how much $$ is 1400 points worth?
 

i'm debating using mr. haniboo's miles for a bonus voucher to MIA. could buy a ticket on DL for 859$ instead.

other possible use would be to fly kids non-stop this summer. anyone know how controlled MIA seats are in July-August?

advice anyone?

I think that for $859 I'd probably fork out the money and earn the points on LY. Since I don't fly west from Israel I'd see flying DL as a waste of my money/points. BTW have you figured in the ATL-MIA cost? I'd rather burn the points when the fare is more like $1100 r/t. Earning the 1400 trips on LY flights is the equivalent of 7 r/t to the east coast or far east in Y. Also, check out the sticky Earning LY Matmid points with Israeli CCs for a pretty thorough discussion of what it takes to earn the 1400 points on CCs.

As for the summer. This past year I had absolutely no problem using my LY points to fly 4 people to EWR July 2 with 2 people returning mid July and 2 three days before school started. That said, I booked my award seats in January and had them ticketed (points deducted) 2 weeks beforehand. I was able to move the flights around a day or two up to 2-3 weeks ahead of time. Those tickets would have cost me $1200 each at that time of the year when you include the fuel surcharges and the like.

Save them for your kids this summer, tickets on the nonstop to MIA are at about $1300 this summer.