GSC Travel Tip...

[TimK2003]

Just came across this article.

There is a new airline that started up this week, and is based out of Columbus, OH called Skybus Airlines.

There are some low introductory rates (for example, round-trip from Columbus to Burbank is $200!!), and would be most beneficial for east coasters & Midwesterners as all flights/connections are thru Columbus.

Skybus serves the Boston, Richmond, Greensboro, Kansas City and Ft. Lauderdale areas plus Columbus.  They have a few cities on the left coast, but they all head east to Ohio.

So if you were looking for a cheap flight to GSC in July, this might be of great help!  The website is http://www.skybus.com

[Don Howard]

On paper, this sounds very appealing and would be oh so nice for me and my bride.
Perhaps it's the skeptic in me that wonders what might be the catch of the day.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' post=\'153192\' date=\'May 23 2007, 11:26 AM\']
On paper, this sounds very appealing and would be oh so nice for me and my bride.
Perhaps it's the skeptic in me that wonders what might be the catch of the day.
[/quote]
http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2977/so...onowheelef1.jpg

"It still beats flying!"

[davewalls]

One of the banners talks about getting select flights from cities starting at $10..however, I couldn't find that flight. Apparently, $10 gets you the seat during takeoff, but not landing..

Still, some were reasonably priced. Not a bad alternative.

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'davewalls\' post=\'153219\' date=\'May 23 2007, 05:15 PM\']
One of the banners talks about getting select flights from cities starting at $10..however, I couldn't find that flight. Apparently, $10 gets you the seat during takeoff, but not landing..

Still, some were reasonably priced. Not a bad alternative.
[/quote]


Many of those $10 dollar seats were for the maiden voyage flights between Columbus and their destinations on the first day, which I believe began yesterday.  

But even so, $30-50 to fly from Ohio to the New Hampshire/Boston area each way with the gas prices what they are, not a bad deal.

But again, I brought it up as there were still people looking for an inexpensive way to get to the Congreff and some of the forum members are pretty close to these Skybus cities.

[MikeK]

When news broke in this area about Skybus around a month ago, all flights were $10 for at least 2 days.  To make sure they weren't full of it or that I wasn't hallucinating, I put in flight info for a round-trip flight from Columbus to Burbank from July 12 to July 20.  Lo and behold, the cost after taxes was $40.80.  I was tempted to buy the tickets at that moment.  Alas, I have much bigger fish to fry this summer--Job Hunt '07, moving, and teaching summer school from mid-June through early August.  I checked the site a day later.  The cheapest flight to Burbank was $75, while the cheapest back to Columbus was $100.

/For the sake of comparison, it cost me $42.10 to fill up my Mazda's gas tank two hours ago.
//$3.499/gallon.
///Expletives deleted.
////Gotta pull the 10-speed out of storage.

[trainman]

[quote name=\'Don Howard\' post=\'153192\' date=\'May 23 2007, 11:26 AM\']
On paper, this sounds very appealing and would be oh so nice for me and my bride.
Perhaps it's the skeptic in me that wonders what might be the catch of the day.
[/quote]

The catch is that it is the no-frilliest of no-frills airlines.  They charge extra for pretty much anything you can think of, including checked baggage and being in the first boarding group.  They won't allow you to bring your own food and drink onto the plane, to increase the chances that you'll buy their food and drink, and also so there's less to clean up after each flight (although I have no idea how they police that).  The flight attendants have a very low base salary, but also earn a commission on on-board sales.

That said, I would not hesitate to fly them if I had a need to travel to the Columbus area.  (I tried their web site the other day and saw no way to do a connecting ticket -- that is, I couldn't buy a Burbank-to-Boston ticket.  So I'm not even sure if their flights are timed to connect to each other in Columbus.)

P.S.: Yes, I'm old enough to remember the existence of Peoplexpress, to which Skybus seems very similar.

[Jimmy_1]

I have never really seen the need for in-flight meals or drinks.  If you can't sit quietly for up to a few hours without food or drink, that is scary.  Eat before or after at a good restaurant you like and you will forget all about that half-can of coke, bag of ten pretzels, and chicken salad platter.  Giv eme cheaper fares any day.