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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
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 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)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
- $95 Annual Fee
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:
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.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional 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: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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