Moving to TA - Which FF Program?
 

I am moving to TA from NY in July. I am already platinum on Delta and just got comped by ElAl although I have to say that I am appalled by ElAl's platinum - they don't seem to understand customer service. I am gold on AA, at least for now.

Anyway, my business will take me to the US probably twice a month and London maybe once a month - in the US to NYC and SFO primarily. For now I am paying for the tickets myself so super discounted (and ElAl won't upgrade me despite being Platinum) but will likely get arrangements soon where clients will pay for either full fare coach or biz class tickets.

I have a family of four and plan to bring them all to SFO once a year.

So the big question is: should I try to max out ElAl, stick with Delta or maybe try to get comped on Continental now that they are joining the star alliance which gives me Lufthansa, Austrian and CO to the US. Alternatively, I can get comped on AA and then use my AA number when flying ElAl.

Thoughts from the wisdom of this group? This is my first post here so thanks.

Dont stick with DL since SkyTeam doesnt fly tlv-lon and you will have to use AF or KL in order to get to london, which their business class is actually an economy class with middle seat blocked.

Try joining BA, CO or BD.
1.BD WILL AUTOMATICLY UPGRADE YOUR STATUS. Starting from May, their twice daily TLV-LHR will be operated by A330 with their flat 80" business class seats. To the US - BD offers wide codeshare agreement with UA (so you will be able to fly lhr-sfo under bd code) and after CO will join the STAR ALLIANCE you will also be able to fly TLV-LHR-EWR or TLV-EWR direct.
until CO will join the star alliance in order to flyto NYC with them you will have to fly TLV-LHR-ORD-NYC/EWR or TLV-LHR-IAD-NYC/EWR.
2.AS WELL AS BMI, IF YOU CHOOSE CO THEY WILL ALSO UPGRADE YOUR STATUS. If you decide to match status at CO use LY's one since CO wont upgrade your status based on dl's one until they leave sky team.
you will be able to fly TLV-EWR-SFO under they code (EWR-SFO may be operated by UA) or TLV-LHR-SFO (operated by BD and UA), but please pay attention that you wont be able to gain CO points on BD flights before they join STAR ALLIANCE.
3. Althought BA will not upgrade your status, it will be very easy for you to gain gold one. after one BUSINESS flights to the US you will get silver status. Then your status points will be zero again, and after 2 more business return flights to the US youll gain GOLD status.
They offer good connections in all days to and from the EAST COAST ands good connection to the WEST COAST in all days. good connections from the WEST COAST to TLV are only available THURSDAYS (you will have to leave the US by wednesday).

I'd go with BD. They are one of the easier *A airlines to use to gain status. You'll have a large number of *A airlines to choose from in order to maintain status.

The problem with BMI is that the last few trips I have checked, flying coach, they don't seem to show up as a UA connection through London. The UA connections seem to all be on LH and aren't priced competitively. For my trip next week I got nonstops on Delta for $900 and UA showed $1800 through Frankfurt.

I didn't say to fly BD, I said to join their program. You can fly LH and credit miles to BD as they are both *A. Whatever you do, make sure to concentrate on a single alliance to maximize you earning and status potentials.

dont try to buy thru ua website, try thru bd.

I would suggest to fly BD to London, but join LH program. This is very good for Israelis, as it treats TLV as in Europe. So flysmart awards to Europe are only 15K in Y, and business class to US is only 90 K with the companion 50% off (and kids 25% off). You would get to SEN pretty quickly. Soon you will also have the option of earning/redeeming on CO - you can already earn/redeem on AC, US, LH, LX, OS, BD, TK etc to USA.
Soon you may even get HON points on BMI, in which case HON may even be within reach - if you have a chance, go for it. I know of commuters to London who choose to fly via FRA because of the service (and the HON D class seat guarantee etc).

BD program is excellent, but awards to/from Israel are quite expensive, and who knows how long it will last. There are also a lot more BD fares which earn very few miles.

If you do fly LH, look at joining their PPB program also (www.ppb.co.il). It's free, and the points are very useful for upgrades to/from TLV.

