boymom2

Newbie here. Just got off the phone with Advantage and my head is spinning. All the talk about 331 days, 329 days, but not El Al because I don't know why, but nobody knows when they release seats, blah blah...

We want to use our miles. We want to fly Business class. We need to arrive in Tel Aviv October 10, coming home on the 19th. Departure is within 329-331 days, but the agent was unable to decipher whether or not, for sure, El Al has released its mileage seats to Advantage. The only options available today involved stopping in 3 places which is not acceptable to us.

Oct 19th is outside the 329-331 "magical window". For a few more days.

Please help. Pretend I know nothing. Did I already wait too long?

3Cforme

AA award tickets are not bookable more than 331 days in advance. That does not imply that award inventory is made available on day 331. It may be released in dribs and drabs right up to travel date, and for some flights not at all.

No flexibility in dates is a problem.

I understand reluctance to accept a convoluted routing, but that's also a problem.

More than one ticket is a problem, expanding geometrically.

Add it all together and - your expectations may be unrealistic. The only practical course of action is to keep calling.

boymom2

Thanks, although apparently El Al tickets via Aadvantage don't necessarily follow the 331 day rule. I'm trying to find out what their time frame might be.

nsr

Did you try routing via JFK or EWR? LAX-TLV non stop is a difficult route to score awards (especially more than 1), but if you are willing to have 1 stop you can try LAX-LHR non-stop with AA, and LHR-TLV with either (LY) EL-AL or BA.

c_stanley

You may already know this, but rather than calling you should be able to check for award tickets yourself by subscribing to http://www.expertflyer.com/

You can also set an alert so when seats are made available you get an email and/or text message.

njvandy

Welcome to FT! As stated earlier, LAX-TLV is a pretty difficult AAward to claim on the LY codeshare, especially with 2 people and without flexible dates. My best advice to you is to keep calling and be prepared with the flights you want. Be open-minded with different routings. LHR-TLV on BA is an option, although the AA flight from LAX-LHR can be difficult to get. IB (Iberia) flies to TLV via MAD. Also try RJ (Royal Jordanian), a OneWorld partner who has relatively good service into TLV via AMM and flies to a number of US cities (not sure if they do LAX directly). Good luck with your search.

CO FF

You need to decide whether it's most important to fly in biz, to fly nonstop, or to fly on the dates you want (PS - if they're Sukkot, you're probably out of luck, since nobody opens up award seats then).

As noted, LAX-TLV n/s is a tough ticket for multiple premium seats. Can you go 1J 1Y?

You can also look at connecting options via all of LY's other N.Am. cities (EWR, JFK, YYZ & ORD, I believe), and via LHR on the AA nonstop.

Another option is a 2-stop trip. That opens up endless possibilities -- including LAX-YVR-LHR-TLV (using partners AS & BA), LAX-MAD with AA connecting to IB, and then on; Malev ex-JFK; Finnair, I think; etc. Or, LAX to ORD or JFK to CDG or FRA or FCO or BCN (ex JFK only) to an LY flight.

It takes time, and flexibility -- but it can be done.

3Cforme

No tickets are bookable with AAdvantage miles more than 331 days out. None. Not AA, not Qantas, not BA, not Iberia, not El Al...

The further point is that, even if your reservation dates are within the bookable window, the airline(s) hasn't necessarily released any inventory for awards.

ExpertFlyer is a great tool but its carrier award search tool doesn't begin to cover all of AA's partner routings LAX-Tel Aviv.

nsr

expertflyer shows AA C inventory for J awards on AA metal or LY J awards on LY metal, but can you directly check for X inventory for AA J award on LY metal?

formeraa

The AA agents can tell you when you can book partner awards IF THEY ARE AVAILABLE (no more than 11 months -- or 331 days in advance). That being said, AA agents can quote current partner availability, but they have absolutely NO IDEA when or if the partner airlines will release availability. That is at the sole discretion of the partner airlines (NOT AA).

So, I would take the advice of the posters' above.

Oceanrider

I suggest that in addition to all of the good suggestions above, you check directly with El Al on those dates. I suspect the dates are within a holiday blackout period during which El Al allocates no award seats. Otherwise, my own experience using AA award miles on LY is that you just never know when they will free something up and you have to keep calling.

beachfan

Hi!

I have a similar problem, but a little more flexible with respect to routing.

I know I want to go LAX/LHR/CAI and return TLV/LAX. I have the outbound figured out, will probably have to go through ORD, but since I want a layover in LHR, it won't be so tragic. Travel will be in J.

My question is on the return. I want reasonable layovers, and if possible, only one stop. I also want nice seats.

Since my return isn't within the booking window yet, my plan is to choose a routing and book any date with that routing available, and keep advancing it forward. I know I may have to pay the $150 per ticket reticketing fee, but with luck and some return date flexibility, I wont' have to.

The key question - I'm a better going through JFK using LY where it's easy to get a JFK-LAX nonstop? Or better through LHR, where I might not get a non-stop but I'll be on a nice seat if I get 777 and 763s instead of the lousy J 762 seats. Also, I've heard mixed things about LY J seats, TLV-JFK is a long ride.

I'd be willing to go through MAD or FCO (with good connections or with a layover if bad connections) on the return if it made the trip more comfortable.

Any suggestions on best routing on the return assuming availabilty (and assuming TLV-LAX is not available).

kebosabi

1. My advice would be: "Be a bit more flexible with your schedule." Flexibility is the key here.

2. You're entitled to a free stopover anywhere in NA, so you DON'T have to take a direct flight. This may sound strange to first time award flyers (why would I want layovers or stops, that's such a drag, etc.), but in fact it could well turn out to be a trip of a lifetime. A nice trip involves going to one place. A grand trip involves visiting multiple places. And your miles allow you to do exactly that for the same amount of miles.

3. Look for flights other than El Al. Oneworld partner Royal Jordanian flies out of ORD, so you can do a LAX-ORD-AMM-TLV. Service on RJ is actually better than LY, so you are actually using better use of miles here. You also entitled to a free stopover (stopover means you can stay at that city as long as you want) in ORD should you decide to visit any friends and relatives living in the Chicago area before you head out to Israel. You then make a connection in Amman to your final destination Tel Aviv.

4. Likewise, you could also leave your inbound destination as Amman, Jordan and make your way to Israel overland. This way, you can visit sites in Jordan like Petra and the Jordanian side of the Dead Sea before you make your way to Israel.

5. RJ also flies to/from Montreal as well. And Montreal is also North America. And you are entitled to a free stopover anywhere in NA. That means, you can actually get a free trip to Quebec! So on the return, you can fly TLV-AMM-YUL-DFW-LAX, with a free stopover in Montreal. Then connect at DFW and back to LAX.

6. Likewise, El Al also flies to/from Toronto. As many others have pointed out, scoring that non-stop LAX-TLV on El Al is very difficult. But it may not be so out of Toronto. And as with Montreal on RJ, Toronto counts as North America, so if you schedule your trip with flexibility, you can add a free trip to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.

beachfan

Thanks for the enthusiastic response!

But free stopovers in NA leave me cold, I'm very close to Exp, all through domestic travel and it's been that way for many years.

International stops are another story, which is why I'm going through LHR on the way out.

The RJ angle is interesting, but not sure it's better than BA LHR to CAI, which is what I'm doing on the way out. But Petra is a planned stop, I was thinking of it as a day trip, but leaving from Amman may be interesting and efficient. I'm especially interested in the "service being better than EL-AL", any comment about the seat itself?

mvoight

I would also rather have international stopovers, but they are no longer permitted on award tickets, unless you use more miles for another segment.