ILflyer

Hi Guys,
I'm a newbie here and I would be thankful if someone could let me know of any tools / tricks / programs I should register.
I am located in Israel and flying (work related) , mostly to US (business) & Europe (economy)
This is what I know:
1. Hotels - my budget is roughly 150$/night. which reward program will work best for me (best = achieve free nights as fast as I can).
2. cashbacks - just heard about them, never used them
3. international / Israel credit cards - anyone can recommend relevant programs?
4. any other tips/programs I should be using?

btw, I'm StarAlliance (millagePlus 1K) member.

thank you!

moe8555

About the only thing I feel qualified enough to talk about is number 3 (credit cards).

The best Israeli credit card for earning miles (well, actually points since this is going to be about El Al) is hands-down the Fly Card Premium. 1 El Al point per 190 shekel spend.

To get it, you have to either have at least some kind of status with El Al or meet a 10,000 shekel/month spend requirement. There are creative ways to meet this requirement if you don't typically charge that much to a card each month.

Another nice perk the card offers is a free preferred or economy plus seat, even for long-haul flights. The seat is offered based on availability on the day of the flight (literally assigned at check-in), however I have yet to be denied one.

Beyond that, they offer a reduced-point redemption chart and periodic sales only for cardholders. Sorry if I sound like a salesman - just trying to convey what I know.

They offer a lower-tier version (simply called Fly Card) with no status or spend requirement, but you only get a point per 290 shekels and no seat upgrade.

There are also other Israeli cards that offer free entry into the Dan Lounges at TLV if you meet a minimum monthly spend for the month prior to lounge entry. I think the lowest of them is set at 1,000 and the card itself has no monthly fee. But, I also know that a few US premium credit cards (e.g. Citi Prestige) offer lounge access worldwide including up to 2 guests. I hold a different Israeli card that supposedly charges a fee to enter certain lounges outside of Israel, but thus far I have never been charged having entered various lounges with it around the world.

Houminer

Did you get it at check-in? I was told that you get it at the gate (and that happened to me once)

Ditto

Maybe a little off topic... but does it really make sense to use LY as an FFP, assuming one can choose which airline to fly and use any of the other alliances flying out of TLV?
I'm not living in Israel, however I am flying AMS-TLV several times a year, and even with FB being known to be one of the worse FFP for milage accrual, it seems much better than EL-AL (when looking to book an award ticket AMS-TLV or TLV-AMS for example)
Can one who lives in Israel use an Israeli credit card and accrue points for other FFPs?

joshwex90

Such as?

Believe it's 1 point per NIS 250 spend

These are rare nowadays. There's the People & PC Amex Gold Biz which used to offer free entry. It now allows you to download a voucher for 1 free entry per month if you spent NIS 2,000 the previous month (and then can't get other coupons for anything else that month). Though this card remains free.

Amex Plat I believe still gives free entry, but costs money ($27.14/month) which is cheaper than an American-issued Amex Plat but isn't close to as good a card.

Do you know what card?

What card?

Houminer

I think this is the key.