[Last Day For Delta Awards Between The US And Israel For 27K Chase Points] Virgin’s Amazing Beta Award Calendar Makes It Easy To Hunt For Rare Delta Awards!

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Update, 6/15: Partner saver award space for Delta’s Tel Aviv flights has been updated below! The Chase 30% transfer bonus ends tonight!

Update, 6/7: Partner saver award space for Delta’s Tel Aviv flights has been updated below!

Originally posted on 5/25:

Virgin Atlantic is an excellent way to book award travel on Delta. However, it’s a struggle to find available dates with award space on Delta.

But they now have an awesome beta award calendar here that makes it easy to find dates with award space! It tells you exactly how many seats are available in each class on every date. And no, there’s no space in any class but coach.

Just change the airport codes in the URL (use all caps!) to search other routes.

See this post for lots of tips for using Virgin miles to fly on Delta.

The calendar is pretty depressing, as valid dates on routes like Tel Aviv are very rare, but they do exist.

• JFK to/from Tel Aviv flights cost 35K Virgin Atlantic points, 39K Air France miles, or 62K Delta miles each way.
• Boston to/from Tel Aviv flights cost 35K Virgin Atlantic points, 38K Air France miles, or 84K Delta miles each way.
• Atlanta to/from Tel Aviv flights cost 44.5K Air France miles, 45K Virgin Atlantic points, or 120K Delta miles each way.

• You can get a 30% bonus for mileage transfers from AMEX or Chase to Virgin Atlantic through 6/14 or 6/15, so 27K AMEX/Chase points would turn into 35,100 Virgin Atlantic points.
• You can get a 25% bonus for mileage transfers from Citi to Flying Blue through 6/17 respectively, so 32K points would turn into 40K Flying Blue points.

JFK to Tel Aviv valid dates:
September 23
November 14, 23, 30
December 1, 2, 3, 7, 9, 11, 29
January 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 29
February 1, 2, 7, 8, 11, 25
April 8, 10

Tel Aviv to JFK valid dates:
November 24
December 11, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
January 10, 12, 15, 21, 22, 25, 26
February 2, 5, 9, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19

Boston to Tel Aviv valid dates:
November 14, 21, 23, 25
December 2, 5, 7, 9, 12
January 4, 6, 13, 20, 25, 27
February 1, 3, 17
April 6, 9, 13, 20, 27
May 11

Tel Aviv to Boston valid dates: 
October 1, 4, 13, 20, 25
December 1, 10, 13, 22, 24
January 12, 14, 21, 28, 31
February 4, 7, 14, 18
April 14, 26
May 10

Atlanta to Tel Aviv valid dates:
September 11, 17, 23
November 21, 22
December 10, 11, 30, 31
January 6
April 6, 8

Tel Aviv to Atlanta valid dates:
September 2, 24, 28
October 3
November 23, 28, 29, 30
December 13, 19, 20, 25, 26, 29
January 9, 22, 29, 30
February 6, 10, 19
April 11, 23, 26, 29, 30
May 1, 3, 6, 7, 8

The calendar also shows how Delta blocks out award space within 3 weeks of travel on domestic routes like Cleveland to LaGuardia or Cleveland to JFK (city codes like NYC don’t work), though they’re still a bargain to book 3 weeks out. Still, American and United award availability shines on pricey routes like that when you need to book close-in travel.

Even expensive routes like JFK to Venice are available…if you search off-peak:

Just click on book my reward flight and search for the dates you want to book. Or use the dates on AirFrance.US to book with Flying Blue miles.

HT: Zack