No such thing as IBM ThinkPad anymore. They sold the whole product line to Lenovo.
Any laptop would be much cheaper in the USA than in the TLV dutyfree. I would not but a computer directly from the shelf but customize it a little anyway.
1. But IBM still handles the customer service, at least here in Israel. The computer came without an instruction booklet in English and IBM mailed it to me.
2. I had been searching on the internet for prices for this model in the States (I was on my way to Florida when I bought it) and found that -- once sales tax was included -- the price was just about the same, and perhaps a bit higher, than at the Duty Free.
3. I would not want to start looking around the States for a ThinkPad which had an English/Hebrew keyboard. True, I will probably never use the Hebrew but when I buy my next one, one of my kids will get this one. (Just as my daughter got my old ThinkPad when I made this purchase.)
Do you know if there is a card with the milemiglia? if one could manage a good CC 'scam' with them it might be worth it to try for the 80k reward to TLV.
The only Millemiglia-specific cards that I know of are available to Europeans only.
Of course, you can get to 20,000 Starpoints, as I outlined, convert them to Millemiglia miles, and be at 25,000 miles. (Actually, 26,000 if you have not yet signed up for the program.)
You would be 54,000 miles away from a Biz Class award to Israel.
The first round trip LAX-TLV (in deeply discounted coach) on a SkyTeam airline would give you a minimum of 15,148 miles. Do it again in the same year and you will be up to 30,296. You will also reach elite level and get a 25% bonus for your next flights. The third would get you to 48,935 miles.
If you are any kind of F/Ter at all, you can figure out how to get the remaining 5065 miles without even breaking a sweat.
Now, let's compare that to LY. El Al will give you 100 points for a deeply discounted fare r/t LAX-TLV. It wants, however, 4000 points for a Biz Class awar for the same itinerary. In other words, you would have to make 40 trips before you earned enough.
Of course, unless you are making this trip 13.3 times a year, you will never get to 4000 points -- the earlier ones will expire before you get enough.
El Al just started a new promotion where by they will give 20% more points for conversion between June 15 - July 31
Every purchase using your credit card brings you closer to your next overseas flight!
Matmid members who convert points / stars from credit cards between June 15 and July 31, 2006 will receive 20% more points!*
*The free points are considered Extra Points and they are given to members who convert stars / points from their credit card accounts to their Club accounts between June 15 and July 31, 2006.
If the number of free points is a fraction: the points will be rounded down if they are less than 0.5 and rounded up if they are 0.5 and higher. Visa Cal credit card (including Diners) points will be converted only for customers who have linked their credit cards to the Matmid program in Cal. Subject to Cal / Diners regulations.
The deal is for Matmid members in Israel only, converting points from Israeli credit cards only.
Subject to Club rules.
Errors and omissions excepted.
you get 1 point on elal matmid per 12.5 points at leumi visa platinum card, what is mean that you need to spend 490k shekels= 110000$ to have free ticket tlv-nyc
you get 1 point on elal matmid per 12.5 points at leumi visa platinum card, what is mean that you need to spend 490k shekels= 110000$ to have free ticket tlv-nyc
Per El Al's website you get 1 per 28 points for the Leumi Platinum Visa. Are you sure about your numbers?
El Al just started a new promotion where by they will give 20% more points for conversion between June 15 - July 31
Got an email saying that this was so popular they have extended it to August 31. Of course if it was so successful then nobody would have points left to convert.
Programs: EL AL Matmid Platinum, Virgin Flying Club Red
Posts: 438
Quote:
Originally Posted by yosithezet
Got an email saying that this was so popular they have extended it to August 31. Of course if it was so successful then nobody would have points left to convert.
Well, I was waiting until the last days of the month in order to maximise the benefits. Now I shall have a whole extra month's worth of points (including our daughter's wedding) to add to the pot!
I'm currently working on building up the 25k on my Skymiles business card (spend 25k get 50k bonus...)
There is another card, the HAS Advantage card, which is 1 pt/$ and converts to LY at 60 points/1 LY point.
Of course, it has a 3% foreign transaction fee also...
For my math (using $1=1pt):
using HAS, you need to spend 180k to get a C class ticket from east coast-TLV (42k for OW upgrade), or 240k from LA
with DL amex you need to spend 120k for C class from anywhere in the US.
I'm not sure what the difference is in availability between LY and DL for LY flights.
You can't get F flights with DL (but you can with AA, 180k), or upgrades.
HAS Advantage are now converting 40points / 1 LY point.
You need to spend $56K for a US (exc. LA) <-> TLV ticket
Cheapest way to get a free LY ticket with a cc -- assuming you can get an American-issued Amex:
1. Get a Starwood Amex. This gives you 6000 Starwood points as a welcoming gift.
2. On your first "stay" at a Starwood property you will get another 1000 points. Then, with each "stay" after that in the first year, to a maximum of 10 more stays, you will get 500 points. Here comes the fun part: Any purchase you make at a Starwood counts as a "stay" (for Amex purposes only, not for getting elite status). So far, I have bought Cokes three different times at the Sheraton Tel Aviv. The first time I got 1000 points, the other two times I got 500 points each. Cost of a Coke there: $3.50. (Have them make the debit in US $ to avoid conversion charges.) Do this 11 times and you will have another 6000 points (total cost: $38.50). You now have 12,000 points.
