As of today that is no longer required. You can now book awards for all El Al flights on Qantas.com. Just login and select “Use points – Classic Flight Rewards only.”
There are no fuel surcharges:
Here is the Qantas award chart:
Sample destinations to/from Tel Aviv:
- Zone 1: Larnaca
- Zone 2: Athens, Sofia
- Zone 3: London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Venice, Warsaw, Zurich
- Zone 4: Mumbai
- Zone 5: Bangkok, Beijing, Johannesburg
- Zone 6: Boston, Hong Kong, JFK, Newark, Toronto
- Zone 7: Miami
- Zone 8: Los Angeles, San Francisco
How does that stack up with El Al Matmid rates?
First of all, El Al Matmid adds fuel surcharges that can add up to $150 each way. Qantas doesn’t charge any fuel surcharges for travel on El Al.
Second of all, Qantas can’t book El Al premium economy or first class awards.
It’s also worth noting that Qantas.com won’t let you search for same day flights, though you may have better luck over the phone.
As you can see from this post, you can only transfer Citi ThankYou points, Starpoints, or Marriott points to Qantas. Those points can be earned from AMEX Starwood, Chase Marriott, and Citi Prestige and Premier cards.
- Citi points transfer at a 1:1 ratio.
- 23,333 Starpoints transfer into 70K Marriot points, which transfers into 17.5K Qantas points via a regular mileage transfers
- 90K Starpoints transfer into 270K Marriot points, which transfers into 7 nights at a Marriott hotel and 85K Qantas points via a miles+nights transfer. Those 7 nights can potentially be refunded back into 15K Starpoints, which would mean that 75K Starpoints would turn into 85K Qantas points. You can read all about the nuances of how to maximize that reward in this post.
El Al rates below are for Executive members. A transfer of just 5,000 AMEX points from the US AMEX Membership Rewards program to El Al’s Matmid program will earn you executive status for a year. Points transfer instantly from AMEX to El Al, though it takes about a day after the transfer for the executive status to take effect on your El Al Matmid account. Note that transferred points expire after 36 months and can’t be extended with activity.
Sample comparison of El Al Matmid Executive point requirements vs Qantas points requirements:
- A one-way coach ticket from London to Tel Aviv is 350 Matmid points (17.5K AMEX) in the winter and 400 Matmid points (20K AMEX) in the summer, plus fuel surcharges. With Qantas it’s 20K points year-round and there are no fuel surcharges.
- A one-way business class ticket from London to Tel Aviv is 950 Matmid points (47.5K AMEX), plus fuel surcharges. With Qantas it’s 38K points and there are no fuel surcharges.
- A one-way coach ticket from Bangkok to Tel Aviv is 900 Matmid points (45K AMEX), plus fuel surcharges. With Qantas it’s 35K points and there are no fuel surcharges.
- A one-way business class ticket from Bangkok to Tel Aviv is 2K Matmid points (100K AMEX), plus fuel surcharges. With Qantas it’s 65K points and there are no fuel surcharges.
- A one-way coach ticket from JFK to Tel Aviv is 700 Matmid points (35K AMEX) in the winter and 800 Matmid points (40K AMEX) in the summer, plus fuel surcharges. With Qantas it’s 42K points year-round and there are no fuel surcharges.
- A one-way business class ticket from JFK to Tel Aviv is 2,250 Matmid points (112.5K AMEX), plus fuel surcharges. With Qantas it’s 78K points and there are no fuel surcharges.
- A one-way coach ticket from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv is 900 Matmid points (45K AMEX) in the winter and 1,000 Matmid points (50K AMEX) in the summer, plus fuel surcharges. With Qantas it’s 56K points year-round and there are no fuel surcharges.
- A one-way business class ticket from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv is 2,750 Matmid points (137.5K AMEX), plus fuel surcharges. With Qantas it’s 104K points and there are no fuel surcharges.
Will you use Qantas points for an El Al award?
Leave a Reply
65 Comments On "You Can Now Redeem Qantas Points Online For El Al Travel Between North America And Tel Aviv Without Fuel Surcharges!"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Great Post, Might start usinp my Citi CC’s again…
Thanks Dan! Keep it up.
Thanks.
Potentially better with the Starwood AMEX for non-bonus spend though.
Starwood has other good uses for lots of folks and hard to earn vs CTYP
whats better? TY points makes more sense to use than Starwood no? as Starwood have other good uses like hotels and marriott packages etc…
Sure, if you have TY points, use those.
But I wouldn’t make non-bonuses spend on Citi TY for this purpose. SPG would still be better if you wanted that.
right because of 20:25k transfer but what would be other advantages to use spg over ty cc ,if you have an elal redemption in mind citi gives you 3x for travel and if im not mistaken spg doesnt?
That’s why I said for non-bonus category spend.
SPG transfers directly to Qantas at 20:25 ratio?
No, see the post for options.
Thanks great post!
@Dan
Could I use it for travel between Montreal and NYC on AA without fuel charge?
Is this a better program then BA
Yes.
Not for AA domestic.
What’s the rate between yul-nyc
https://www.qantas.com/fflyer/dyn/flying/using-points-awards-upgrades#qantas
Use http://www.gcmap.com to determine distances.
