Delta tried -- for one year -- to give 50% MQMs for deeply discounted tickets and gave it up because of how badly people reacted. Even there, however, you received full mileage -- just not in regards to status.

But the OP will get Dan lounge access with his BA Gold card anyway, regardless of whether he will be flying that day with BA or not.
If he does not keep his Gold card with them but Maintain Silver he can still use the Dan lounge on his BA flights.
Hoever keeping his Gold status with BA living in Israel will be extremely easy; it will require just 3 return trips to the US in WT+.
I would do that if I were you economyman in any case.

As to lounge access, for $150 KD membership is definetly worth it.
Its a far nicer lounge the Dan lounge and you can use it regardless of whether or not you are flying with ElAl on the day.

I suggest Miles&More the program of LH, LX, OS, LO.

All airlines that fly from TLV with good connections and *A.
LH, LX and OS fly (mostly) 2X a day which helps.

When you qualify for M&M you are good for 2 years.
While the program has seriously deteriorated in the last 2 years (now called Mile&Less), it still compares favorably with the other programs.

As for LY comping you, good luck. It hasn't worked for me. From what I hear LY has only deteriorated under privatization as far as customer service.

Let us know what you choose.

Shofar

My cousin, who works for an Intel contractor outside of PDX, will be spending good chunks of time -- ~6 weeks at a pop -- at the Qiryat Gat fab starting end of this year or early next. Which, of course, sets visions of sugar miles a-dancing in my head.

So, not only for my cuz's sake but my own, I'm looking into our options.

He's a Gold with Alaska, as he flies about 36-40 times per year b/w PDX and SJC. Status (and miles) while nice for him haven't been at the forefront of his consciousness, but six transoceanics a year certainly will begin to matter here shortly.

For me, visits from PDX to TLV will likely be in the 2x/year category. As I'll easily recapture*A Gold via UA this year (my preferred) regardless, I can afford to divert some of my loyalty to LY and/or its partners.

What really appeals to me about LY is the connection timing between my preferred routing on UA into Europe (PDX-IAD-MUC) and LY's flight to MUC. Alternatively, once I'm maxed on whatever status on UA I want, I could conceivably route myself via LAX on LY's metal, which is probably what my cousin will do.

Thots?

I would strongly recommend looking at LH Miles and More. The FRA-PDX-FRA flights on LH metal have excellent connections with FRA-TLV-FRA - 1.5 hours in each direction, just right. LH treats Israel as Europe if you register with an Israeli address, so your cousin can pop off to Europe for only 15K in Y and 25 K in C (book 2 weeks before). Availablity to Europe on award is excellent - 2flights per day on LH, OS, LX, 3 on TK, and one on LO, plus AC direct to Canada. Service in Israel is great IMO. Plus at least twice a year there are promotions which give bonus miles on the TLV-FRA/ZRH sectors - there is one on now.

Also, connecting to/from LY in MUC is a pain, as they use a separate terminal (F) to everyone else. This is basically a hangar close to the airport hotel. No transfers inside security, fairly long walk with luggage, VERY tight security (worst I have seen for LY), always bus gate. You need to allow yourself <> 3 hours. Not recommended...

If you sign up with DL, you can fly codeshare on LY and those two r/ts alone will give you Silver Medallion status (even in Coach).

You will also have the following alternative choices for getting SkyMiles:

ATL-TLV non-stop (Delta)
JFK-TLV non-stop (Delta)
EWR-TLV non-stop (CO)
Several different airports in the US connecting through CDG on AF.
Several different airports in the UD connecting through FCO or MXP on AZ.
JFK-PRG-TLV on Czech Air.

You could also fly Delta into any European airport it goes to and continue your flight into TLV on El Al (but you would not get MQMs for the Europe-TLV segment -- only SkyMiles).

Delta will also allow you to stop in one city in Europe going and a different one coming back (or coming back non-stop).

With any of these choices you would earn free flights much more quickly than you would being an LY Matmid member.

This is not true any longer. The cooperation between Gold Mastercard Business and the Dan Lounge ended a few months ago. So did Amex (Both from Bank Hapoalim). Gold Visa Cal never had accesss and I am not sure about Gold Leumi Visa Card
If anyone has updated info I'd like to know as I have most of these cards and miss the free entrance to the Dan Lounge

essxjay - this is mostly just for curiosity's sake, but do you happen to know where your cousin is going to live while he's working at the Kiryat Gat fab?

I have family friends who live there, and I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the fab a couple of years ago. It's a big deal for Kiryat Gat to have the facility there, but my recollection is that a huge chunk of the employees commute. I was just curious as to whether a person like your cousin had been encouraged to live nearby/elsewhere, etc.

LH has excellent connecting time in FRA between PDX and TLV. Hands down it is the best choice, especially if you are after UA miles.

This sounds like the best option for my cousin. He doesn't give a rip about the FRA issue that I have with LH (see below). Whether his temp address is legitimate under M&M's rules is an excellent tidbit to check out; if so, then Thank you very much for that.

Good to know! Long walk with luggage is no biggie for me, but connection time could be. Depending on the time of the year, the connection could be as little as 2 hours or closer to 3.

Also, very good to know. Given that transatlantic upgrades are far easier to come by as a 1P on UA than a silver on DL, I'm more likely stick with *A to Europe and just credit ex-TLV miles to my SkyMiles account, which are great for intra-Asia C awards.

Dunno yet. He won't actually be a resident, just coming in for several weeks at a time. Whatever his firm arranges is what it'll be.

<rant> I'm not trying to rain on the advice, *but* ... FRA has been no picnic IMLE. Is twice just a fluke when FRA ATC decides to force LH469's A340 load to disgorge at some godforsaken part of the airfield? (It happened a third time when I was on a UA B744 from IAD.) If LH468/9 is billed as premium service, then explain to me how bussing an a/c of that size at LH's "flagship" hub is considered premium service. Misconnecting at FRA just ain't no fun. </rant>

Thanks all for the input.

I know a couple of people who flew this route and never missed the connection.

The fact that I missed a connection is #3 on the list. The fact of the tarmac welcome mat is #1 (with the fact that it's FRA ::shudder:: being a close second).

Hi Jarino,

Can you please explain: "As all El Al flights can be credited to SAA Voyager, this may be the preferred option to combine EL Al flights and star alliance flights"

I am facing the same issues and would like to work out Star Allaince milage/status with El Al flights ?

Thanks,

JJ

One option that wasn't mentioned (yet) was AF/KL which the FO seems to have an account with. AF has followed AZ and LH and moved Israel to Europe (figuratively), so it only takes 30,000 miles to Europe and 50,000 to the US RT.

I hate going on the 05:00 LH flight and avoid it as much as possible - AF has more normal times 08:15 and I think that ST has the most departures from TLV of any alliance. And, all ST flights count for status (and not as mentioned previously). Platinum is attained for 70,000 miles.

The AF 320s are no bargain though - equally uncomfortable in Y and J. And KL doesn't have any movies for their 5 hour flight which is really cruel and unusual IMHO (unless you're in J and then you get a digiplayer). I hate the actual flights to/from TLV although the food on AF out of CDG tends to be pretty good.

IMHO, if you tend to take economy, AFKL is the way to go - each award mile is x2 while status is x1. For business, LH is better - as a FTL or Senator (35,000 *S / 100,000 *G) you get x2.25 for both award and status miles (ST gives x2.5 award but only x1.5 status).

Anyhow, whatever you choose, welcome back home!