Jaunted

1. Your Flight Will Not Cost You $10
You didn't actually think the all in cost of your flight would be $10 did you? You aren't that gullible, right? According to Skybus, a minimum of 10 seats on each flight will sell for $10, before taxes and fees. You should figure on $15.00 minimum for taxes and fees. Which means, all in, on your best, luckiest day, you can fly anywhere Skybus flies, roundtrip, for $35.00. Definitely tough to beat, but we have yet to find this $35.00 scenario from Burbank to Columbus--though it was not difficult to find a $35.00 scenario from Portsmouth (which Skybus calls Boston) to Columbus.

2. Your Flight Is $10 For A Reason
Want to check bags? $5.00. Want a pillow? Cough up some cash. Want to pre-board? $10.00. And everyone is subject to advertising both outside and inside the plane. Furthermore, Skybus flight attendants and pilots will not rank amongst the highest paid in the industry, far from it. Finally, Skybus makes you do all your transacting and ticket changing through their website. Again, this is all par for the course when you follow the Ryanair model. Look, if you want $10 fares you have to give up many of the traditional airline comforts, and then some. Think of it like camping...in the sky.

3. Despite What They Say, You Can Call Skybus
No they don't want you to, and you should respect that. Do as much as you can online, and don't use this contact info to call for tickets or flight changes. However, if you get stuck in a customer service quagmire, here is the address to Skybus headquarters as well as the contact info for Skybus and one of their peeps--oh yeah.

Skybus
4181 Arlingate Plz
Columbus, OH 43228
(614) 246-8800

Floyd Nickerson, Vice President, People
floyd.nickerson@skybus.com

4. Skybus Bought Brand New Planes, Configured Them Differently
Skybus is a well funded start up and purchased a fleet of brand new, Airbus A319 airplanes configured with 156 seats, and plans to take delivery of around 80 crafts over the next five years. New airplanes minimize maintenance costs and boost fuel efficiency, and those 156 seats are 24 more than Frontier Airlines uses on a similar craft, increasing Skybus' bottom line, but possibly cramping your comfort.

5. Skybus Is Hubbed In Columbus For A Reason
U.S. census figures rank the city's population 15th in the nation, but up to 6.7 million people live within a 100 mile radius, which makes their prospective "Columbus" customer base fairly large. Delta's Cincinnati hub currently has some of the highest airfares in the nation, but the Cincy is over 100 miles from C-bus. Will people drive two hours plus to board a Skybus flight? If the overall savings means hundreds of dollars to the consumer count on it. However, if gas prices keep increasing, coupled with Delta and other major carriers matching Skybus fares out of Cincinnati, it could be a tough road for Skybus.

[Photo: drust]

Related Stories:
· Skybus Coverage [Jaunted]

tc in dc
Jaunted Member

C-bus is NOT a hub, technically (none / 0)

You forgot one of the most controversial aspects of all this: technically, every flight you take begins or ends in Columbus.  Think you're just making a connection there?  Not according to Skybus--and therefor not according to the government either.  Meaning, if you miss your "connection," you're just a no-show, and they owe you NOTHING.  And that's just what they'll pay you, also.

They are quite clear about this.  You must buy two separate tickets.  You must claim, then re-check (and re-pay for) your bag.  And they do not, ever, give refunds.

Sure, maybe if you really only paid $35 for that ticket, you won't mind.  But their fares quickly go north of that.  When people start having to fork out $150+ for their 27" of legroom in a commission-based flying showroom, they're going to get really angry really fast when they find out they they get to shell out another $150 because their inbound was late.

I really think Skybus will get a rep very, very quickly for being one notch below Greyhound as a travel experience, and will either have to change these policies, or find themselves flying with People Express and Laker Air.

by tc in dc on 5/21/2007 at 5:27 PM

markj
Jaunted

@ tc in dc (none / 0)

SO TRUE.

I had that one on my list too, but didn't want to do six.  Should not have left that out.  You make an excellent point.  Every ticket you buy is one way.  Connecting with Skybus is really a non-starter.  You need to look at every ticket you buy with them as a separate and distinct flight--no connections.

by markj on 5/21/2007 at 7:13 PM

SickofDeltaPrices
Jaunted Member

Will Cincinnatians Come? Hell Yeah! (none / 0)

Having put up with Delta's "Simple Fare" scam (since releasing this program in 2004, they back to their old high priced tricks), Cincinnati travelers are back to using regional alternatives to the stupid prices Delta attempts to charge out of CVG.

As a regular business traveler (approx. 45k mile per year), most of my flights are now out of Dayton.  If the prices where marginally lower, that would be one thing.  But you typically pay almost twice from CVG vs. Day, Columbus, or Indy!

With the significant % of the Cincy metro area in NW Hamilton, Warren, and Butler counties, driving to Columbus in easy.  As for gas prices:  compare a $50 tank of gas to $250 more per airline ticket from CVG.  No contest.

Delta, you're going to loss in CVG.  Its just a matter of time.  And when you pack up and leave (hurray!), travel in Cincinnati will be much better off!

by SickofDeltaPrices on 6/01/2007 at 11:04 AM

scavenge
Jaunted Member

one more thing... (none / 0)

6.  if they cancel your flight they'll leave you high and dry and your budget travel dream will likely become an expensive ordeal.

-No extra flights scheduled to accommodate canceled passengers here.

-No agreements to get you home on other airlines.

-- all you'll get are weak offers of "standby" in the next fews days [yes days - not a typo, most routes are one flight a day] ... or of course a refund which you can put towards your insanely expensive last minute one way flight to get you home.

by scavenge on 8/20/2007 at 9:24 PM

Walker Evans
Jaunted Member

I tried it... (none / 0)

A few months ago. Flew to San Francisco (via Oakland) and had a good time. Was around $160 (after fees, taxes, and food) for me and my wife round-trip. I'd do it again instead of paying four times that for a different airline.

by Walker Evans on 10/13/2007 at 1:54 AM

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