AA miles never available for israel

[isac]

I have a lot of AA miles but always unavailable for coach or business class direct to israel,what can I do?want to go for succot.(I also have a lot of starwood points but need to use alot for "starwood flights" directly from starwood)

[steve2]

 I found when wanting to use AA miles to get to TLV , a person has to be very flexible both regarding the dates of the flights and the routing = Be open to say a JFK-BRU on AA and BRU-TLV on ElAl

 If all you are willing to accept are the non-stops then you'll have to go say during non-peak times date wise

You do realize that Succos is probably the most sort of time that people are trying to go using their Miles, and its hard to get non-stop flights with CO or DL or US or LY no matter where the miles are coming out of.

also you might need to be open to say flying to BRU and staying overnight and flying to TLV the next day, and even this can present a problem in finding flights

[me]

(I also have a lot of starwood points but need to use alot for "starwood flights" directly from starwood)

Why would you want to use starwood flights? move them into a airline that has availability... much cheaper

[SuperFlyer]

try via bru, using the bru-tlv either with brussels airlines or elal.

brussels aairlines is star alliance, but still works with aa.

[Dan]

try via bru, using the bru-tlv either with brussels airlines or elal.

brussels aairlines is star alliance, but still works with aa.

Or try any other route via Europe that El Al flies to.
Also check BA flights out of Canada which you can use AA miles for.

[steve2]

Or try any other route via Europe that El Al flies to.
Also check BA flights out of Canada which you can use AA miles for.

 I generally found London to be the hardest to find anything on whether BA or LY. Too many Israelis go there , and alot of English go to Israel for Succos. Thats why I would think MAD or BCN or BRU etc would be better .1 needs to stay away from those cities where Israelis frequent. Rome,Paris,London,AMS etc and yet try for a place AA flys non-stop into if at all possible or IB (into MAD/BCN)

 but I found when dealing with AA that they themselves will exhaust everything trying to find something, but as its said its best to do your Homework and alreday know whats available before calling up

[Dan]

I generally found London to be the hardest to find anything on whether BA or LY. Too many Israelis go there , and alot of English go to Israel for Succos. Thats why I would think MAD or BCN or BRU etc would be better .1 needs to stay away from those cities where Israelis frequent. Rome,Paris,London,AMS etc and yet try for a place AA flys non-stop into if at all possible or IB (into MAD/BCN)

 but I found when dealing with AA that they themselves will exhaust everything trying to find something, but as its said its best to do your Homework and alreday know whats available before calling up

LHR-TLV can be hard, but from LHR you can get to any other city that El Al flies to.

[steve2]

LHR-TLV can be hard, but from LHR you can get to any other city that El Al flies to.

 very true but that will only increase the $$ as each European Country tacks on departure taxes with the UK being the worst followed by CDG

 MY AA  JFK-LHR-JFK back in Dec was $125+ my AA JFK-BRU-JFK in May is $53 , and its worse via LHR if its Biz or FC

I dont mind it so much if I was doing a tour which I have done and which you will be doing upcoming. In other words staying in a Country and checking the city out, but simply just to connect I try my darnest to keep it to 1 stop in Europe max, to keep the taxes down

[SuperFlyer]

Iberia is pretty bad...

[isac]

Thanks for the responses.
Which airlines could i transfer starwood points to, besides AA,that go to israel ??

[SuperFlyer]

you could switch with someone. they give you one type, and you return to them SPG.

[Dan]

Thanks for the responses.
Which airlines could i transfer starwood points to, besides AA,that go to israel ??

Why would you transfer to AA for Israel???

ANA seems like the best choice for low taxes, USAirways for a US program, or Flying Blue for their promo awards and lowest mileage rates but high taxes.

[isac]

how can i switch starwood points for someone elses co miles,without paying a lot in transfer fees?

[steve2]

how can i switch starwood points for someone elses co miles,without paying a lot in transfer fees?

 I was in need of 25k in Priorty Club points so on another site I offered x amount of Marriott or x amouny of Hilton Pts. Basically although not 25k of either it was an even steven deal. Why di the other person trade his PC pts , simple he didnt have any Marriott pts and where he was looking to stay either there wasnt a PC Hotel or the Marriott type was a nicer place

 So you need to find out what a fair currency swap is and hope theres someone who has CO miles that they dont need or better they need SPG pts more then the CO miles they have, sometimes you need to give thema premium for doing it, other times they other person is happy to get what they also need and dont mind an even-steven deal

 In my case above the other person booked a room for me and when he wants to use the Marriott pts we traded for he will email or call me and I will book him what he wants up to the amount of pts he traded for = no transferring of any kind or money to be paid out.

[Deal Guy]

 I was in need of 25k in Priorty Club points so on another site I offered x amount of Marriott or x amouny of Hilton Pts. Basically although not 25k of either it was an even steven deal. Why di the other person trade his PC pts , simple he didnt have any Marriott pts and where he was looking to stay either there wasnt a PC Hotel or the Marriott type was a nicer place

 So you need to find out what a fair currency swap is and hope theres someone who has CO miles that they dont need or better they need SPG pts more then the CO miles they have, sometimes you need to give thema premium for doing it, other times they other person is happy to get what they also need and dont mind an even-steven deal

 In my case above the other person booked a room for me and when he wants to use the Marriott pts we traded for he will email or call me and I will book him what he wants up to the amount of pts he traded for = no transferring of any kind or money to be paid out.

Steve2, do you really trust anyone on that other site?   On DD I would likely feel more comfortable.

[md]

how can i switch starwood points for someone elses co miles,without paying a lot in transfer fees?

I traded SPG for CO with someone on this site. He transfered his Amex points into my CO account (instataneously), I transfered my Spg to his Spg account(instataneously).

[steve2]

Steve2, do you really trust anyone on that other site?   On DD I would likely feel more comfortable.

 1stly there are some conditions (T&Cs) in place on FT before a person has access to coupon connection

 then you can see if that person has traded before and if there are any posts about them not upholding their end, doubt anyone will be dishonest over a 1 night trade, maybe 500k in miles but not for less then 10k worth of miles (if it was in fcat miles)

 3rd I HATE to say it but Today I will trust a Goy way before a so called Frummer Yid, 15 yrs ago I probably wouldnt have said that, today its way different out there, Im very sorry to say

and 4th at least in my case the other person is actually Trusting Me , since I will be staying way before they will, so I have nothing to lose