Questions and Answers

Lucky,

Avid reader of the blog, and you helped out a friend the other day so I thought I’d ask your advice as well!

I’m starting Rabbinical School in June of 2016 and will be there for one year (hence one-way). I’d like to get there in business or first for baggage allowance and comfort. I have plenty of miles on Delta but no status, and American Airlines platinum status and a decent sum of miles, enough on both for a business class reward probably.

My question is – which alliance partnerships are best to take from the US mainland to Tel Aviv, Israel? I live in San Antonio, but it isn’t relevant where I leave from. A really special trip is more important to me than the shortest, so how would you structure this kind of one way award? It’s strange because it’s one way to the Middle East, but Etihad and Emirates and Qatar airlines are not options because they don’t fly to Israel.

I’d appreciate your help!

Thanks,

Sam S.

Hi Sam! If you want to fly in a premium cabin, you’ll likely need to look at connecting in Europe. Technically you could fly Etihad or Qatar to Amman and then connect to Tel Aviv, but that can be a complicated routing.

For travel in June your options are going to be more limited at this point, so I would definitely book soon. It shouldn’t be too tough with just one person, so I would look at availability on the different carriers and start piecing together a routing.