[Updated Massively Devalued Chart] Flying Blue Bargains: Here Is How Many Air France/KLM Flying Blue Points You’ll Need For Every El Al Route To And From Israel

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Update, 7/23: As predicted yesterday, the rates were too wonky to be correct and you should take advantage while you could. Most rates have significantly increased as of today.

Here is the current award chart, which replaces the chart below from yesterday.

EconomyPremium EconomyBusiness
JFK, Newark62.5K83.5K151.5K
Boston60.5K80.5K146K
Miami72.5K97K175.5K
Fort Lauderdale72.5K96.5K175K
Los Angeles83.5K111K201.5K
Larnaca5K
Paphos5.5K
Rhodes6K
Athens9K22K
Tbilisi, Thessaloniki 10.5K
Rome11K32.5K
Sofia11.5K28.5K
Vienna11.5K33.5K
Krakow, Venice11.5K35K
Bucharest, Warsaw12K29K
Chișinău13K
Berlin13.5K40.5K
Geneva14K41.5K
Frankfurt14K42K
Dubai14.5K19.5K31.5K
Budapest10.5K31K
Prague18K39K
Barcelona15K44K
Paris 16K30K47K
Amsterdam16K47.5K
Madrid17K50.5K
London17K33K51K
Munich18K39.5K
Milan18.5K40K
Nice18.5K40.5K
Zurich19K41.5K
Marseille19.5K43K
Lisbon19.5K57.5K
Bangkok47.5K63.5K115K
Phuket48K64.5K116.5K
Tokyo63K84K152.5K

Originally posted on 7/22:

You can now redeem Flying Blue points for El Al flights at excellent rates! You can do so on the Air France site here by logging into Flying Blue.

Best of all, you can transfer points from AMEX, Capital One, Chase, or Citi instantly to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio. Even better, Flying Blue also often has 25% mileage transfer bonuses. For example, currently there is a 25% bonus from Citi through 8/17, which will drop the cost of a business class ticket between the US and Israel to as low as 62K miles!

There are no fuel surcharges on El Al flights, so you’ll just pay a relatively low amount of taxes and fees. NYC to Tel Aviv has about $36 in taxes and fees one-way and Tel Aviv to NYC has about $71 in taxes and fees one way. The round-trip has about $108 in taxes and fees.

Changes or cancellations are 70 Euros, about $76.

One weird quirk with Flying Blue pricing on El Al is that premium economy generally costs more than business class. Does that mean that premium is priced too high or that business is priced too low and it will be corrected? We’ll just have to wait and see, but you may want to take advantage in the meantime…

Read this post to learn how to find El Al award availability.

Here’s what a one-way flight to/from Tel Aviv will set you back in Flying Blue points:

EconomyPremium EconomyBusiness
JFK, Newark45.5K83K79.5K
Boston44K80.5K77.5K
Miami52.5K97.5K92K
Fort Lauderdale52.5K95.5K92K
Los Angeles61K110K106.5K
Larnaca, Paphos5K
Rhodes6K
Athens9K20K
Tbilisi, Thessaloniki 11K
Bucharest, Sofia12K26.5K
Chișinău13K
Dubai, Krakow, Rome, Vienna15K46K33K
Budapest, Venice15.5K33K
Prague, Warsaw16K35.5K
Barcelona, Berlin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Marseille, Milan, Munich, Nice, Zurich16.5K36.5K
Amsterdam, Paris 17K46.5K37K
Madrid18K39.5K
London18K47K40K
Lisbon20.5K45K
Bangkok34.5K63.5K76K
Phuket36.5K67.5K80.5K
Tokyo46.5K82.5K102K

Want to earn Flying Blue points?

