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 1839214 times)

Offline flyingBlue

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9220 on: January 31, 2022, 02:08:33 PM »
Multicity
Stops: any
From: NYC
To: RZE
Departure dates: 2/20
Return airports: BRU or AMS
Return dates: 2/27
Class: Business
Seats: 2

I have 500k Chase UR

Offline Gvann

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9221 on: January 31, 2022, 11:30:30 PM »
Anyone else having trouble looking for availability on business tickets basically to anywhere this summer?

Offline greatdeals

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9222 on: February 03, 2022, 04:17:49 PM »
One way/Round trip: round trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 1
From:  ewr jfk phl
To:  TLV
Departure dates: April 6 or 7
Return airports: same
Return dates: April 24 or 25
Class: coach
Seats: 7
Alliance/Airline: Amer MR

Offline Tzvi687

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9223 on: February 03, 2022, 05:33:06 PM »
One way
Non-stop/(1)
From: Tlv
To: ewr
Departure dates:.March 21/22
Class:Any
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: preferably using ua miles but can use mr,ur, or cash if better deal

Offline RL366

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9224 on: February 10, 2022, 05:16:57 PM »
One way/Round trip: Rount Trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: NOn stoop
From: EWR
To: TLV
Departure dates: 2/23
Return:2-27
PREF UA85 / UA90
Class: Economy/Premium
Seats: 1

Willing to pay for help

Offline shmooz

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9225 on: February 10, 2022, 05:31:19 PM »
One way/Round trip: Rount Trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: NOn stoop
From: EWR
To: TLV
Departure dates: 2/23
Return:2-27
PREF UA85 / UA90
Class: Economy/Premium
Seats: 1

Willing to pay for help

there arent any UA saver seats then, you'd need to be more flexible with dates/airlines/stops

Offline RL366

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9226 on: February 11, 2022, 01:31:46 PM »
One way/Round trip: Round Trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: NOn stop
From: EWR
To: TLV
Departure dates: 2/23-24
Return:2-27
PREF UA85 / UA90  or Elal
Class: Economy/Premium/Business
Seats: 1

Will pay for help

Offline thatbochur

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9227 on: February 15, 2022, 03:11:27 PM »

One way/
Non-stop/Maximum stops 1
From: tlv
To: nyc preferably jfk
Departure dates: march 31


Class: First/Business/Coach/Any
Seats: 1
i have chase,amex and united points

Offline Aryeh5

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9228 on: February 20, 2022, 12:02:01 PM »
Round trip: But I don't mind getting 2 one-way trips, if that's cheaper.
Non-stop: Non-stop only
From: Whatever is the cheapest (I live in Cleveland, which has no direct flights, so either way I need to fly somewhere first before departing to Israel, whether it's Newark, NYC, Chicago, Baltimore, etc. My brother is leaving from Newark on 9pm El AL flight. Would be cool to be on same flight, but if it's cheaper from elsewhere I'll take the cheaper place.)
To: Israel (Ben Gurion)
Departure dates: Thursday, March 17 evening. (That day is Purim, I'd rather not miss Purim with my wife and kids, but if there's an evening flight on Purim, that's ideal; as long as it's not *too* late in the evening, where I'd get into issues with Shabbos.)
Return dates: Tuesday March 22. (This return date is mildly flexible, if need be.)
Class: Any. (I prefer 1st class or business class, but if the difference in miles is vast, I'll stick to regular.)
Seats: 1 seat
Alliance/Airline: I'm flexible with the airline that I take. My #1 goal is to pay as little as possible. I assumed the cheaper way to go is via miles. Personally, I don't own many miles, so I'd have to buy miles from someone. (Again, this is assuming that miles is the cheaper way to go.) I own 83,000 miles on my Capital One venture card, but I don't know if that does me any good. (I also own 39,000 United miles, but I don't think that's sufficient.)

