ElAl Frequent Flyer Awards worth less than a Big Mac at the airport

Thats it?

Yes. Amazing Fact. Do the math:

Lowest fare ticket to London earns 25 points one way. 36 Oneway flights gives you 900 points required for the “bonus fare”. Bonus fare is $340. Regular fare is about $650. So you save $310 = about $9 bonus. Or “half-Chai” in appeal-speak. Thats about 30 NIS which can’t even buy a hamburger at the airport.

And don’t forget – ElAl miles expire after 3 years no matter what you do. So, if you can’t squeeze in enough flights in that window, you get their most popular award – BUPKIS.

Compare to any airline in the industry or even in the oneworld or star alliance and 10 round trips to Europe will get you a FREE ticket to Europe or Asia. Or – two round trips to California gets a FREE ticket to Singapore.

To be fair – ElAl does have the advantage of special upgrades and perks for its real frequent travelers.

Pass it on.

Glutton for punishment? – More posts on ElAl Frequent Flyer Program – freddie award, VIP’s, citibank and more. Or just read about continental.

Getting to LGA from Manhattan

I usually stay in Manhattan and getting to Newark or Kennedy is easy (max 30 minutes from Penn Station).

This trip – I had to be in LGA at 7am (for an AirTran flight). Cab would probably be at least $40. Israeli car service $30 + tips and tolls. Public transportation is almost non-existent.

This trip – I used Supershuttle. Call 1-800-BLUE-VAN or http://www.supershuttle.com and they book you a 15 minute slot in a shared van. Time to airport is about 45-60 minutes from Manhattan. Its $18 (including tip) and when you get to the airport your fellow passengers will wish you a good trip. Pass it on.

Price is per person – so if you are not alone – take a cab or Israeli car service.
AND BEWARE – LGA is a really bad airport – lots of delays. Non Existent service in the terminal.

This post is in the category of useful information on the ground. Here is one about buying a mobile phone in the US and this one is how to maximize a new york layover.

elal airfare increase

Just got an email from ElAl – due to $117 oil, fares go up on average 6.5% on May 1. This reflects the overal trend in the airline industry.

SO, if you have already booked a flight – buy it before May 1.

Of course, check cancellation policy and change fee if that may be a possibility.

And question to our readers – will there be a similar price drop when oil goes down?

See other posts about ElAl prices going up and down – finding hidden bargains on ElAl’s website, the airfare increase due to $147 oil , special business class deals, the increased “price” for EL AL free tickets, some general tips for finding cheap airfare and more. This post even has some hope that the American Airlines and ELAL codeshare willl change pricing.

Cheap Dollar – Buy in USA

My parents would always return from US with 14 suitcases loaded with clothes, shoes, toys, tuna, plastic bags, etc. The zionist reality did not include purchasing low quality expensive stuff in Israel.

While I like a nice trip to the Galleria as much as the next woman – in the past few years buying in the US lost most of its financial benefit. (Losing 2 suitcases on Delta – never to be found, did not help much) .

Now that the NIS/$ exchange rate is so low – it really pays to buy in the states. Todays case in point – crocs

80 NIS ($22) at Nordstroms vs. 200 NIS at LaMitayel

When a commodity product, like crocs cost 2.5x in Israel – take your business elsewhere and tell them I sent you.

Kosher restaurant in the south bay area

While personally I keep to Kosher dietary rules, even when travelling abroad, I do not look for Kosher certificates and just try to keep on the ‘safe’ side (eating lots of Salmon, of course). But on my last trip I was challenged with the need to find a Kosher restaurant with a colleague he keeps to a stricter standard. Finding a Kosher restaurant in the south bay area of San Francisco was a challenge though. There are not many of them around. However, he found Izzy’s Brooklyn Cafe on 783, El-Camino Real, Sunnyvale, 408-523-1333. It is located in a strip mall beside the road with ample parking (it is California after all). We had an excellent Moroccan Soup, fish, falafel, and salads. Not quite on the cheap side but still quite reasonable. Shlomi, who attend to us was very nice and polite, originally from Petach Tiqva, now works in two such restaurants in the area. He was eager to please, set down to chat a little, all in a very pleasant way. We returned there for another meal later in the week, and my friend was there again with his father and brother. Lunch for three was $49 including tip, and lunch for two was $37 including tip.

And some posts about – water at the airport, kosher restaurants in LA and a horror story in the air.

