More $10.00 flights out of Columbus Ohio!

Skybus Airlines, the new low-fare airline flying out of CMH (Columbus, OH) just announced service to 4 new cities: Milwaukee WI, Punta Gorda FL (near Ft. Myers), Gulfport, MS and Chattanooga TN.

The Skybus (www.skybus.com) claim to fame is the fact that they offer the first 10 seats on every flight on sale for just $10 each way; taxes, surcharges and other fees are extra. As these $10.00 seats sell out the fare increase based on the load factor (airline lingo for the number of people booked on a specific flight).

I browsed flight availability for a conference that I’d like to attend in San Diego and found that a Feb 28th to Mar. 5th journey would cost $145.80 including taxes. Baggage fees and food would be additional but hey with what I saved I could afford it. Plus the Skybus flights are scheduled nonstop unlike the connecting (you physically get off one plane and change to another one) flights offered by the other major carriers. Did I mention that the other lowest roundtrip was $236.00 inclusive?

We travelers should support these airline pioneers then we should expect to continue to receive value priced flights from them and the legacy carriers like American and United will have to adjust their fares downward to compete with the upstarts. If we fail to support Skybus and other non traditional carriers then the only people we have to blame about high airfares and connecting service is us.