I recently flew out to California and back on Skybus, and I thought that I would follow up Alvin’s original post with my experience. I was attracted to Skybus because of its low fares and direct flights to California. Skybus flies into Burbank Airport (aka Bob Hope Airport) which is just north of Los Angeles. I purchased tickets on November 24 for a December 24th flight with a return date of January 3. We could have left on a different date but it was quite a bit cheaper to fly on Christmas Eve - besides we would arrive in California at 8 am on Christmas Eve.

Well, flying on Christmas Eve was definitely a challenge (at least we missed the December 26 and 27 Skybus cancellations). We had a 6 am departure and we arrived at the airport at a quarter to five. For all seven of its flights that morning, Skybus had one long line that snaked around CMH for about a quarter of a mile, but it moved fairly quickly.

Here’s what Skybus’ email to me said about check in -

Given the high volume of holiday travelers, Skybus strongly recommends checking in and paying for baggage online, before going to the airport. We also strongly recommend arriving at the airport at least 2 hours before your flight.The online check in period for your flight begins 24 hours prior to your scheduled departure and ends 30 minutes prior. If it’s within 24 hours of your flight, you may check in and print your Boarding Pass by clicking the “Check in” tab on the Skybus Home page. Checking in online saves you time at the airport.You can also pay fees for bags you plan to check just before printing your Boarding Pass. Then, just drop off your bags with a Skybus agent, get a Baggage ID tag, and head through Security to your gate.

I did check in online. Skybus charges $5 for each checked bag (provided it is regulation size) and you can purchase priority boarding for $10 a passenger. I purchased the priority boarding which turned out to be a mistake.

We proceeded through security where the CMH TSA workers proved to be a bit surly at 5 am on Christmas Eve. Guess they just didn’t have the Christmas spirit. For being so serious about their jobs, in my opinion, they are probably worthless. The TSA is similar to most virus scanning programs - good against known threats/issues but terrible against unknown ones and they end up just making your experience that much more time consuming. Most likely they are always playing catchup and never doing anything preventative. (Ok, that was a bit strong and I may back off that later.)

It took us all the way up til our 6 am flight time to check our baggage and get through security. We got on the plane 10 minutes before takeoff - so much for priority boarding.

Here’s the real highlight of Skybus - nonstop to Cali! That was truly priceless! I hate changing planes in Chicago, St. Louis or wherever and I especially want to avoid doing so while traveling during the holidays. It’s just another opportunity for delay. The flight there was just under 5 hours and the flight back was under 4 hours (I assume because we were flying with the jet stream)! We were so tired we didn’t even bother with the pay per bite meals and just opted for some $2 bottles of water.

Skybus flies to the smaller, less congested airports and Burbank proved to be just that. Burbank Airport was easy to maneuver through, get your bags and get out. In fact, the baggage carousel is outdoors.

Although I saved several hundie flying Skybus, the shuttle from Burbank to Irvine was just under $80 each way so some of my savings were eaten up there.

The flight back was scheduled to leave Cali at 6 pm. So, if it was on time, that would put us back in CMH at 1 a.m. Of course, we were delayed an hour and a half and got to Columbus really late - 2:30 a.m.

Skybus travel tips -

1 - The cheap fares can lead to impulse spending on all the extras.

2 - Check in online as soon as the 24 hour check in period begins.

3 - Purchase priority boarding only if you get to the airport well in advance.

4 - Travel attire consisting of an old red Buckeye sweatshirt, faded jeans, and loafers/tennis shoes just reflects a complete lack of sophistication - this is why Columbus is still referred to as cowtown.

5 - The smaller out of the way airports that Skybus flies to may cost you more when you need to get to and from them.

6 - Through tomorrow, Skybus is offering $20 fares.

7 - Skybus does foster the herd mentality when it comes to boarding planes. People throw aside all sense of decency and decorum when it comes to crowding on a delayed flight. Maybe it is worth it to priority board for $10.

8 - Going up in an airplane or other low pressure environment can cause the gas inside you to expand and emerge as flatus, fyi.

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