Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan - Using Alaska Airlines mileage to Tel Aviv

I am familiar with the different alliance partners in Alaska Airlines programs but would appreciate any information for traveling around Oct 18th 2010 from Victoria, BC to Tel Aviv. Would it be easier to fly into a major European hub and fly a different airlines to Israel? Air France seems like to best choice but I cannot check availability for another month.

You cannot "mix and match" partners on an award - you can fly AS to your connection city, but not another partner. So if you do a European connection, that will have to be the same airline you fly to TLV.

I know that I would have to purchase an additional ticket from the hub in Europe to Tel Aviv using a different airlines. I spoke with Alaska Airlines Customer Service and they thought that there are probably only a few seats available for the complete trip so I was hoping to find a cheap flight from "say Rome" to Tel Aviv. We are trying to use 80,000 miles for the trip. Looking at all options.

Are you considering getting an award ticket ONLY to Europe? Is that what you're indicating, and then from there go to TLV?

If that's the case, easyJet is starting to fly to TLV soon, plus Israir and El Al serve Europe....if you go via AMS or CDG, there's always KLM or Air France

Looking at all options.

Delta + BA + Air France must serve 100 cities in Europe. That will lead to quite an availability matrix for you.

I tried using miles to Tel Aviv a few years ago. Even as MVP Gold it was not possible. KLM, British had no seats in the 60 day window I tried for my family of 4. Made me wonder if they had ANY seats. I ended up using miles to/from London and bought a ticket from London to Tel Aviv. A disappointing experience.

I tried using miles to Tel Aviv a few years ago. Even as MVP Gold it was not possible. KLM, British had no seats in the 60 day window I tried for my family of 4. Made me wonder if they had ANY seats. I ended up using miles to/from London and bought a ticket from London to Tel Aviv. A disappointing experience.

As an MVPG... we don't see any greater access to award space... it all depends on what is offered by the partner airlines.

60 days is not much leadtime for getting an award flight either... especially since tickets are released at 330 days out (some carriers even further in advance :eek:)

AS lost a good partner (CO) for travel to TLV. SEA-EWR/LAX on AS the LAX/EWR-TLV on CO. Too bad hey couldn't keep some sort of arrangement on that specific route however award seats to TLV on CO were scarce and often not available until just a week or two out. Not good for planning.

If ATL-TLV on DL isn't available have you considered SEA-EWR on AS then JFK-TLV on DL? AS8 arrives EWR ~530 PM and DL86 departs JFK ~9 PM. Plenty of time to trek from EWR-JFK (Olympic Airporter is $27+ O/W) and since it's under 4 hours it wouldn't be considered a stopover for the outbound trip.

SEA-EWR on AS then JFK-TLV on DL

Why would you drive across NYC during rush hour with a fairly small margin of error for making your flight (YYJ-SEA-EWR on AS/JFK-TLV on DL), instead of just redeeming YYJ-SEA on AS/SEA-JFK-TLV on DL? :confused: Heck, you'll even end up in the same concourse at SEA (I think the QX Canada flights come in in S).

Why would you drive across NYC during rush hour with a fairly small margin of error for making your flight (YYJ-SEA-EWR on AS/JFK-TLV on DL), instead of just redeeming YYJ-SEA on AS/SEA-JFK-TLV on DL? :confused: Heck, you'll even end up in the same concourse at SEA (I think the QX Canada flights come in in S).

It was just suggested as an option if nothing better was available. And EWR to JFK is very "doable" by shuttle since @530 at least from EWR to JFK you'd be going in the opposite direction of most rush hour traffic.

I somehow doubt a domestic segment of SEA-JFK on DL is going to be harder to get than the international segment of JFK-TLV on DL, though I suppose anything is possible.

Also, EWR into the city will be OK. Out of the city to JFK, not so much. Plus if there are problems at EWR, uh-oh.

I somehow doubt a domestic segment of SEA-JFK on DL is going to be harder to get than the international segment of JFK-TLV on DL, though I suppose anything is possible.

You forget sometimes the "married segment" game comes into play. There may be availability SEA-JFK or JFK-TLV separately but together revenue/yield management might decide no award space.

Also, EWR into the city will be OK. Out of the city to JFK, not so much. Plus if there are problems at EWR, uh-oh.

I doubt a shuttle service would take you through "the city." My guess is that from EWR you'd go across the Goethals bridge into Staten Island and then to the Verrazano Narrows and across southern Brooklyn on the Belt Pkwy. to JFK.

I tried using miles to Tel Aviv a few years ago. Even as MVP Gold it was not possible. KLM, British had no seats in the 60 day window I tried for my family of 4. Made me wonder if they had ANY seats. I ended up using miles to/from London and bought a ticket from London to Tel Aviv. A disappointing experience.

Maybe it was more that you were asking for 4? I guess one of the joys of singledom is that I don't need multiple award seats. :D Reason enough not to get involved?

Well, all I can say is I still doubt it's a 100% lock that you can land at EWR with no incident or delays, collect checked luggage very promptly if you have it, go EWR-JFK with no traffic problems ,and check everything, clear TSA and board in 3.5 hours at rush hour. You'd risk being stuck at JFK until the next TLV flight.