EL AL Matmid - Shalom -- and welcome to the El Al Forum

The title of this thread says it all: El Al now has its own forum. :)

(Note to future historians: You will see older threads here but they were all began when LY was part of the Middle East Forum and transferred to here.)

Hopefully, this forum will serve not only as a place where we can exchange information about El Al, the Matmid program, TLV airport, and perhaps the smaller Israeli airlines but also be read by LY management -- leading them to make the Matmid program more competitive with the FF plans of other airlines.

Awesome to have El Al finally have its own forum!!!

Awesome to have El Al finally have its own forum!!!

Yep, same here! I'm glad to hear Moderator made decision for create own new forum. What are you think about LY new forums on FlyerTalk?

Moderators do not decide on new forums -- that is TalkBoard's job. (Some TalkBoard members are moderators but that is purely coincidental. Moderators are selected by Randy; TB members are voted in by the membership.)

Thanks to the TB for considering to our reasoning and deciding to give LY Matmid a forum of its own. I think the first order of business will be to put together some stickies which I'll gladly work on putting together. Here is a list of some that I think are needed. What do people think are needed?

Some of the stickies I would propose we have in the El Al Matmid forum are the following:

Earning LY points with credit cards
What to expect in LY security
Earning LY points from other airlines
Tagalongs into TLV LY King David lounge

Tagalongs into TLV LY King David lounge


I especially like that one. If anyone is going to be in the King David Lounge early on Monday morning (May 8) I have a 7:40 flight to MXP but will probably be arriving at TLV by train at 2:40 am. Please feel free to take me into the Lounge at any time during that period. :D

Congrats on being granted your own forum. Will miss seeing some of your threads in the Mid-East airline forum :(

Thanks to the TB for considering to our reasoning and deciding to give LY Matmid a forum of its own.

Thanks to the El Al flying FT members who offered their time and input to assist Talkboard make a choice on this, by their informative posts on this matter.

I was pleased to raise the matter for initial discussion, to move the motion to have a vote on it, and to then support it with my vote:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=555262

I have a feeling you folks will make this a very busy and valuable forum on FT!

^

I'm also happy to see this new Forum, hope that it helps our members learn more about El Al Matmid and facilitates their travels in and about the Middle East/Asia.
Happy Travels! :)

Cholula, I have contacted LY and verified that you can use your DL SkyMiles to buy a r/t for me across the pond on LY metal. Moreover, as DL has not only Biz Class but also First Class, you can make certain that I do the trip in style.

No, don't bother thanking me. It was the least I could do!

thanks to everyone involved in working for this forum.

yosithezet, i second your ideas for the stickies.
hani

Would be useful as stickies:

The different elite levels, what you get and how to attain them directly and indirectly (will they comp an AA EXP like myself?)

How to get upgrades (used to be based on points now I understand fare class comes into the decision?)

the differnt A/C classes (I understand they removed some 1st classes from 747/744s?)

The different elite levels, what you get and how to attain them directly and indirectly (will they comp an AA EXP like myself?)

That would be a very short sticky. LY has no comps and no shortcuts.

That would be a very short sticky. LY has no comps and no shortcuts.

Well there is the VIP PLT that was posted (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=525522&highlight=vip) about. So there is a shortcut if your company spends tons of money on flights. Nothing for us mere mortals though.

afaik you cannot buy a LY F ticket with DL miles, I wish you could, that would be sweet.
one annoying thing is that if you get a ticket from someplace other than the LY point of departure, business= economy for the domestic US part.

Cholula, I have contacted LY and verified that you can use your DL SkyMiles to buy a r/t for me across the pond on LY metal. Moreover, as DL has not only Biz Class but also First Class, you can make certain that I do the trip in style.

No, don't bother thanking me. It was the least I could do!



Don't call me....I'll call you.

:p :p

Cholula, it says on your profile "Burning Miles and Points with Delta and Marriott Posts".

How many miles/points does each post cost you?

What a great surprise to find this new forum this morning (a couple of days late but....) !!!
Hope we get a little more action in here from now on! ^ :)

What a great surprise to find this new forum this morning (a couple of days late but....) !!!
Hope we get a little more action in here from now on! ^ :)

Same here ... ^

Another good sticky, would be the Interactive SeatMaps we all had the pleasure of using. The address is still active http://207.210.219.138/lyseatmaps/ and i have translated the legend from Hebrew to English in Post #11 from this thread HERE (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4039870&postcount=11).

I think the first Sticky should be latest Promotions on LY for Matmid members and non-matmid members.

Another good sticky, would be the Interactive SeatMaps we all had the pleasure of using. The address is still active http://207.210.219.138/lyseatmaps/ and i have translated the legend from Hebrew to English in Post #11 from this thread HERE (http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4039870&postcount=11).
I think that list is a bit outdated on some a/c.

