Skybus

Being a lover of travel, as soon as I heard about Skybus, thoughts of more fun excursions at cheaper prices began to fill my head. So naturally, I wanted to see if Skybus is all it was hyped up to be. The search began for a place to go where Skybus flies. Since my traveling buddy and I have long been fans of Las Vegas, we decided that Biloxi, MS might be fun to check out as neither of us had ever been before. At the same time, my youngest daughter was considering a job offer in New Orleans, about 75 miles from Biloxi. She was going anyway for the job interview and we decided to meet up with her during our trip.

I went online and secured our tickets. The cost of a roundtrip ticket was $96.50 ($40.00 each segment plus taxes and fees). This is half or less than the cost I could find for the same trip from any other airline. (I could have had the trip for $56.50 had I decided two weeks earlier as they were running a special for 2008,,,,,$20.08 per segment, but these seats sold out before I made my mind up. Oh well, you snooze, you lose.) I read up on all of the tips and rules from the Skybus site and learned also that there would be a baggage fee of $5.00 per bag per segment. There would be additional charges for more bags and higher rates for the bags if they exceeded 50 pounds. There is no fee for a carry on, so if you can get everything you need in a carry on size bag, you save baggage fees. More about baggage fees later.

Our tickets secured, we just had to wait on our travel date to arrive. We showed up at the airport 2 hours early as the site advised. When we went to check in at the kiosk, the screen told us it was too early to check our bags. Fortunately, the clerk at the desk said it was not. That made us happy! Our bags checked, we grabbed some breakfast while waiting on the big, yellow bus to arrive. It pulled up to the gate, big, shiny, yellowish orange, looking polished and new. We didn't get one of those covered walkway things, we had to go out to the tarmac and they had stairs and a ramp. More good news, they load the plane from the rear and the front, so not as much waiting for everyone to go through the same door. Smart ones were heading toward the rear entrance because there weren't as many people and you get to your seat more quickly.

On the subject of seating....here's a new concept...no assigned seating. That's right! First come, first served. That is good news for those of us who have ever been the victim of having small kids behind us, kicking our seats for an entire trip (I even had my hair pulled by one once). On the return trip, my friend and I changed seats twice to avoid such a fate, a feat not possible with assigned seats. Thank you, Skybus, for giving us CHOICE. More about seating, the new style of seats on Skybus gives you extra knee room not available on some planes. You can stretch your legs!!! More cheers for Skybus.

The interior of the planes are new looking, well lit and clean. Now for the "downside". I put that in quotes, because although some people will moan about anything, I don't really consider anything about Skybus a downside. First off, there are no "free drinks" or "free peanuts" (if you look at ticket cost, you won't consider those drinks or peanuts free on other airlines either.) The same goes for luggage fees. These things are there, they are just already figured in your ticket cost with other airlines. You decide what frills you can do without and you save. Saving more means flying more for less money and I am all about that!! Oh yes, like the movie theatre, Skybus requests that you not bring outside food or drinks on board either. A soda will cost you $2.00, a bargain if you compare it to the cost of a movie soda. Speaking of movies, there are none on Skybus, just another way to cut costs. Blankets and pillows? Yes, but not free, they are for sale and I have to agree with Skybus, when they say "Who wants to use someone else's blanket and pillow anyway?" So, if you want a blanket or pillow, you can buy one, to keep and reuse. I don't think Skybus would fuss if your brought your own "blankie".

As with all other airlines, there is the "Fly and Shop" magazine, with all of those little interesting items for sale. Skybus does take this just a step further by having the actual items for sale onboard. That's right, things like perfume, purses, chocolates. You can shop in the air, right from your seat. So, if you forgot to bring that loved one a souvenir home, there is still time.

The flight was good, the landing smooth, the attendants nice and I liked that they had a casual look to their uniform, not the stiff formal, "military" look of the other airlines. All in all, the Skybus experience was great and I will fly Skybus again given I go somewhere they fly. So, tell me Skybus, when are you gonna add Vegas to your stops???

Oh yes, I said I would say more about luggage later, there was one little hitch and that was that sometime midway of our vacation, the cost per bag per segment was raised from $5 to $12. We had to pay the $12 cost on the return. My only complaint was that we were caught by complete surprise with this when we checked in to fly home. I felt that since our tickets had been purchased already, we should have been "grandfathered" at the old cost. But even with the increase in the baggage cost, the Skybus concept is still a great value for any of us, willing to skip a few frills in order to get where we want to go. I hope it lasts, because it still seems too good to be true. In the meantime, I am looking for next Skybus trip. With what I saved on this one, I can afford to go again.