Hello Travelers!

It just wouldn’t be the Holiday Season without some news of how airlines could have done better; however sometimes travelers should just get a better idea of the risk they are taking by flying a budget, bare bones airline. Recently we reported about the introduction of a new airline based out of Columbus, Ohio called Skybus which is trying to bring the Ryanair model to US budget travel (i.e. cheap tickets upfront and then charge for everything else such as excess baggage, seat reservations, customer service, etc). Hey, if this is known and understood from the beginning then, no problem.  The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that Skybus had a rough Christmas because it had to cancel, due to mechanical difficulties, a total 18 flights on the 25th and 26th which affected an estimated 1000 travelers and will probably create a public relations nightmare for the young airline.  The main takeaway from this situation:  Skybus, like Southwest, does not have any alliances with other carriers to help it out when it gets into these types of jams. In short, there is no plan B.  However, unlike Southwest Skybus only has 9 airplanes which means that when 2 are out of service then they are loosing about 25% of their capacity.  Ouch!

As of December 27, 2007 Skybus has resumed its regular schedule. Bob Tenenbaum, a Skybus spokesman, believes that customers understand that problems happen and will continue to fly Skybus for its low fares.  Hopefully for all of us they will deliver on their promise and attract us because of their low rates instead listing low fares that a small percentage get and then giving nobody any service.

Let’s see how Skybus is able to handle this and exactly what kind of personality this airline has.  We are hoping for the best and with signs such as President Ken Giles spending time talking to and passing out business cards to passengers over the last couple of days things seem somewhat positive.

Moving forward Skybus has an excellent opportunity to make a lot of Buckeye Fans happy in it’s home base of Columbus.  But if it does not deliver then it might be its coup de grace. The BCS championship between Ohio State and LSU will certainly see a lot of fans take the flight down to the Big Easy via Biloxi-where Skybus lands. We checked today and the tickets are far from the $10 starting price which we assume to be a sign that flights are filling up with eager fans wanting to see the game or at least be in NOLA to drink in the…atmosphere, among other things.  Hey Skybus! Here is a challenge: get those Buckeye fans to the big game because if you don’t…

Game on and good luck Skybus!

Happy Travels