Hello all

Happy to see there is an LY forum now! Well done!!!

I will be returning to Israel in August after three years in France and am considering my flying options.

I will be travelling all over the world from Israel including at least once a month to France (not Paris though so will need a connection if I arrive in CDG). I will likely combine my France journey with another European city each time. I will be in the US once every couple of months and probably in the far east 3 times a year.

At the moment my favorite airline is BA of which I am a gold member. I am also Star Alliance Gold (through BMI) but will not be able to maintain that from Israel. Traditionally I haven't flown that much with Air France but that has changed recently and with my AF AMEX I should be able to hit Silver.

Generally my travel will be mid-week meaning in most cases I will travel from Sunday until Friday so not sure I will be able to do deeply discounted economy. I don't fly business, but do premium economy.

Looking for the most cost efficient / practical solution that will allow me to maintain status with FF programmes. Flying economy or premium economy means the check-in and lounge benefits make a big difference. This is where BAEC is the best with Silver membership already giving lounge access and business class check in. With my BAEC Gold membership I can use lounge access anytime (which I did last week at LIN en-route to CDG on AF).

So from those of you with a lot of experience of world-wide travel from Israel, I am hoping to receive some good advice.

Thank you

economyman