How to Get to Israel With Minimal Out-of-Pocket Expense

A visit to Israel has long been on my bucket list. I grew up in church, and I've continued to attend my whole life. It goes without saying that most of the events in the life of Jesus Christ happened in this tiny corner of the Middle East.

Because I'm in Europe for a semester, it made this trip more feasible for my family. I'd considered going with just my wife last year, but decided to wait to take the kids too. Flights to Israel from Vilnius or Riga were both a little more than $100 each one-way. Flights back were only a slight bit more. Therefore, I decided to use some travel cash-back from recent signup bonuses that my wife and I both earned on the Capital One Venture card.

Folks back in the states do not have this option of really cheap flights to the Holy Land, but that does not mean that it's impossible to make this pilgrimage work out fairly easily. There are some pretty easy strategies that can help singles and couples achieve the goal. Families could also make the trip happen, but the process would get more involved with an increased number of children (if you decide you want to take them along--I did, or I would have gone a year before). 

Me at the Mount of Olives

First, from the US, you'll need to get flights to Tel Aviv (TLV). Few religious sites are near Tel Aviv, but it's the only airport in the country that offers international flights, so you'll have to fly into TLV. Jerusalem is a 45-minute (or so, depending on traffic) drive from the airport. Fortunately, there are many airlines that fly to Tel Aviv, including some US-based flights. 

From my experience, one of the best airlines for getting award flights is United. For my friends in the Denver area, you're in luck. You have access to a United hub. United also has flights from many airports all across the US. Delta also offers flights to Tel Aviv from the US. All three major legacy carriers in the US have partners that can get you to Israel. 

The Walls of the Old City and the Jaffa Gate

Round-trip flights from the US to the Middle East on United and their partners are 85,000 miles (42,500 one-way). Fortunately, United sometimes offers a 70,000-mile sign-up bonus for its MileagePlus Explorer card. This higher bonus usually requires $3,000 within three months. The usual bonus is 40,000 or 50,000 miles for $2,000 in spend. 

Therefore, if you normally spend at least $1,000 a month on discretionary expenses, it would pay to wait for the higher offer. Also, sometimes, if you sign up for a MileagePlus account (without applying for the credit card) and then look up a dummy booking (act like you're searching for a flight to anywhere), you'll get a higher bonus offer. Those who have the MileagePlus card also get access to additional award space, so that's another benefit.

An individual could sign up and be really close to getting a ticket. A couple could each sign up and come close to paying for two tickets. The question then comes around of how to pay for the rest. This is where the Chase Sapphire Preferred (referral link) can come in handy. 

I've already written how this is my top recommendation for people who are just getting into the travel rewards game is the Chase Sapphire Preferred. You can get a 50,000-point bonus for spending $4,000 within three months. After getting points for your minimum spend, you'd have at least 54,000 points. 

These Ultimate Rewards points can be transferred straight to United pretty easily at a 1-for-1 ratio. These can also be shared between family members who live in the same household. Therefore, a husband/wife combo could double up (and get a referral bonus in the process) to get nearly 120,000 points combined. This, with one of the United cards with the higher bonus would do the trick for the airfare. 

I'd recommend purchasing one-way tickets so that you can minimize the number of points you'd have to transfer and to ensure that you can get on the same flight. For singles, it wouldn't matter. I've found plenty of options for 42,500 one-way and $5.60 on the outbound flight + $49.14 on the return flight. These costs are taxes that are not erased on reward flights. You can't avoid them easily. Basically, your out-of-pocket cost for two tickets to Israel would be a little more than $100--not bad at all. 

So, to cap this off, if both spouses got both cards (over the course of a year--spaced out at one card per quarter and assuming the max bonus on the United cards and the referral bonus on the Sapphire Preferred), they would have at least 73,000 United Miles each and nearly 120,000 Ultimate Rewards points. It would only take a transfer of 12,000 Ultimate Rewards points each to take care of a round-trip coach flight to Israel at this point. Plus, there would be nearly 100,000 Ultimate Rewards points left over. 

These could go toward hotel transfers to IHG (the parent company of Holiday Inn), which has a hotel within Jerusalem, the Crowne Plaza Jerusalem. This hotel goes for 20,000 points per night for a double occupancy room (or around $125 in cash per night if you want to go that route). 

You could transfer your Ultimate Rewards points and get nearly 5 free nights, or you could use them to go through the Ultimate Rewards portal and redeem them for 1.25 cents for travel expenses like hotels. This would mean that you could get nearly $1,250 to redeem at hotels. (Note that the 465.70 price is in New Israeli Shekels, and there are about 3.6 of those to 1 USD as of November 2018). 

All in all, a couple could sign up for four credit cards combined and get several days to explore Israel. After getting these cards, another solid option would be to look into the Capital One Venture card, which offers $560 worth of travel credit after spending $3,000 over the first three months of holding the card. 

This travel credit can offset hotels, local transportation, and tours. My wife and I doubled up on this bonus to get more than $1,200 off of our travels while in Europe (not to mention other points we used that we already had stashed).

Those who want to make a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Holy Land can definitely make it happen, as long as they have good credit and avoid spending more than they would normally spend in their everyday lives (this would offset the benefits of the bonus). Hopefully, this post has given you an action plan that can help you achieve this goal.

If you decide to sign up for the Chase Sapphire Preferred, you can use my referral link. I'll get a bonus, and you'll get the same bonus you'd get anyway. I'd appreciate the support. 

Also, if you like learning about how to travel cheaply, I'd encourage you to sign up for updates. I love helping people achieve their travel goals.