Topic Wiki

Please follow the following rules when posting in this thread. Failure to do so may result in you request being ignored or deleted.

(If you are looking to purchase a paid ticket, please post here)

FAQs:

Q: How can I use my credit card points to book a USA-TLV ticket?
A: Please read Dan's very helpful and informative guides found here and here

Great tool to see the mileage cost for a route http://www.awardhacker.com

Q: Do I have to pay a lot of money when using miles for a ticket?

A: Sometimes. For more information read this

Q: How do I find award availability?
A: For Star Alliance (United, AirCanada, Lufthansa, Swiss, and others) see this guide

For OneWorld (AmericanAirlines, BritishAirways, Iberia, Malev, and more) You can use BA's award search engine (you need to have a free BA account to access the engine). In addition, you can use Qantas' engine (free account needed as well), which will (to an extent) search Elal. As of this posting, the Elal business flights that show up are coach, and vice verse.

For Delta and AirFrance, use their respective sites. While not perfect, they are quite manageable for the casual searcher.

And of course, many of us here will take time out to help someone who is trying to learn.

Q: All this searching is making me crazy. Is there an easier way?
A: Yes, but it might cost you. Check out AwardNexus.com, KVStool.com, and expertflyer.com.

Q: I see AirCanada availability, but when I call AirCanada they say I can't use my United miles with them. Aren't they partners?
A: You can only use miles with the airline that issued them. Through that airline (in our case United) they can issue a ticket on a partner (ie AirCanada). Trying to call AirCanada with United miles, is like trying to use shekels in Mexico.

Q: I can't find availability on my dates. What should I do?
A: You should try to be as flexible as possible. Can you add a stop or 2? Can you be more flexible with your dates? The airports?
If all else fails, keep trying. Availability is constantly opening up.

Q: Can someone please help me find a ticket?
A: No! Find it yourself.  ;D ;D Just kidding. Please copy the following lines, delete the non bolded parts, and fill it out in your post.

One way/Round-trip:
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any:
From: All airports from which you can depart
To: All airports which you can arrive at. For multiple destinations, just keep adding this line
Departure dates: All possible dates that you can depart on. Please be as specific as possible.
Return airports:If different from 'To' line. Delete this line for One-way tickets
Return dates: Delete this line for One-way tickets
Class: First/Business/Coach/Any
Seats: Total number of people traveling over the age of 2
Alliance/Airline: What airline or alliance are you looking to fly with

IF you have any airline status or credit cards (Ie, United CC or status) that gives extended seat availability, please add that. Would be helpful to find you correct availability.

An additional note about using miles for direct flights from NYC-TLV

NYC-TLV is only served by 3 carriers non-stop, United, Delta, and El Al. Saver availability on Delta is non-existent. Saver availability on United is rare but sometimes available close-in. It is almost never available on or near holidays or holiday weekends, or around yomim tovim. Any award space that opens will be snatched up immediately so you have to constantly be checking if you hope to snag it if/when it opens. El AL awards are more readily available but prohibitively expensive using Matmid points (El Al's frequent flyer program) but may be able to be booked using Quantas points (transfers from Citi & Amex) at a much more reasonable rate.

This leaves the following options if no saver availability:

The Chase travel portal will let you use Ultimate Rewards, or a combination or UR and cash to book flights. If you have a Sapphire Reserve or a Sapphire Preferred, the redemption rate will be 1.5 cents per point or 1.25 cents per point respectively, instead of the regular 1 cent per point without them. (A, Ink cash or Ink Preferred will also give you the 1.25 cpp redemption rate.)

The Amex travel portal will let you redeem points at 1 cent per point towards the cost of air travel. If you have a grandfathered Business Platinum card, you will get 50% of the points you redeem back around a month after you book the ticket. If you have a non-grandfathered card, you will get 35% of your points back. (This is only available when redeeming points for tickets on your selected American carrier in economy class or on any airline in business or first class.)

The Citi travel portal also lets you redeem points at 1 cent per point towards travel and seems to have better pricing on El Al in business class.

Alternatively, you can sell your points (not here on DDF) and use the cash to buy regular tickets. This is usually the best option for people without either a Chase Sapphire Reserve or grandfathered Business Platinum who are flying economy.

Those are your only options for nonstop travel. For options with a stopover and more information in general, see https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/the-ultimate-israel-mileage-award-chart/

This keeps on getting asked over and over. Besides Dan's comprehensive list of how to get to, or from, TLV here is a short list of options for travel to or from NYC in Y:
Lowest point per RT is FB 50K (less with promo, but YQ of ~$500 unless you can find unicorn DL availability), AA 80k (AA metal for transatlantic), AC 80k (LX or LO for low YQ) and UA 85k. Half that for OW.

