Fly round-trip to Israel for about 37K points with no fuel surcharges!
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-Which Miles To Use To Fly To Israel?
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25% Bonus For Transferring Membership Rewards Points To Flying Blue
Through 09/16 you will get 1,350 Flying Blue miles for every 1,000 American Express Membership Rewards Points. You are able to borrow up to 60,000 points by calling Membership Rewards if you have a Platinum card and up to 15,000 points on other cards. Points must be paid back (through opening new cards or spending) within 12 months.
Flying Blue is the mileage program of Air France and KLM. They are both Skyteam alliance members, as is Delta.
Flying Blue is known for low mileage rates but high fuel surcharges. However they don’t charge fuel surcharges when flying on Delta. Another nice thing about Flying Blue is that they allow one-way redemptions, something that Delta does not allow you to do with their miles.
Bear in mind that Flying Blue points expire after 20 months and the only way to extend them is to credit a paid Skyteam flight (like on Delta) to Flying Blue. So think twice before sending points over without having any use in mind and remember that promos like these come and go and will likely be back in the future.
Promo Awards:
With their promo awards you can fly from rotating cities in the US and Canada (currently JFK, Chicago, and Miami are among the cities on the current list for example) to Europe (which includes Israel in the Flying Blue program) for just 25,000 miles round-trip. However fuel surcharges on promo awards to Israel can run you about $550 round-trip. Promo awards are only for travel on Air France or KLM, not on any partners.
Availability with the promo awards to Israel is always low, but is especially low right now as the current award runs through October, peak travel time for Israel. They will open up November and December next month when availability should be better. For now though a quick search from JFK-TLV showed that you can fly one-way to Israel on 10/23 for 12,500 miles plus $249.10 in fuel surcharges or from Israel to JFK on 10/17 or 10/24 for 12,500 miles plus $302 in fuel surcharges.
With the current 35% bonus that’s using the equivalent of just 9,259 AMEX points. In business class the rate would be 25,000 miles each way plus fuel surcharges, or the equivalent of just 18,518 AMEX points.
Delta awards: Surcharge-free.
Flying Blue will book you on Delta to Israel with no fuel surcharges and at the Europe rates. That means 50,000 miles round-trip in coach or 100,000 miles round-trip in business.
With the transfer bonus that means you can get to Israel for the equivalent of just 37,037 AMEX points in coach or the equivalent of 74,074 in business, and there are no fuel surcharges!
The major caveat is that Flying Blue can only book you on Delta’s “Low” availability and you won’t even see Delta as an option when you search for flights on Air France’s website unless there is Delta Low availability (the green dates on Delta.com)
You can find Delta low availability on the Air France site by locating dates on the calendar with significantly lower fees than the other dates.
Beware that Delta’s “Low” availability, especially in business, can be very hard to find at times as they are quite stingy with releasing it. Always search for award availability before transferring points!
Delta charges 80,000 miles to Israel in coach and 120,000 miles in business (if you find low tier availability) if you book on Flying Blue it’s only 50,000 in coach and 100,000 in business on Delta.
By transferring to Flying Blue for Delta flights to Israel you will save about 43,000 points on coach (37K vs. 80K) or 46,000 points on a business (74K vs. 120K) ticket as opposed to booking directly from Delta.
Delta flies nonstop between JFK and Tel Aviv.
Take a look at this search from JFK-TLV on 11/13 in coach that I did on the Air France site (You need to signup for a free mileage account to search for awards):
You can see that on 10/30 there is a promo award as it prices out at 12,500 miles (plus $249), right now the promo awards have not yet been released for November though.
The dates that have 25,000 miles plus $19 are the Delta nonstop flights, pretty easy to find. Bear in mind that taxes from Israel will run $59.
Business class is attainable as well, as you can see here:
Again, the dates for 50,000 miles plus $19 are in Delta BusinessElite class.
Other destinations:
Of course this isn’t good just for Israel.
-The same rates that apply for Israel will also work for all of Europe. Delta flights will be just 25K miles each way.
-A one-way flight from JFK to LAX is 12,500 miles plus $2.50 and will be the equivalent of just 9,259 AMEX points.
The dates with 12,500 miles+$2.50 are nonstops.
Find other great uses? Post a comment!
Membership Rewards Cards:
American Express Consumer Platinum Card
American Express Consumer Premier Rewards Gold Card
American Express Business Gold Rewards Card
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35 Comments On "35% Bonus For Transferring Membership Rewards Points To Flying Blue!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Hi i know this is not for this post but Dan can you help me i have a little over 29000 SPG points and i want to go to Florida on jan. I need a ticket for me my wife my 2 year old and my 4 month old how can i do this with this points?? would i have to pay money???
thank you
Will this work with Starpoints?
I have a Amex Zync card with about 25k miles.
anything I can do with those points?
@Avi L:
http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=7986
@Sam:
Starpoints always receive a 25% bonus on 20K transfers. 20K Starwood=25K Flying Blue.
