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 1839064 times)

Online 159dallas

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I need some help here i have a flight that I want.
United Miles
AUG 1

DFW-EWR (With a stop in IAH)

DFW-IAH 535AM-6:39AM

IAH-EWR 12:15PM-4:55PM

This flight does not show up on united.com only the 9:50am to IAH shows up. I called and they are saying they have to book it as a multi city because the connection is longer then 4 hours is this true?

Offline smiley face

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9081 on: August 04, 2019, 09:13:15 PM »
Round trip
Non-stop
From: NYC or PHL
To:CUN
Departure dates: 08/25
Return dates: 08/27 need to be back Tuesday eve
Class: Any
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: any I have Chase points

Offline Mendel s

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9082 on: August 04, 2019, 09:48:47 PM »
One way/Round-trip: round trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 1 stop (can be a long stopover in EU if it’s a Jew-friendly place where we can get out)
From: NYC
To: TLV
Departure dates: August 12
Return dates: August 22
Class: Coach
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: I have 80k AA.  80k Delta.  95k Chase

Offline Saver

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9083 on: August 07, 2019, 03:11:14 PM »
Just wondering if anyone can guide me. I am looking for 2 tickets ow from TLV to Madrid on Aug. 21. The cheapest I can find is $283. I have BA points and some ultimate reward points. Any suggestions? Or does someone have points to sell for El Al that makes sense?

Offline Mendel s

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9084 on: August 08, 2019, 08:41:48 AM »
NEED A LAST MIN ticket

One way/Round-trip: one way
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 1 stop
From: NYC
To: Lax
Departure dates: August 8/9
Class: any
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: Any

Offline Firehunter

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9085 on: August 11, 2019, 11:00:24 AM »
One way/Round trip: Round Trip
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 1
From: NYC
To: Almaty, Kazakastan
Departure dates: August 19
Return dates: August 21
Class: First/Business/Coach/Any: Business
Passengers: 1-2
Alliance/Airline: Amex and Delta miles available

Offline US

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9086 on: September 10, 2019, 05:44:21 PM »
One way/Round-trip: One way
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: 1
From: TLV
To: NYC
Departure dates: Oct. 6
Class: Business
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: Any

Offline NSdbs6405

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9087 on: September 11, 2019, 10:03:32 AM »
Round-trip:
Non-stop or 1 in Europe with short layover
From: JFK/EWR
To:TLV
 10/30-11/10
Class: Economy
Seats: 5
Alliance/Airline:El AL preferred but would fly other first rate airlines

I have 180,000 Chase miles.
Thanks for your help!

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9088 on: September 12, 2019, 01:42:46 PM »
Round-trip:
Non-stop or 1 in Europe with short layover
From: JFK/EWR
To:TLV
 10/30-11/10
Class: Economy
Seats: 5
Alliance/Airline:El AL preferred but would fly other first rate airlines

I have 180,000 Chase miles.
Thanks for your help!
Cheapest round trip with chase points transfer to any partner wouldnt cover 2 tickets, let alone 5. Use the Chase Portal to pay cash rate with points @1.25-1.5 cpp
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Offline Divora M

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9089 on: September 23, 2019, 12:07:22 PM »
Round-trip:Stopover in CDG and AMS
From: ORD
To:TLV
 06-30-2020 to 07-15-2020 (Dates are flexible)
Class: Economy
Seats: 6
Alliance/Airline: Star Alliance

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9090 on: September 23, 2019, 12:56:40 PM »
Round-trip:Stopover in CDG and AMS
From: ORD
To:TLV
 06-30-2020 to 07-15-2020 (Dates are flexible)
Class: Economy
Seats: 6
Alliance/Airline: Star Alliance
What point currency do you have?

Seems like AC may be your best option because of the stopovers. All others would charge you multiple awards. Also consider: ORD-CDG (Open Jaw) AMS-ORD with separate CDG-TLV-AMS booking.
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Offline Divora M

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9091 on: September 23, 2019, 03:36:34 PM »
What point currency do you have?

