Skybus kaput!

Posted on April 5, 2008 by Andy

I just saw that Skybus is ending operations effective Saturday – tomorrow.  And in typical Skybus fashion - Passengers with travel insurance would be reimbursed for unused tickets and hotel rooms.  Others will need to cancel their unused tickets through their credit card company.  You knew that things were going down the tubes when the CEO stepped down.  The lesson from Skybus – when you don’t care about the customer, your shelf life is limited.  You can’t just cancel flights and leave customers stranded.  That earns you no repeat business.  

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  • Andy
    Just saw where Skybus stranded passengers as a result of its shutdown. WBNS10-tv has a story about some of them renting cars to drive back from Florida as a result.
  • Andy
    Just saw where Skybus stranded passengers as a result of its shutdown. WBNS10-tv has a story about some of them renting cars to drive back from Florida as a result.
  • Andy
    Angelo,

    They actually did have transportation from Newburgh to New York City via bus and rail. My problem on that trip was that they cancelled my flight out on a late Sunday night so I ended up paying another $75 in hotel costs to get a flight the next morning.
  • Andy
    Angelo,


    They actually did have transportation from Newburgh to New York City via bus and rail. My problem on that trip was that they cancelled my flight out on a late Sunday night so I ended up paying another $75 in hotel costs to get a flight the next morning.
  • wyliemac
    That's funny Andy, your post title is very similar to mine two post earlier. Yea, their non existent customer service sucked. I wonder how this will impact Columbus' reputation, seeing as how so many of the Captains of Columbus Industry backed Skybus.
  • Agreed, it was a flawed business plan from the start. Completely geared for vacationers when the money any airline makes is on business travelers. I do a lot of travel for business and Skybus was never in my mix. Now, if JetBlue would come back, that would be heaven (speaking as a frequent flier to NYC).
  • wyliemac
    That's funny Andy, your post title is very similar to mine two post earlier. Yea, their non existent customer service sucked. I wonder how this will impact Columbus' reputation, seeing as how so many of the Captains of Columbus Industry backed Skybus.
  • They made some decisions that made no sense to me. When flying to major cities, they picked the absolute worst airport to fly into. Biggest example was their New York City destination, the only airport that doesn't have a bus route or light rail to Manhattan. They should have asked a customer, would you save $50 a ticket to pay $75 for a cab ride? I think the drive to keep $10 flights did them in.

    I flew to Burbank this past summer on SkyBus. The experience taught me that assigned or prioritized seating is a much more humane way of handling passengers. The SkyBus get on the plane free for all did nothing but create tension before boarding the plane. I decided the $50 I saved on my tickets was not worth flying to an airport that put me 1 hour away from where I was supposed to be.
  • Don Ryan
    Agreed, it was a flawed business plan from the start. Completely geared for vacationers when the money any airline makes is on business travelers. I do a lot of travel for business and Skybus was never in my mix. Now, if JetBlue would come back, that would be heaven (speaking as a frequent flier to NYC).
  • Angelo Mandato
    They made some decisions that made no sense to me. When flying to major cities, they picked the absolute worst airport to fly into. Biggest example was their New York City destination, the only airport that doesn't have a bus route or light rail to Manhattan. They should have asked a customer, would you save $50 a ticket to pay $75 for a cab ride? I think the drive to keep $10 flights did them in.


    I flew to Burbank this past summer on SkyBus. The experience taught me that assigned or prioritized seating is a much more humane way of handling passengers. The SkyBus get on the plane free for all did nothing but create tension before boarding the plane. I decided the $50 I saved on my tickets was not worth flying to an airport that put me 1 hour away from where I was supposed to be.
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