We are truly pleased to have Skybus in Greensboro and the competition it is giving the other airlines servicing our city. I am a seasoned airline traveler with over 2 million miles of flight and am happy with Skybus.

My wife and I have received many email notifications of flight time changes since our 10/23/07 booking, the last of which makes a Greensboro NC connection between St. Augustine and Columbus impossible. I sent an email asking for clarification on how to use Skybus’ “CHOOSE A DIFFERENT FLIGHT – No Charge” option when two confirmation codes are involved – for the Columbus to Greensboro (and return) and Greensboro to St. Augustine (and return) legs. I have received no response.

I found the referral to “sales @ skybus.com, Attn: Buckler and Cunningham” (re: SkybusFA, March 8, 2008 posting) to be promising and have emailed them. If this doesn’t work, your blog has provided numerous other avenues for remedy: telephone numbers, physical address for personal visit, OH Attorney General, FAA Consumer Hotline, DOT Consumer Protection, “breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing”, media, et al.

I would like to thank all the posters for their constructive information and will report back on Skybus’ handling of this matter.

As someone in the industry, in this situation I can tell you that the BUR flight was canceled b/c the plane was damaged upon landing at BUR. BUR has a notoriously short runway and high crosswinds – which led to the damage to the AC. This was not a crewing issue nor anything the company could control.

The company did everything they could within the limits of the contract to accommodate the individuals on that flight. Everyone who chose to fly Skybus was accommodated on flights within the next three days. The crew was stranded in BUR for 2 days – with families at home it wasn’t pleasant for them either.

If you need to be assured you leave on a certain day then buy travel insurance. If you have ever flown outside of the US this kind of situation is common and you always purchase travel insurance to avoid being stranded. My problem with my fellow American travelers is everyone wants something for nothing and everyone feels entitled to something they have done nothing to deserve. This attitude has led to skyrocketing prices and bankrupt airlines. The only airlines that are profitable world wide are business class or private jet services or ones that function on business models much like Skybus – where do you think they got the idea.

As for the complaints about the Christmas day fiasco – Skybus outsources it’s ground ops to Delta Global Services. So it was actually Delta’s incompetent employees that damaged 2 planes and canceled 12 flights over 2 days. Again – these things happen everyday with the larger companies. United and Delta have some of the worst cancellation rates. In their first 9 months of service Skybus has canceled less than 4% of their flights.

If your baggage is damaged then DGS is to blame. The reason those claims take so long is that Skybus has to fight with DGS’s management on your behalf.

The Airline establishment is terrified Skybus will do well. As an airline employee I understand because we will have to change to be competitive or go under. Those changes will probably mean cutting crew and support staff. The whole concept of doing away with a call center saves Skybus thousands a week and allows them to pass on the savings to the passenger. Really – what does calling a # get you anyway other than someone to yell at? The other airlines, mine included, have painted a target on Skybus’s back becasue they don’t want the competition. I have always cheered for the underdog or the little guy – so you get what you pay for – just service to a specific location. I know many of their FAs and Pilots and they are helpful, friendly, experienced people. Try it – you might like it!

That, apparently, was my first mistake. (Or was choosing Skybus in the first place my first mistake?!?! Either way…) We flew Skybus from Seattle (Bellingham, WA) to Columbus, OH two days before Christmas. My husband is active duty in the military, so we had very little time to be able to spend with my children who are living in Oh with their biological father. We arrived at the airport…checked our bags…and waited. We checked in online, so we were boarding group B. (Right behind the people who pay $10 extra to board early…) They call group A. Then after a while a line starts to form…so we get in it, only to see several group C people at the front of the line… Do the Skybus agents do anything? Nope. They let them all on in the order of the line…So, needless to say, my husband and I did not get to sit together.

Next problem…Christmas night, from my parents hotel room I checked my email so that we could check in online since our flight left at 6am on the 26th. In my email I have a message from Skybus saying the flight was canceled. (sent at about 5pm that same day) Our options were…1) book another Skybus flight within 5 days at no charge (gee, thats kind of you) or 2) cancel and they will give you a refund of that half of the trip (posted to your card in 10 business days…) Ok, so I check the Skybus flights…the next one went out Dec 31st. FIVE DAYS LATER!!!! While it may not have been so bad for me, my husband needed to return to post so he wasn’t considered AWOL! So, on to finding another airline…$948 later, we’re booked on a flight with US Airways that left the night of the 26th. Skybus refunded our money…7 days later…so it was of no help in purchasing the new tickets.

