Skybus Airlines

I had a piece of luggage that was badly damaged, our flight got in very late and there was no one in uggage services from sky bus. I e-mailed sky bus the very next day and I feel as though I am being totally ignored, I have been e-mailing them for three weeks now with no response. I feel your pain of feeling ignored and not having a great customer service experience.

I had an issue with the skybus web page. It timed out on me so I hit the refresh button, it must of went to a default which was Ft Lauderdale, I was supposed to fly into Ft Myers. I have emailed them many times with the same response. They can do nothing to help. They also have changed my flight times. Thanks Sky Bus you suck!!

Obviously you don’t understand how you are able to get $10 tickets to the other side of the US. That’s ok, must be an intellignce thing. I suggest researching Ryanair. Flights get cancelled daily with all other airlines, yes it’s more crucial with Skybus at this point considering they only have 5 aircraft. Would you much rather they fly “you” on a plane that is mechanically unsafe or if the weather was unsafe. No but if they did you’d be the first to bitch I’m sure. I think they’re doing a wonderful job, they’ve only been flying since May, and are still growing. I applaud Skybus for giving families the opportunity to be able to afford to travel, with EXCELLENT customer service. The cry babies don’t have to fly Skybus, they can go pay their $400 tickets somewhere else and still bitch about something.

Stop the complaining!!!! I know it is the American way to complain!
You can not expect a baby(new) airline to offer the same service reliability as an Grand Daddy(been around for years) airline!
You get what you pay for in an Airline. If you want a reliable
Airline then pay the price. I’ve been flying Alaska Airlines 4 to 6 times a year for over
10 years and never had a problem, lost luggage or dealt with snobby employees.

Let’s begin with a solid number — 67% failure rate. 2 out of 3 flights I have booked on Skybus have been cancelled. I have experience on several other airlines but none with such a pathetic record. Much is said of their $10 rates. I challenge you to try to find that price between Columbus and Burbank, even looking out to May, 2008. For the most part, their round trip tickets on that route are approximately the same as US Air. Factor in taxi, motels and rental rates in southern California when you are stranded due to their cancellation, passenger costs quickly approach a First Class ticket on a major carrier. One of my delays threw me in the cost range of flying on the Concord. Many of the other contributors to this site have commented on luggage issues. One of my fellow passengers was asked to return to Columbus from their home in Dayton when their luggage was misdirected. Some of the comments have focused on “customer service”. My experience has been more related to “customer dis-service”. For example, we were told in Burbank by the gate attendant that a ticket could not be split but if one passenger were to check in and not the other, that the second flyer would be given a refund. That was not the case and repeated emails to Skybus Customer (Dis)Service have gone unanswered. Additionally, the preboarding announcement warns travelers not to bring food or water onto the flight. However, if you read the narrative on the company’s website, they note that they may not have sufficient food for everyone. I found that to be the case. I suspect the first diabetic shock passenger they have will be reason to review their “no food or drink” policy. Finally, passengers should be aware that the airline has no backup attendants. One of my recent cancellations was due to an attendant becoming ill on the Burbank leg of the Columbus flight. Federal guidelines require 1 attendant per 50 passengers. It didn’t occur to the airline to randomly bump all passengers above the count of 100 so, with no backup attendant, the plane deadheaded back to Columbus minus all passengers. It was late getting to Columbus, and of course late getting back to Burbank. The city of Columbus and Nationwide Insurance proudly associate themselves with the company. Given my experience, that’s like owning and operating the Exxon Valdez!

I enjoyed both my flight from Burbank and back this past week. Foggy weather delayed my first flight but Skybus was the first flight to land as they had prepared for the expected fog. My return flight arrived 30 minutes early. I can’t complain for the $170.00 roundtrip airfare I paid, plus $10.00 for my bag each way. I read many things about this airline and have traveled the world. Will it have growing pains, yes. In the end, its fares beat all if not most major carriers. If USAIR has the flights at the same
price as Skybus then fly them. I am sure it will be non-stop and there will be no
problems with USAIR (oh wait, there has been, ie Philadelphia baggage meltdown).
Any airline can have a problem, but I think skybus is doing just fine. And for all those
people mentioning the food issue, I have seen people on board with snacks for their
kids and such. They didn’t get kicked off. So I am sure if you are diabetic and need
certain foods or have wheat gluten issues etc, you can bring something to tide you
over on your flight. All one has to do is ask or just do it. No news stories of someone being thrown off the plane at 35,000 feet for bringing their own food.