Wow you actually answered that ???!!!
Hey Dan,
Which airport in North America would you recommend flying out of with ElAL in regards to the downsizing of the planes on many routes.
Coach? Business?
All airports are equal for you?
Coach. Simple jew living in the CLE and will need to fly to another city to get to TLV.
If you have priority pass access, the lounge is right next to the El AL gate in Miami. Miami also offered to check as many bags as we wanted free at the front check-in gate (although I wouldn’t depend on that).
Miami takes more miles than the Northeast.
you can transfer on a 1:1 ratio all TY points or only if you have premier card and even if you have premier only those ty points earned through premier card?
Is this true?
Availability that shows on expert flyer MIA>TLV doesn’t show on Qantas’s search
MIA flights didn’t show up for me either on a number of dates where LY had X inventory
How long will it take to transfer/post SPG points into Qantas program? Will Qantas reserve and hold an award ticket on ElAl until the SPG points are transferred? If so, how do we do that? I want to transfer and use points ASAP and do not want to end up with unused Qantas points
And same question for transferring Marriott to Qantas please
Cant get TLV as a destination
You need to select “Use points – Classic Flight Rewards only”
what is your depart airport ?
its not letting me select a return destination “We can’t find a matching location for ‘tlv'”- any way to get around it?
You need to select “Use points – Classic Flight Rewards only”
What is availability generally like between TLV and NYC using this method?
Looks great when I checked just now. Premium econ seems non-existent.
“Second of all, Qantas can’t book El Al premium economy or first class awards.”
“It’s also worth noting that Qantas.com won’t let you search for same day flights, though you may have better luck over the phone.”
El Al doesn’t either have the option of booking awards online less than 24 hours prior to departure. Must call to book those which come with a $50 “rushed-ticketing fee”.
Difference is that the Qantas call center is a nightmare.
What about transferring Amex Rewards to SPG and then to Marriott?
270k AMEX to 90K Starpoints transfer into 270K Marriot points, which transfers into 7 nights at a Marriott hotel and 85K Qantas points via a miles+nights transfer?
Not a good deal. 270K AMEX should yield more than 85K Qantas+7 Marriott nights.
How?
Just transfer to El Al if that’s what you’re trying to do.
What is the best way to book tiks to Israel with Amex Rewards?
There’s no perfect answer for that, tons of potential options.
Why doesn’t it recognize “TLV” when searching for destination.
https://www.dansdeals.com/airfare-deals/israel-flights/can-now-redeem-qantas-points-online-el-al-travel-north-america-tel-aviv-without-fuel-surcharges/#comment-1341602
What’s the cancelation policy on an award booking ?
Also any data regarding transfer times from typ ? Thanx
Regarding last minute searches;
Just mentioning that I also had trouble with the ELAL call center booking the next flight for my wife when a parent suddenly passed away. They tried to steer me to another day. (There was space available.) When I mentioned that other airlines would be more helpful they HUNG UP. Despite clear records ELAL never apologized.
terrible news all reward space will be gone.
in the past i have called them.
That didn’t happen back when you could use AA miles for El Al. Why should it happen now?
“Second of all, Qantas can’t book El Al premium economy or first class awards.”
BTW I have called Qantas on Sunday and they told me that you can book premium economy for 63,000 miles
Post if you have success booking it.
There will probably be surcharges added in the near future.
Elal charges surcharges for their award tickets and so does qantas on their award tickets.
Even on some elal flights, so don’t be surprised if you will see a few hundred dollars surcharge added.
booked and ticketed LY premium economy 63000 miles
Online or over the phone?
over the phone
I have a question to ask you, were can I reach you?
Basically, 90k Starwood points transfers through Marriot, then to Qantas and you end up with 85k Qantas points and possibly 15k Starwood points back if you can redeem the 7 nights back to points. Isn’t it simpler to sell your Starwood points for $.015, get $1350 and buy a non stop for $1300 (summer flight to Israel) and pocket $50 rather than do all this?? I dont see the value – can someone enlighten me?
As always, the sweet spot with miles is in business class.
or those that dont risk selling their miles
Pls explain! Because i have 200,000of amex rewards points! And i whould like to know whats my best option’s?
Whats the exchange amex-elal?
I think 50 amex = 1 elal
Can you waitlist with Qantas on Elal flights ?
With Matmid points you can do that
no chase UR? First need to create QF account to see availability? any other place to see LY availability? Wish had other options like UA, but w late motzoei shabbos and yom tov, only LY has 1 am. UA 11.30 too early. UA, AA – Can you try to offer 1 am flights? you will generate lots of biz!
planning to fly elal. can earn 5700 quantas. when do they expire? no amex ppints, for one way need 42,000. what is the chance of accumilating 42,000 with 5700 RT EL AL Trips? anything else I can use EL AL points if I have no interest in LY FF Program?
I am about to book a one way ELAL flight using qantas points. I am booking for an adult and infant but I see that there is almost no charges (only a few $) for adding the infant. Will Elal allow the infant to board or will they charge me extra at the checkin counter?
Dan, I no longer see the option for EL AL direct flights on qantas? I followed your advise and transferred my points there, I booked one ticket this month and now it no longer gives me that option, any idea?