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How to contact Skybus

April 27, 2007

You’ve probably read about Skybus, the new no-frills airline that is scheduled to begin flying next month. Maybe you’ve heard about the $10 airfares or its Ryanair-like surcharges for everything from early boarding to lap children. But here’s the question no one seems to be asking: What happens when something goes wrong on a Skybus flight? Who you gonna call?

Skybus says it has no phone number. “Since Call Centers are expensive to staff and run, one of the ways we keep fares low is by communicating with our customers via email and our website instead of the telephone,” its site claims.

Initially, the best way to contact the airline is through its e-mail form. Before you do, I recommend reviewing its contract of carriage — that’s the legal agreement between you and the airline.

Also, consider typing your letter into a word-processing document and then pasting the contents into the window. That way, you can keep a copy of what you sent.

It’s too early to tell if e-mails sent through that form will be given a thoughtful reply, met with a boilerplate response or just ignored. But based on what I’ve read on the site, I’m not optimistic that Skybus will be any different than Ryanair or the other stripped-down airlines, at least when it comes to customer service. I hope I’m wrong.

OK, let’s assume, for a moment, that Skybus doesn’t respond. What now?

The airline’s e-mail naming convention is firstname.lastname@skybus.com. So, for example, if you were applying for a job at Skybus, you’d send your resume to Nicole Axe at nicole.axe@skybus.com.

Here are a few more tips on how to reach Skybus. Escalating your complaint is reasonably straightforward. Here’s a list of managers. I would start with Floyd Nickerson, Skybus’ “vice president, people.” Here’s his e-mail address.

Remember, the other execs are easy to reach. The naming convention firstname.lastname@skybus.com should apply to all of them, too.

Oh, and that business about them not having a phone number? Untrue.

You can call Skybus at (614) 246-8800 or write to it at 181 Arlingate Plz, Columbus, OH 43228.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

7 comments

  • William Pou

    I had not heard of SkyBus until I read your article.

    While browsing their website, not much surprised me regarding all the added fees. What really stood out, and will guarantee I will never fly them, is that food and drinks are not permitted to be brought onboard because, “Skybus offers these items for sale during your flight.”

    Absolutely absurd.

    Even better, when I sent a contact message to them, this was part of the response: “Because we receive a very large number of messages, we can’t gaurantee a timely response.”

    Didn’t even spell guarantee correctly.

  • Joe Lampariello

    Skybus will make money because the traveling public will buy anything that is cheap. I found that out during my 42 years in the industry. Also, the airlines of today are not the same as those of yesteryear when they had respect for their customers. Today, the airline mentality is ” so sue us”.

  • Chris Anders

    “It’s too early to tell if e-mails sent through that form will be given a thoughtful reply, met with a boilerplate response or just ignored.”

    After purchasing a ticket, my reservation later disappeared from their web database. My email sent through that form didn’t yield a response from Skybus for over 24 hours, and the response was a form letter that didn’t address the problem.

  • Brian

    I can tell you from experience that e-mails through skybus’ form are ignored. I have sent 4 e-mails so far with a complaint about my baggage being completely destroyed (their office was closed when I landed at 2:30am). I have yet to receive an answer in three weeks.

    I am very thankful to find this article so that I may get a resolution to my issue.

  • Sue Hiotis

    Would like to know how do you check on the flight that is coming in, if it is on time or late……my son will be coming in from Columbus on Dec. 20th to Punta Gorda Florida can you help me on that?

  • http://skybussucks.com tyler h

    So we were to leave chattanooga on the 22nd at 530 and arrive in columbus,oh the great hub of skybus at 645. Plane delayed a hour no biggy. All seats at bording were taken except a aisle with puke in the seat nearest walkway. I didn’t complain about it…hell I shouldn’t have had to. They were too busy selling beer and knock off jewelry. Fast forward xmas day, load on plane 4 and in chattanooga at 515. Plane cancelled at 345!!some smart employee damaged the steps. Mind you this is their hub. No spare plane, why? Because they expanded to nc!! If you can’t take care of business don’t expand. No other flight for 2 days no other airline flying into chattanooga just atlanta ga. Refunded one way rented a ford escape 6 hours later speeding we were at chattanooga airport. Gas and one way rental was about 400. Thank you but no thanks.this was my first plane experience, i’ll schedule 2 extras days and drive!!!! I have sent emails to all skybus flunkies and complained on website no response . I’ll be glad when skybus is extinct.

  • Candice Sanderson

    Thank you for your suggestion to email the managers of Skybus. I had a problem with a reservation and had left an email via the Skybus website, but had no response for three days…not even an automatic reply that it was received.

    Skybus had canceled one leg of my upcoming flight and re-routed me on another flilght for the same day. Due to my travel plans, I had to reschedule the flight for another day, thus costing me another night in a hotel. Because they had canceled the flight, I was allowed to cancel my flight for a full refund, choose the re-accommodated flight they selected for me, or pick another flight, all at no cost.

    I am traveling with two others and we each got on their website and selected the flight for the following day. When I got my confirmation just a few minutes later, my choice had defaulted back to the flight on the same day. For some reason, my selection for the next day did not register. I emailed and waited for three days with no response.

    When I found your website, I composed a very diplomatic letter, explaining in detail what had occurred on what date regarding which flights, etc. I asked for two things:

    1. Resolution of having my flight changed with waiving the $60 fee.

    2. I stated that if the $60 fee was imposed that I would not be happy but I would honor their decision, but I needed for them to please, just communicate that to me. I was asking to just be contacted and informed so I could purchase the correct ticket.

    I looked at your list of managers and made an informed decision on which people would most likely to react to the letter and I sent it to two managers.

    As soon as I came home from work, literally as I walked in the door, Skybus called. They changed my flight to the correct one at no charge. They were very accommodating.

    I followed up to my first email with a reply thanking them for the quick resolution. One of the managers emailed me back within 5 minutes and thanked me for the feedback and my patience….thus proving that at least some of the managers absolutely do read the emails.

    Thank you again for the suggestion. It definitely worked.

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