Award Tel Aviv vs. Istanbul
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: UA Gold, Delta Gold, AA Plat
Posts: 1,269
Award Tel Aviv vs. Istanbul
trying to book aadvantage award from either istambul or tel aviv back to the usa in economy class. while istambul shows 20.000 miles required in best case, tel aviv however is 45.000 miles in best case according to aa.com. can this be? those two airports are not toooo far away...
#2
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,624
Yes, but the line dividing Europe from Asia passes between them.
Before the rules were changed some years ago, TLV was considered Europe while AMM was Middle east, now that was rather blatant.
Before the rules were changed some years ago, TLV was considered Europe while AMM was Middle east, now that was rather blatant.
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: NYC
Programs: UA Gold, Delta Gold, AA Plat
Posts: 1,269
its a bit strange. booking tlv-mad-nyc in 1 ticket would be 45.000 aadvantage miles. booking tlv-mad and mad-nyc (for december) in 2 tickets, it would be 20.000 miles + 20.000 miles for a total of 40.000 miles. off course, the later option would not protect me at a misconnect...
#4
Moderator, OneWorld
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: SEA
Programs: RAA RIP; AA ExEXP
Posts: 11,773
Book it from Larnaca, Cyprus. Cheap and very quick flights from TLV, but Cyprus is still "Europe."
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: Not here; there!
Programs: AA Lifetime Gold
Posts: 29,366
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
You would be protected if the TLV-MAD flight were on IB, and the MAD-JFK flight were on AA. And, of course, you could stop over in MAD if desired.
But for 45K, you could fly nonstop from TLV to JFK/EWR on LY, which is also an AA partner.
Originally Posted by flyinghigh77
its a bit strange. booking tlv-mad-nyc in 1 ticket would be 45.000 aadvantage miles. booking tlv-mad and mad-nyc (for december) in 2 tickets, it would be 20.000 miles + 20.000 miles for a total of 40.000 miles. off course, the later option would not protect me at a misconnect...
But for 45K, you could fly nonstop from TLV to JFK/EWR on LY, which is also an AA partner.
#6
Join Date: May 2004
Location: San Francisco, CA
Programs: AA EXP 1MM, UA 1K, Marriott/SPG Platinum Elite
Posts: 774
Never heard of this airport but before but sounds like a good idea! I did some searching for fares from LCA to TLV and the cheapest I could find was $350+ round trip. Is there somewhere else to find cheap fares for this route?
#7
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,624
its a bit strange. booking tlv-mad-nyc in 1 ticket would be 45.000 aadvantage miles. booking tlv-mad and mad-nyc (for december) in 2 tickets, it would be 20.000 miles + 20.000 miles for a total of 40.000 miles. off course, the later option would not protect me at a misconnect...
#8
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: SBP
Programs: AA Executive Platinium 1.55MM AVIS Preferred Hertz Gold Marriott Platinum
Posts: 235
Most of Turkey is considered Asia. Half of Istanbul is in Asia. The airport in Istanbul is to the west of the city which is the European part of the city/country.
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
Airline award regions are drawn by marketing people, not cartographers. IST and TLV are in different redemption bands because the AAdvantage rules say so - it's nothing more than that.
#10
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: TLV
Programs: UA Platinum, Avis Chairman, Marriott Gold, Hilton Gold, GA Pilot
Posts: 3,225
LH used to consider TLV Europe for award purposes. Not sure if that's still the case.
#11
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: San Diego, Ca
Programs: AA 2MM LT PLT; AS MVP Gold75k; HHonors Diamond; IHG PLT
Posts: 3,490
#12
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: San Diego, Ca
Programs: AA 2MM LT PLT; AS MVP Gold75k; HHonors Diamond; IHG PLT
Posts: 3,490
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere I need to be.
Programs: OW Emerald, *A Gold, NEXUS, GE, ABTC/APEC, South Korea SES, eIACS, PP, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 16,046
Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry: BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.1030 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/417)
You would be protected if the TLV-MAD flight were on IB, and the MAD-JFK flight were on AA. And, of course, you could stop over in MAD if desired.
But for 45K, you could fly nonstop from TLV to JFK/EWR on LY, which is also an AA partner.
You would be protected if the TLV-MAD flight were on IB, and the MAD-JFK flight were on AA. And, of course, you could stop over in MAD if desired.
But for 45K, you could fly nonstop from TLV to JFK/EWR on LY, which is also an AA partner.