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 1839368 times)

Offline rollingstone

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Hi looking nyc-tlv around 4/25-6/4 I have 80k spg willing to spend. Will do a stop over up to 4hrs but not in turkey. Economy  any options?
With 80k SPG you can actually get a Roundtrip in J with A3.
There is 2/300 dollar YQ each way.

Offline Albee412

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Ok so how would I do that? Make a miles and bonus account transfer and then book? I was looking on the Aegean website and they don't service from nyc so how would I book the flight?

Offline rollingstone

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Ok so how would I do that? Make a miles and bonus account transfer and then book? I was looking on the Aegean website and they don't service from nyc so how would I book the flight?
You would have to book over the phone.
Transfers usually take 7-10 days.
There is no guarantee that there will be availability at the time the transfer goes through.


Offline pinigee

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NYC-TLV BIZ CLASS
« Reply #7983 on: March 14, 2017, 12:52:09 PM »
LOOKING FOR
Round trip
Non-stop, Max 1 stop
NYC- TLV
Exact dates only
Departure dates: MAY 17TH at night
Return airports: Ben Gurion, Israel
Return dates:  MAY 28TH either time.
Class: BIZ CLASS OR FIRST
Seats: 2
I have 430,000 CSR
and 170,000 MR
Not showing any saver biz on united (only turkish which i dont want to stop)
should i open united cc or wait till 3/23 for Singapore to change chart.  as of now Singaopre doesnt have anything either available.
What's my best option i dont want to wait around long either i want to book already..

Offline metsgiantsfan

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In May I want to go from a wednesday- sunday from NYC to either Heathrow (LHR)  or Stockholm..No specific week..I would love to fly business...have miles and hybrid points..whats best way to do this? thank you!

Offline shael

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One way/Round trip: R/T
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any
: 0-1
From: JFK
To: PVG
Departure dates: 10/19/17
Return airports: HKG (to JFK)
Return dates: 11/5/17
Class: Business/Comfort Plus
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: Open

Airline Miles: United 125k; AA 285k; Delta 335k
CC Points: MR 375k; UR 435k

Offline margol

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Hi - trying to give my wife a much needed vacation - would love to go to St. Lucia - any help is appreciated
One way/Round trip:RT
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any:ANY - but trying to keep travel time under 15 hours if possible
From: All airports from which you can depart - Chicago
To: All airports which you can arrive at.  UVF or SLU (St Lucia)
Departure dates: Would like to go for 2-3 days either the week of may 8th or 15th - not interested in staying over shabbos though
Return airports:
Return dates: Delete this line for One way tickets
Class: First/Business/Coach/Any  - cheapest with miles - I do have saphire reserve and amex plat biz
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: any

we have a united card - I have chase miles, amex ,miles, some spg, american, united.  maybe could get some delta...

Thanks in advance!

Offline Zev25

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Hi, if anyone has any ideas how to find this itinerary I would appreciate it! Currently only economy is available through United, I would like to fly Business. I need the nonstop as I have a tight schedule in Africa. I have Chase, United, BA, and Starwood Points.

One way/Round trip: One Way
Non-stop/Maximum stops: Nonstop
From: All airports from which you depart: JFK
To: All airports which you can arrive at: JNB
Departure dates: All possible dates that you can depart on: June 4th 2017
Class: First/Business/Coach/Any: Business Class
Seats: Total number of people traveling over the age of 2: 2
Alliance/Airline: South African Airways.

Offline Iz

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Round trip
Non-stop
From: EWR
To: ORD
Departure dates: April 24, need to arrive by about 3 PM
Return dates: April 25, pref. morning/early afternoon
Class: Coach
Seats: 1 or 2
Alliance/Airline: Any (I could transfer from MR, UR, etc.)

I found UA for 25k miles, and BA for 30k miles. This doesn't seem worthwhile, as paid tickets (UA) are under $200.
Thanks!

ETA: Frontier for $80.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2017, 03:49:06 PM by Iz »

Offline gotkwah

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Hi Everyone. First time posting here. Thanks in Advance for the help.

We are not looking for a specific award ticket, but rather trying to figure out the best strategy to rack up points and get to an award ticket. Hopefully, this is the right thread for that?

We would like to be able to go to TLV this summer (and maybe its too late for this summer? If it is, then the question is still relevant to understand the best way to get there ASAP).

Currently we only have:
Delta Skymiles: ~240k
Chase UR: ~300k

We have a lot of organic cc spend so meeting RS for sign up bonuses is usually pretty easy. We just started opening cards for sign up bonuses a few months ago, so far wife & I opened several chase cards (we are both at 3/24, although one of her cards was a business card and seems like its unclear if that counts toward 5/24) I do need to open her one more Southwest card so she can get her CP)

We are in ATL, but usually find ourselves in NYC several times over the summer, or we have plenty of WN points that can get us their if needed.

We are 2 adults and 2 kids over 2 + 1 baby.