Land Rover:

I know you may be pissed off, but you have to get your facts straight. A flight attendant is required for every 50 SEATS, not passengers. So even if there’s one passenger on a plane that holds 150, 3 flight attendants are still required by the FAA. Skybus is required to follow the same stringent rules as any other major airline. Most airlines don’t keep reserve flight attendants away from their hubs, so I doubt that your situation could’ve been easily solved had you been flying on any other airline.

If you fly a low cost carrier, READ the rules (actually this goes for anything, whether you’re flying a low cost airline or a major airline). There’s nothing more annoying than when people are “demanding” things that they are not entitled to. When people know what to expect, they are not dissapointed. However, most people will not read the rules and then bitch and complain when they are “wronged”.

Finally, has it ocurred to you that the reason why you can’t find those $10 seats is because at least 10 people beat you to them? As you may know, you’re not the only person out there looking for these seats, especially on a high demand route. People are literally sitting by the computers waiting for the precise moment when these tickets go on sale to grab them.

Be grateful that you have a low cost option from Columbus. Even if your first experience was not good, give Skybus a second chance again and be INFORMED. If I was going to dismiss every airline that has ever “wronged” me, I would be driving everywhere! If you fly frequently enough, sooner or later you will run into some flight from hell at any airline. Keeping Skybus alive will help to keep rates low across the board. Bashing Skybus and not flying them will mean only one thing if they go out of business: WAY higher rates the next time you try to find a “cheap” ticket from Columbus. (and those $750 that you paid will become the norm)…

I love these clowns who praise Skybus and attack others who have a complaint. If they experienced what these folks have oh how the story would be different. My favorite comment is Skygirl 01. The 01 must be her IQ as she sounds like a complete moron. Here she flies for a major airline and being major wouldn’t they offer service into BUR via mainline or express? Oh no she buys a ticket on Skybus even tho she probably could have got a pass on another airline. Then states she is impressed by the crew which tells me she gets very impressed when her order is correct at Burger King. Also, she claims that each month information is posted about the success rate of airlines. Hmmm skygirl 01 I am a flight attendant for CO and have been for the past 31 years and I have never seen this so called list. Do enlighten us all and tell us where we can find it. As for your knowledge on Skybus the odds of them making it are nil to none. Way too many complaints for a startup carrier. My guess is in a year they will history. In other words skygirl 01 I have a better shot at dancing with the rockettes at Radio City Music Hall then this garbage airline has at making it. And last but not least I have doubts about your actually being a flight attendant. You flew from CMH to BUR? What airline other then Skybus has a base in CMH? Here’s one you can use just say you commute people are sure to buy that one. My guess is your some wanabe flight attendant who on the day of the interview found she was actually larger then the airplane she’d be flying on. tee hee hee @ skygirl 01

CORRECTION:

On my last paragraph, the correct word should read REFLECTION instead of reflextion

You will always get what you pay for, they did offer a refund or rescheduling for the next flight, however every passenger thinks that they are the only one’s that need to get home or to their final destination. Lets be real, how can you ask someone to put you up in a hotel or give you a meal voucher when you pay only $10.00 for your ticket. Service coasts money and when you don’t pay for it you will not get it. Do you expect McDonalds to serve their hamburger on fine china and have their tables covered with white table cloths, let’s not forget about the candles. People get real!!! There are usually good reasons why flights get cancelled; I can not imagine an airline cancelling their flight for no reason.
CO Flight Attendant; if your IQ is so much higher, why are you a flight attendant? COA flight attendant qualifications don’t seem to be very high (GED or above). Wait a minute; it is a glamorous and very respectable position and we all want to be flight attendants…….. I don’t mean to disrespect you, but you need to get real too, I understand you might be angry because they are competition to COA and your position but with your high IQ you should not have to worry, or should you? Let’s cut Skybus some slack and give them a chance to work their bugs out, we all learn from our mistakes.

