Ahh, Skybus. The ban on carry-on food or drink… The ultra-tight seat pitch… The out-of-the-way airports with the misleading names… (Bellingham is not Seattle, folks!) The fact that you have to pick up and re-check your bags if you connect at their Columbus, Ohio “hub”… Oh Skybus, where would travel blogs be without you?
Sure, ten tickets on each flight are $10 each way. That’s really, really cheap. About $40 total roundtrip, with taxes, if you’re keeping score. But is it worth the savings?
So quick, name the airline’s most successful route of the 14 (going on 19) cities it serves?
If you said, “Columbus to Greensboro/Winston-Salem,” you’re right, and probably stalking Skybus executives to get your information.
It’s true. Those Piedmont Triad residents just can’t get enough of Columbus, I tells ya.
The success of the route is one reason that Skybus is considering Greensboro as a second hub (or “focus city”). Portsmouth, NH is another hub contender, and has already picked up nonstop (gasp!) routes to Florida. Other unnamed cities are possibilities.
For North Carolina residents hoping to break free of the US Airways death grip on the state, this may seem like a golden opportunity. But it’s still Skybus. This isn’t Virgin America or jetBlue. This is an airline that truly treats its passengers like cattle, with no seat assignments, no phone number for customer service, and no outside food permitted. I’m wishing Greensboro good luck. But I’m not sure that’s wishing for Skybus to make them a hub.
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Separately, the Columbus Dispatch, hometown paper for the Skybus set, and an investor in the airline through a subsidiary (!), published how Skybus actually schedules as many flights as they do from only five aircraft. No wonder they don’t let you make connections. If anything goes wrong, you’re pretty much guaranteed to miss your next flight. Click the graphic below to see.
(source)
Related:
- Is this a bus you want to ride? Zero-frills airline Skybus launches today with $10 tickets
- Smart-aleck test: What if you bring LOTS of food onto a Skybus flight?
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October 1st, 2007 at 2:09 am
You can complain all you want about Skybus, but the airline serves a need that the majors just didn’t/couldn’t. US/HP and DL serve(d) CMH-LAX with red-eye flights, but many want daytime flights. Most of the first Skybus destinations (BUR, SAN, Seattle/BLI, OAK) were not served non-stop despite having sufficient passengers to do so.
GSO certainly has demand for some service, as CO.Lite made an attempt there and certainly filled some planes. Problem was that CO cannot /did not want to create a lite service.
So where does this leave us, a Ryanair type service. If you see Ryanair and EasyJet’s route map, it’s hard to determine a hub, because there is so much point to point service. This is what Skybus’ route map will resemble.
October 1st, 2007 at 7:58 am
If Skybus succeeds, then they’ll be tapping a leisure market that wouldn’t fly at higher prices. If I could fly across country for $40 including taxes, I’d do it. So fair enough.
But note that many fares are actually much higher than that, matching the majors’ fares, without the majors’ conveniences. Moan all you want about the airlines today, but they’re still offering more customer service than Skybus.
And if you’re a business traveler in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, or High Point, with a corporate policy mandating the lowest fare, look out. You’d better hope that Skybus’ limited schedule doesn’t fit your plans. This isn’t an airline built for business.
October 1st, 2007 at 9:43 am
It is a little crazy to think of the coverage they currently have with only five planes, and how much more coverage they’ll have with the 65 additional planes they’re getting over the next few years. I’m sure some of those will go to backups and multiplying existing routes; plus, don’t they have to give their current planes back to Virgin America?
I’m from Columbus, but have spent the past few years living in Baton Rouge. About two weeks ago, I received four or five calls from friends back home that “Skybus is adding service to New Orleans!” Of course, knowing how “the Bus” really operates, I had to explain that “No, they’re adding service to GPT which is 75 minutes away from New Orleans and two hours away from Baton Rouge.”
While the wife might use it for the occasional cheap weekend trip home, I’ll give it a big no thanks.
October 1st, 2007 at 1:06 pm
Yowser. Lots of 20-odd minute turnarounds. I bet the afternoon/evening on-time performance won’t be good.
October 2nd, 2007 at 3:05 pm
I guess it just kind of depends on what kind of traveller you are. I’m an infrequent one, so maybe that informs my just-happy-to-be-flying, unspoiled, unjaded attitudes. But if you can jump on any of those ten dollar tickets (or $40 ultimately or whatever), they can treat me like cattle, including the branding. How exponentially cheaper is this for most routes(if you get the cheapest tickets) than GREYHOUND?
October 2nd, 2007 at 10:56 pm
I took food on my last Skybus flight – just waited until the stew’s had finished the so-called service, whipped out my BoJ chicken buscie and chowed down.
They came by and chewed me out. I just smiled.
Then after they left I ate the other one.
What are they gonna do, make me get off in Columbus. Whoops, that is what I was gonna do anyway!
-TF
October 10th, 2007 at 12:12 pm
[...] Link: Upgrade: Travel Better [...]
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:02 pm
[...] Skybus adds flights from Greensboro Late last month, I posted about Skybus’ plans to expand to a new hub — or “focus city,” if you must [...]
January 9th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
What a bunch of bunk. I’ve flown skybus a bunch from Columbus to Boston (Portsmouth) and Hartford (Chicopee). I’ve found the staff to be generally very nice. It doesn’t bother me a bit to pay $8 for their breakfast sandwich or $2 for a cup of coffee. I find thier on line scheduling system to be very simple and fair. The only delays I have experienced have been due to weather and the FAA. Luggage has never been delayed or lost and the planes are much more comfortable than those of Continental or US Air. Prior to learning about Skybus I commuted home on weekends on these other two airlines for 6 months. They were incredibly unreliable and cancelled a number of flights without explanation. Go Skybus! I hope you are wildly successful!
January 9th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
On another note, did you know that parking at the Portsmouth airport is free! How much additional savings does that add compared to some of those major hubs in the big cities!
Mooooo…keep hearding me like cattle all the way to the bank! Thanks Skybus!
January 14th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
I am addicted and I can not get enough of the newest Airline, Skybus. Ok, so it seems like there is no service. Well, what can I expect… Have you ever ran a business and sold inexpensive products? You can not always afford the expensive fine linen and china. If you are looking for service, then pay for it. Try flying Delta or United in the first class cabin. I have, and enjoyed it, but I paid over $800. Currently, I have bought over 10 tickets, some at $10 (plus the tax $normally around $10). Even then I have not spent over one roundtrip ticket on Delta. I have never had as much fun on any airline like Skybus. Knowing I spent $40 for a roundtrip ticket to Biloxi, saving hundreds of dollars over other airlines, I laugh all the way, while sitting in the crowded terminal, walking out on the tarmac with planes moving down taxiways, walking up the stairs you just can not go wrong. Ok, so I bought some food, I bought the 6 hot wings for $7 a Drink for $2 and still saved money. When you arrive, you can go to the Casinos or drive to New Orleans in 90 minutes. I park my car there for only $44 a week. Let’s add it up, gas to and from Biloxi to Columbus $180, and all in 2 Hours. I Love Sky Bus can not get enough……. Oh I have bought $50 one way tickets, still cheaper then $150 one way in couch through Delta. And Yes I am a Delta Gold Sky Mile member, but hey the Skybus Flight attendants are young and cute. I have many phone numbers, something I would not want from the old wrinkly Delta Attendants. Party on, and see you at Mardi Gras.