By Libby Herz
Summer is the time so many travel to Israel. Shmulik Kravitsky, owner of Sky2000 Travel has twenty-seven years of experience as a community travel agent. COLlive.com stopped him from his daily grind with an interview about the busy travel season.
Q. Prices seem to be three or four times more expensive than half a year ago. Do you have any tips for someone looking to book a ticket?
You are 100% correct. Every day, prices go higher to almost each destination. My main advice is to not delay the purchase. People wait on the price of $2,200, and the next day the same ticket is $2,700. You will save money if you purchase as soon as you are ready, especially if traveling during fall and winter.
Q. I follow the news and traveling these days seems like a total mess. Is there a way to get top customer service?
A. Airlines are shorthanded, overwhelmed, and have no time and patience. They no longer have the capacity to provide good customer service. Since you are already paying top dollar to travel, you should at least receive top service. The only place to get that is through a travel agent who still needs your business. Choose a good travel agent and stick with him.
Q. For the past two-and-a-half years, travel agents had very little work because of Covid-19. How did you use the extra time on your hands?
A. I was busy finding new niches to improve my clients’ travel experience. For example, car rentals are very expensive in Israel, so I developed strong contracts with car rental companies. My customers now receive a much better price and service through these contracts.
I also developed strong ties with the private Israeli terminal. My customers now have the option to avoid the chaos of Terminal Three and to receive VIP service in a private terminal.
Last but not least, I brokered a deal with professionals in Israel who are experts in claiming travel compensation for mistreated travelers. Many U.S flights to and from Israel are delayed or canceled and people don’t realize that they may deserve thousands of dollars in compensation. We can now help travelers of USA airlines to receive full compensation.
Q. Based on social media posts, you recently returned from an exciting trip to Israel. Would you share your experience with COLlive.com?
A. I traveled to Israel for the wedding of Dudi Rubinstein’s son. Dudi Rubinstein is the founder and CEO of “Chul Mehudar,” an international platform which is used as a direct channel between top frum travel professionals and leaders of the Israeli tourist and travel industry. The wedding almost turned into an industry event, as so many of them showed up to congratulate Dudi. It was my honor to represent the North American agents and airline management staff.
Q. Did you have any other interesting encounters in Israel?
I met with a number of top executives in the Israeli travel scene. We discussed the special needs of the heimeshe community, and different ways to improve my ability to give clients top customer service.
Q. When calling your office, the impression is that your first choice for trips to Israel is always El Al. Do you receive a higher commission from them 😊?
A. Not at all. But I prefer El Al though because with them, I always have someone to talk to. When a flight is missed, name is misspelled, or special treatment is due, someone at El Al will always bend over backwards to accommodate. The top priority for me is service, and El Al is much more accommodating than any other airline.
Q. Did you meet with any El Al executives on this last trip?
A. Yes. I was honored to meet the new CEO of El Al, Mrs. Dina Ben Tal Ganancia. I expressed my appreciation for El Al’s service. They are extremely helpful to our community. For example, we got from them an amazing price for sixty seminary girls flying to Israel with Morah Gorowitz. They also took special care of thirty boys from Lubavitch Yeshiva with a great price and service. Last year, we arranged for El Al to charter for Beis Shmuel a special dreamliner from New York to Almaty in honor of Chof Av.
In thanks, we presented Mrs. Ben Tal Ganancia with a plaque inscribed with the Rebbe’s words about El Al. The Rebbe said that it is better to fly El Al in order to give profit to a Jewish company. The plaque also quoted a beautiful brocho the Rebbe sent to the former president of Israel, Rubi Rivlin, then the chief security manager for El Al at JFK.
Q. For the past few years, you helped hundreds in our community with complicated Covid related questions such as vaccine and PCR requirements, entry permits and passports issues. Do you have a message to the community about that time period?
I want to say how touched I am by the community. Now that we are living in a slightly less complicated period, so many are flocking to my business out of appreciation for the time I spent helping them be’ezrat Hashem with all the annoying Covid travel-related issues these last thirty months. Thank you all!
VIDEO: A glimpse of the private terminal
Passengers of last year’s Beis Shmuel El Al charter dancing at the Almaty airport
Love your honest caring and thorough service!!
Now everyone can understand why using a travel agent makes so much sense; for years, Sky2000 has been my top pick. Thank you!