Why do we Americans always want our cake and eat it too? People who fly Skybus know the risks — that’s one way they keep their rates so cheap. And yet, if and when they experience a problem, they bitch and complain as if this is news to them. C’mon, people. Learn to take responsibility for the risks that you take. It’s like these people who are now upset that the over-valued price they paid for the home that they wanted so bad at one time is now selling well below what they paid for it, so now they are suing real estate agents claiming they were misled. They weren’t misled at all! Some of our fellow Americans just cannot take responsibility for their actions. They want to fingerpoint and complain — someone HAS to be blamed other than themselves. Skybus is fine. It’s the passengers that have a lot of improvement to face up to.

to Dennis who posted a message on 12-16 and other nasty passengers:
I am a skybus flight attendant, and i think some people need to get their facts striaght. or at least knw some facts before you start talking out of your ass.
I am so sick and tired of dealing with ignorant morons for passengers.
there has to be 1 flight attendant for every 50 seats. and those flight attendants don’t show up at the ticket counter 20 minutes before a flight. we have our own crew room where we have to be AT LEAST an hour before each flight. this is where we do work before we even get on the plane ( and dont get paid for)
and by the way – we only get paid when we are in flight!!!!!!
so the rest of the time, we are just listening to your bitching and complaining and bossing around for free.
what a selfish ass for being so pissed about your plane being grounded because the flight attendant had a nose bleed. gee – way to show some human compassion. I am sure she was having a worse day than you – but i am sure to someone like you, you would have your head too far up your ass to even notice. and no, other airlines dont take other flight attendants with them “just in case”. and we have to be 100% every day in order to take care of ANY situation that arises. sometimes nothing, sometimes drunk people who make threats about having a gun on the plane, and sometimes 9/11.
we dont have the luxery of having a hangover somedays, or feeling under the weather, or tired. if thats the case, then we dont fly and we miss a days pay.
and if you ever have a situation on your plane whre you need medical assistance – why don’t you tell everyone then how useless the flight attendants are.
becuase thats ALL we learn in our 3 month training (like every other airline industry flight attendant) is how to save your ass in an emergency. not to serve it. we dont even learn anything about food service until we are on the plane and your acting like were your damn waiter. we learn everything about the plane – how it flies, the equipment, emergency medical training, self defense….

but this is the kind of thing that noone knows…and i am sick of getting treated like i am a lesser being, or your little servents. passengers dont even think we are human.
when a plane is delayed – its not the flight attendants fault, so stop yelling at us!!
we all have families too we want to go home too. we are just as frustrated as you, but when can we do?
when we run out of food – dont yell at us. were not a restaurant. look around – your on a plane and we have limited space. we dont stock the plane, another company does.
when you fly, there are risks – weather, mechanics, or god forbid not a whole flight crew, because the last time i checked WE are people too!!!! so the next time you fly, bring a book, or write a letter to someone who gives a damn about your petty problems.
Yes a lot of our flight attendants are young, but about the other half is over 30. If anyone wants to question the quality of service well then you need to address it with the people who sign our tiny paychecks. and if your sick of hearing the sales pitch, well, its only becuase we need to eat and pay our bills and thats the only way we make our money.

I would be happy to see you on one of my flights someday – so i can pull your beligerant ass off of it. (we have more power than people think)

** the underestimated flight attendant
(but aren’t all flight attendants underestimated??)

SKY-BUS Yes BUS…. not cadillac, not porsche, not limo…BUS …. Skybus has very clear rules…and if those rules don’t suit you, don’ t pay the $10 bucks to fly them.

DOes anyone have any idea when the August flights will go on sale??