Please add any other information to this wiki that you feel might be useful.



Author Topic: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)  (Read 2162443 times)

Offline yomo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jan 2013
  • Posts: 1082
  • Total likes: 22
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9180 on: February 12, 2021, 02:16:39 PM »
buy dl points
Any of my points can be transferred or used in any savvy way?

Offline yomo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jan 2013
  • Posts: 1082
  • Total likes: 22
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9181 on: February 14, 2021, 03:53:54 PM »
Any of my points can be transferred or used in any savvy way?
bump

Offline yeshivabucher

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Mar 2018
  • Posts: 2232
  • Total likes: 728
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 6
    • View Profile
  • Location: Monsey
  • Programs: Travel Agent, Marriott Gold, Hertz PC, National EE, Uber VIP, SPG Gold
Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9182 on: February 14, 2021, 05:20:23 PM »
Any of my points can be transferred or used in any savvy way?
use chase points at grocery

Offline yomo

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jan 2013
  • Posts: 1082
  • Total likes: 22
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9183 on: February 14, 2021, 08:58:18 PM »
use chase points at grocery
Thanks, yes I'm doing that but asking specifically regarding Delta business ticket from LAX-JFK?

Offline Traveler718

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2010
  • Posts: 1288
  • Total likes: 850
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
    • View Profile
Now that EY opened up for new students, my son is planning to go. Problem is he doesn't know when his ishur will come through, so to be safe most of his friends are flying MotzSh/Sunday. But I can't find any remotely reasonable award bookings then even with a stop, just one way.

Looking for 1 one-way NYC-TLV, 4/11, coach, stops okay, as cheap as possible - thanks! Have most major currencies - AA, DL, UR, MR, BA, AS

Offline MGM1

  • DansDeals Copper Elite
  • *
  • Join Date: Jul 2016
  • Posts: 11
  • Total likes: 0
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: Nj
Round trip:
Non-stop or 1 stop
From: All airports from which you can depart: All nyc area / phl
To: All airports which you can arrive at. DXB
Departure dates: 7/19-7/22
Return airports: All nyc area / phl
Return dates: 7/26-7/30 ( about wk trip )
Class: Business
Seats: 4
Alliance/Airline: Emirates
I have 250k UR  & 700k Amex MR.
i checked with emirates .. fees are very high . checked with Alaska has on & off availability. ( more avil on the departure ) can we do 1 way with emirates ( Alaska)non stop  and 1 way with another airline with short stopover ? or Alaska will charge same for 1way as RT?
any help would be appreciated .
thanks so much

Offline jerpa09

  • Dansdeals Silver Elite
  • **
  • Join Date: Mar 2016
  • Posts: 62
  • Total likes: 3
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: VA
Round-trip: Multi-City
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: Max Stops - 2
From: FRA (Frankfurt, Germany)
To: PIT or CLE (Pittsburgh or Cleveland)
Departure dates: July 18, 19, 20, 21
Return airports: CLT (Charlotte) flying back to FRA
Return dates: August 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Class: Business [or First if comparable in cost]
Seats: 1 adult, 1 infant aged 1 y/o
Alliance/Airline: Any

Passenger has an AMEX Platinum. I've tried looking at UA, DL, AA, etc... only thing I could find were crazy long layovers of 4+ hours. I'm hoping another kind soul is able to identify something I missed.

Airline doesn't matter. We will find the right miles and circumstances if the right itinerary is possible.

Offline atwnsw

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: Jun 2019
  • Posts: 137
  • Total likes: 6
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Round-trip:
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: Max Stops - 1
From: TPA
To: TLV
Departure dates: Anytime in October (10 Day Trip Total)
Return dates: Anytime in October (10 Day Trip Total)
Class: Business
Seats: 2 adults
Alliance/Airline: Any

Total Duration Maximum:  18 hours (obviously shorter is better)
This is the tricky part:  I want to arrive in TLV in the am.  When I leave, I want to take the late night, midnight departure, flight back to U.S.


Would use either cash or points whichever makes the most sense.  I have AMEX Platinum and the following:  600k AA, 270k BA, 370k DL, 540k UA and 360k Chase UR.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

Offline eis517

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Gold Elite
  • ******
  • Join Date: Aug 2012
  • Posts: 781
  • Total likes: 19
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 3
    • View Profile
  • Location: New York
  • Programs: SPG, United
Round-trip:
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: non stop only
From: YYZ
To: TLV
Departure dates: December 19, 2021
Return dates: January 2, 2022
Class: Any
Seats: 2 adults and 4 kids (ages 9,6,3 and 3)
Alliance/Airline: I have tons of UR, UA and Bonvoy points

Offline Elikip

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: May 2013
  • Posts: 1008
  • Total likes: 37
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 8
    • View Profile
  • Location: NY
Round trip 2 adults, one child, one lap infant.

