My wife and I stayed at the Dan Hotel in Herziliya for 3 1/2 weeks and the program is so stingy we earned about one 1/2 of one free hotel stay. One of the reasons Israelis don't participate in reward programs is they're so cheap compared to Multi-national companies such as United Airlines, British Air, Hyatt Hotels.

Its bigger in America because people are frequent fliers just to get around their own country. In Israel, on the other hand, you would need to be a frequent flier to travel abroad. See how many Americans do that.

If the Israeli credit card companies would be more generous with miles for purchases, as in other countries, there would be a great leap in frequent flyer membership

1. The North American air carriers charge NO fee to be a member of the mileage club whereas Elal charges a fee. 2. Getting the most from a mileage club requires brand loyalty... someting Israelis are not interested in. 3. Using miles requires following rules!

Israel has quite a large proportion of poor people given that it;s a "Western" country.

Israel's poor (or indeed the fact that there are going to be ONE MILLION people receiving food parcels this Pesach) isnt of any major interest when we can talk about frequent flyer miles, and real estate purchases............ Sometimes I wonder whether or not we really do all live in the same country.