Saturday March 15th, arrive 2 hours early to leave on spring break with the 4 kids and wife. All goes well, check in, bags off to where they send them for the fees. Lady hands me the boarding passes back when we check in and says “oh by the way, your flight is delayed 2 hours- fog” I asked, its 2 in the afternoon where all the airlines delayed? Her quick polite response “do you think I’m lying to you?” Things are not looking good- I haven’t heard a good thing about this airline from anyone who has used it but certainly this wouldn’t happen to us. We get down to the corral at 2:15 and there is one plane there, it loads and leaves for somewhere. About 6pm (close to the delay time being over and our plane arriving the lady gets on the loudspeaker and says our plan is coming from Milwaukee and will be just a little late. Maybe 1 hour. Meanwhile the people that are waiting for the Fort Myers flight who have been delayed since 1pm are mounting a fight with the people that are on the 8pm flight to Ft Myers (yes they actually were going to let the 8pm people go on time and make the delayed Fort Myers people wait. Well as soon as they figured a small civil war was about to break out they finally told the 8 pm Fort Myers people they were basicall screwed and come back in the morning. Can you imagine that by now some 10 or more flights were supposed to leave, only one so far- there are close to 1000 people with their kids down in the Skybus hole starting to go crazy. There were enought people to start a city. Anyway our plan is coming in soon, it’s hot and the kids have been pretty good so far, but we are outta here- then the lady gets back up to the microphone and lets us know that our plane is now coming from Burbank California and should be in around 10pm, only one problem- we can leave if they can find a flight crew- ????? What ????? now I’m hot, like what happened to the crew from the 4 pm flight so I went up and asked, the response ” get out of my face or I’m calling the police” I said this is “f…king crazy” she then said one more comment and they are calling in the bomb squad or something- some lady came in from outside and told everyone they could get a refund, just go upstairs to the kiosk and get it. We opted for that, asked how to get our luggage they said they would find it and it would be at the luggage carousel- we decided to drive to Florida in a rental car- they did find our luggage, the lady from Skybus that was working down there was actually very helpful, understanding, and polite. She made one comment, she said she was told in training to not be nice and if a customer got on her to yell right back at them- not cool. We made it to Florida and recieved an email saying they had changed our California flights in May to a different day- we got the refund- This is the biggest joke I have ever seen, ever. Skybus sucks. Someone made the comment growing pains- these people don’t have a clue about what goes on, and they don’t care- what happens when someone overlooks some safety issue because they have had angry customers up their ass all day and doesnt do their job? Do they pound a plane full of yours and my friends into the ground? This can’t be safe—— fly at your own risk, no more Skybus for my wife, 4 daughters, and me.

Consumer Help:
From Clark Howard’s website

Department of Transportation –
Federal Aviation Administration
Consumer Hotline – 800-FAA-SURE
Security or safety complaints – 800-322-7873

DOT Aviation Consumer Protection Division (ACPD)
For complaints about air travel service – 202-366-2220
Or write to: Aviation Consumer Protection Division
US Department of Transportation
Room 4107, C-75
Washington, DC 20590

FloridaDept. of Agriculture & Consumer Services
For Florida problems only:
In Florida – 800-435-7352
Outside Florida – 850-488-2221
Travel problems – 850-922-2966

Responsible for protecting consumers from unethical sellers of travel. Before contracting with a travel business, call to determine
whether it is registered and if there are any complaints against it.
Or write to:
Division of Consumer Services
235 Mayo Bldg.
Tallahassee, Fl 32399-0800

So far my dealings with Skybus have been outragious. I booked a Flight from Phily to Greensboro with out problem,$25 but when I tried to book a flight from GB to Ft. Myers $40 it kept timing me out and had to start over,and over,and over, and over. sometimes it would default and change the times and sometimes it wouldn’t. It was so frustrating. I could’t get it to work for any thing It took over 1 1/2 hrs to book it, when reading my email confirmation I realized the date was wrong. Email to customer service was generic after 4 emails I got one stating the web site was ok and I could change my date but would cost me $40 extra. Now this was the firat time I was trying to use Skybus, not a good way to treat a first time customer. I finally after 8 more time out trys got to rebook the reservation. an additional $40
Now my flight cost more then flying another carrier, the airport is 30min further then PHL.
I just got email that they changed thie flight times. Now I don’t know if I will make my 2nd flight, I did have 1 4/5 layover now it is less then 30min. and since I have to check bags 30min before boarding I can’t take any checked bags. All I wanted to do is go to FL for my granddaughters 2nd BD. This will be the last time I do skybus, if I ever get to FL. Maybe the $10 flights that I can screw them if I just don’t show up but never for a cheaper flight that is not really cheaper. The same flight on SWA would have been nonstop and only $74 and I could have taken 2 bags with BD gifts and closer to get to. We will see if I ever get on the plane at all ,due to leave April 23

Skybus doesn’t fly to Myrtle Beach!

