I'm a bit of a newbie to travel/miles/deals especially international and trying to get our family of 9 EWR to TLV end of October or early November for our eldest's bar mitzvah. Despite searching forums I'm unclear on a couple of things and hoping someone will be kind enough to spoon feed some information.
1. What are the pros and cons of El Al, United, Delta for EWR to TLV?
2. How horrible is it to save a buck and do a British Airways or Poland stopover with children ages 3 to 13?
3. I've been checking google flights and the prices hobble from $948 (delta) to 1200. How do I gamble securing $950 flights vs waiting on a deal?
4. I have Chase UR, maybe 480,000 and the Ink preferred for 1.25 conversion (not eligible for a sapphire). Are my best/only options to use them to book through Chase or transfer them to United (I have United business card too) depending where a deal drops?
5. What are the advantages to Chase portal vs United Miles vs cash?
Thank yoU!
1. No difference. Use whichever one is cheaper/has better times/departs from an airport closer to your house.
2. Not amazing flying with kids period! How much worse is it adding a stopover? It depends how much you are saving and how much that matters for you. If you save $200 per ticket x 9 = $1800. Is $1800 worth it for you to "suffer" through a stopover? That is a question you have to answer.
3. There is still plenty of time until your flight. If you are not flying around a holiday, there is a chance prices will go down 2-3 months before your flight.
4. United points won't help for this trip. It costs about 85,000 United points for a round trip economy ticket + about $70-120 per ticket in taxes. United points are worth at least 1.25 cpp so with the taxes you are "paying" about $1100 per ticket (probably non direct).
5. Chase portal is just a method to turn your points into "cash" by using them for flights at a set value. United miles to Israel are not worth it unless flying business class. Cash is king!
I am an experienced travel agent and I specialize in large families (I also started this thread). You can send me a private message and I will do my best to help you find the best tickets.
I can price match any offer you find online and I can also provide you with free lounge access for your trip in order to make your travels easier.
PM me.
