By Jacob Kamaras
LA JOLLA, California — Here’s the good news: You’re headed to Israel! Better yet, rather than a cumbersome multi-stop flight, you’ve booked a direct trip to Tel Aviv on El Al Airlines from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Here’s the bad news: You live in San Diego, so it’s quite a schlep to travel to LAX, let alone to Israel.
That scenario is far from hypothetical not only for Jewish community members, but for any San Diegan looking to travel from LAX due to its wider array of affordable nonstop flights.
Yet now, a pair of Jewish brothers, David and Aaron Shafer, have a launched a business to solve precisely this dilemma. Their new reLAXsan service picks up passengers from three shuttle stops in San Diego County — Old Town, Sorrento Valley/Del Mar, and Oceanside/Carlsbad — while providing pick-up and drop-off at the arrivals level of their designated LAX terminal. The service costs $68 per person, and $48 for passengers under age 18.
David Shafer, a travel enthusiast, moved to San Diego nine years ago and recalls that within his first year living in the area, he was already disappointed with the options for traveling to LAX for an international flight. Involving an unsavory combination of getting to the train station, the train ride from San Diego to downtown Los Angeles, and then a cab or shuttle bus to LAX, the journey could take up to five or six hours. Ouch.
A University of Pittsburgh graduate who studied civil engineering, David had been working in project management for the defense contractor General Atomics, but he always wanted to start his own business — and always received enthusiastic feedback from his friends on the idea for a San Diego-to-LAX shuttle.
David, 34, eventually earned his MBA from San Diego State University’s Fowler College of Business. He began working on reLAXsan just a week after graduation.
His brother Aaron Shafer, 28, who has a background in digital marketing and studied at Indiana University, got a visit from David last summer in Indianapolis. Aaron, too, was enthused by the shuttle idea — so much so that the brothers decided to become business partners, with David handling the operations and Aaron managing the marketing.
“We haven’t lived in the same city since I was in high school, so reconnecting has been really rewarding,” David tells San Diego Jewish World. “I wouldn’t be where I am today in the business without him. We really balance each other out within the business, as far as our expertise goes.”
After obtaining state and airport approvals as well as commercial driver’s licenses, David and Aaron officially launched reLAXsan in July. Aaron has relocated to San Diego in order to work on the business.
For now, the shuttle operates seven days a week, seating up to 14 passengers per trip. The service’s schedule is optimized for avoiding traffic, although David acknowledges that it cannot be completely averted, especially on Friday afternoons. “That’s just SoCal for you,” he says.
As far as that nonstop flight to Israel goes, it usually takes off at about 11 a.m. or 2 p.m. from LAX, depending on the day — and the Shafer brothers stand ready to ensure that the travel time to LAX doesn’t add too much of a burden to the already-lengthy journey in the air to Tel Aviv.
For more information, visit GOreLAXsan.com or email contact@gorelaxsan.com.
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Jacob Kamaras is editor and publisher of San Diego Jewish World.
Very Nice article. Nice to see YOUNG JEWISH ENTERPRENEURS.
They even spelled our name right!
We try…