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Thread: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

  1. #1
    Moderator Matt Molnar's Avatar
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    $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Consumerist.com has published the exasperating tale of a Skybus customer attempting to fly from Bellingham, WA to Columbus. A quick rundown of the events...

    • Skybus's "terminal" at Bellingham is a double-wide trailer out on the ramp.
    • Their computer system was down, so check-in was nearly impossible.
    • The agents on duty said their IT guys were not picking up their phones to fix the check-in system. The ticket counter did not have phones... the agents were using their personal cell phones.
    • Despite the guy having a printout of his confirmation, the agent refused to allow him on the plane as his name was not on their manifest, simply concluding "that's not my problem."
    • Demands to speak with a supervisor were refused as there is no supervisor and they don't have a call center.
    • Agent forced him to buy a $440 walk-up fare, double his original round-trip fare.
    • After buying his ticket, agent refused to accept his 71 lb suitcase, claiming they don't take bags over 50 lb, even though their website says the limit is 75 lb.
    • After hitting the Submit button on their website customer service form, their autoresponse read "Thanks for letting us know about your problem. We may or may not get back to you. Good luck!"
    • When he returned to Bellingham from Columbus, the nasty agent confronted him: "Hey, I remember you! You're the jackass who sent our corporate offices a complaint email about me and demanded I be fired! Well good luck, bucko, you're gonna have to try a lot harder than THAT!"

    Click below for the much more detailed story: http://consumerist.com/339587/turns-out ... at-you-get
    Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
    All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
    I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9

  2. #2
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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    That's absolutely AWESOME!!! Has anyone looked at the airport they plan on using in Fort Meyers???? There's no dam terminal...no parking...no public transportation, there's nothing! Even the runway looks to small for a A319. I don't know why anyone would fly them. I was checking their prices, not one $10 fare was found and the other fares were the same at any other airline. It’s simply shocking how they run their business...

  3. #3
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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    It just goes to show you--the high cost of cheap.....

    Happy New Year all...
    It's the fares, stupid

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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    As I have mentioned before, I have and old friend who is a 30 year plus ramp agent for a major carrier in CMH and a major airline geek, worse than most of us. He has a ring-side seat for Skybus's daily screw-ups, as their operation is right next to and shares facilties with the carrier he works for. Here are a few excerts from recent e-mails from him about Skybus snafoos.

    From his 12-13 e-mail update
    "Interesting" things about Skybus that just came to light. 1st off their new service to GPT is timed poorly. I heard on the employee bus yesterday from several of their Flt Crews that GPT has a Curfew at night and that the bozo in charge of their flt scheduling set up the flight to come in at night & go back out to CMH right up against the CURFEW! AS a result their Inauguaral Flight from there was late inbound, as usual, & boarded up quickly but when it came time to push back, BINGO it was past Curfew & they had to deplane everyone, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ALL THE NEWS CAMERA'S there to film the inaugual flight!!! CANCELL the INAUGUAL FLIGHT!!! The crew was laughing about it as they told the story.

    and from 12-26 during thier Christmas cancellation meltdown
    This weekend hasn't been good for some Skybus passengers. Due to 2 aircraft incidents many flts were XLD yesterday and even more are XLD today since the aircraft aren't back in service yet. From what my sources report to me, 1 aircraft was damaged when a Jetway driver in FLL rammed the aircraft with the jetway. Apparently some airports have refused to remove the Jetways to replace them with steps and ramps the way CMH did and force them to use the Jetways. The 2nd aircraft had damage done to one of the aircraft doors. From what I heard and from what I have seen and also heard I'm sure I have a very good idea of how this damage was done. Their "Rent-A-Mechanic's" they have here have been removing the rear stairs after the aircraft is on the ground and deplaned. They pull them around to the tailcone and raise them so they can work on the APU Exhaust. When they return them to the aircraft for boarding, they don't lower them to the correct height and position them next to the rear door. If they are too high, then when the aircraft takes on the passengers weight, the plane settles into the struts and lowers the door onto the Air Stairs platform. If it settles too much, the door hinges bend and the door won't close & seal properly. A former aircraft mechanic working for them as a Ground Equip. Mechanic has seen this happen & has said their rental mechanic's don't seem to care what they do to the aircraft. They already broke one set of Air Stairs by raising them up too high to where they won't retract.
    As a result of the 2 aircraft being out of service, yesterday they XLD the BUR, GPT & PSM CHA flts. Today they have announced on the news they will be cancelling BLI, FLL, MKE & PSM. They said they didn't want to cancel the same flts 2 days in a row. This was reported on all 3 local TV news reports at 11 p.m. last night & is again on the Noon TV News today as well as every 30 minutes on the largest Radio Station in town on their News Updates. Skybus's Automated Reservation System didn't bother to notify anyone about the cancellations yesterday & the news reported they are looking into this matter.

