levych

Which mileage program can be use or join to, in order to earn miles for flights flew with el al recently.

Can I join a new program and ask miles for previous flights flew?:-:

Matmid program ask for 25us$ online join or 30us$ via phone.

Any other alternative ?

gordo6

Check SA and QF. You have to check their rules about retro-crediting of flights. In LY I think (not sure) retro-credit of flight taken before joining the program is allowed for 2 months.

However if you fly with LY regularly, you should join matmid which is by far the best option for regular LY flyers.

Dovster

It is far better to be concerned with the price of your ticket than with mileage being earned for any program.

For example, I made Business reservations for myself and two family members r/t TLV-VCE on Alitalia for Nov 15-22. The price per ticket was $507.86. Had I chosen LY on the same dates, in the same cabin, I would have paid $898.31.

That is a savings of $390.45 per ticket. If I make that same trip one more time, I will have saved $780.90. That is enough to pay for a third trip (same itinerary, same cabin) and still have $273.04 left over. This can be seen as getting 1.5 bonus trips for every two paid trips.

On the other hand, had I chosen LY (again, same itinerary, same cabin) I would have earned 200 points -- and as a business ticket would cost me 1600 points I would have to do it 8 times to get a "free ticket". Moreover, I would have to make those flights in less than 3 years or else the points start to disappear.

I am putting the miles I earn on AZ into my Delta account, and while I probably won't be able to use them for myself (I doubt I will be flying back to the States) eventually, if I fly Delta partners to Europe often enough, I will be able to give one of my children the present of a freebie ticket to the US.

Even if that doesn't happen, I still wind up far ahead by ignoring FF programs and just going with the best price.

benberg2013

You can join El Al Matmid program for free - this is the link - https://app.elal.co.il/clubs/registr...de=NFB13159751

There is a thread on flyertalk here.

You can retro-claim for flights taken within 2 months before registering.

levych

Thank You for the link !
i registered now on matmid!

thanks

next step is to view if they agree to add a miles for flights made more than 2 months ago.. ops..

moe8555

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Alitalia J simply economy with an empty seat in the middle, whereas El Al J on this line is a full-fledged J?

It's still a big price discrepancy and your logic makes sense for the regular flyer, however someone who just wants the best J possible and money is not an issue would probably prefer El Al.

benberg2013

And, I just saw, that if you google "elal matmid enroll" then it will take you to a site where you will have to pay the 25 dollars, but if you go to Elal website, and from there go to matmid enrollment - it will let you do it for free!

benberg2013

What do you mean by fully fledged J? I assume you mean Flat Bed? ElAl operates this route with a 737-800 so no flat bed. I've actually never seen ElAl's J on 737's but I assume it's also middle seat empty.

mikebg

No. It's not. The seats are far better than 'middle seat empty', even though they are far from being even "angled lie flat".

Houminer

Elal J on the 737 in smilar to F in the USA and maybe even a bit better.
Is is much better than AZ or other European airlines J.

Mwenenzi

I note you have already signed up with EL AL
FFP's are typicaly reciproical. That is the ffp partners of EL AL probably get miles/points for eligible El AL flights in their ffp http://www.wheretocredit.com/el-al-israel-airlines

Most ffp's require you to be a signed up member at the date of the flight. A minority allow you you sign up and claim retro credit for past flights.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...help-here.html

Dovster

Almost -- the AZ middle seat can be converted into a table.

I can't tell you about LY's middle seat on this route, but the last time I flew LY it was TLV-MXP-TLV and the middle seats in J were just like AZ's but without the possibility of being made into a table.

The food on both LY and AZ are equally bad, even in J, and about the only advantage I could see on LY was that it is a direct flight to VCE, whereas AZ has a 90 minute connection in FCO and then you get on a 1 hour flight to VCE which has only Economy (although, having bought Biz tickets, we get preferred seats without having to pay more).

The 90 minute connection does not bother me as I will go through Passport Control in FCO and thus not have to do it after arriving in VCE. The big advantage in buying J as opposed to Economy was getting two checked bags with a limit of 32 kgs each.

We will each take only one checked bag, but they will be half-empty on the outbound trip. I will be taking my daughter for a day trip to Verona, where she is certain to walk down Via Mazzini, buying clothing and shoes in each and every shop, and will need that weight allowance for the return flight.

(Hmmm, as she will be using my credit card, perhaps it would have been a lot cheaper for me to fly Economy after all!)

TLVtraveler

Dovster The price you got for your AZ flight is a temporary promo price, usually the price is within the same range as LY.

LY only operates 738 with "domestic First class" much like in the US, your trip on TLV-MXP-TLV with converted middle seat was probably just operated by an UP plane due to irregular activity (UP only has a Y+ cabin but no middle seat blockage).

Paying an extra ~400$ per person for a direct flight is a no brainer for most business pax, especially given the far better hard product. Comparing a non-direct flight in an EU J cabin and a direct domestic first flight is like comparing apples and oranges.

Dovster

That may well be true. I am a Matmid member and, hence, not someone who boycotts LY. I simply price check before flying somewhere and unless the price is comparable I no longer allow any FF considerations to determine which airline I will take.

Sometimes, albeit rarely, that turns out to be LY and when it does I book with it.

For about the last 15 years, I flew to the States between once and three times per year. I also went to Europe about the same number of times. At age 65 (five years ago) I reached the point where the 12 hour flight to JFK, usually followed by flights to two other cities, got to be a bit much for me in Economy and took only Business itineraries. I was flying often enough to get Platinum status on Delta which allowed me to buy Economy tickets and upgrade all my flights with miles. As Delta, for the past few years, offers lie flat seats across the pond -- all of which have aisle access -- it was really a no-brainer to take Delta even if the prices turned out to be somewhat higher (although I never managed to get LY for less money).

My last itinerary (TLV-JFK-LAS-ATL-TLV) was on an award ticket from Delta and burned up most of my SkyMiles. As I decided that even flying Biz for 12 hours was no longer in the cards for me (I will be 70 in December), Delta status became worthless for me.

In fact, as my future flights will all be to Europe, even a 4 or 5 hour flight in Economy is something I can handle with no problem, so no airline's FF program means anything to me. I will not be reaching elite status with any of them and by choosing by price, I will be saving one heck of a lot of money.

(The exception: Turkish Airlines. No matter what the price, I will not take it until such time as LY can also fly into Turkey.)

TLVtraveler

What's wrong with TK? they are one of the best airlines for Israelis, prices are competitive in J, they have the best schedule apart from LY, best J lounge in the world, very good food and domestic F seats on most of the medium haul fleet. Not to mention that they have one of the most extensive route maps.