I just returned from a TLV-MXP-TLV itinerary on El Al, which cost me 30,000 SkyMiles. Oddly enough, if I had taken that same award ticket on Alitalia, a SkyTeam partner, Delta would have charged me 40,000.

I made the reservations about a month in advance and was given my choice of either El Al or Alitalia and a wide range of available dates.