- In short, I'm looking for the cheapest way to get from Cleveland to Israel (direct-flight), on the dates above.
- I don't mind getting two one-way tickets, if that's cheaper.
- I don't care which airport I leave or arrive (on the US side), whatever will come out cheaper. (Although I don't want the departing airport to be too far from Cleveland, such as a 3 hour flight away, e.g. Miami or LA etc)
- I'm assuming miles is the cheapest way to go, but if I'm wrong (or if there's a hybrid option) please correct me.
- I'm looking to spend not more than $400 on the round-trip (be it $400 on purchasing miles or $400 cash on a ticket)
- Just a reminder that I have 83K Capital One miles, and 39K United miles, but I doubt that can do anything for me.

I am offering a $50 reward for the first person who finds a direct route (round trip) for the dates above, for not more than $400 round trip. If you find me business class seats within that budget, I will double the reward.

Thank you!

Offline Le-Oh

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9229 on: February 20, 2022, 10:54:24 PM »
One way/Round-trip: Round trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: Perferbaly direct, up to 1 stop
From: JFK, EWR
To: TLV
Departure dates: 04/12 , 04/13
Return dates: 04/24
Class: Coach
Seats: Total number of people traveling over the age of 2: 12
Alliance/Airline: Amex or cash
« Last Edit: February 20, 2022, 10:57:32 PM by Le-Oh »

Offline aryeh1

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9230 on: February 27, 2022, 01:57:48 PM »
One way/Round trip: RT
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 2
From: BLR
To: NYC
Return: NYC to BLR
Departure dates: 04/7/2022 or 4/8/2022
Return Dates: 06/8/2022
Class: business
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: any but prefer air india
Points: any (chase,  amex, ua , aeroplan etc)

Offline YOSSI170

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9231 on: February 27, 2022, 03:28:00 PM »
One way:
Non-stop:
From: TLV
To: NYC
Departure dates: MAR 27 SUNDAY NIGHT
Class: any class
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: any

Have 123k AA points
391k American Express
143k united points
« Last Edit: February 27, 2022, 03:48:55 PM by YOSSI170 »

Offline YOSSI170

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9232 on: February 27, 2022, 05:08:01 PM »
One way:
Non-stop:
From: TLV
To: NYC
Departure dates: MAR 27 SUNDAY NIGHT
Class: any class
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: any

Have 123k AA points
391k American Express
143k united points

$100 reward if you find 2 business class tickets with the points I have

Offline Gvann

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Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: not more than 1
From: Jfk, Newark if it’s worth it and enough time to get there after shabbos
To: Tlv
Departure dates: March 5 at night
Return airports:One way
Class: First/Business/Coach/ business or first
1 adult
Alliance/Airline: Whatever gets me a lie flat seat in the sky

Thanks for your help!
Have Amex chase and citi miles

Offline 1avigrun

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Non stop nyc-mco one way April 10 for 2 adults and a child tia

Offline mechayamom

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One way/Round-trip:  Round Trip can be two one ways on different alliances
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: max stops 1
From: NYC (all preference is EWR)
To: OGG
Departure dates: 5/8- 5/10 
Return airports: Same preferable
Return dates: 5/16 - 5/18
Class: If business saver otherwise Coach
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: United, American, Delta...etc
Have points with MR, UR, BA, AA, United, TYP

Willing to pay for help.
Greatly appreciated would love 8-9 nights.

Offline herb

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Round-trip
Non-stop
From: ewr
To: iah/hou
Departure dates: March 31st
Return dates: April 3rd
Class: any
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: united

Offline 4yourinfo

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  • Location: usa
Round-trip:
Non-stop
From: ewr/phl
To: lax
Departure dates: 4/14
Return airports:ewr/phl
Return dates: 24
Class: Any
Seats: 8
Alliance/Airline: any - can possibly use ur points

Offline markgold

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Round trip
1 long stopover
From: EWR/NYC
To:ATH
Departure dates: 4/10- 4/19
Class:Business
Seats: Total number 1
Alliance/Airline: Amex points

Offline my08701

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Round-trip:
Non-stop
From: EWR/PHL/ Atlantic city, Trenton
To: FLL, MIA
Departure dates: 8/18
Return airports: EWR/PHL/ Atlantic city, Trenton
Return dates: 8/25
Class: Any
Seats: 5 (maybe 8)
Alliance/Airline: any - I have AMEX, Chase Ultimate awards as well as Citi Thank you & Capital One points