On the 757 - in Business there are 16 cradle seats, same as in 737. I also think the pitch is up to 45' on thse a/c.
On the 767 the pitch is 55' and 60' in business class.
4x - EAA, EAB have 55' pitch and all the rest have 60' (EAC,EAD,EAE,EAF,EAJ,EAP)
Soon the 744 and 777 will also be outdated.
744 (two class) will be a 743.
744 and 777 (three classes) will get new First, Business and I think also Economy seats.
The pitch in business will be 60' flat beds.
Turns out they are not getting rid of First.

WHOA Im away for a week and just found this Forum.

It is indeed a Great Day for the Irish!!

I know LY flies and is Israeli , just just a Graet Day for the Israelis didnt sound/work as well. LoL

Just thought of it I could say ' Mazel Tov'

Thanks to the TB for considering to our reasoning and deciding to give LY Matmid a forum of its own. I think the first order of business will be to put together some stickies which I'll gladly work on putting together. Here is a list of some that I think are needed. What do people think are needed?

Some of the stickies I would propose we have in the El Al Matmid forum are the following:

Earning LY points with credit cards
What to expect in LY security
Earning LY points from other airlines
Tagalongs into TLV LY King David lounge
I too support this idea.

Don't call me....I'll call you.

:p :p

Yeah, don't call him or probably he will look out for you. :D

Dov - Mazal tov ve Behazlacha!

Note that I keep track of LY's promotions and partners on MM. Here are the links. Please send any additions/corrections to me.

FF Program in which El Al participates: http://www.milemaven.com/airline/96/
Airlines which participate in Matmid: http://www.milemaven.com/program/47/
All El Al bonus point promotions: http://www.milemaven.com/offers/airline/96/

Firstly, I think it's really brilliant to have an LY / Matmid forum, and have already found interesting posts. Well done to all involved in setting it up, and to the contributors :-)

I'm sorry that I have to add a complaint so early in the game, but I think it will be a shame if we cannot keep the threads here reasonably related to FT-type stuff. Reading through the "Why so many EL AL today at JFK" thread, it went off in all sorts of directions that have nothing to do with FT.
I've been reading through a lot of threads on different forums over the past few weeks, and they all seem to stick to the point a lot more.

Debi, when I first joined F/T I would have agreed with what you just posted. Since then, however, I learned that it is much more than a website which simply passes on information about how to get points and miles or where the best seats on to be found on a particular aircraft.

F/T is a community and it is that very sense of community which encourages all of us to try to help each other with the kind of information you are seeking.

We have gotten to know each other through interesting, if admittedly somewhat off topic, threads like the one noting the number of LY flights out of JFK on a particular day. If you look at some of the airline forums you will find a lot of humor -- as well as compassion -- both of which help the sense of community.

Take a look at the "Community Buzz" forum and you will find that many of us get together in person in spots throughout the world. (We had a big meet in Tel Aviv in November which attracted people from as far away as Florida, New Zealand, and Australia.)

If you spend some time getting involved in different discussions (and maybe join a meet or two) you will find yourself getting a lot more out of F/T than just the core issues of how to get more for your travel dollar.

We have gotten to know each other through interesting, if admittedly somewhat off topic, threads like the one noting the number of LY flights out of JFK on a particular day. If you look at some of the airline forums you will find a lot of humor -- as well as compassion -- both of which help the sense of community.



Dovster,

I am in all in favour of the humour and off topic discussions that I believe you are talking about. It's one of the reasons that I enjoy surfing through quite a lot of the threads (even at nearly 2 o'clock in the morning, when I have to be up at 6:30 !!). I also think it's great that this forum can be used by someone who wants to know what the March of the Living is, and can get an answer. These are positive things.

My problem with the thread was only when it got off onto the discussion of the Satmar / Neturei Karta / who hates who, and a dose of political rhetoric (which I happen to even agree with). I think that this type of dialogue belongs somewhere else.

As you see, I'm pretty new here, and imagine that it will take me years to get up to the 1000's of posts that you and some of the other "old-timers" here have already managed. However, I'd like very much to find out when FT gatherings will be taking place, and to take part - thanks for the pointer. I guess "Community Buzz" will become my 2nd FT home from now on :-)
[No guesses for which #1 is ...]

My problem with the thread was only when it got off onto the discussion of the Satmar / Neturei Karta / who hates who, and a dose of political rhetoric (which I happen to even agree with). I think that this type of dialogue belongs somewhere else.



I think that most people would agree with you. For these cases I think a kind-worded reminder post or PM getting people back on topic seems to do the trick. If it doesn't then we ask that the discussion be moved to OMNI and get them moved to the bottom of the LY Upgrade List. ;)