Seems like AC may be your best option because of the stopovers. All others would charge you multiple awards. Also consider: ORD-CDG (Open Jaw) AMS-ORD with separate CDG-TLV-AMS booking.

Thanks for replying. I have considered that option of booking a separate ticket for the TLV but I was sure if there was another option I wasn’t aware of. Why would Air Canada be my best option? Do they give free stopover in different regions?

Offline hvaces42

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9092 on: September 23, 2019, 03:39:39 PM »
Thanks for replying. I have considered that option of booking a separate ticket for the TLV but I was sure if there was another option I wasn’t aware of. Why would Air Canada be my best option? Do they give free stopover in different regions?
Free stopovers but you may end up with Fuel Surcharges (YQ) on many airlines. Still dont know what point currency we are talking about.
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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9093 on: September 23, 2019, 05:12:38 PM »
Free stopovers but you may end up with Fuel Surcharges (YQ) on many airlines. Still dont know what point currency we are talking about.

I have 73k UR points and 30k UA points but I was planning on opening a few more Chase credit cards to accumulate enough points. I was thinking about going with Air France from ORD to TLV with a free layover in CDG (I am happy to have around a 11+ hour layover there) and then returning with KLM from TLV to ORD with a free layover in AMS for the same amount of time. The problem is the cheaper flights like 29k only stop in FCO, do you think by calling them they can help me out choosing the stopover I want for less then 80k one way? I know AF and KLM have fuel charges but I also have a Barclaycard I can charge it too so I can redeem it for points.

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9094 on: September 24, 2019, 11:38:24 AM »
I have 73k UR points and 30k UA points but I was planning on opening a few more Chase credit cards to accumulate enough points. I was thinking about going with Air France from ORD to TLV with a free layover in CDG (I am happy to have around a 11+ hour layover there) and then returning with KLM from TLV to ORD with a free layover in AMS for the same amount of time. The problem is the cheaper flights like 29k only stop in FCO, do you think by calling them they can help me out choosing the stopover I want for less then 80k one way? I know AF and KLM have fuel charges but I also have a Barclaycard I can charge it too so I can redeem it for points.
Calling may help but YMMV. Also you are looking for 5 tickets. Search for one at a time and see if the cheaper ones come up that way. You also did say Star Alliance.

I think its a little premature to try and plan without the points in hand. Post what currency you actually have, not what you will/may have. If you dont have the points in hand today its kind of useless to try and plan something as availability changes all the time.
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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9095 on: September 27, 2019, 02:14:18 AM »
Which are the lowest awards in economy between Paris and NYC these days?

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9096 on: September 27, 2019, 02:59:22 PM »

One way/Round-trip: RT
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: ANY
From: NYC
To: JAPAN (Osaka, Tokyo...really any airport)
Departure dates: Dec 22-24
Return airports:NYC
Return dates:Dec 31 - Jan 2
Class: ANY
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: Qantas, Delta, AA, United, BA, any other

Thank you!!

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9097 on: September 29, 2019, 01:25:07 AM »
One way/Round-trip: One Way
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: Any
From: BKK
To: EWR
Departure dates: 1/1/20-1/2/20
Class: Any
Seats: 2
Alliance/Airline: AA, BA, United, Have AMEX as well


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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9098 on: October 02, 2019, 10:58:02 PM »
can anyone please help, trying to book 2 round trip Bussinss class tickets from NY to BUD, i have alot of amex blue points and plenty of air france, how can i get the best deal for the points.

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Re: Need help finding a ticket? Post here! Award ticket edition (Master thread)
« Reply #9099 on: October 03, 2019, 09:14:09 PM »
One way/Round-trip:rt
Non-stop/Maximum stops/Any: preferably non-stop
From: nyc,lga,jfk,ewr
To: tlv
Departure dates:nov 10 2019 arrive before 10:30 am on Monday nov 11
Return airports:nyc
Return dates: nov 19
Class:/Any preferably j even if just one way
Seats:1
Alliance/Airline:any
have ur delta
united biz explorer