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 1838886 times)

Offline PlatinumGuy

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True. FB has the cheapest mile-rates to TLV, because they consider it Europe. So NYC-TLV is the same as NYC-Paris, although there's less availability. Always a good idea to check also availability to/from Washington, if you can drive for a few hours or get a decent domestic flight. They might be able to add a domestic segment for free.

Like other European base frequent flyer programs they charge a collection of fees and taxes, that add up to $400-500. I saw earlier in this thread @dan said the fees are cheaper as two OW's than a roundtrip.

״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline Moishebatchy

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CO has OW awards. USair doesn't. I'm assuming you have Amex MR and can transfer to any partner?

Where did I say anything about US Airways? Even if there is availability through PHL, it can be booked via CO...

Offline Moishebatchy

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JFk: 3rd: 60k miles, departing 7:30pm thru germany with 22hr travel time


Thanks. Could work, although such a lengthy stopover is less than ideal... can anyone (with KVS or whatever) find anything else?

Offline Chaikel

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Thanks. Could work, although such a lengthy stopover is less than ideal... can anyone (with KVS or whatever) find anything else?
KVS just searches ANA (for *A) and Air France (for Skyteam) and Qantas (for Oneworld). Rarely can it find what you can't find yourself
Create professional looking itineraries.
Check out eliteitinerary.com

Offline how

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I would like to fly from TLV to LHR direct in December for one night. Is my best option to call AA to book on BA or el al?

Offline PlatinumGuy

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@moishebatchy - usually US air & CO have the same availability. Just wanted to point out to you booking thru US won't work. Aeroplan does OW too (I think). occasionally there might be a difference in availability.
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline Dan

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Aeroplan does OW too (I think).
They charge more than half the miles for a OW.
Save your time, I don't answer PM. Post it in the forum and a dedicated DDF'er will get back to you as soon as possible.

Offline PlatinumGuy

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dan- Are the fees the same for two OW's? or are they cheaper and that'll cover the extra miles for some folks
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline moshe80

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hi i am looking to fly from nyc to tlv after yom kippur for 4 weeks . i  have spg 80k american express 35k ba 120 k bank of america 175 k whats my best option to sell my points and get cash for it ? or use my points  i dont mind to go with a stop but i dont wont to pay tax if yes the less the better .  i need 3 tickets 2 adout and 1 child and i wont mind if i can get a good deal with a stop in swiss on the way back for 1 week .

thank for you help

Offline PlatinumGuy

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Try to break up your questions and you'll see they're all answered previously.
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline devora

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Hi, I read through this entire thread because I figured questions about flights to Israel for succos must have been dealt with and I didn't want to be lazy and just post my question, but I did not see anything clear on this.  I am wondering if anyone has any advice re: award flights to Israel from NYC for succos.  I know, I'm a little late to be thinking about this.
Round trip:
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: preferably non-stop, max 1 stop
From: All airports from which you can depart: all NYC
To: All airports which you can arrive at. TLV
Departure dates: Oct 9-11

Return dates: OCt 20, 22, 23
Class: Coach
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: I have CO, BA, MR, SPG

Many thanks in advance. I know this is probably an annoying question, but I have searched the forums for the last 2 hours

Offline PlatinumGuy

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take it easy. The average booking time is two weeks in advance.

BA has surcharges over $500 so you don't want to use them, even though there's a 40% bonus for MR>BA transfers. If you do use BA make sure the flights aren't on BA metal [the physical aircraft, as opposed to the marketer or code shared flight number], those have the highest fees.

SPG has a 1>2 transfer into LAN (I think - check on the SPG forum), so that might be a good way to utilize them.

The best is usually CO, they have minimal fees (generally US carriers don't have fees and European do). They have two prices for awards - depending on availability.

I always fly with stopovers - it helps break up the flights.

I will check specific dates availability, and feel free to post any questions you have.
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline Chaikel

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Hi, I read through this entire thread because I figured questions about flights to Israel for succos must have been dealt with and I didn't want to be lazy and just post my question, but I did not see anything clear on this.  I am wondering if anyone has any advice re: award flights to Israel from NYC for succos.  I know, I'm a little late to be thinking about this.
Round trip:
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: preferably non-stop, max 1 stop
From: All airports from which you can depart: all NYC
To: All airports which you can arrive at. TLV
Departure dates: Oct 9-11

Return dates: OCt 20, 22, 23
Class: Coach
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: I have CO, BA, MR, SPG

Many thanks in advance. I know this is probably an annoying question, but I have searched the forums for the last 2 hours
1. Note that the 21st is still Yom tov in the US, and is problematic to fly in then. A LOR should be contacted
2. It's not too reasonable to expect to find award availability on the highest demand days of the year. The cheapest non-stops are about $1800, (Delta is charging $4631 for your dates).
Happy hunting
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Offline devora

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Thanks, PlatinumGuy

Chaikel is right - I just double checked (chabad.org had succos ending on the 19th, which is why I wrote the return dates that I did, I guess it didn't include shmini atzeres/simchas torah) and my return flight would need to be 10/23 or 10/24.  When I check CO.com, one way on 10/9 is 75k miles and there is no return on 10/23 for miles (10/24 is available for 75k).  This seems like a lot... Does it make more sense to sell miles and buy a ticket?

I know I have read that if you have elite status, different availability shows up in the search - can anyone help me out with that? And even if you saw a flight that I did not see, would I be able to book it over the phone with CO?

One last wrinkle - this is the first time I will be traveling with my newborn. I see on the threads mention of 10% of flight; how does that work with an award ticket?


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BA is having a 50% miles discount right now (i think till the 12th) so it would cost 32,500 miles and about $550. If you don't find availability online, call them, they can many times find availability that you don't find.

Offline devora

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is that a good deal considering the fuel surcharge?

Offline PlatinumGuy

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devora - selling miles won't help you - regular tickets are very expensive too. Unless you can find something cheaper...

BA does osound like the best deal, but make sure the flights themselves aren't on BA.

a helpful guide is here - http://bit.ly/gkrUMf
 
״וזה כלל גדול: שישנא אדם כל דבר שקר. וכל מה שיוסיף שנאה לדרכי השקר – יוסיף אהבה לתורה.״ - אורחות צדיקים

Offline yare

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BA does osound like the best deal, but make sure the flights themselves aren't on BA.

a helpful guide is here - http://bit.ly/gkrUMf
 
if the flights themselves aren't on ba then she won't get the %50 off award travel.     and for travel to tlv, on  all ow carriers they'll charge you exorbitant taxes

Offline Daniel

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One way
Non-stop
From: DTW
To: NYC
Departure dates: Dec 4th at night
Coach
Seats: 1
Alliance/Airline: OneWorld

My question is if AA tends to open up more availability closer to the flight, or if it's not available now, it will never be?

Offline yare

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One way
Non-stop
From: DTW
To: NYC
Departure dates: Dec 4th at night
Coach
Seats: 1
Alliance/Airline: OneWorld

My question is if AA tends to open up more availability closer to the flight, or if it's not available now, it will never be?
if there's more avail than they expected as it gets closer they do open up award seats