And having an ex husband who works for the airport, I got firsthand information why they canceled their flights… Two planes were taken out of commission because on one plane they pushed the stairs too close and bent the door frame, causing it to not seal…and the other plane went out because they did the same thing with the conveyer for the baggage compartment…SO…I had to shell out $948 (less the $375 they refunded, so roughly an additional $575 out of my pocket) because THEIR incompetant employees messed up the plane….WOW….

Any other reputable airline would have checked other airlines and gotten it straightened out for you…not Skybus. So the ol’ saying goes for this one…”You get what you pay for!!!”

We have attempted to resolve the issue via Skybus’s posted email, no luck. Via USPS signature return mail to Skybus’s posted mail address, again no luck. We even attempted to contact Skyus via the email addresses posted on elliott.org, still no luck.

We did, however, have better luck with the manufacture of the second damaged suitcase, Ciao. The piece was from a recently purchased set. The luggage company quickly responded to our fist email and replaced bag damaged by Skybus.

Our next step is to file a consumer complaint with the Ohio Attorney General’s office. http://ag.state.oh.us/citizen/consumer/complaints.asp

I suggest other Shambus customers who have been ignored by the airline’s willingness to hide behind the anonymity of the internet and the distance between them and their customer to also file a consumer complaint with the Ohio Attorney General, as well as the AG from their own state.

With elections coming soon many AG’s will want to show their voters they are on the consumer’s side. Shambus may think they can get away with poor business practices when dealing with customers purchasing low-cost airfares; but, I don’t think they will take the same bully attitude with the Ohio Attorney General.

From the Ohio AG website:
We have three avenues for filing a consumer complaint with the Attorney General’s Office.
1.Complaint entry can be done online.
https://www.ag4ohio.gov
2.Our PDF consumer complaint form is available for downloading http://www.ag.state.oh.us/citizen/forms/consumer_comp_frm2003.pdf
3.Our AG4Ohio operators can answer questions or enter your complaint by calling 877-244-6446

Again, no email, call, etc.

I also understand there are passengers stranded in Columbus.

What is the big deal with the company saying what is going on so we can make plans?

No email, call, explanation, nothing.

If one strips away the needlessly inflammatory words of CW, Frank, and Jerry and examines their actual arguments, they make a valid point: Skybus makes a crap product, is proud that it intentionally makes a crap product, gleefully publicizes the crappiness of its product, and accordingly charges cheap-ass rates for its crappy product. People should be aware of this fact, particularly since much of the crappiness of the Skybus product is public knowledge thanks to Skybus itself.

I’m sure that Frank, Jerry, and CW would agree that even road warriors who pay FULL FARE on Skybus deserve exactly what they get when presented with nonstandard ops like in this post.

Each airline’s CoC is slightly different, and it probably is worth examining them. So, CW, how would you rank order the major carriers by CoC?

And CW is right that every day airlines “leave people out in the cold.” Sometimes it is for reasons that are fully consistent with the airline’s CoC, federal law, and the informed traveler’s sense of what is “fair”. Sometimes airlines will try to skirt what they should, have, or “are supposed” to do. And, when that happens, people, even the most knowledgeable travelers, will leave money on the table because they aren’t willing to fight for it. The fact that this occurs, and that all airlines do it, and that sometimes we put up with it, does not make it right.

Nor does changing the starting point, the airline’s CoC. It is entirely possible for an airline to have a CoC which gives every possible advantage to the airline, and still violate it. Joe is right that once that occurs, the passenger can sue for breach of contract and for torts.

Skybus is certainly not alone in making bad decisions to compensate passengers for cancelled flights or missed connections. Several years ago (pre-9/11) I flew on America West Airlines from Portland OR to Washington DC. It was snowing in DC but we could view other airlines landing as we circled the airport; we were diverted for the evening to Columbus OH. Upon landing in Columbus around 9:30 pm, we were told we would fly out at 6:30 am the next day for DC. The airline did not pay for the hotel. A relative who works in aviation told me that many America West pilots have minimal FAA clearance for landings in limited visibility conditions; evidently this minimal FAA clearance is exceeded by most other major airline pilots. When we wrote a complaint letter to America West we received two long distance calling cards in the mail worth a total of $50.

This past week I flew Skybus from Greensboro to Columbus and back. It was about what I expected, but at no point did I feel I experienced “bad” customer service. I purchased my tickets several months ago. The day before each leg of the trip Skybus sent an email with the current flight schedule and links to their web page about check-in procedures, baggage rules, etc. The only negative was a TSA agent in Columbus who confiscated some of my two-year old son’s apple juice.

I plan to fly Skybus again in the spring.

You are being very coy with the reason and it sure seems like either a personnel or airworthiness issue.

If that is the case, then guess what- the passenger at issue here IS entitled to compensation. An event avoidable by the airline.

Tell us what happened – let US decide if Skybus is not at fault.