The Pop Culture Travel Guide

Skybus Schedule Changes Shake Out

3/19/2008 at 8:35 AM
Tags: , , , (all tags)

Ultra LCC Skybus officially announced its new schedule today, and the carrier's now booking tickets through September 2. Just don't try to fly to Niagara Falls or Chattanooga: Service to both cities has been cut.

Out of Columbus, Skybus has also cut frequencies to Milwaukee, "New York" and "Hartford," Connecticut. Similar flight cuts are happening at Piedmont Triad, where service to "New Orleans" will stop, and the airline will only fly once a day to "Chicago," "Philadelphia" and Fort Meyers.

If you're stuck holding a canceled ticket, your options are to rebook, if possible, or get a refund from the airline. (Skybus says it's emailing affected passengers.)

But it's not all bad news for cheapskate flyers. With these service cuts, Skybus will be able to expand service to Florida. We could still find plenty of $10 seats between St. Augustine and both Richmond, Virginia and Connecticut this morning.

Related Stories:
· Skybus [Official Site]
· Skybus Adjusts Flight Schedule [Columbus Dispatch]
· Skybus to Cut PTI Flights [News & Record]
· Skybus Launching More Florida Service [Jaunted]


3 Comments - Add Yours by pbb

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Jondude11
Jaunted Member
Stewart-Portsmouth? (none / 0)

I live near Stewart, and I've e-mailed Skybus a couple of times to suggest Stewart to Gary, because I think a lot of people from the Hudson Valley and Northern New Jersey need to get to Chicago on business and this would be a great alternative since Stewart has no service to Chicago at all.

However, they have added a Stewart to Portsmouth shuttle which kind of confuses me. Firstly, as I can tell from the huge number of $10 flights available on it, this segment is not selling well (as all new $10 flights are sold out to Columbus and I think most are to Greensboro). Secondly, if someone wanted to go from New York to Boston, they'd need to take 2 and a half hours of public transit to Stewart and more than one hour to Boston. That's pretty significant. I unfortunately do not see this route working.

Also, their cutback to one flight a day to Columbus and Greensboro is understandable, but the flight to Columbus is so late now. Visitors from Columbus who want to get to New York City are not going to want to arrive at Stewart at 9:45pm, and have their only option be a 10:15pm shuttle bus to Beacon Rail Station, for a train that arrives at Grand Central at 1 in the morning. Many of those people will end up staying at a hotel in Newburgh I'm sure.

While I love Skybus (since I am a frequent flyer to Columbus), I fear for their future with these new decisions...

by Jondude11 on 3/20/2008 at 1:29 AM



northgeorgia
Jaunted Member
skybus cancellations (none / 0)

So as of April 15th Skybus has cancelled service to Chattanooga and Toronto/Niagara.  I had tickets from Chattanooga to Columbus on April 16th and Columbus to Toronto/Niagara on April 17th, both of which got cancelled.  I was informed (via email) that I would get a refund in 30-60 days.  30-60 days? REDICULOUS considering I booked the tickets in January and won't even get a refund until after I need to fly.  Emails go unanswered....and there is no 800 number.  That didn't stop me however.  Skybus has two main numbers in Columbus 614-246-8800 and 614-947-3000 (both are trunk lines).  You won't have anyone answer the number ending in 000 but can call directly to anyones extension by using say 8807 for Jill Christopher, the Director of Inflight, or 3004 for Kate Bucklet in Customer Service.  Don't be suprised when they are caught off guard, as they do not want their customers calling them directly....but you can sure speed up the process if you do!

by northgeorgia on 3/20/2008 at 10:42 AM



Jondude11
Jaunted Member
Re: (none / 0)

Yup, I had tickets from Niagara to Columbus in April and they were canceled. I wish I could somehow instead of getting a refund I could keep the price I payed ($25 per flight) for a flight from Stewart to Columbus (which are now at $100 for the same date). They have yet to respond. :(

by Jondude11 on 3/20/2008 at 11:29 AM


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