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Until now, Delta has almost never released any business class award space to Tel Aviv for partner airlines to book.
But between American entering the market with incredible award space and COVID-19, Delta has opened the floodgates on partner award availability!
You can book one-way Delta coach awards for 29K Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles and Delta business class awards for 72K Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles. There are no fuel surcharges.
There are also free changes and cancellations for flights through 9/30 due to COVID-19. Cancellations or changes normally cost 45 Euros.
This will work nonstop from JFK or via connections from other US cities.
You can transfer AMEX, Barclays, Capital One, Chase, or Citi points instantly to Flying Blue!
The Air France Flying Blue site can be buggy, so you may need to call to book your award at 800-237-2747 or 800-375-8723. You can also book after hours by calling an overseas office like Australia at +61-02-8223-9835.
On the Air France site, it will give the number of seats available if there are less than 9. Otherwise there are at least 9 award seats available:
Coach awards:
If you click on flight details you can see if the plane features Delta’s new business class suites by checking if the flight is operated by a A330-900neo:
The Air France rates are much lower than what Delta charges using their miles:
Delta One suites:
You can read more about Delta’s suites here and in this trip report.
Want to book? I’ve done the legwork to find which dates have business class award space.
Dates with JFK to Tel Aviv Delta business partner award space:
March 6
April 4, 5, 7, 9, 17, 18
May 3, 13, 21, 22
June 5, 6, 11, 12, 14, 16, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29
July 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 30
August 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
September 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 29
October 4, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 18, 20, 23, 24
November 2, 16, 20, 23, 24, 25, 30
December 1, 4, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Dates with Tel Aviv to JFK Delta business partner award space:
March 3, 5
April 1, 2, 9, 11, 1, 16, 19, 21, 23, 24, 28, 30
May 7, 9, 10, 15, 17, 18, 29, 31
June 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 28, 30
July 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31
August 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 21, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31
September 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 28
October 6, 21
November 3, 10, 15, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25
December 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24
Want to earn Flying Blue miles?
- You can transfer AMEX, Chase, Or Citi points to Flying Blue at a 1:1 ratio, Capital One points to Flying Blue at a 1:1.5 ratio, or Marriott points to Flying Blue at a 60K:25K ratio.
If you, a member in your household, or an authorized user has one of the following Chase cards, you can transfer points into miles:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred has a 60K signup bonus, earns 2 points per dollar on dining/travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Sapphire Reserve has a 50K signup bonus, earns 3 points per dollar on dining/travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.5 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($550 annual fee with $300 travel credit). Read more here.
- Chase Ink Preferred has a 100K signup bonus and earns 3 points per dollar on shipping, advertising, and travel, can transfer all Chase points into miles, and points are worth at least 1.25 cents each for paid travel or pay yourself back categories ($95 annual fee). Read more here.
Chase no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:
- Chase Ink Cash has a record high 75K signup bonus and earns 5 points per dollar on cable, TV, telecom, cellular, office supply stores, and gift cards from office supply stores, plus 2 points per dollar on dining and gas ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Ink Unlimited has a record high 75K signup bonus and earns 1.5 points per dollar everywhere ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Freedom Flex has a 20K signup bonus and earns 5 points per dollar on groceries for 1 year, plus 5 points on rotating categories, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
- Chase Freedom Unlimited has a 20K signup bonus and earns 5 points per dollar on groceries for 1 year, at least 1.5 points per dollar everywhere, 5 points per dollar on travel purchased through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal, and 3 points per dollar on dining and drugstores ($0 annual fee). Read more here.
If you or a friend has one of the following Citi cards, you can transfer points into miles:
- Citi Premier offering 60,000 points for spending $4,000 in 3 months, 3 points per dollar on airfare, hotels, travel agents, groceries, gas, and dining. $95 annual fee.
- Citi Prestige offering 50,000 points for spending $4,000 in 3 months, 5 points per dollar on airfare and dining, and 3 points per dollar on hotels. $495 annual fee.
Citi no-annual fee cards that are fantastic for earning points, but require one of the cards above for points transfers include:
- The Citi Double Cash card offers 2% cash back or 2 points per dollar spent everywhere that can be transferred into ThankYou points. If you also have a Citi Premier Card you can transfer points into miles. No annual fee.
- The Citi Rewards+ Card offering 15,000 points for spending $1,000 in 3 months. This card can’t transfer points on its own, but can transfer points if you have one of the Citi cards above. This card automatically rounds up rewards earned on every purchase to the nearest 10 points, meaning you earn 10 points on a $0.50 Amazon balance reload. Earn 2 points on $6K in annual spending at supermarkets, 0% intro APR on purchases and balance transfers for 15 months, and a 10% points rebate when you redeem points, up to a 10K points rebate per year. If you also have a Citi Premier Card you can transfer points into miles and get a 10% points rebate on transferred or redeemed miles. No annual fee.
Capital One cards with transferable Membership Rewards points to miles include:
- Capital One Spark Miles offering 50,000 miles for spending $4,500 in 3 months, 2 miles per dollar everywhere. Global Entry/Pre-Check Membership. $0 intro annual fee, then $95 annual fee.
