I hate to have to bash ElAl every day – especially in the spirit of the 60th year Independence Celebrations, but this takes the industry Hutzpah award.
ElAl flyers received a nice email with this ad:
Wow, we all said – little old Israel makes it to the world frequent flyer stage. Well, not quite. Kind of like saying “Deadly Deception: General Electric, Nuclear Weapons and our Environment” came in first place in the 1991 Oscars. True, “Silence of the Lambs” did, but these guys did win the Documentary short subject category. Never mind.
As far as our National Airline – there is no way they would come out even good on any frequent flyer scale. BUT, they did do a promotion of a 20% bonus when transferring Credit Card points for 2 months in 2007. Somehow, they won the Europe, Middle East and Africa (look out Trans Air Congo!) category. But that’s it – not the first place best of best the ad would lead one to assume.
Not to knock the Freddie Awards (Randy Peterson is to frequent flyers what Barry Bonds is to steroid user, but for longer), but a few facts that cause me to question this absurd award:
1. 20% off Visa transfers is nice, but you still need to spend about a few hundred thousand dollars to get a “bonus” ticket to the US. You also need to do this in a 3 year window.
2. A “bonus” ticket means you get to pay a lot – $500 to New York. Used to be free. For about $800 I can get a non-bonus ticket – sometimes even on ElAl.
I like the service, the food, the security, the family environment, skilled pilots, the Gold Card perks but their points are worthless. I suggest that ElAl make monthly mailings of monopoly money to their flyers. Same thing.
Glutton for punishment? – More posts on ElAl Frequent Flyer Program – general, VIP’s, citibank and more. Or just read about continental.
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Filed under: ElAl, Flights, Frequent Flyer Miles, Perks and Tips | Tagged: drop-off, airline seat, Best Seats, Israeli food, lost bags, airfare bargains, airport lounge, non-stop flights, luggage fee, AA Airlines, LY, airline lounge, avis car rental, budget car, best flyers, Mileage Plus
The freddie awards are usually real good. Don’t know what happened. Same like Dana International winning the Eurovision. Perhaps god does have a sense of humor.
[...] for punishment? – More posts on ElAl Frequent Flyer Program - freddie award, VIP’s, citibank and more. Or just read about continental. Related [...]
[...] for punishment? – More posts on ElAl Frequent Flyer Program – general, freddie award, citibank and more. Or just read about continental. Related [...]