Please refer to my 11/29/07 posting. Unfortunately for the skybus employees, I was correct.

My girlfriend and I booked our flight for our honeymoon on Skybus. We think the fact that they have gone out of business is a bad omen so we’ve decided to cancel our wedding. Damn, no wedding and no honeymoon in Phili. Life sucks.

I just sent my parents to NC to go to a funeral and they are suppose to come back on tuesday 8th, now they can’t and i cant get in contact with anyone to get my money back so that i can book another airline to get my parents back home. Their stranded!

Thank you Skybus, you did try hard. I have flown about every carrier out there in the U.S., Europe and Asia in my 25+ year career in my business.
I recently went to Boston with my girlfriend and we chose Skybus. We weren’t that thrilled with the flight times, but we wanted to visit Boston again and so we did on Skybus from Greensboro.
We paid about $130.00 for each roundtrip, but that was still much lower than with any other airline. Skybus left on time on both flights and did what they promised. I knew what I had to expect from educating myself on their website. The flight crew was very professional and everything went like it should. It was a wonderful experience and we had a great weekend.

Thank you Skybus. I am sorry to hear it did not work out, but if you come back, I will be back as your customer.

I am not surprised at all that this occurred. Skybus contracted out (outsourced) its entire operations and had no control over quality. The ticket counter and gate staff at Westover Metropolitan Airport (a great place) were from QuickFlight, and they left a bit to be desired.

As for Greensboro, NC — my girlfriend was treated awfully by some Delta (DALServices) contractors working the Skybus counter a couple weeks ago. They openly mocked her and other customers. They refused to call a manager when asked. The manager was notified in person by us and was on the verge of a mass firing. It was clear that she knew what was going on and her employees were just kids with an attitude problem. I mean, what airline worker calls a 21 year old woman a “girl” and does so while chewing gum? They screwed up our reservations and then didn’t offer us another flight until the manager got involved. The counter ladies just went “oh, well, you can’t board the plane so just rent a car or something. We can’t rebook you on another flight from here. You need to find a computer with internet to do that.” Are you serious? These Skybus fools didn’t even have a way to take more of our money. Your average 7-11 was decades ahead of their systems.

Bill Diffenderfer always looked like a hipster-wannabe yuppie who just couldn’t pull it off. Selling tickets moments before closing down? Sounds like the work of a kamakaze, not a “samurai”. I hope he really is going to write books again, because the story behind this one is probably pretty good. I’d love to know how they squandered $160 so fast.

SKYBUS SCREWED ME!

I had booked flights and hotels to take my familey to Florida for school vacation with SKYBUS. I even bought travel insurance tru them with AIG insurance company in case something happed.

I have saved 10 years to be able to afford this Vacation

you may have heard. SKYBUS went Bankrupt.

I just called AIG Insurance and tell tell me that the insurance policy I paid for will not cover SKYBUS going out of business.

My wife is Pissed, My kid is heartbroken and I am wicked Pissed and Broke. I paid my credit card bill already and SKY BUS STOLE MY MONEY.

SKYBUS SCREWED ME!

Anybody know a good Lawyer that works on Commission

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Actually SX did the honorable thing. After determining there was a significant revision in their revenue projections, they sourced additional capital. Money was being lined up, but when the largest player had second thoughts and pulled out, the only answer was to preserve remaining cash for creditors and passengers, with anything left going to the investors. They could have run the company dry, but chose to honor their debts. Creditors should be repaid and passengers can obtain refunds from their credit card companies as they (the credit card companies) held cash in reserves for every flight paid for but not flown. True. Shame on any credit card company that doesn’t refund passenger tickets as SX never had use of the funds. People knowledgeable in the airline or credit card industry will back this up. I commend them for trying. Their timing was awful, but without $108 oil and a severe economic slump, these guys would have made it.