Searching for cheaper airfare

I guess that looking for cheaper airfares is always a priority for the traveler even though there are quite a few parameters that are important too when making travel arrangements. But let us admit it once and for all – there is no thrill like the thrill you get when you know that the guy sitting next to you paid $100 more than you paid on exactly the same itinerary, and pleasure increases exponentially as the price difference and percent grows. And of course, it works vice versa too. Multiple ways exist today to get such lower fares but recently I stumbled on a web site, www.cfares.com, that takes a different approach on getting us such low prices. It claims to connect the user directly with airlines, the major travel sites and wholesalers and that way to be able to proved low fares. While I did not yet order a ticket from them, I checked a few possibilities and prices seemed to be lower anywhere between $25 on the cheap routes to $500 on a business class trip to silicon valley in California. It will be interesting to get more feedback about this site as people try and get tickets and other reservations using them.

See other posts about ElAl prices going up and down – finding hidden bargains on ElAl’s website, the airfare increase due to $146 oil,the airfare increase due to $147 oil , special business class deals, the increased “price” for EL AL free tickets, and more. This post even has some hope that the American Airlines and ELAL codeshare willl change pricing.

Priceline- Cheapest car rental in JFK- sometimes

Using Priceline to rent cars is the way to go in JFK- in the range of $25 to $35 per day- not including insurance- However despite the claim on Priceline site that cars can be picked up a few hours before the official time – in reality on my last trip to NY- the car rental company wanted an additional $250 to pick up the car 3 hours earlier- as the rental period began at 12:01 AM and I wanted to pick it up at 10PM. Earlier means the same calendar day!

See other posts about Using Zipcar, Car Rental Refueling Charges, Car Rental Dropoff charges and general Car Rental Scams.

Pesach Airfare Price Drop

I thought I was being smart ordering my Pesach tickets in advance (1 month ago). I paid $1200-$1300 a person (times 6!). I bought the tickets on Expedia, as an elite member and 2 days ago I found better flights for $1000 each. It seems like ElAl has taken the unusual step of dropping prices by several hundred dollars before Pesach.

Unfortunately, due to Delta’s $200 cancellation fee – this won’t really help me.

Hope this information is helpful for someone else.

Bad Kosher Airline food – funny?

Right now I am on the plane eating my “Economy Class Chicken Dinner” for breakfast and I am thinking of yesterdays kosher meal on Turkish Airlines. Worst ever. And I have had a lot of bad ones, including 18 lettuce only salads once.

Please don’t read this if you plan to eat in the next 3 hours.

First bad sign – its anonymous. No marking of the supplier, caterer or even the exterminator. Not on all the wrappings, tapes, plastics. Its not like they forgot – they remembered a tri-language statement of kashrut by 2 French Rabbi’s (do Ashkenazic people really not trust a Sephardic Rabbi (and vice versa)). I am sure the French version advised them not to eat it.

Next bad sign – 2 round metal cans. First glance at the can and it looks just like Tuna fish. Second glance – it is Basque Tuna – a dish which is basically (no offense to the Basque who, were it not for the tuna disaster might have my support for an independent homeland some day), cat-food quality tuna with a little rice filler and warmed up. Do not try this at home!

A can of tuna is best at room temperature (not Jet engine blasted). Luckily, the heat of the can (and the thought of the contents) distracted me as I turned to the second can, which was for sheer variety – Salmon Pate.

After a trial forkful (I would not have dared this if I was not helpless, extraterrestial and starving 37,000 feet in the air) both cans were trashed. I apologize to Mr. Chicken or Beef next to me for the horrible dead fish smell coming from my meal (and later from under the seat where I stuffed it).

If all else fails – desert should be edible. Not even close. Lets just say this mysterious French company does NOT have a non-compete with GERBERS. Desert was a mushed banana and apple dish. Its been a while, but I recall gerbers being tastier.

I am sure you have deep sympathy for my experience, but it gets worse. Finally, I fall asleep on my empty stomach and wake up to Breakfast. Kosher. Guess what?

Its the exact same thing again. And this time – I was beaten – I ate it. I will never touch tuna, salmon, banana or apples again. The Basque can forget their country (stick with Boise, ID) and the entire country of France should lose all their Michelin stars for allowing this to happen.

I think in general Kosher food out of Europe is bad. Out of Israel, at least you get something reasonably fresh (besides airport security and airline safety). In US the field is competitive and no one wants an in-flight death (or worse – a lawsuit) on their hands. But Europe – forget it.

And some posts about – water at the airport, kosher restaurants in LA and the Bay Area .

Selecting an Airline Seat

More than once in the past I selected or got a seat on an airplane that just did not fit my needs. Personally, I prefer aisle seats that are as close as possible to the exit door of the aircraft I am flying on. The reason is simple, most of my flights are long haul international flights and once we hit the gate I want to be out and on my way. Whatever the reason, more than once I had this misfortune of selecting a seat that turned out to be a very poor selection on my part. Now if I go on an aircraft that I am less familiar with, either because I did not fly it before or by an airline I did not use prior to this trip, I use the Seat Guru, a web site that provides seating information on most major airlines of the world. You are welcome to try it out at www.seatguru.com.