Skybus is a new airline launched today boasting $10 tickets, but you get what you pay for.
Taxes and fees apply: add on about another $10 per leg.
Limited amount of $10 seats. Others may be $25, $50, or $75.
Want to check luggage? First two backs are $5 each. Next one is $50.
Outside food and drink are prohibited (good luck enforcing that one. I’m sorry sir, we’re going to have to turn this plane around if you don’t dispose of your sandwich).
Inflight entertainment: “Bring a book.”
Customer service: “We don’t have a phone number. Seriously. We’d love to chat, but those phone banks are expensive. And a good website like skybus.com is even more convenient.”
Gate staffing: “You probably won’t see any agents at the gate until boarding time.”
Seating: Choose your own, but jump to the head of the line for $10.
Right now all flights route through the hub of Columbus, OH. If that isn’t your origin or destination point, you’ll have to buy an extra ticket for the second leg.
Sounds like an interesting concept. Pay only for the services and accommodations you actually want and use. We’ll see whether the Ryanair style approach to air travel “takes off” (we know, shoot us now) with consumers. — BEN POPKEN
Skybus [via Upgrade: Travel Better]
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Does anyone know what time / Day they post the additonal seats?? By the time I look the cheapest seats are already gone…
skybus is a disaster. there is nothing about my recent trip to recommend the experience. i paid more for my next trip to avoid ever dealing with skybus again. it’s just not worth it.
the ticket agents clearly had no idea what they were doing, and they made no effort to hide this. they also made no effort to be friendly. i would have given them a lot of slack if they had suggested that they were a new airline trying to work out the kinks, but instead they just told me to go online if i wanted answers. (for the record, i did that, and have had no reply – three weeks later)
i was sent back and forth between kiosks, ended up paying to check my bag twice since it never showed up in the online system (at home or the kiosk) and then was told there was nothing they could do about it. yet again, they told me to go online. i asked for a refund for the error on their part, and you got it – have heard nothing. it may seem like asking for a $10 baggage check refund is silly, but they charge for every little extra, so when they double charge, the flights start to get as expensive as a real airline.
i won’t even go into the misery of the confusion at the gate, the late departure, the trouble getting our luggage, etc. when i first found out about skybus i told everyone, but now i’m telling everyone to avoid them. i didn’t save that much money in the long run, and it certainly wasn’t worth the misery of flying with them.