Air France-KLM and EL AL have just rolled out a loyalty collaboration, and this includes reciprocal opportunities to earn and redeem miles. The most exciting development here is the ability to redeem Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles for travel on EL AL, so I wanted to go over the details of that in this post.
I continue to be impressed by the direction that the Flying Blue program is taking, as we see more and more interesting partner award redemption opportunities rolled out. This latest development follows Flying Blue recently adding award redemptions on Etihad and adding award redemptions on Oman Air.
The basics of redeeming Flying Blue miles on EL AL
It’s now possible to redeem Flying Blue miles for travel on EL AL directly through the Flying Blue website and app. EL AL doesn’t belong to any major global airline alliance, and while it has loyalty partnerships with programs like Alaska Mileage Plan and Delta SkyMiles, the redemption opportunities aren’t great in some cases.
There are several things to note about redeeming Flying Blue miles on EL AL:
- The award pricing seems to be route based, so pricing isn’t consistent by region
- Award pricing is per segment, so if you fly multiple segments, the pricing is additive
- Flying Blue allows stopovers on one-way awards, but that’s not of much value when pricing is additive, since you’re paying the per-segment price anyway
- Flying Blue isn’t imposing surcharges on these redemptions, so you won’t have to pay much cash for these tickets
- Redemptions are available in business class, premium economy, and economy
- Award availability on EL AL is unfortunately quite limited, especially for redemptions in premium cabins
- This opportunity is useful for those with transferable points currencies, since Flying Blue partners with all major transferable points currencies, and we also often see transfer bonuses, which could be an opportunity to get even more value
Flying Blue’s redemption rates on EL AL are quite competitive, especially when you consider how easy the points are to earn. DansDeals has a rundown of redemption rates, but generally speaking, you can expect to pay the following:
- One-way economy awards from the United States to Israel cost 44,000-61,000 miles
- One-way premium economy awards from the United States to Israel cost 80,500-110,000 miles
- One-way business class awards from the United States to Israel cost 77,500-106,500 miles
Yes, in some cases business class is cheaper than premium economy, and I don’t really get that. Regardless, this new opportunity is the best option for using transferable points currencies for travel on EL AL, in a vast majority of cases.
It’s possible to earn Flying Blue miles on EL AL
While perhaps less exciting than the redemption opportunities, it’s worth noting that you can also earn Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles for travel on EL AL, assuming the flight is marketed and ticketed by the airline. Below you can find the mileage earning chart.
Flying Blue no longer awards XPs (the metric by which you earn elite status) for travel on non-SkyTeam partners, so EL AL flights wouldn’t count toward elite status.
Bottom line
Flying Blue has rolled out award redemptions on EL AL, which is a cool development. Redemption rates are reasonable, and there are no carrier imposed surcharges. This is a useful option for those with transferable points currencies to redeem miles for EL AL, including in premium cabins.
What do you make of redeeming Flying Blue miles on EL AL?
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