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Virgin Atlantic announced, and today commenced loading flights between London and Tel Aviv in September. While the first month of flights has yet to populate with award availability, if you push a bit further out in the schedule you’ll see seats are open. The cost? 28k + taxes and fees ( roughly 260 pounds out of London and $60 from TLV to Lon) All and all…for roughly $300 in taxes and fees and 56k is a great deal, and one of the very few lie flat options out of Europe. OMAAT gives a great read on it.
The flights:
- Depart London at 16:00 Arrive TLV at 23:05
- Depart TLV at 6:05 arrive LHR at 9:55
Operated by the A330…
Here’s a look at the London to Tel Aviv routing:
Space is currently populating, but starting in November it’s wide open. Note the fees out of London though.
And then Tel Aviv to London
Virgin Atlantic is a transfer partner of Amex, Citi, and Chase.
Last fall we saw Amex run a 30% transfer bonus to Virgin Atlantic. That is amazing, and if you were able to get in on that deal you could fly roundtrip in upper class for just 44k points. WHAT?! Some of our favorite cards from each issuer are:
- Chase Sapphire Preferred
- Chase Ink Business Preferred
- Chase Ink Business Unlimited
- Citi Thank You Premier
- American Express Gold
- American Express Platinum
- American Express Business Platinum
Wanna make the journey, but not fly business ( Upper Class)? Not many points needed. It is only 5 hours after all 😉
Economy –
- From London: 9k + 153 pounds
- From Israel: 9k + $58
Premium Economy –
- From London: 16k + 247 pounds
- From Israel: 16k + $58
Wanna start in NYC?
You’re looking at
- Economy: 19k + $240
- Premium Economy: 33,500 + $255
- Upper Class: 77,500 + from $608
It wouldn’t surprise me, that at some point, Virgin doesn’t pivot their A330-200 to this route.
What do you guys think?
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account openingÂ
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travelâ„
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travelâ„
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:Â
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.Â
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex®  and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travelâ„ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.Â
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