Taking the S-bus to the C-bus

Last weekend I took a flight on Skybus Airlines to visit friends in Columbus, OH (aka the C-bus). Skybus is a bargain basement airline similar to European carriers like Ryan Air. These airlines offers cheap fares to less-traveled airports and charge extra for everything other than the seat (food, drink, blankets, priority seating, checked luggage).

I flew Ryan Air from Dublin to London earlier this year, so I was familiar with the no-frills business model, but it would be a culture shock for people who weren't. Skybus flight attendants are paid commission for in-flight sales (watches, perfume, and duty-free type items as well as food), and their rules of flying prohibit bringing your own food and drink "unless you've brought enough for everyone". It's like a four hour flight on the Home Shopping Network.

Right now, Skybus services mostly secondary airports (on their web site, flights to "San Francisco" are actually to Oakland, and "Seattle" and "Vancouver" are Bellingham WA, and "Boston" is Portsmouth,NH) which are cheaper and less delay-prone than primary airports in the actual advertised cities.

It's impressive how efficiently airlines like Skybus operate. They currently fly to 16 airports with a fleet of five Airbus A-319s. Just five planes! These planes are in the air all the time, with only 20-25 minute turnarounds at each airport. Here's one day in the life of the plane that took me from Oakland to Columbus back to Oakland.

• Leave Columbus 6:55 a.m.
• Arrive Portsmouth N.H. 8:39 a.m.
• Leave Portsmouth N.H. 9:04 a.m.
• Arrive Columbus 10:53 a.m.
• Leave Columbus 11:18 a.m.
• Arrive Oakland 1:16 p.m.
• Leave Oakland 1:41 p.m.
• Arrive Columbus 8:57 p.m.
• Leave Columbus 9:38 p.m.
• Arrive Kansas City 10:14 p.m.
• Leave Kansas City 10:33 p.m.
• Arrive Columbus 1:10 a.m.

The plane is in the air non-stop from 7am to 1am, with just 20-30 minute turnarounds after each flight. My flights from Oakland to Columbus were about 2/3rds full (100 passengers on a 150 capacity Airbus), so that's 100 people off the plane and 100 on the plane, with their luggage in less than 30 minutes.

The plane was a brand new A-319 with comfortable leather seats (the 1/3rd empty seats meant that nearly all middle seats were free), so my fears of being cramped in a tiny seat were unfounded. And it was great to fly nonstop from Oakland to Columbus without having to change planes en route. I don't know how long Skybus can afford to fly to the Bay Area (they've dropped their flights to other West Coast destinations citing high fuel costs), but I would definitely consider flying them again if they are!

I was so taken with low-frills travel that I decided to take the local bus home from Oakland Airport yesterday instead of the BART train. It did take nearly an hour to go 12 miles, but it only cost a $1.50 local bus fare instead of the $5 it costs to take AirBart to BART. Door to door for less than a can of Sierra Mist on a Skybus flight!