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Qantas will devalue its award charts on August 5th.
It’s their first devaluation since September 2019. Devaluations are never fun, but at least they’re giving ample warning and are keeping their award charts around.
Qantas has several award charts, including one for travel on Qantas, Jetstar, Emirates, Fiji Airways and American Airlines, one for Jetstar, Jetstar Asia, and Jetstar Japan, one for most partner airline flights, and one round-the-world chart for flying on 2 or more OneWorld airlines besides for Qantas.
Qantas points can be good for better premium cabin availability on Qantas, but are rarely worthwhile for use on partner airlines.
However, one of the best uses for Qantas points is for travel on El Al. Unfortunately, since late last year, Qantas has been unable to book business class travel between the US and Israel, but other flights are bookable on Qantas.com.
Here is Qantas’ current partner airline award chart, which includes travel on El Al:
And here is Qantas’ partner airline award chart that will go into effect on August 5th:
Rates are going up between 5-20%, depending on the zone and cabin.
The good news is that you can lock in rates for future travel by booking now. If you do have to make a date change, you can do so for a penalty of 5,000 points, but you won’t have to pay the difference in fare for the higher chart. If you do have to cancel your trip and redeposit your points, there is a penalty of 6,000 points. Some DansDeals readers have reported that not all agents wind up charging these fees, so quite literally, your mileage may vary.
What does this mean for travel on El Al? Here is a comparison of how many miles are currently needed, and how many miles you will need starting on August 5th.
Sample destinations to/from Tel Aviv:
- Zone 1: Eilat, Larnaca, Paphos, Rhodes
- Currently: 10K economy, 15.8K premium, 20K business.
- Effective 8/5: 11.5K economy, 16.6K premium, 21K business.
- Zone 2: Athens, Bucharest, Chisinau, Dubrovnik, Sofia, Tbilisi, Thessaloniki, Tivat
- Currently: 14K economy, 23.7K premium, 30K business.
- Effective 8/5: 16.1K economy, 24.9K premium, 31.5K business.
- Zone 3: Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, Casablanca, Budapest, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Krakow, Liege, Lisbon, London/LHR, London/LTN, Madrid, Marrakech, Marseille, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Nice, Paris, Prague, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Warsaw, Zurich
- Currently: 20K economy, 34.5K premium, 43.8K business.
- Effective 8/5: 23K economy, 36.2K premium, 46K business.
- Zone 4: Mumbai, Seychelles
- Currently: 24.5K economy, 48.5K premium, 61.2K business.
- Effective 8/5: 28.2K economy, 58.2K premium, 73.4K business.
- Zone 5: Bangkok, Phuket
- Currently: 30.2K economy, 59K premium, 75K business.
- Effective 8/5: 34.7K economy, 70.8K premium, 90K business.
- Zone 6: Boston, JFK, Newark, Tokyo
- Currently: 37.8K economy, 70.8K premium, 90K business.
- Effective 8/5: 43.5K economy, 85K premium, 108K business.
- Zone 7: Fort Lauderdale, Miami
- Currently: 45K economy, 81.8K premium, 104.5K business.
- Effective 8/5: 51.8K economy, 98.2K premium, 125.4K business.
- Zone 8: Los Angeles
- Currently: 50.3K economy, 93.5K premium, 119.2K business.
- Effective 8/5: 57.8K economy, 112.2K premium, 143K business.
When searching for awards on Qantas.com, you can type in JFK, and it will also search Newark automatically. You will need a Qantas mileage account to search for award flights.
The site’s default display will only show economy awards, but click on Economy and change it to all, and you’ll get the full results:
While you may not find business class between the US and Israel, you can find it on other routes, like Tel Aviv to Paris:
You can transfer AMEX, Capital One, or Citi points to Qantas instantly at a 1:1 ratio.
Capital One cards with transferable points include:- Limited time offer: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is offering 75,000 bonus miles for spending $4K in 3 months and a $250 travel credit, plus 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase, transfer points to airlines and hotels, 5K MLB redemptions, and more. No foreign transaction fees. $95 annual fee. Read more here.
- Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card is offering 75,000 bonus miles for spending $4K in 3 months, plus earn 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase, $300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, 10K anniversary bonus miles, Global Entry/Pre-Check, Capital One lounge access, Priority Pass Lounge membership, Hertz President's Circle status, free lounge access and status for free additional cardholders, transfer miles to airlines and hotels, 5K MLB redemptions, and more. No foreign transaction fees. $395 annual fee. Read more here.
- Limited time offer: Capital One Venture X Business is offering 150,000 bonus miles for spending $30K in 3 months. You will earn another 200,000 bonus miles after spending another $170,000 in 6 months. As you earn at least 2 miles per dollar spent, that’s a total of 750,000 miles after spending $200,000. Also receive a $300 annual travel credit for bookings through Capital One Travel, 10K anniversary bonus miles, Global Entry/Pre-Check, Capital One lounge access, Enhanced Priority Pass Lounge membership, transfer miles to airlines and hotels, 5K MLB redemptions, and more. $395 annual fee. No foreign transaction fees. Read more here.
- Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card is offering 20,000 bonus miles for spending $500 in 3 months, transfer miles to airlines and hotels, 5K MLB redemptions, and more. No foreign transaction fees. No annual fee.
- Capital One Spark Miles for Business is offering 50,000 bonus miles for spending $4,500 in 3 months, 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase, Global Entry/PreCheck, transfer miles to airlines and hotels, 5K MLB redemptions, and more. No foreign transaction fees. $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
- Capital One Spark Cash is offering $750 cash back (convertible to 75,000 miles) for spending $7,500 in 3 months, 2% back everywhere, $40 MLB redemptions, and more. No foreign transaction fees. $0 intro annual fee for the first year, then $95.
- New offer: Capital One Spark Cash Plus is offering $2,000 cash back (convertible to 200,000 miles) for spending $30,000 in 3 months, plus get another $2,000 cash back for every $500K spent in your first year, 2% back everywhere, $40 MLB redemptions, annual fee refund when you spend $150K/year, and more. No foreign transaction fees. $150 annual fee. Read more here.
- The Blue Business® Plus Credit Card from American Express is offering a rare bonus to earn 15,000 Membership Rewards® points after you spend $3,000 in eligible purchases on the Card within your first 3 months of Card Membership and offers 2 points per dollar spent on up to $50K spending annually 1 point per dollar thereafter, plus transfer points to airlines and hotels and keep AMEX points alive. Terms apply. Read more here.
- The Business Platinum Card® from American Express is offering a 150K bonus for spending $20,000 in the first 3 months and offers monthly credits, lounge access, and much more. Terms apply. Read more here.
- American Express® Business Gold Card is offering a 100K bonus for spending $15,000 in 3 months, monthly business credits, Walmart+ membership, up to 4 points per dollar spent with a $150K annual spend cap, and more benefits. Terms apply. Read more here.
- Business Green Rewards Card from American Express is offering a 15K bonus for spending $3,000 in 3 months. Terms apply.
- The Platinum Card® from American Express is offering an 80K bonus for spending $8,000 in the first 6 months and offers monthly credits, lounge access, and much more. Terms apply. Read more here.
- American Express® Gold Card is offering a 60K bonus for spending $6,000 in the first 6 months, monthly credits for Uber and Grubhub, and more. Terms apply. Read more here.
- AMEX Green Consumer Card is offering a 40K bonus for spending $3,000 in the first 6 months and offers up to $199 in annual CLEAR Plus® credits, $100 LoungeBuddy credit, plus transfer points to airlines and hotels and keep AMEX points alive. All information about the AMEX Green Card has been collected independently by DansDeals.
- Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is offering a 60,000 point bonus for spending $4K in 3 months, 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, supermarkets, gas, EV charging, and dining. 10 points per dollar on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on CitiTravel.com. $95 annual fee. View Rates & Fees here. Citi is a DansDeals partner. Read more about this offer here.
- The Citi Double Cash® Card is offering a rare 20K bonus for spending $1,500 in 6 months, and offers 2% cash back or 2 ThankYou points per dollar spent everywhere. If you also have a Citi Strata Premier Card you can transfer points into miles. No annual fee. View Rates & Fees here. Citi is a DansDeals partner. Read more about this offer here.
Will you book any awards before the Qantas devaluation?
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12 Comments On "Qantas Will Devalue Points In August, Here Is What That Means For Travel On El Al"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Possibly a silly question but can I book a ticket on ELAL with Qantas points and just keep pushing it off indefinitely to lock in the lower rate? Probably wont do this since I’d be locking up points and might need to pay 5,000 more each time, but I am curious
Generally a ticket has a 1 year validity. So you can do this until the ticket “expires”
I just booked Elal through Qantas and I have to say the customer service can’t be beat. Their support by phone and Facebook messenger was fast and customer focused. And they’d still be the best redemption for flights between NY and TLV. I’m grateful the devaluation isn’t significant
To point out the obvious, even through Qantas only charges 5k for cancellations the remainder of the points remain locked into Qantas points. This means you must find another ElAl flight through Qantas.
it’s 5k to change. cancelling costs 10k
6K.
You can also book other partner flights with the points.
Maybe because you kept inquiring about the missing Business class rewards, someone higher up in the chain woke up to the prices.
Sure.
They’re raising the rates on all 4 of their award charts for all of their own flights and all of their alliance and non-alliance partner airlines because of an investigation into missing El Al business class flights between the US and Israel.
I think I know the answer, but I’ll ask to make sure:
I need to go to Israel around Yom Kippur time, but I don’t have the exact dates.
Should I book whenever I’m ready, even it means more points?
U’Vacharta Chaim.
Will class changes also stay with the current rate, or only date changes ?
Be aware that it takes a long time for points to be credited back into your account if you cancel a reward ticket. Definitely more than a week. Sometimes several weeks!