  • You can transfer AMEX, Chase, Capital One, Or Citi points to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio or Marriott points at a 60K:25K ratio. 
AMEX cards with transferable Membership Rewards points to miles include, select benefits require enrollment via your AMEX account. Terms apply to offers on this page: If you, a member in your household, or an authorized user has one of the following Chase cards, you can transfer points into miles:
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card has a 60K signup bonus for spending $4K in 3 months, earns 2.1 points per dollar on travel after the card's 10% anniversary bonus, 3.1 points per dollar on dining, streaming, and online groceries after the card's 10% anniversary bonus, has a $50 hotel credit, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
  • Chase Sapphire Reserve® has a 60K signup bonus for spending $4K in 3 months, earns 3 points per dollar on dining/travel, has a $300 travel credit, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.5 cents each for paid travel ($550 annual fee with $300 travel credit). Read more here.
  • Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card has a 90K signup bonus for spending $8K in 3 months, and earns 3 points per dollar on up to $150K of annual spending on shipping, advertising, and travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
Chase no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:
  • Ink Business Unlimited® Credit Card has a $750 signup bonus in the form of 75K points for spending $6K in 3 months, and earns 1.5 points per dollar on business purchases ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
  • Ink Business Cash® Credit Card has a $350 signup bonus in the form of 35K points for spending $3K in 3 months and another $400 signup bonus in the form of 40K bonus points for spending another $3K in 6 months for a total of 75,000 Chase Ultimate points, plus if you have a Chase business checking account open on the card's first anniversary you will get a 10% points bonus on all earnings from card spending, this card earns 5 points per dollar on the first $25,000 in combined purchases on cable, TV, telecom, cellular, and office supply stores, plus 2 points per dollar on dining and gas on up to $25,000 in purchases ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
  • Chase Freedom Flex has a 20K signup bonus, plus 5 points on rotating categories, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through Chase Travel, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
  • Chase Freedom Unlimited® has a signup bonus that earns an extra 1.5% cash back in the form of 1.5 points per dollar everywhere on up to $20K of spending during your first year, on top of at least 1.5 points per dollar everywhere, 5 points per dollar (marketed as 5% cash back) on travel purchased through  Chase Travel℠, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
Capital One cards with transferable points include:
  • 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. $395 annual fee. Read more here.
  • Capital One Venture X Business is offering 150,000 bonus miles for spending $30K 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, Enhanced Priority Pass Lounge membership, transfer miles to airlines and hotels, 5K MLB redemptions, and more. $395 annual fee. Read more here.
  • Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is offering 75,000 bonus miles for spending $4K in 3 months, plus 2 miles per dollar spent on every purchase, transfer points to airlines and hotels, 5K MLB redemptions, and more. $95 annual fee. 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 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. $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. $150 annual fee.

Will you book El Al flights with Flying Blue points?

HT: DealGuru, via DDF

Leave a Reply

84 Comments On "[Updated Massively Devalued Chart] Flying Blue Bargains: Here Is How Many Air France/KLM Flying Blue Points You’ll Need For Every El Al Route To And From Israel"

All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.

Shmuli

This is great!

Btw, Is there any logical reason why tickets from TLV to NYC are much harder to find, and are way more expensive they NYC to TLV ?

MoG

God wants you going that way

Shmuli

In the right moment! then it will be free

TLV based travelers

How does the taxes work? Is it expensive?

Y

Thanks Dan!
Do they charge any taxes and fees?

Shimi

Is business cheaper than premium economy?

ML

Whats the cancellation policy of flying blue ?

yankel

does flying blue go to israel?
how can i get flying blue points?
how many flying blue points do i need?

Zar

Unfortunately, Flying blue does not go to Israel. However, you can use Flying blue point to fly there.

yankel

shkoiach
i appreciate your feedback

Chayim

I noticed this in general with premium economy in flying blue.
Sometimes it’s less than economy, sometimes more than business

ML

Looks like there availability matches alaska ?

eli

is availability the same as qantas, better or worse?

OD

where do you mention price of taxes?

MF

how much does an infant ticket cost?

Hhh

Any samples availability dates for j

Nolad

The few days that I checked, I only saw stopovers. Do they have non stop JFK to TLV?

Nolad

I found some. Sorry

Mindi Friedman

I just checked and 1) looking on Air France, it is not showing any nonstops on the flying blue (air france) site between JFK and Tel Aviv and 2) it does NOT show ANY El Al flights to Tel Aviv from JFK at all !! It only shows Delta and Air France and the cheapest is 70,000 miles not 45,000 – Am I looking in the wrong place ????

EH

how much is infant fee?

CtownBin

How does pricing worth with connecting flights? For example CLE-JFK-TLV with the CLE-JFK flight on Delta?