    and from 12/10
    Just thought I'd update you with the latest goings on at Skybus. They have a 2nd corporate sponsor for 1 of their planes, it's CIticorp. They have the white plane painted with pink flying pigs all over it. The pigs are wearing a jet engine strapped to their backs. It's different I must say that. Their other white plane now carries a huge DISCLAIMER on both sides about their cheap Air Fares. The disclaimer it probably 4 feet tall and 12 feet across. It talks about their cheap fares and says something to the fact that not all fares are that low but many are. It's the only time I've seen a disclaimer painted onto the side of the plane.
    They have now taken over gates 16 & 20 at CMH. They also have the ramp use of gate 18 which is in between those other gates but with 2 319's on 16 & 20 there isn't room for another one at 18. These gates were modified to fit 3 RJ's not 2 BIG airplanes. They ARE using JETWAYS for the 1st time. Apparently there wasn't time to remove them from the building. The 1st day they were practicing using them they broke both of them. Airport Mtc. had to be called to repair them.
    Overheard on the employee bus yesterday by ME was this. A Continental AGent asked one of their gate/Tkt AGents "What airport do you use for FLL"? After she said for a moment her reply was, "Oh we fly into Jacksonville but we don't call it Jacksonville, we call it Saint something or other, like Bernstein or something." "It's only 45 mins from there to Ft. Lauderdale and Miami." I said, "Jacksonville is at least 4 hours north of FLL", to which her reply was, "Yes that's why we use that other airport." I just sat & shook my head.

    I hope some of you enjoyed this update from the front lines in CMH

    LGA777

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    Senior Member cancidas's Avatar
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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    amazing ron, simply amazing. it's sad that aviation has come to this...
    it is mathematically impossible for either hummingbirds, or helicopters to fly. fortunately, neither are aware of this.

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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    And yet, they have lasted this long. Who's keeping them in business is what I wonder.
    And I, I took the path less traveled by
    and that has made all the difference......yet...
    I have a feeling a handle of people are going to be very interested in what I post in the near future.

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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Quote Originally Posted by mirrodie
    And yet, they have lasted this long. Who's keeping them in business is what I wonder.
    Nationwide Bank:

    [airlinerstp://www.airliners.net/open.file/1310206/L/[/airliners

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    Moderator Matt Molnar's Avatar
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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Nationwide is actually an insurance company...according to Ron's post though, they now have a Citibank jet. It seems foolish to me for an established company to make a co-branding deal with an unproven company like Skybus whose poor service could potentially damage the advertiser's reputation.

    I've been thinking of a way to describe Skybus' apparent management style and it's just mind-boggling. Their top-level officers are all industry veterans, which explains a lot given what a disaster the legacies are. The best metaphor I've come up with: it's like they've taken every over-the-top exaggerated joke about discount airlines ever made, and actually did all of those things.
    Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
    All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
    I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9

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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Here is the 1-4 Skybus update from my buddy in CMH, more to shake your head at.

    Locally, they have 1 of their new aircraft stored across the field, near the old terminal N573SX an A319 with 1 Emergency Exit. It's been there for about 3 weeks now, all white with a black tail & winglets. Not sure what's going on with it or why it's unpainted and stored.

    This week was not good for them, they had continued flight delays and at least 1 cancellation, a Burbank trip. Wednesday night the afternoon trip inbound from BUR was at least 5 hours late and once it arrived it needed Maintenance work before returning to BUR. This would have made the outbound trip departing CMH around 2 a.m. They took the plane scheduled to run down to St. Augustine & back and sent it to BUR, departing here around 9 p.m. and made the St. Augustine passengers wait for the arrival of the trip from Burbank and then do the Maintenance and continue on to Florida around 3 or 4 a.m. much behind their 8 p.m. scheduled departure time. Three Port Authority Police Officers were dispatched to their gate area that night for riot control. They say their work load has increased with the arrival of Skybus. The fun continued Thursday when they cancelled a Burbank trip and later in the day the flts to Chattanooga & Greensboro were running 1 hour late, Milwaukee was 3 hours late which in turn made the Punta Gorda flt 3 hours late. They had cartloads of baggage stored on gate 16 across from their baggage make up room.

    Speaking of that, one of their contract Ramp Agents from DGS struck the fire hydrant outside their baggage make up room & knocked it off the base and it's now out of service. They have damaged the overhead door leading from their baggage make-up room onto the ramp so many times now that the Port Authority won't fix it anymore & has set so that it won't close. Thus those agents are working in a frigid baggage room all day long. They also continue to damage the ground equipment by turning the ignition switches so far when trying to start them that they break them off. They had at least 5 pieces of equipment out of service for that reason on Thursday. Tuesday night when the snow showers began it was a mess on their ramp. The employees were slipping & sliding around having a heck of a time trying to push the passenger boarding ramp & stairs to & from the aircraft. The security person working the access door to the "B" concourse watched 2 passengers slip and fall walking across the ramp plus many other employees. No one came to the aid of either of the passengers when they fell. The check-in line for their ticket counter Tuesday night went from their counter past American, United, Midwest Connect, center lobby and US Airways. At one time they had 14 cart loads of baggage on the ramp. The DGS Manager told people at a Port Authority Meeting Thursday, that he's been begging Skybus NOT to increase service out of here until some things change. They can't handle it. They are using the Midwest Connect Baggage make-up room for 2 flights in the morning since they can't handle all 7 of the originating flights bags in their own baggage make-up room. I pity the passengers bags who are delayed waiting for a flight. They are all stored outside uncovered on the ramp sittng in the rain or snow for hours. All of them will be drenched when they are finally loaded onto the plane.