HI dovster, do you know if a purchase at a starwoods property still counts as a stay and is still worth 500 points? i do not see this on their site, but was planning a sheraton coke run soon, and didn't want that coke for naught.
HI dovster, do you know if a purchase at a starwoods property still counts as a stay and is still worth 500 points? i do not see this on their site, but was planning a sheraton coke run soon, and didn't want that coke for naught.
It was never on any their site and, AFIK, it was never Starwood's policy. It was an Amex mistake and Starwood didn't object to it because Amex was paying for the points. I believe it is still the case -- but keep in mind that there are a few restrictions:
1. It is only good for the first year that you have your Starwood Amex.
2. The Coke (or anything else you buy) gives you 1000 points, the following 11 give you 500 each. After that, zip.
3. The bar/restaurant where you get the Coke has to bill you under the hotel's name. In Israel, and most of Europe, this is not a problem -- it will be rung up that way automatically. In some American Starwoods the bar is a franchise operation which charges your card under its own name and you don't get the miles.
4. This does not count as a stay for Starwood purposes (you won't get credit towards higher status); it only gives you the points. Generally, the points are credited to you account about two weeks after the other Amex points you earned that month. Incidentally, there is no extra benefit in giving them your Starwood account number unless your dining bill is over $40, just pay with your Starwood Amex.
In today's "The Marker" - Thursday March 1, there is a whole article with charts on how much you need to spend with your credit card to get one free ticket on LY.
Buttom line is that AMEX Platinum, MULTI Platinum and MULTI Buisness Gold have the best per shequel rate. For each 350 Shequels you get one Matmid point.
Diners Platinum - 395
Diners - 500
Visa CAL and Leumi Platinum - 700
Isracard Platinum - 1000
Visa Cal, Mastercard Gold - 1500
Multi Gold, AMEX, Isracard - 1600
Leumi Visa Gold - 1750
They even calculated how much you need to spend with each card to get a free ticket to either E. Europe, W. Europe and US/Far East (US is East Coast).
I will try to copy it later form the THE MARKER website.
Recently I converted a bunch of Israeli Isracard Mastercard points to LY Matmid points I had my wife call and check if she could convert her Visa CAL points to LY Matmid points in my account. First of all they said she could only convert to her account. For us that is useless since she flies on bonus tickets from my points so they'd be orphaned. Then they said that if she were to link her account she'd get 1 Matmid point for every NIS 1500 in charges. While I'm not sure how many NIS I spend to earn one Isracard Mastercard point I know that with my Israeli AMEX I earn 1 point for every NIS 5 after the first NIS 200 and I can then convert them to LY Matmid points at a rate of 280 points to 1 Matmid point. That comes out to NIS 1400 per LY Matmid point! Again, very high. So does anyone have the skinny down on which cards are best for earning LY Matmid points? Below is the information I can contribute:
*** As of June 15, 2006 - Official information from LY Matmid ****
*** POST EDITED TO INCLUDE KNOWLEDGE ADDED BY OTHERS ***
-- Mastercard/Isracard --
Isracard Corporate Mastercard (Gold)
200 NIS for 1 card point after first 200
7 card points for 1 LY Matmid point
Effectively 1 LY Matmid point for NIS 1400 charges
Leumi Platinum Mastercard
25 NIS for 1 point
28 poinst for 1 Matmid point
Effectively 1 LY Matmid point for every NIS 700 charges
-- AMEX --
Isracard's Gold AMEX
50 NIS for 1 card point (after the first NIS 200)
28 card points for 1 LY Matmid point
Effectively 1 LY Matmid point for NIS 1400 charges
Isracard's Platinum AMEX
50 NIS for 1 card point
8 card points for 1 LY Matmid point
Effectively 1 LY Matmid point for NIS 400 charges
-- VISA --
Visa CAL linked to LY Matmid
1500 NIS for 1 card point
Visa Cal Platinum
NIS 700 = 1 Matmid Point
Leumi Platinum Visa
25 NIS for 1 point
28 poinst for 1 Matmid point
Effectively 1 LY Matmid point for every NIS 700 charges
I did a 'research' regarding conversions and found that:
Multi-Platinum (VISA\MC) have the best rate of conversion which is 1 Matmid point = 350 NIS (Card will be given based upon a similar card granted to you by your bank and will cost 8.88 NIS a month)
AMEX platinum will have the same rate, however, it is by invitation only (or one should be very rich and it will cost 320$ a year
Also Diners platinum will give you the same rate, however, it is not cheap as well (I don't know the exact price of holding that card)
In Any case, one should not convert points on a regular basis, but wait until ELAL does the "Mivtsa" of adding 20% to the converted points once a year
