Related Posts:
Getting The Most Value Out Of Your Miles
Getting The Most Value Out Of Your Starpoints
What Makes The Starwood Amex The Best Credit Card To Carry And Earn Points With.
It seems like every week someone is asking how to use their Starpoints to get to Israel…so it’s high time I tackled the issue.
There are better values for Starpoints than using them to fly to Israel, but it is definitely an option.
1st off, here is the NYC-TLV reward rates and values per mile adapted from the “Miles” post.
Coach:
Avg. Price-$1,000
Cathay Pacific*-60K Miles (1.67¢/mile)
Continental-70K Miles (1.43¢/mile)
AA*, United*-75K Miles (1.33¢/mile)
Delta-80K Miles (1.25¢/mile)
Business:
Avg. Price-$4,000
Continental, Cathay Pacific*-100K Miles (4.0¢/mile)
United*-115K Miles (3.47¢/mile)
Delta-120K Miles (3.33¢/mile)
AA*-135K Miles (2.96¢/mile)
First:
Avg. Price-$9,000
Cathay Pacific*, United*-140K Miles (6.43¢/mile)
AA*-180K Miles (5.0¢/mile)
*=Travel will be with an alliance partner.
OK, so currently Starpoints transfer into AA, Cathay Pacific, and Delta at a ratio of at a rate of 20,000 starpoints-25,000 miles.
(Continental and United are 20,000 starpoints=15,000 miles or 20,000=20,000 with Starwood direct deposit)
Option A:
With the transfer bonus 50,000 Starpoints will net you 60,000 Cathay Pacific miles, enough for the Round Trip to Israel.
Option B:
You can also use those same 60,000 Cathay Pacific miles and book yourself a business class ticket from the US to anywhere in Europe and then fly a cheap flight into Israel.
Option C:
Look into the Nights AND Flights option detailed in the “Getting The Most Value Out Of Your Starpoints” Post.
Stay tuned for a post in which I will explain the intricacies of Cathay Pacific’s Asia Miles!
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10 Comments On "Converting Starpoints Into A Trip To Israel…"
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Any special deals $$$ or mileagwise to Australia for PesacH??
you simplified it so well!
thanks!
Thank you very much for a informative post (once again!!)
One question (and I hope you take the minute to answer..) When you write Cathay Pacific miles what do you mean? asia miles or marco polo??
Thanks Again!
hi!
thanx for the article,
one question thought-i am trying to buy a flight to israel with united airlines miles-ive got about 80,000. They told me a round trip in economy is aobut 75K, however they only have with 1 or 2 stopovers! do you know if i can get a flight with only one or no stopovers-i called united direclty….is there any other way to go about redeeming your miles and still having a decent flight??
thank you for your time
As I said in the article, mileage tickets to Israel with AA, Cathay Pacific, or United are with partner carriers, as none of them fly to TLV.
Currently Continental(EWR-TLV) and Delta(ATL-TLV) are the only US based airlines offering nonstop US-TLV service.
With AA you would go with El Al(non-stop from JFK) or British Airways(via London)
With Cathay Pacific you would go with British Airways(via London)
With United you would go with Air Canada(via Toronto) or Lufthansa(via Frankfurt)
Mind you there are many more options with partners, but it is a complicated subject, perhaps i will write a more in-depth article on airline alliances in the future…
post is gr8, but I’ve got a problem
I was denied the starwoods card b/c of “insufficent credit history”, I thought they go by income………any suggestions, PLEASE
hi again..thanx for your response dan,…im the one whos asked about using my 80000 miles. I dont get it, they are putting me on austrian airlines one way (w/stopover in vienna) and polish airlines onthe way back with 2 stopovers in poland! is there no way to get out of this?!
When you write Cathay Pacific miles what do you mean? asia miles or marco polo??
Continental may be a better deal than Cathay Pacific. With Cathay Pacific, you end up on British, and the UK has MASSIVE taxes on flights. When pricing two roundtrip tickets from TLV to BWI, the taxes were $340 per person on British, only $170 per person on Continental. That difference might well make it worth the extra 10,000 Starwood points.
hey, nice article I am reading here! thanks a lot for the information I can really use!