you add a free domestic connection on American Airlines onto these tickets, so that you can fly from cities not served by ElAl?
While I agree with Dan that Qantas points are very good to redeem with El Al flights, they are ridiculously overpriced (surcharge) to UK, why is American & BA ripping off partners when redeeming awards? Can’t they just be like Al El?
are AF flights bookable yet with qantas?
Which part is ending after a week meaning if I transferred the points and my good?
You are good (until premium cabin award rates go up on 9/18).
Is it worth transferring points now , if I don’t plan on going to Israel for next 6 months ?
Any idea if this promotion will come back around ?
Thanks
I doubt we’ll see 44% again.
When do you plan on going next?
Yeah I think it’s worth transferring for that type of promotion.
Don’t think I will be able to go before January.
Once I transfer to my Qantas account can I use the points for other family members or only for myself?
Thanks
I’d definitely transfer for any travel plans within the next year or so, sure.
You can book for family members and yourself.
Had 500k amex points, just transferred and now have 648k showing in Qantas.
(I only want to use my points flying to IL)
When booking ElAl on Qantas, will I get the option to choose the seats?
You’ll get the rest of the bonus within a few days.
You can call El Al to select seats.
Will Qantas have this transfer bonus special again? And what about Virgin Atlantic?
Unlikely.
They currently have a 25% bonus.
Is it possible to add infant to j booking a week b4 flight
Yes.
1)Do I need to book the award travel by 6/30 or just have the points transfered by then?
Also because it takes a two days for the credit to post do I need to have the points transferred by the 28th?
2)what other credit card points do you reccomend transferring to amex membership rewards to make the most out of this promotion
Transferred.
Unknown, but probably not.
You can’t transfer anything to AMEX.
I transferred yesterday 26500 amex miles to Qantas, i got 31800 miles and didn’t get the extra 20%, any ideas?
As I’ve said a dozen times, it takes a few days.
In economy, I’m getting 67$ ex-TLV and 29$ ex-NY
Can I transfer Amex rewards to a friend or siblings quantas account or it must be under my name?
Must be your name. You can book for your siblings from your account
Can i book for someone else with a different last name in my Qantas account. thanks
If they are related.
You can transfer within Qantas to a “first cousin”, and let that person book their own ticket.
so just clarify that filing a DoT complaint will be chav le’achrini
anyone know why i cant search newark to tel aviv on cash & points only on points only?
i’m also having it, that i’m trying to book and it doesn’t recognize either TLV or Tel Aviv?
Follow the link in this post:
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/search-el-al-award-space-qantas-points-trick-booking-15-airports-arent-bookable-online/
no need to file dot.
text and they will take care of it. when you call the recording gives you an option for sms. they answer you within minutes and they will take care of it. i just did it this morning and i even recieved a new email from them with my booking and the credit
What did you say to get them to refund? I tried sending this link, and she said she can’t click on links. I cut/paste the relevant portions and explained it to her, and she said she had no ability to do anything and I should call instead.
Just got this resolved via SMS. I wrote: “Hello, I was erroneously charged a US entry tax on an award booking. This is only supposed to be charged on cash fares. My reservation information is XXXX. I would like a refund of the $18.60 erroneously charged.”
They responded and said “I can confirm that an issue has been identified where customers booking LY Classic Rewards were incorrectly charged the US Departure/Arrival Tax.” They then processed a refund.
Does anyone know what the extension would be for using gmail to send them the text message ?
@Dan
I transferred a small amount of MR and got 44% bonus w/in 24 hrs
Then I transferred a much larger amount and only got the 20%
Are you sure I will get the additional 20% – as its been approx. 2 days already- did Qantas confirm that its a true double bonus?
Thanks!
Hi, newbie here. I just transferred points to quantas. I would like to book business or first class but they don’t show up as available on Quantas website.On ElAl and google flights websites they are showing up. What would be the best way to get the business or first class seats? TIA
What are the taxes like flying from Toronto and back?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/final-days-transfer-amex-points-el-al-mileage-deal-decade-everything-need-know-booking-el-al-awards-qantas/