Hi,

I guess we all agree tht the best for you is the staralliance. They fly many destinations to and from Israel:
*LH to FRA (2 daily flights with new business class) and to MUC (4 weekly flights with new business class, starts 26 April)
*LX (swiss) to ZRH (2 daily flights with a330 and a340 with average business class)
*OS (austrian) to VIE (2 daily flights, most with a321 with eco. seats at business class but in the Summer some with b763 with new business)
*LOT to Warsaw (daily at peak, 4 weekly at non-peak) and Karkow (once weekly) both with aircrafts with eco. seats for business class.
*Turkish to Istanbul (3-4 daily flights, some with new and some with eco. seats at business).
*BD to London Heathrow (2 daily flights, starting from May operated with new 80" bed business class).
*AC to Toronto (3-7 weekly flights with 763 with new business [one of the best business all over the world]).
*EgyptAir to Cairo (operated by Air Sinai because of security reasons).

and future:
*US to PHL (daily flight operated by a332 - starts July). PHL is only two hours from NY so until CO joins star alliance that would be a good alternative.
*CO to EWR (2 daily operated with b772 - they are joining star alliance later this year)
*SN to Brussles (daily flight - they are joining star alliance later this year)

So as you may see the *A have lots of destinations out of Israel. This list excludes seasonal service and codeshare (that's because that if you fly with LX for example under TLV-GVA segment operated by LY you will NOT be unable to gain miles unless under Miles and More, because codeshare means partnership only with one airline and not with the whole alliance).

I also forgot about one the best frequent flyer program in Israel: Air Canada.

They will give you great connections to SFO and New york.
*In order to gain silver (Prestige) status you need 25000 poins (like 1 business flights to US and 1 economy class to EU) within a calender year.
*In order to gain gold (Elite) status you need 35000 poins (like 1 business flights to US and 1 business class to EU) within a calender year.
*In order to gain platinum (Super Elite) status you need 10000 poins (like 5-7 business flights to US and 0-2 business class to EU) within a calender year.

You will get some special benefits with a status, as said in http://www.aeroplan.com/your_aeropla...s_2009/home.do under Privilegs section. You will be able to chhose some benefits out of the list, as said in the Select Privilegs section.

All info can be seen under Download 2008/9 Program Info (located in the lower part of the page).

Until CO joins Star, you could fly TLV-(BD)-LHR-(VS)-NYC. Such tickets are usually cheaper than CO/DL/LY nonstop.

right, but that is only if he is member of diamond club and ticketing thru bd reservation centre.

I have never heard of PPB before (I already have flown 65,000 BIS *A miles this year, Only 48K EQM because of many 50% miles fares). I do not want to hijack this thread but can you explain more? My company is not registered in IL but have plenty of roots in IL.

TO OP.... *A seems like a great solution for your needs. and I will add 2 daily LY codeshares from ZRH to the above list (beware no EQMs...)

Sorry to hijack this thread, but is it confirmed that Air Sinai flights will count as EgyptAir miles towards Star Alliance? For some reason, I was under the impression that Air Sinai was being treated as an EgyptAir partner and not as EgyptAir flying to Israel under a different name. I seriously doubt that EgyptAir will be forthcoming with clarifications on this too.

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Personally, I would stick with Delta.

1. Like everyone else who has posted here, I think that LY is a no-go -- its reward tickets are more expensive (in terms of flights needed to earn them) and the points you earn on any particular flight expire after three years.

2. If you are flying TLV-USA twice a month, the miles you would earn on TLV-London flights once a month will be pretty meaningless to you. Of course, if you want to earn them you can by flying AF, AZ, or KLM and connecting.

3. During the peak seasons, DL through ATL is often fully booked in Y, meaning that as a PM you have an excellent shot at an op-up. Once you land in the States, your status means you will most likely be upgraded when flying on to SFO.

Wikipedia says that Air Sinai are only "company under paper" and tthat the only flight number under TLV-CAIRO are under EGYPTAIR code. Therefore. I believe that you'll be able to gain miles for these flights on all *A carrers. Anyway, to ARAB contries I would fly only with ISRAELI company, because of self-security reasons, I just afraid to fly with the Arabs.

I still believe that the *A will give him the best service, He will be able to gain miles to the US and to the UK, as well as many other destinations in EUROPE.

BUT if you also need to fly to the FAR EAST choose DL because of KOREAN AIR. But only IF.

PPB is the small companies scheme operated by LH in Israel. You can get points for all sectors flown on LH or LX by company employees which are ticketted in Israel. The best benefit of the scheme from my perspective is that an upgrade to C is only 4000 PPB points TLV-FRA or vv.
In addition you get a reduction off D class fares (and some expensive economy fares).
In addtion to the company PPB points each traveller gets his own miles of course.

Personally I would try to avoid KAL if possible - I think they have a bad safety record, but I think I'll stick with DL for now but be opportunistic with LY if they are cheap. For a while there, they were the cheapest and now DL seems to be

KE addressed their safety issues more than 10 years ago.

And for those of us that can't afford to pay for business class:
- They have the longest leg-room in coach (the difference maker for me).
- Attentive crew: You will have an easier time getting a beverage from a KE FA in coach than form an LY or DL FA in business.

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Having said all that, and based on the OP's question I would switch to OW and fly BA. They offer Y+ which is the perfect solution for his (and most business people I know) needs: You get more than your average sardine can, but it costs a fraction of the J class fare.

DLP