El Al has a fairly terrible frequent flyer program.
Points from flights expire after 3 years, redemption rates are pretty awful, and they charge a huge fuel surcharge ($350 in total fees for JFK-TLV) on redemptions to boot.
Adding insult to injury: They also charge $25 to join the program.
Why do you want to join if the program is so terrible, you ask?
Primarily because if you are a member you are able to check award availability online. You can use AA miles to book El Al flights, but that must be done by calling AA. Best of all AA allows you to even book one-way awards on El Al AND they don’t charge a fuel surcharge for redeeming miles to fly on El Al!
Need AA miles? You can always transfer 20,000 Starwood points for 25,000 AA miles (In case you missed last month’s promo for 20,000 Starpoints becoming 33,750 AA miles)
Here is the AA partner award chart.
You can book a one-way between Israel and the following zones (For Coach, Business, and First) for the following amounts:
-North America (Including Hawaii, as AA bizarrely counts Hawaii as part of North America for intercontinental awards which can make a Buenos Aires-Honolulu ticket in May be fewer miles (20K) than Los Angeles-Honolulu (22.5K)!): 45K, 67.5K, 90K
-Europe: 20K, 30K, 40K.
-Asia: 22.5K, 30K, 45K
-India/Middle East: 17.5K, 25K, 35K
-Africa: 30K, 45K, N/A
-South Pacific: 30K, 45K, 60K
-South America Zone 1: 60K, 82.5K, 102.5K
-South America Zone 2: 67.5K, 90K, 110K
Because the way the chart is set up, sometimes it is cheaper to book a flight like US-Europe off peak for 20K and then Europe-Israel for 20K. AA may even let you do that in one reservation, but if you do that you won’t be able to go nonstop from the US to Israel…but you can check out any European city you want!
not working asking me for the credit card information
even i block evry think
@mendel:
Worked just fine for me.
Perhaps try using a different browser.
Anyone else get it to work or are others also having problems?
Can you book a ticket on EL AL US-EU through TLV using 20k aa miles off pick for one way?
@al613:
No. Flights from US to Europe can’t go through other regions (besides North American and Europe)
Just signed up, no problems at all
@Dan/Ctownbochur:
Thanks. AA will do 20k to Cyprus. Any ideas about ferrys from there or so?
Thanks, worked like a charm.
Thanks Dan. Do you get any reward if we use your name as a referral?
@al613:
I don’t know about ferries, maybe someone else will chime in.
You can fly nonstop on the sub-1 hour flight from LCA to TLV for about $250 round-trip.
@Dan/Ctownbochur:
Thanks for the idea. I think 40k aa miles off pick plus $250 beats 80k miles. Any other destinations in EU that are cheap to fly to TLV?
@al613:
It looks like this is the only Israel-Cyprus ferry option: http://www.rosenfeld.net/
you can get a first class ticket for 35 thousand miles to tlv?? (70000 round trip)
is that a mistake or what?
@izzy:
As long as you start in India or the middle east, sure.
its saing invalid age. im 20
Is there a yearly membership fee, or just this initial fee, that gets waived?… Thanks! 🙂
@milechazzer:
Thanks! But seems not any more:
Ferry Boat service has been suspended till further notice
Can u use aa miles to
upgrade on el al?
If not, what are some good ways to upgrade on el al?
Is there a chart for all aa off peak awards?
Great site!
@APoshiterYid:
It’s a 1 time fee.
@Wow:
Only El Al points can be used to upgrade and cheap fares aren’t upgradable.
The off peak awards are included in the chart linked to in the post.
I signed up for myself, my husband and 20 year old daughter…all free! thank you Dan the Man!!!
Thanks Dan,
Worked 5 times signed up the whole mispucha with same browser with out clearing cache or cookies
Don’t know about a ferry, but there is Flotilla leaving soon!
the elal matmid program is very good if you need redeem a one way ticket within europe, which half the miles of a return ticket, especially considering that *A does not offer one way tickets.
is this going to be like BMI http://www.dansdeals.com/archives/6627
@interested:
Why is that better than AA?
@na nach:
Considering that not one person has lost their BMI Silver yet…
Thanks. When are off Peak times for aa? Is every location different?
Is Israel different than china for example in march? Is every location the same off peak time frame?
Does anyone have a phone number for the Matmid program? I can’t seem to find it. Thanks.
Can I apply both an Elal Matmid # and AA FF # to the same Elal reservation and get points on both?
@Wow:
There is no off-peak for Iarael. Again, its all written in the AA chart linked to in the post.
@Abe:
Of course not.
worked just fine for me.
did it for 2 family members!
Thanks
not working
workd now sorry
dan
do you know if i am flying with swiss air an alliance member does the bmi silver get me anything like priority boarding etc
please advise
Can u use ba miles on elal?
I made an error while typing the info for one of my children. Any idea how to correct it? I thought that I could just call the program and speak with someone.
how do you get the 20000 starwood points in order to transfer to aa?
Dan,
Does AA let you book First class on ELAL for HKG-TLV?
I thought you said LY never release the F cabin for AA awards?
Thanks.
@Shlomi:
I never said that. I have no idea if they do or don’t.
It seems you can really save if you take 40k aa miles offpick to Geneva and from there on Easyjet for about $120-130 r/t to TLV total.
Is this still working?
I tried and the site said the code is not good..
does this link still work? really need to check flight availability on elal!!
Thanks
it says “campaign code in not valid”. i guess this deal is over. oh well
i got “campaign code in not valid” also. did it expire?
Dan did the deal expire? If so is there another option for this. I am flying from Asia to Israel and have lost 3 previous round trip flights because of CC issues with my Asian CC and El Al’s website…Help!
Yechiel at all:
I will not write it here, but if you do a d e e p search (also on the El-Al site itself), you’ll find working promotion codes: 10 $ instead of 25 $, and even for free, if you speak more than Hebrew and English …
Can’t add any more information (I need the option open for friends and family – before the internet stampede shuts the golden opportunity), but if you find it, you’re worth 25 bucks! 🙂
@Matmidissimo:
Hey, that was awesome!
CAN’T FIGURE IT OUT – SOME HELP OR MORE CLUES PLEASE!!!
try FTU96385950