Travel Agent Explains the Current Flight Conditions to Israel

By Sruly Meyer for COLlive

Travel expert Shmulik Kravitsky, owner of Sky2000 Travel, sheds light on the current state of flights to the Holy Land of Israel and offers valuable insights into obtaining the most competitive prices in an interview with COLlive.com.

What was it like to be a travel agent the first few weeks after the war broke out?

Let’s start at the beginning. What happened to the Israeli travel market right after the war broke out? It was total chaos. You had literally tens of thousands of people who crossed the Atlantic to Israel and from Israel to spend the holidays away from home. As soon as the war broke out and all those massive flight cancellations started to happen, there was a tremendous amount of panic. Parents and kids, and entire families were doing everything possible to try to get a flight home. I can say that those three weeks after the war was by far the hardest that I ever worked for over 30 years I’m in the business. I spent as much as 20 hours a day trying to accommodate my customers, as well as some that weren’t even my own customers. In the beginning, there were more options, and Baruch Hashem, we did everything possible and brought people home.

Why is El Al the only airline currently flying to and from Israel?

El Al is the only airline flying. This is correct, and it seems it will continue to be that way at least for a couple more months, that we know. There are a number of reasons why all the other airlines stopped flying to Israel. The first reason is that the pilots and the crew are not ready to take a risk and land in a country where they can get hit by a missile. As long as there is an active war zone in Israel with missiles being launched every single day, airlines will not start flying again.

The second reason is that international insurance companies are charging a very high amount of money for every hour that an aircraft is staying in a war zone. In many cases, this insurance bill makes it not worthwhile. The third reason is that they do not believe it’s a big demand for tourists to travel into a war zone, so they don’t think they’re going to fill up the planes. El Al, on the other hand is committed to keeping the Israeli skies open. El Al is the only airline that is insured in Israel. It doesn’t cost them so much extra to operate or not operate during the war.

Since El Al is the only airline flying, do you think they are taking advantage?

No, I really don’t. El Al is absolutely not taking advantage of the situation, but quite the opposite. I’ll explain, the first few weeks after the war broke out, private charter organizers filled up right away. Within hours of the Yom Tov ending, there were full planes charging $2,500 per seat one-way. At the same time, El Al, for a few weeks, was committed to charge only $749 for a one-way ticket, and they filled up the full capacity of their planes both ways. They helped countless people to get home for fairly affordable prices, way below the private charter market.

Why are we still seeing that the prices are very high for the winter season?

The travel industry has a system with its pricing that’s based on the inventory of seats. Starting with the first 10 or 20 seats, which are priced very low. Then, when the demand is very high, like Yom Tov and other seasonal times you will see coach tickets climbing all the way to $3,200 a ticket.

El Al decided to avoid that and not let the fares get that high, due to the high demand and limited supply of airlines flying. They capped the top to about $1,800 a ticket, even if the flight is totally full. They won’t sell one seat over that, but in order to do that, they had to raise the bottom pricing to approximately $1,400. They’re making the same money, just pricing it differently. It becomes more fair, as it’s more equal as the middle becomes more affordable across the board. We really should be thankful because this method will save many from overpriced tickets.

Why is it that most people tend to turn to travel agents more than booking online at difficult times like now?

We see an increase in agents handling ticketing when current events create an uncertain time. People would rather have a professional on their side, just in case something is not going well. However, it’s not only that, when you don’t see a seat available online, most of the time a travel agent can get you a seat on that flight. If you see that the price is still higher than it should be, a travel agent can sometimes get it to you a little lower. If you need to deal with credit vouchers or are not traveling when you think and have to reuse that ticket or transfer it to somebody, it’s so much simpler when a professional does it for you.

So do you have a tip? What should one do to travel to Israel at the most affordable price?

This is not just for now, but for always. Try to book as early as you can. Even though it’s not going to be a big savings now, you can save three, four hundred dollars. However, if you’re planning to go February or March or Summer, now is definitely the time to pay for those tickets because they are much cheaper now and it will go up soon. You are not risking anything by buying them earlier because you can take advantage of the El Al protection plan. If you end up not traveling, you will get a voucher transferable to anybody to be used until the end of 2025. You can travel until the end of 2026. That’s a win-win deal.

How far in advance do you recommend?

To secure the best prices, I suggest 6 months in advance, but if you don’t have that much time ahead, even 4-6 weeks will make a big difference.

Thank you to Mr. Kravitsky for your expertise and suggestions.