Could this weekend's news that Skybus has shut down be my clue that I need to take a few days off? Skybus is the third airline to cease operations this week, after ATA and Aloha. All three airlines cited the slowing economy and rising fuel costs in their decisions to shut down. Friday I filled out a BART rider survey that offered participants a free trip to Hawaii "courtesy of Aloha Airlines". I wonder what will become of that?
I had a good experience on Skybus in October, both my flights left and arrived on time, and their staff were helpful and friendly. My one negative about the airline is that I didn't like their nickel-and-diming. $2.50 for soft drinks, $2.50 for each checked bag, $2.50 for premium boarding, $2.50 to print your boarding pass on your own printer. My $75 flight ticket each way actually ended up being about $100 each way with all their service charges. It's like flying via Ticketmaster.
Yesterday I bought a ticket to the May 31st R.E.M. show (they're touring with The National who made one of my favorite albums last year, and Modest Mouse, of whom I have no strong opinion pro or con) at the Greek Theatre, and the $58 tickets became $72.50 after the $10.50 "convenience charge", $2.50 "handling charge", and a $1.50 "mailing charge". That's a 25% markup for doing absolutely nothing.
Fortunately, I only go to one "big" show a year that requires interacting with Ticketmafia.
1 comment:
Ha! I commented on Skybus in my email before reading this. :-)
I'm glad you're still posting every day, though.
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