- Capital One Venture offering 60,000 miles for spending $3,000 in 3 months, 2 miles per dollar everywhere. Global Entry/Pre-Check Membership. $95 annual fee.
Marriott cards with transferable points to miles include:
- Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Consumer Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express®Card
- Marriott Bonvoy Bold Card
- Here is a comparison of all Marriott cards.
Will you book any Delta One awards to Israel?
Any deals from LAX? How many miles required for Business from there? Thank you!
This will work for LAX-JFK-TLV in business for the same 72K Air France miles!
Thanks!
Do you see this trend having a potential to last considering the new competition in the market for this route?
I don’t think we’ll see anything like this level of availability post-COVID, but it’s possible that better availability will be in the cards going forward based on additional competition.
Dan would you recommend I should cancel my AA award and rebook with delta suits?
Try one-way AA and one-way Delta and let us know?
Personally I don’t care for sleeping on sticky leather, so I don’t enjoy Delta business class that much, but the doors are a nice feature. It would be nicer if the doors were taller 🙂
Mmm…. being that I booked a RT on AA , can I cancel just one way ? And would they still just charge me 55k instead of 66k?
No, you would have to cancel and rebook.
as mentioned in ddf, air france cant book delta online in most cases, you get error message when you check out. you need to call in
And as mentioned in this post 🙂
mentioned that sometimes…i have found the issue to be consistent for the last few months, nothing to do with buggy, the actual website functions alright, there is just some error booking delta flights….
Dan,
I am looking for a SkyTeam member that has prices like Turkish on star alliance.
there are so many members there must be something hiding there.
any other sky team member can book these awards?
If you find something better let me know.
What is the cancelation policy?
There are free changes and cancellations for flights through 9/30 due to COVID-19. Cancellations or changes normally cost 45 Euros.
Thanks
If I cancel, can I transfer back flying blue miles to Amex points?
No.
Mileage transfers from banks or hotels to airlines are a one-way street.
No.
what if it is available not Neo how does the business class looks like?
It’s not bad, it’s also a 1-2-1 lie-flat configuration. But the suites are certainly a step up from those.
Thanks Dan!!!
You nailed it again!!!
Now we need an Amex transfer bonus, and of course open borders (+ airport) .
Too bad this happens right after Virgin Atlantic jacks up the price of JFK-TLV from just 60K miles 🙁
True story 🙁
How much did they raise it too ?
https://www.dansdeals.com/points-travel/milespoints/virgin-atlantics-new-delta-distance-based-award-chart-good-bad-ugly/
Was 60K, now 130K.
Why was the virgin devaluation a big deal if
“Until now, Delta has almost never released any business class award space to partner airlines” ?
Referring to Tel Aviv. I’ve clarified that.
I booked a Delta business JFK – TLV not long ago, using 60k virgin points, plus 5k for infant
pity that virgin atlantic for 60k is no longer an option….
I’m seeing the taxes/fees as about $60 or $70. How did you find $10.10?
I paid 54.92 in taxes
Any deal from Houston – business class?
This works from anywhere in the US.
I’m confused how this works.
Is delta also a one world member and also a flying blue partner? And so is Virgin?
Delta and Air France/KLM are SkyTeam partners.
Virgin Atlantic is a non-alliance partner with Delta.
And in addition air France/KLM have there own flying blue program ?
FYI the Sydney office is open now and can book for you.
+61 02 8223 9835
Thank you for your advice!
should the award space be showing up online ?
for some reason it is not showing up online when i check
Hi Dan,
I have about 150 k of Korean miles, any good redemption on Delta with those?
All attempts to book JFK-TLV in business despite seeing saver on Delta.com, Alitalia.com, and Aeromexico.com failed – both online and via phone.
same here called multiple times
it seems clear that there is partner space on other airlines that is not on flying blue
Try a foreign call center? Many booked that way last night.
tried 2 different foreign centers
on the dates i need it is showing availability in virgin atlantic but not on the flying blue website
do you know if those that booked last night if it showed availability on the flying blue website and they just were not able to book ( if yes i will huca if no i will give up)
thanks
Last night every date I saw on VS showed on FB as well.
i was looking at a number of dates where it shows in virgin atlantic and not in flying blue
july 11 is 1 example virgin atlantic has business availability not flying blue
july 11 now shows in klm but not air france weird
however july 21 is in virgin atlantic but not in klm or air france
The pix are of the a350 not the a330-900. The suite on on the a330-900 is a drop different.
I imagine it’s a little narrower? What else?
Middle partition extends throughout the entire suite.
If you transfer Chase points to Air France and subsequently don’t travel, can the points be returned to your Chase account
no
I’m not sure if this is also considered a great deal. But I see availability on nyc to tlv on virgin using delta miles for 85,000 + $48. Vs virgin charging 75,000 + around $500.
This post/deal is for a direct flight. Not comparable…
I was rather posting it as in comparison what virgin charges for that and for those that wana try virgin business and they like a stop.
Are stopovers available for a couple of days in Paris?
Interested in JFK-TLV then return TLV-CDG-JFK