Lior-

There is something about the upper deck of the 747 that I like. I didn't say the seats were as good, only that the overall product is equal because of the quiet, private feel of the upper deck. The food doesn't really matter to me, especially from Israel to New York, as I take the 1:00am departure and basically sleep the whole way. This is just my opinion. Feel free to disagree, I won't be insulted.


Entropy-

I have found business class reward seats on ElAl for several trips. Much more difficult on Continental. The last time I did a business class reward on ElAl was middle of 2004. It was right before they increased the Amex rewards rates. I recall that it cost me 300,000 Amex Reward points for two ElAL business class tickets, and I scored the upper deck both ways. I believe with the overhaul of Madmid, it now costs almost twice as many Amex Reward points.

ElAl is not the most flexible airline to deal with. Last year, their New York telephone rewards reservation line was only open for five hours each day. Almost laughable in this 24x7 day and age. Even with the points, they required a faxed request. Also laughable in this electronic era.

By the way, I just got a Continental coach reward ticket for my aunt to come visit. Could not get business class either way on either flight. She lives on a kibbutz and is grateful for the free coach ticket.