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Update: Today is your last chance to use your AMEX Business Gold Rebate for El Al flexible vouchers.
During COVID, El Al introduced an excellent program that allowed for the conversion of flights into vouchers that could be used by anyone, regardless of where you booked your flight.
That program went away on 12/31/22, though it was brought back with a fee last May.
After the October 7th attacks, the free voucher program resumed. Currently, you can convert El Al flights into vouchers with no fees for travel through 4/30.
The vouchers can be used by anyone by 12/31/25 for travel through 11/30/26. The vouchers can be used for up to 9 passengers at a time and they keep their residual value. You can also use multiple vouchers to book a ticket.
If you have an AMEX Business Gold Card you can receive a rebate of 25% of the points used for a paid ticket, but this rebate ends on 1/31. If you have an AMEX Business Platinum Card you can receive a rebate of 35% of the points used for a paid ticket, this rebate will continue to work after 1/31. That effectively values your AMEX points at 1.33 cents (Business Gold) or 1.54 cents (Business Platinum) each towards paid airfare. The catch is that the rebate is only available in economy or premium economy tickets on select US airlines. It’s only available in business or first class on all other airlines worldwide.
However thanks to the voucher system, you can book El Al business class tickets at a value of 1.33 or 1.54 cents per AMEX point, turn them into a voucher, and then use the voucher to book economy or premium economy tickets for anyone.
You can also lock in future business class savings if you have a Business Gold card that’s losing the rebate after 1/31.
You can back up to 250K points via rebate per calendar year on the Business Gold card. On the Business Platinum card, the rebate cap is 1M points per calendar year.
Unfortunately, it does take several days from when you cancel a ticket until you get the voucher.
From what I understand, US travel agents like AMEX collect a commission from El Al for flights that originate in the US, but not for flights that originate from Israel. If you book business class tickets from Tel Aviv to North America with AMEX points rather than the reverse when converting them into an El Al voucher, there’s no unnecessary loss or cost to El Al.
With the AMEX Gold rebate ending next week, it’s a good opportunity to trade points at a value of 1.33 cents each for a voucher that will be useable for flights through 11/30/26. Will you take advantage of this redemption offer?
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28 Comments On "Last Chance To Use AMEX Business Gold Rebate For El Al Flexible Vouchers"
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Thanks. Definitely will. Have done it in the past as well.
Do travel agents still get a commission when booking flights paid for with vouchers?
They do not anymore, as far as I know.
Can you convert 1 business class ticket to a voucher and then to multiple tickets?
Yes.
Is the voucher transferable to anyone?
Yes.
Is the voucher for the dollar value of the ticket?
Yes.
How long does it usually take until you get back the 35% rebate on the platinum?
+1
Would love to hear how long it takes to get the rebate and also if one should only cancel the elal ticket (and turn it into a voucher) after receiving the rebate.
Many thanks!
How do I book this flight thru the Amex portal or on EL AL website?
would this also work as a way to cash the cap1 Venture x 300 Annual credit?
Sure
Do You have to book by the 31st, or cancel by the 31st for it to be an open ended ticket?
Book by
Hi,
Thanks for this information. I have the Amex business gold, to fully understand I book as many tickets as I want and then cancel them to get a voucher and I will receive the 25% rebate on the points? .
El
Al is not one of the partner airlines listed . How does this work ?
Book a business class ticket.
Rebate works on business class tickets in any airline
I have amex business platinum but El Al is not one of the choices for the chosen airline . How does this work ?
Is there any benefit to choosing delta ?
It was exteded until 30 apr !
Amex doesn’t give the option to cancel for a voucher. The flights are cancelable for a fee.
How can I book a flight that can be canceled for a voucher?
https://www.elal.com/en/PassengersInfo/Pages/CreditSteps.aspx
Bought a business class ticket a few weeks ago to turn into a voucher to gain this benefit, I just tried to turn it into a voucher and elal website says that “the ticket you entered does not qualify for any benefit” any ideas what I can do to get the voucher?
Just realized that I by mistake booked the flight date for after 04/30… any ideas what I can do to get a voucher?
How long do I need to wait after the booking to request the voucher? Can I do it right away on ElAl’s website?
Thanks!
+1
In the future, expect to be able to use miles from programs like ANA, Flying Blue, Virgin Atlantic to book El Al flights.
Can please explain? What information you have? That your saying that?
Anyone know why EL AL is flying a dreamliner to LCA on 04/10 @4:50 AM