Help is truly appreciated.

Offline mikaelrap

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  • Location: New York, NY
One Way
Non Stop or 1 Stop.
FROM: NYC
TO: TLV
DATE: June 15
Class: Business
Seats: 2

I need to leave after 5pm and I need to get to TLV before shabbat preferably not after 4pm.
I can get points on ELAL, AMEX, CHASE UR etc....
I can't find anything suitable in business class.

Offline burryhood

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One way/Round trip: R/T
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: Stop-Over okay way there, Non-Stop Way Back
From: NYC
To: TLV
Departure dates: 10/02/17 after 8pm or 10/03/17
Return dates: 10/15/17 (or Midnight flights 10/16/17)
Class: Business
Seats: 3 + Lap
Alliance/Airline: Open

Airline Miles: Any
CC Points: Any

If I book your reservation, I'll give you $100 b'n

Offline Moshe26

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  • Location: New York
One way
Non-stop mainly - if business or first will consider stop over
Hi All. appreciate if anyone can help me with the below

From NYC
To: TLV
Departure dates: Sat night June 25th or Sunday June 26th
Return dates: July 16 or July 17th
Class: Any
Seats: 1
Alliance/Airline: any

thanks so much

I have MR SPG and UR points

Offline lindnuck

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Trying desperately to find a Business Saver Award or equivalent to get back from Europe to LAX. Only finding availability for one person, but need 2.

One way/Round trip: One Way
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 0-2
From: Anywhere in Western Europe (Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France preferred)
To: LAX
Departure dates: 7/18 OR 19 2017
Class: Business
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: Open

Want to spend lowest amount possible (e.g. 70k on Star Alliance, 62500 Flying Blue, etc.)
Airline Miles: United 27k; Delta 55k; Aeroplan 42k
CC Points: Amex 42k; Chase 240k

Offline papayagal

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Hello. Just joined Dan's Deals. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me figure out the best way to approach this in order to get the best deal for a ticket.

One way/Round trip: Round trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 1 stop max
From: JFK
To: Ben Gurion
Departure dates: Saturday night May 20th 2017, 11 pm or later
Return airports: JFK
Return dates: Sunday, May 28th
Class: Coach
Seats: Total number of people traveling over the age of 2
Alliance/Airline: I have 79,000 spg points

Offline lindnuck

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Trying desperately to find a Business Saver Award or equivalent to get back from Europe to LAX. Only finding availability for one person, but need 2.

One way/Round trip: One Way
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 0-2
From: Anywhere in Western Europe (Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France preferred)
To: LAX
Departure dates: 7/18 OR 19 2017
Class: Business
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: Open

Want to spend lowest amount possible (e.g. 70k on Star Alliance, 62500 Flying Blue, etc.)
Airline Miles: United 27k; Delta 55k; Aeroplan 42k
CC Points: Amex 42k; Chase 240k

UPDATE: I found two seats through UA for 70k each. Aer Lingus from Dublin to Toronto, connecting to AC from Toronto to LA.

Offline mimb

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UPDATE: I found two seats through UA for 70k each. Aer Lingus from Dublin to Toronto, connecting to AC from Toronto to LA.

If you are doing Aer Lingus, why don't you book it with BA Avios instead? Not sure if it will save you miles but may be worth looking into

Offline David Smith

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Hello. Just joined Dan's Deals. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me figure out the best way to approach this in order to get the best deal for a ticket.

One way/Round trip: Round trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 1 stop max
From: JFK
To: Ben Gurion
Departure dates: Saturday night May 20th 2017, 11 pm or later
Return airports: JFK
Return dates: Sunday, May 28th
Class: Coach
Seats: Total number of people traveling over the age of 2
Alliance/Airline: I have 79,000 spg points
Sell the points. Buy a ticket.
Who do you think you are fooling? You think you are going to pull a quick one on your Creator? Good luck with that.
JTZ

Offline lindnuck

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If you are doing Aer Lingus, why don't you book it with BA Avios instead? Not sure if it will save you miles but may be worth looking into

Thanks for the suggestion! I tried with Avios and couldn't find any availability.

Also, just for fun I found a date in August that had it available, and the cost was 84k + $279, so more miles and more money than what United charged me.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2017, 08:30:38 PM by lindnuck »

Offline sayhey

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Looking to book a vacation in Italy this summer (August) - Any help would be appreciated:

One way/Round trip: R/T - Multi-City
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 1 stop Max
From: JFK
To: FCO
Departure date: 8/6/17
Return from:  VCE or MXP
Return to: JFK
Return date: 8/13/17
Class: Business
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: Any - Would prefer nicest J available with least YQ (also looking for shortest duration flights, but would like to maximize time on the ground so looking for earliest arrival and latest departure)

CC/Airline Miles:  I have the following: MR (450k), UR (400k), SPG (157k), AA (200k), UA (97k), BA (80k), Delta (70k), M&M (70k)

Many thanks in advance!