More Seats to Israel, One Fewer Sure Thing in Midtown

United Airlines returns to a full twice-daily Newark–Tel Aviv schedule starting Sept. 8, restoring capacity just ahead of the Rosh Hashanah and Sukkos travel window, when kosher-observant travelers most need seats on this route. The added frequency gives advisors real leverage against El Al's effective pricing power on the lane and should loosen award-seat availability heading into the fall Yom Tov season. Given the route's history of abrupt suspensions tied to regional conditions, the standard advice still applies: keep clients on flexible fare classes and hold off finalizing connecting itineraries until closer to departure. For families and groups pricing Sukkos travel to Israel, this is the window to start building itineraries — before the pre-holiday fare run-up — with rebooking flexibility treated as a default, not an add-on, on this lane.

The Dunkin' at 34th Street in Midtown Manhattan, directly across from Yeshiva University's Beren campus, has lost its kosher certification from Rabbi Mehlman/National Kosher Supervision — with no change to exterior signage to mark the switch. For advisors routing frum students, seminary groups, or business travelers through Midtown, it's a plain reminder that a posted certificate is not a standing guarantee: hechsher status can lapse without notice, and travelers relying on memory, old photos, or outdated directories risk an inadvertent kashrus misstep. The practical takeaway is procedural, not just local — build real-time certification checks into any itinerary that assumes a specific kosher vendor will be available, particularly near dense institutional corridors like the Beren campus where foot traffic assumes continuity of kosher options that may no longer hold.