SSanders

Is there a reason of which you might be aware why neither business nor premium economy are award booking options for flights from FLL? Any idea whether there is any plan to open that up? Thanks.

american israeli

thanks for the post
is there an advantage of booking on air France over klm?

Mosh

No same system

Nosson

Last year I booked and the taxes were different.

Mindi Friedman

Your chart above is deceiving- what I found on Air France was a JFK flight which starts on Air France, and connects in Zurich to an El Al flight but it is 70K miles, not 45K as you indictate on your chart- And also Air France tells me it has no EL AL nonstops, only connecting flights with Air France

Chaim

Thanks for keeping us informed.
Now please update this article with the new choices as well.

Thanks

Mindi Friedman

And the taxes were $104, NY-TLV, not the $36 you state
“70,500 Miles
USD 104.13”

Nosson

What’s amazing is that now El Al space is available from arguably the most versatile point system, which all three major credit card companies transfer to! That means more opportunities for transfer bonuses as well as using points from multiple accounts to pay for a flight!

KMC

Thanks Dan!
Trying to put a trip together for my mother and I am seeing great availability from FLL/Miami.
I just wish we had More CITI points left. At least we have Cap1 BH.
Does anyone know how motzei shabbos flights with ElAl Work?
Are they feasible for 1150 departure?
she could be at the airport by 930/945

SSanders

We had no problem arriving at around 9:45 for the11:50 motzei shabbat flight from FLL a few weeks ago… Literally had three or four people in front of us checking in (we were flying business but they didn’t even have anyone at the business counter which turned out not to really make any difference at that time) and walked right through TSA (TSA precheck was closed but there was no line for regular TSA at all). It seems that most of the passengers must not have been shomer shabbt because when we got to the gate it was packed – seemed like a full flight.

metziaman

Went to your tutorial ..lots of info about booking with V A, Delta, Quantas,Etihad …ZERO about. flying blue. Can you please post specifically a link to flying blue? I went to air France and it had Delta direct but nada El Al!

SSanders

The point of the tutorial is to allow you to access a calendar that shows award flight availability – while, yes, you are looking at the Virgin site, the availability that Virgin’s monthly calendar shows is what the availability is for all airline partners that allow booking El Al flights with award points, i.e., Virgin, Qantas, Etihad, Delta…and, yes, Air France/flying blue. The other partner airlines do not provide such a calendar – so searching for award availability on their sites is way more tedious. So, start with the Virgin calendar per the tutorial to find availability and then, based on your findings there, go to the airline partner that you want to book through and use the available date that you found on the Virgin calendar. Hope that helps…

B

Wasn’t Alaska going to terminate their partnership with Elal on July 15? I’m still finding availability for Elal flights on Alaska.

Eliteflyer

No. July 31

Joseph

Ouch, looks like CDG-TLV economy rose overnight to 20k. Should’ve pounced.

Naf naf

Rates have gone up within the past hour (literally went up in middle of my booking). New rates are 62.5k economy, 83.5k premium, 151k business.

joe

yes i see same. Dan can you confirm?

Buki

Yup I see the same I literally checked thru different dates in November, February…

El capitan

They just changed some rates overnight…

Izzy

Is this any cheaper than the 1/3 discount on Sapphire Reserve or Amex Platinum for membership Rewards?

Chaim

What is the 1/3 discount?

Zeeber

Tlv-Mia/Fll is no less than 72,500 flying blue miles not like the 52,500 mentioned.

Nadav

Thanks for the alert yesterday, Dan. Booked two tickets in J for my parents in May, EWR to TLV for 79.5k each and minimal taxes. An odd early afternoon flight but a fantastic redemption.

momark

TLV – LON is now 24.5 in economy

Boaz

I’ve never seen ElAl flights in Flying Blue. What am I missing?

momark

The ELAL prices by virgin, air France and delta are totally “point”less!

jack

Site is freezing up when I try to book, any advice?

Michael

Thanks Dan! Once again you saved me a ton. Booked as soon as I saw the post. Kol HaKavod!

chaim

basically matching VS pricing now.
Anyone manage to book at glitch price?

Josh

Hi Dan, How do you book an infant ticket with Flying Blue? because when I try to add an infant on the website it charges the same as an adult.

Grateful

Thanks Dan! Just booked ORD to TLV in BUSINESS for only 86k miles!

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