    So that's the latest on the "Hometown" Airline. One last thing to laugh at was that their President, Diffendurfer was 1 of the 3 people on the list to be chosen by Columbus Monthly Magazine as their "Man of the Year". They instead chose Mayor Coleman.


    So if you still insist on flying Skybus please don't check any bags, especially if it's raining or snowing. I doub't they have tradditonal baggage service offices to even take a claim.

    Cheers

    LGA777

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    Administrator PhilDernerJr's Avatar
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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    A friend of mine flew into Stewart from Ohio last night and I was surprised at what he said. I'll write his trip report for him.

    Good things first. A $35 ticket, a clean plane, and you get from Point A to B fairly easy at a good price. The hand-held computer thing that the F/As use for ordering the food added ease to it.

    What shocked me most was when he told me that the flight attendants were pushing for tips! Saying that for the $10 meal, gratuity is not included or mandatory, but appreciated.....I can't believe it! I've never heard of anything like that...you'd get fired for it anywhere else. For serving me a pre-made sandiwch no less? Get real.

    My friend then told me that as he was leaving the plane, he looked in the cockpit and saw that the CAPTAIN was wearing jeans a Derner-style polo hat.

    The gate agents wore t-shirts. The F/As wore regular long sleeve shirts (no collar) with a logo on it, and none of them were over 25....no seniority at all it seems. He said it remidned him of Trader Joe employees.

    I just imagine something bad happening on the plane, and the inexperienced crew not being able to handle the situation. Crash, disgruntled passengers or whatever.

    My friend said he'd still fly them in the future just because of the basic concept of flying for cheap. That, to me, is the unfortunate problem. People are willing to sacrifice niceties for good cost. Sadly, I think it probably sacrifices safety as well, and can and will eventually cost people their lives. Sorry if that sounds dramatic, but as low-cost as you want to be, but flying needs to be taken seriously by the airlines and the people to fly them.
    Email me anytime at [email protected].

  11. #11

    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Quote Originally Posted by GothamSpotter
    Nationwide is actually an insurance company...according to Ron's post though, they now have a Citibank jet. It seems foolish to me for an established company to make a co-branding deal with an unproven company like Skybus whose poor service could potentially damage the advertiser's reputation.
    Well, Citigroup has been making a ton of bad decisions so it doesn't surprise me that they are sponsoring SkyBUST.

  12. #12
    Senior Member MarkLawrence's Avatar
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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Reading all of the above - just makes Skybus laughable. A colleague of mine is flying FLL-CMH-FLL this weekend on them - should be interesting to hear his comments next week! The interesting part he said - his fare was nowhere near $10, even $50 - booked 5 weeks in advance - leaving FLL Saturday - returning Monday, $200 / passenger!! Then - he thought about changing the reservation - Skybus wanted $40 per leg per person i.e. $240 to change the reservations - that would have made the whole fare $840 for 3 people!!! He said he wished he'd booked WN now! Still...the comments on Tuesday will be interesting....
    Mark Lawrence - KFLL
    Davie, FL

    Community Manager NYCAviation.com
    email: [email protected]

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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Ron that is truly an amazing update...I'm shocked! I'd love to fly them once on a weekend just to sit back and observe their operation...I think I might have to, hehe.

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    Senior Member hiss srq's Avatar
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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Diffenderffer is a profit shark from Texas. A sucker is born every day but you will not catch me flying that airline. It lowers the bar to dangerous levels in the industry for employees because the majors are surely looking at this nut job and his little airline to see what becomes of it and how they can cut into the pay of employees as well as shaft the passenger a little more. I personally met the guy a few months prior to the take off of this flying joke and I can tell you that the attitude to customers that the airline shows is the same one Billl shows to the world. At that time he was flying as revenue to CMH from LGA on USAirways.
    Southwest Airlines-"Once it pop's it's time to stop" Southwest Airlines-"Our Shamu's are almost real" Southwest Airlines -"We blow our top real easy" Southwest Airlines- "You can't top us..... really"

  15. #15
    Moderator Matt Molnar's Avatar
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    Re: $10 Skybus Fares Might be Overpriced for What You Get

    Not to mention the name Diffendorfer sounds like he should be a character in Harry Potter.
    Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
    All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
    I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9

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