EL AL Flights Now Bookable with Alaska Mileage Plan

[forums123]

Question - I signed up for the Alaska card and got the 70K bonus miles the month or two ago. There was flight availability showing on a bunch of business class el al NYC to TLV at the time. When they finally awarded my bonus miles I checked again and all of the availability was gone. Do they sometimes add more award availability? Is it cyclical? Not sure how these things work. Would definitely like to use all 70k miles on a business class seat rather than 35K for economy which is a significantly less worthwhile deal.

[Wizmanison]

As with every other airline booking, make sure there's a ticket number for the infant

Alaska saying "We do not have ticket numbers for lap infants, you will only see them when you check in." Not the best sign...

[forums123]

I just logged on to Alaska to check, and lo and behold, they had my preferred outgoing flight available again! Woohoo! So I booked el al business class EWR to TLV. This will be my first business class flight hopefully, looking forward.

 When choosing a seat on el al website, the business class section was almost completely empty, so I'm not sure why it was taken off of Alaska's availability for the last week, I guess that's just the way these airlines operate?

Also, I chose the first seat on the right side, is that a good to seat? Or does it not really matter.

Question - I signed up for the Alaska card and got the 70K bonus miles the month or two ago. There was flight availability showing on a bunch of business class el al NYC to TLV at the time. When they finally awarded my bonus miles I checked again and all of the availability was gone. Do they sometimes add more award availability? Is it cyclical? Not sure how these things work. Would definitely like to use all 70k miles on a business class seat rather than 35K for economy which is a significantly less worthwhile deal.

[tavster]

Also, I chose the first seat on the right side, is that a good to seat? Or does it not really matter.

https://www.elal.com/eng/about-elal/our-fleet

Take a look at the seat map and decide what makes most sense for you.

I personally prefer the even seats, as I feel there is more privacy. Other people prefer the odd ones.

#firstworldproblems ultimately 

[forums123]

Why do some people prefer the odd?

[tavster]

Why do some people prefer the odd?

Some people find the even ones claustrophobic

[ShimonFly]

Why do some people prefer the odd?

On United people prefer the odd ones as they're closer to the window and more private, On ELAL the even seats are closer to the window

[forums123]

Question - is it worthwhile to buy Alaska miles to use for el al business class ticket? With the recent 40-50% bonus, 70k miles would cost around $1450 I think.. which is much cheaper than the cash price of el al biz class seats. (Assuming flexibility of travel dates and award availability of course)

[bmw]

Question - is it worthwhile to buy Alaska miles to use for el al business class ticket? With the recent 40-50% bonus, 70k miles would cost around $1450 I think.. which is much cheaper than the cash price of el al biz class seats. (Assuming flexibility of travel dates and award availability of course)

if its much cheaper, then whats the question ?  points post instantly, if your desired flight is available, then go ahead ! for speculative travel then probably not worth it since partnership ending july 31

[forums123]

Not sure, it's just not something I've heard of people doing, so I want to make sure I'm not doing something dumb.

if its much cheaper, then whats the question ?  points post instantly, if your desired flight is available, then go ahead ! for speculative travel then probably not worth it since partnership ending july 31

[shmooz]

Not sure, it's just not something I've heard of people doing, so I want to make sure I'm not doing something dumb.

if the flight is for after the partnership ends, it may be difficult for you to change anything at that point. Or let's say you book a night flight and elal changes it to a day flight you may be stuck. Most people don't do this probably they want to earn status etc which you with with points.

[zee]

If I wanted to use my Alaska miles exclusively for ElAl use, and considering the partnership ends 7/31 and I don’t have any plans of where/when to book for, can I use the miles to book ElAl flights and then ask ElAl to refund them for ElAl credit?

[baron]

If I wanted to use my Alaska miles exclusively for ElAl use, and considering the partnership ends 7/31 and I don’t have any plans of where/when to book for, can I use the miles to book ElAl flights and then ask ElAl to refund them for ElAl credit?

No