ELAL FF Program Update...
 

Just a small visit from an old TP... 8-)
(Happily a top tier FF at other airlines for now)

from 10/02/2015 (Some even from now...)

New Points for Level Requirement:
800 for Silver
1500 for GL
3000 for PL
7000 for TP

Bonus tickets will be "priced" by destination and not by area...
So do earning points will be do per destination and not area...

TP will earn extra 70% points (rather 50% of today).

FLY CARD Premium holders will get 20% points for Base point (count for status) & option to convert 20% of the collected point from credit card as base points...
FLY CARD regulars, gets 10% extra points (bonus, not count for status).

Up to know it was good, Now for the bad part:
GL/KD Members that dont fly EL-AL wont be able to use the lounge
Guest companion entry to the lounge will be limited to x guests per year
TP/PL will pay 10$ for each bonuse ticket...
Points transfered from Credit cards will be limited to 3 years (and not as it now, lifetime).

אני רק שם את זה כאן... like we say in hebrew

So they'll require less points for status qualification, but will reward less points for flights (180 to JFK in J versus current 200) and will require much more points for rewards (4000 to JFK in J vs 3000).

Overall - :td::td::td::td::td: And I thought that there can't be any worse than Matmid as it is now... LY always manage to surprise me.

Source - http://www.elal.com/he/FrequentFlyer...s/default.aspx

Quick Summary
 

If anyone need a quick summary of all changes:
http://nmmedia.nextopic.com/ELALOffi...dates_2015.pdf

Having the ability to convert points from CC to Base point doesnt help?
If you buy the ticket with your Credit Card, I think you earn those missing "20" points and even more...

It depends how active you are in other airlines, In Delta if you are not Diamond, it become also a ...... program... and United are copying from Delta now

This option was part of flycard from the day it was launched and should not be considered a part of these changes, as they only apply 6 month afterwars and were announced afterwards. BTW, 20% of the "extra" points earned via the CC can be converted to base point. Meaning - 1 base point = 900 NIS (for flycard premium). And even as an owner of flycard plus a J flight to NYC will earn 216 base points (which, going by what you say is an an increase of 8%, however this 20% bonus also applies before the other changes and as such should not be considered a part of them despite what LY says) despite an increase of 33% in reward prices (3000 vs 4000). Overall this is an increase of 23.4% (=(4000/216)/(3000/200)).

So yes, status will be easier for me, but overall this is not an enhancement, but rather a disappointment, and I'll definitely reconsider my future with LY. It's a shame, as up until now I always thought that LY had a good value for rewards.

Anything in English?

see - http://www.elal.com/en/FrequentFlyer...s/default.aspx

Headline is "Changes in the Matmid Club Program for Israeli Members"

What does this mean for US Matmid Club members?

wow, a 50% increase in prices for C to the east coast... ridiculous.

That you shoud go into the US site (instead of the Israeli) and check it...

This is really bad
An example for NYC

A year ago flight to western Europe in Z was 200 base points plus 50% for PL you get 300 points.
NYC C class reward was 3000 so we get 3000/300= 10 flights

Now a flight to western Europe in Z is 150 base plus 70% for PL and Premium and thus you get 255 points.
NYC C class reward will be 4000 so we get 4000/255=15.69!!! flights

Did I miscalculate?

BTW comparing to BA

Assuming Gold in BA flying C to LHR - each flight is 5540 Avios
for NYC C reward you will need 65000 Avios (and this is with 0$ addition)

That is 65000/5540=11.73 flights
and this is BA C class!

? BA has that fuel surcharge, which I believe is still bigger than LY's.

Since LY doesn't have a real US credit card, you have to rely on HAS/Amex, which put a business class flight at 160-200k comparable points to the east coast (vs 120~140k on US competitors).

The one (and almost only) thing I still appreciated about matmid was the redemption rates, which is why I continued to convert my (Israeli) CC points to Matmid.

This is a serious devaluation, I mean 2600 points in C to London instead of 1800, seriously? 4500 to HKG instead of 3000? :td:

As if Matmid wasn't bad enough before...

HAS is long gone...

LY plans to release a US based CC soon