UsefulConcept

A couple of weeks ago my wife and I took a quick trip down to Florida.  We opted to use the new airline called Skybus.  Since it is a new airline I thought I would write up a quick review for others who may be thinking of using the airline and worried about it in some way.

One thing to note is that Skybus lists their airports based on big named cities nearby.  That means that Boston, MA is actually Portsmouth, NH and Fort Myers, FL is actually Punta Gorda, FL.  30 to 50 min away.  If you are not prepared for doing a bit of traveling once you land you may be in trouble.  This may not be true for every city.

This was actually good news for us as we live in Portsmouth, NH.  The airport is very small.  In fact I would say more people can fit on the plane then can fit in the small waiting terminal.  For fun watch people try to get a drink from the broken vending machine.  The parking is free.  This has to be the easiest trip to the airport for us.  Everything was quick, friendly and problem free (except for my missing water). 

If you want to check luggage you pay extra.  $5 or $10 each I think.  If you want to be one of the first to board, you also pay extra.  Otherwise the boarding process is similar to SouthWest.  You do not get assigned seats.  Instead you get a zone.  1-3.  1 means (from what I could tell) that you paid extra to board first.  2 means that you checked in 24 hours early.  3 means you did what we did and check in at the door.  Try to check in early if you can remember. :-)

The flight itself is much like any other flight. It is a good sized plane and looked new. The seats are nice and new.  Soft and leather or some fake leather.  The staff all wear long sleeve tshirts.  This confused me at first as it wasn't clear who was working and who was a passenger.  No TV or interactive terminals for games or anything like that.

Everything is for sale.  Food, drink, even a cart of perfume, chocolates and other crap.  They must make most of their money on purchases like that while we are trapped up in the air.  It wasn't too obnoxious.  Don't buy or eat the 'chicken fingers'.  Just don't.

Punta Gorda, FL is where we landed and is also quite small.  Its surrounded (from what I could see) by a cow pasture.  If you are driving by you wouldn't know the airport is there as no tower exists.  Parking and such also seemed quite easy.

As for prices.  We paid under $300 total for two round trip flights.  Thats pretty good prices.  Ten people on every plane get each flight (one way) at $10.  It goes up from there.  So booking early really helps.  I just wish you could book transfer flights.  As it stands if I want to fly from Portsmouth to LA I must go to Columbus first.  However there is no way to book transfer flights from Skybus.  So you must book a flight to Columbus.  Then book ANOTHER flight from Columbus to LA, etc.  It should be their top priority to allow that, and add a few more western cities (Salt Lake, Boise, Vegas, Idaho Falls, etc).

In summary I would fly skybus again.  It is worth the incredibly good deals you can get and its nearby.  IF only they had more destinations...

Pros

Inexpensive
Easy
Nearby Airport (for me)

Cons

Crappy Hot Food
No Transfer Bookings
Missing Key Geo Airports
No TV or Interactive Play Stuff (I get bored easily)

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