Out 5/13
Return 5/19

From: NY
To: London
Class:economy
Airline: Any nonstop (have plenty currencies)

Offline 1avigrun

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Gold Elite
  • ******
  • Join Date: Feb 2021
  • Posts: 848
  • Total likes: 110
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 1
    • View Profile
  • Location: Monsey
How do I book emirates ny to male on wed with a stop in Dubai until Sunday ?

Offline Nethanel

  • DansDeals Copper Elite
  • *
  • Join Date: Jan 2019
  • Posts: 12
  • Total likes: 0
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: Brooklyn
Round-trip
Non-stop
From TLV
To: JFK
Departure dates: July 19
Return dates: August AUG 5 OR AUG 8
Class: ECONOMY
Seats: 2 adult
amex or csr
« Last Edit: May 19, 2021, 01:22:36 PM by Nethanel »

Offline Hatikvah

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: Nov 2014
  • Posts: 138
  • Total likes: 2
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 2
    • View Profile
  • Location: Brooklyn, NY
One way
Up to 1 stop
From: NYC
To: LAX (or any surrounding airport)
Departure date: July 25
Class: ECONOMY
Seats: 2 adult
British airways, united, air France etc.
Any help is appreciated.

Offline usernane

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: Feb 2016
  • Posts: 144
  • Total likes: 9
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: usa
From: Washington DC(I'm in Alexandria VA)
To: nyc
Departure dates: 6/24
Class: Any
Seats: 1
Alliance/Airline: any

PS. I could take the Amtrak train also. I noticed that on points it is much cheaper than paying for tickets. I just don't know how I get access to points.(used to be able to transfer from Chase but that stopped)
please PM me if you have any advice for me

Offline besttime

  • Dansdeals Silver Elite
  • **
  • Join Date: Feb 2019
  • Posts: 91
  • Total likes: 4
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Looking for help finding an award ticket from Miami to Cancun for 2 people - July 22nd - 28th.

Round-trip
Non-stop
From Mia / Fll
To: Cun
Departure dates: July 22
Return dates: August Jul 27 OR July 28
Class: ECONOMY
Seats: 2 adult
I have CSR, United, AA

Offline rlissak

  • DansDeals Copper Elite
  • *
  • Join Date: Jul 2021
  • Posts: 2
  • Total likes: 0
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: Florida
Need help buying five business class tickets from NYC to Nap (Naples IT)
In Aug

Any expert travel agents?

Offline solls108

  • Dansdeals Lifetime Platinum Elite
  • *******
  • Join Date: Jun 2014
  • Posts: 1220
  • Total likes: 8
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 2
    • View Profile
  • Location: NYC
One way/Round-trip: RT
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: Nonstop
From: JFK
To: TLV
Departure dates: 12/14/2021
Return dates: 12/29
Class: Coach or Premium Economy
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: Any

Offline myi

  • Dansdeals Lifetime 20K Presidential Platinum Elite
  • ********
  • Join Date: Feb 2015
  • Posts: 24335
  • Total likes: 2672
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 369
  • Gender: Male
    • View Profile
  • Location: InMyPants! 🙈
  • Programs: 2Many2List!
Curios if any travel agents responds privately to those who pose their request?
  If not this board seems to be.. I'm informing you of my travel plans.. :)
Quote
Need your LG Exalt fixed? Cracked in half? Water damage? Or parts to repair yourself. 347.201.2501

Offline Cat18

  • Dansdeals Platinum Elite + Lifetime Silver Elite
  • *****
  • Join Date: Nov 2016
  • Posts: 519
  • Total likes: 33
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
Curios if any travel agents responds privately to those who pose their request?
  If not this board seems to be.. I'm informing you of my travel plans.. :)

Just about to ask the same thing. I don’t see anyone being helped so perhaps this thread should be locked/deleted.

Perhaps in years past it was different, but now all that’s happening are ppl asking for help by posting their travel ideas.

Offline mikel1

  • Dansdeals Gold Elite
  • ***
  • Join Date: May 2011
  • Posts: 145
  • Total likes: 4
  • DansDeals.com Hat Tips 0
    • View Profile
  • Location: california
Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9199 on: August 01, 2021, 12:11:32 PM »
Hi,

I need 120K turkish airline points for a flight for next sunday, I have plenty of marriott points, I am worried the transfer will take too long.. if anyone has 120K turksih airline points that is willing to give me in exchange for marriott, amex, or chase points.

Thanks!!