Hey folks,

I'm planning to book four economy tickets with Matmid points to get my family to Israel this summer. Our regular flying is all on North American airlines and so our main source of Matmid points will be American Express points.

From the El Al website it looks like this will cost 2000 Matmid points per round trip ticket. However, the onemileatatime blog writes that transfering points from Amex will result in becoming an Executive member and getting a lower redemption rate. Is this accurate (and if so, how does that work)?

I'd be very grateful for your advice and tips - as a total Matmid novice!