@yk:
Apply for or upgrade to a Green, Gold, or Plat card and you’ll be able to transfer points to airlines.
do yo have a link that I can sign up for the Green card?
@yk:
You don’t earn any points for signing up for a green card, might as well go for gold.
dan,
Are you able to search award availability only if member of flying blue? Do you know any promotion codes for free miles?
I can’t find your search. If I have 90000 starwoods and 50000 can I get 6 to israel with blue?
hi dan they charge fees on the return from tlv
I followed your example to search for 11/13 from JFK to TLV… the matrix showed on 11/13 starting from 25,000 points + 19$.. but one I clicked to get the details , the “cheapest was a flight with stopover in Rome ( delta to Rome and Alitalia to Israel) for 25,000 miles + $39…
@mike:
Yes.
No.
@Dave:
50,000 what?
@sam the man:
Read the post.
@SB:
The calendar isn’t updated in real time, it seems like someone nabbed the seats on the 13th.
I did just check the 12th though and that is still open, grab it if you want it!
90K SPG+50K Amex
dan, what is better if I plan on selling , transfer here or BA?
Hello Dan,
Please tell me if this is normal.
I did a 2BM for a SP MC (I have a SP Visa), & a Freedom card. I got 2 letters, 1 tells me that I already have a SP & I can’t have another one. The other 1 denied my Freedom on the basis of “Too many accounts open with usâ€. I first called about the SP MC. After not being allowed to have both, I agreed to close down the Visa to open the MC. I was put on hold. When the rep returned I was told that she pulled a credit report, and I was approved.
Does this mean that I had a separate credit inquiry for the SP, & a separate 1 for the Freedom in the original 2BM?
Is this normal procedure?
Thank You for responding.
Dan, I am trying to book a trip to Israel for next summer end of june for about 5 weeks. I have enough points coming by sept 26th to book one way for 5 tickets on united at 40k each. I have 90,000 Amex MR points should I transfer to British or flying blue now and try and get the otehr tickets with those points? I am not sure how I will get enough otherwise to get home but these seem like a crap shoot and nota sure thing for availability
gosh. when ever i look at the reader-friendly yet proffesional way, you write up those deals/offers etc. i’m just thinking to myself ”this guy must have a bachelor’s in blogging and social media”
and that’s without talking on the patient way you answer comments! thank you
Is there a way to search for Non stop flights only ?
does anyone know how much amex membership reward point worth?
I have 60k with starwood and wanna fly to Israel end of oct. till mid. nov. how would I go about it where would be the best place to transfer to for the least money and do I have to open any accounts anywhere beforehand to do this transfer?
What site do I have to sign up on to see the award points?
I would like to go to Israel with a stop over in London.
Have 50,00 BA points, have 20,000 AA, and 30,000 Delta.
what is the most economical way?
Might consider a trip to London for Succos. How would I do that one?
is there a possibility of going economy and coming with business?
@Dave:
http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/23168
@Hello:
There are no rules in this business.
@NSW:
Find availability, then transfer.
@Pinny:
No.
@Yisroel:
There is no best, you need to first find an airline with availability and go from there.
@Dove:
Airfrance.com
@Joe:
Off-topic posts belong on the forum.
@ty:
Yes, you can book one-way awards.
When I search from TLV and pick the low surcharge dates I”m told there are no Airfrance flights for those dates which of course would be true according to you since these are actually Delta flights. But then the site won’t let me book the Delta flights because they don’t appear! Does that mean there is another way to access these presumably Delta flights?
Dan
What is the reward cancellation fee and /or change fee for Flying Blue.
Can Flying Blue be used for domestic flights?
DAN, need help..looking for flight jfk-tel aviv on october 25-nov1…through flying blue all sold out except for alitala which charges $600 fuel, not worth it…booking direct through delta makes most sense bc no fuel..however does this 35% bonus include transfering points to delta or only flying blue? and if its only flying blue I asusme im out of luck?
Hi Dan, I have 77,000 MR points on a bus amex. The card has a $125 annual fee and I want to close the acct so I need to move the points. I would like to save my points for tickets to Israel. I have United mileage already and I want to hold for a number of tickets for my family-we wld fly with little kids and only wld go direct. What is the best thing to do with these MR points?
how much miles Miami – Paris flying blue points ?
I’m not sure I understand. If I transfer my AMEX points to flying blue, I can fly on Delta through Air France directly to Israel with no surcharge and only miles?
Also, which site on Air France did you search on? When I search Air France thru flying blue sign in I get a different screen than you.
I just booked 2 tickets w delta non-stop end of november for about 75k Amex points. It transferred to flying blue immediately. 170 bucks fees for both tickets.
Thanks Dan!
@Miri: @NSW: I don’t see the awards page on the Air France ‘book a flight’ web page. Where can I see this page. I signed up for Flying Blue today and I want to get tix for Israel for Nov
HI Dan:
I searched the Air France site again and there are no direct Delta flights to Israel thru it – how did you find that?
anyone know if this is still working