Lufthansa to launch credit card for Israeli flyers

Lufthansa, Europe's second-largest commercial carrier, provides fourteen weekly flights to Tel Aviv from Frankfurt.

By BEN SALES
lufthansa 248 88 (photo credit: Courtesy)
lufthansa 248 88
(photo credit: Courtesy)
The Israeli credit card company CAL and German airline Lufthansa have come together to present a credit card to Israeli customers that would award them airline miles from Miles & More, Lufthansa's frequent flyer program. Lufthansa, Europe's second-largest commercial carrier, provides fourteen weekly flights to Tel Aviv from Frankfurt and has been flying to Israel for 40 years. Miles & More currently has 165,000 customers. Customers who purchase the Miles & More credit card, which is a MasterCard, from CAL will earn miles from Lufthansa with each purchase, in addition to a 3,000 mile bonus upon purchase of the card. Customers will also earn more miles when buying from CAL-partner businesses. Miles earned on the card will remain valid as long as the card is active, thus eliminating the mile expirations that exist in the Miles & More program. "We're constantly looking for ways to surpass our customers' expectations when expanding our local Miles & More partner portfolio," said Ofer Kisch, county manager of Lufthansa in Israel. "This exclusive collaboration between our frequent flyer program and CAL has been tailor-made to fit the needs of today's global travel." The program will also benefit CAL, which has issued over one million credit cards to Israeli customers by allowing them to pool their resources with those of an international airline. "Lufthansa is one of the best-known and most respected global airlines serving the Israeli market," said CAL CEO Boaz Cechik. "CAL's expertise as the largest Israeli credit card issuer makes us the perfect partner for a global airline like Lufthansa and their customers." The MasterCard will be available with both Gold and Platinum options-which will each credit customers with miles at specific rates-and will also provide miles for a host of central- and eastern-European airlines that participate in Miles & More.