I'm sorry to have to say this but the Matmid Club simply does not offer the returns to make loyal flying worthwhile -- especially compared to other clubs.

Part of this is disguised by the fact that Matmid uses "points" instead of the more common "miles" making comparison more difficult. Other parts, including the benefits, stand out clearly.

I don't know about you, but I like to give an airline as little of my money as possible for a particular flight. Hence, I seek the "deeply discounted" fares. At most airlines, they give you the same miles as regular coach fares. At LY they are worth only half.

Then, to make matters worse, most airlines only require some activity -- including redemptions or partner awards -- once every three years to keep all your miles valid. El Al does not have partner points expire but points for flying disappear after three years.

Let's look at what you get -- and what you have to fly -- from LY on deeply discounted fares and compare that to Alitalia and also to the other SkyTeam members. (For some reason AZ has a much different progam than its fellow SkyTeam partners.)

In making this comparison, keep in mind that you can cut the number of LY round trips in half by buying more expensive coach tickets but you can not do that with the other airlines.

For simplicity's sake, I have made all the round trips TLV-MXP but an equivalent relationship would hold true for any destination in the world.

To get a free r/t to Western Europe, LY requires 18 r/ts (36 r/ts in Biz Class).
AZ requires 9 r/ts (14 in Biz). Other SkyTeam partners require 12 r/ts (18 in Biz). Delta, however, is willing to provide them at the AZ rates if you take your award ticket on El Al!

To get a free r/t to the US, LY requires 28 of those TLV-MXP r/ts (60 in Biz).
AZ requires 15 r/ts (24 in Biz). Other SkyTeam partners want 24 r/ts (36 in Biz).

Requirements for elite status tend to differ a bit between the various SkyTeam members, so I am only going to compare LY, AZ, and DL.

To reach Silver membership with LY, you would need 20 of those r/ts in one year. The equivalent at AZ is Ulisse Club and needs 8 r/ts. DL requires the same as AZ for Silver Medallion.

With LY Silver Medallion you get a 10% bonus in points and the right to buy membership in the King David Club for $300 per year.

With AZ Ulisse Club you get a 25% bonus in miles and the right to use its VIP lounges in Italy. With Delta Silver Medallion you get a 25% bonus in miles and membership in the Crown Room Club would cost $350 (or 60,000 SkyMiles).

To reach Gold membership with LY, you would need 36 r/ts. AZ has no real equivalent but its next level is equal to LY Platinum (see below). With Delta, you need 16 r/ts.

With LY Gold you get free membership in the King David Club and a 25% points bonus. With Delta Gold you can buy membership in the Crown Room Club for $300 (or 50,000 SkyMiles) and get a 100% miles bonus.

To reach Platinum with LY you would need 100 r/ts in a year. With Alitalia's Freccia Atlata you would need 15 r/ts. With Delta's Platinum Medallion you would need 23 r/ts.

With LY Platinum you still get the free King David Club membership but a 50% point bonus. With AZ's Freccia Atlata you get VIP Access in Italy and SkyTeam Elite Plus benefits (see below). With Delta, you currently get free Crown Room Club access (but next year will have to pay $250 or 40,000 miles). You also get SkyTeam Elite Plus benefits.

What are SkyTeam Elite Plus benefits? Firstly, if you are on a intercontinental flight, you get free access to any SkyTeam partner VIP Club for that day, even if flying Coach. So if you fly TLV-CDG-JFK-PBI on a combination of AF and Delta flights, you would be allowed into the SkyTeam VIP rooms at all those airports. (At TLV that is the Dan Lounge.)

Additionally, you can use first class check in when flying on any SkyTeam partner (this is true even if you have the lowest elite status) and, if you get to the DL Gold, or AZ Freccia Atlata, at most U.S. airports you get on a much shorter "VIP" line for the security checks.

Yes, I know there are some other benefits both at LY and SkyTeam members (such as increased baggage allowance) but these tend to balance out.

Oh yes. One more thing: Non-airline partner points/miles. These are much more generous at AZ, and even more at US SkyTeam members, than at LY. It would take a very long time just to explain all the credit card possibilities but suffice it to say that with one Amex credit card (aligned with Starwood Hotels) I got enough miles for a free r/t anywhere in the US by charging a total of $14,000 without even staying at a Starwood!