MilesBuzz! - TLV flyers--have you flown via turkey/cyprus etc to save 20,000 miles

it seems to me that burning points TLV-USA "costs" 20,000 more miles than flying to the US from europe. have you ever flown paying thru europe to save those 20,000 miles?

are there clubs that consider TLV to be in Europe?

BA Executive Club considers TLV to be Europe. From London to TLV, for example, EC requires only 25,000 miles - a great deal!

If you earn miles with another program, you could redeem your ticket from US to IST, and then buy a $100 round-trip ticket from IST to TLV on one of 4 airlines that fly that route nonstop. Good luck!

Most likely flying to/from TLV on a paid tkt and connecting to X on a mileage tkt will mean that your baggage allotment to/from TLV on the paid tkt will be 1 checked bag with not much weight allowance.
The 2 bags allowed over the Atlantic will Not be the case since its 2 different tkts. Ive known a number of people who got burnt bad doing it that way. Others only had the 2nd bag on the way back paid the extra but said it was too much of a hassle and not enough of a savings to justify doing it again. Now if all you were doing was flying into either Israel or the US for a couple of days and going with very little and not bringing anything back (yea right) then it might be worth while. Would I do it? not unless there were no free seats available any other way.

I have taken award to IST because of lack of avail to TLV, then bought IST-TLV R/T. Worked out fine. Nice stopover.

thanks!!

US-Israel can be done for 40k AA miles + 20k DL miles from Oct. 15th to May 15th. [It's not as good as in years past when AA (and other carriers) had Israel located in the European award zone, but it'll work via Istanbul, Athens, and Larnaca.]

do you mean that i would use AA miles to larnaca or one of the others, then delta from there? thanks

do you mean that i would use AA miles to larnaca or one of the others, then delta from there? thanks

Yes.

For Oct. 15th to May 15th, I was referring to using 40k AA miles from the US/Canada to Larnaca, Athens, Istanbul and then use 20k DL miles for an El Al flight to Tel Aviv. :)

Given that AA and DL have more flexible award rules than some other carriers, the options can be quite interesting. :)

I think AZ considers TLV in Europe for award purposes. But that's only if you're a member of AZ. Other Skyteam members (CO/NW/DL/etc.) redeeming on AZ have to follow the rules of their own carrier.

Also, to clarify craz's baggage allowance concerns:

For itins involving North America, most airlines allow two bags up to 32kg each (i.e., 64kg total).

For itins completely outside North America, most airlines still allow two checked bags, but only 20kg TOTAL between them.

If doing USA-IST then IST-TLV, you will have the 2 x 32kg allowance for USA-IST, but then you'll only have the 20kg total allowance for IST-TLV.

Like craz said, not a problem for short hops, but many travelers to/from Israel schlep a lot of stuff with them.

thanks, all

i am one of those who like to maximize my baggage allowance.
gives me lots to think aobut.

Lufthansa Miles and More treats Israel as in Europe if you are resident in Israel.