Budget Travel - Jet America ex-EWR $9++

Sorry if this does not fit in the MR forum, but I did not know where to post it else:

"JetAmerica just announced new nonstop service from New York City (Newark) with fares starting at $9 each way.

The first nine seats on every flight are $9 and are good to the following cities:

Melbourne, Florida (near Orlando)
South Bend, Indiana
Toledo, Ohio (near Detroit)
Lansing, Michigan

These introductory fares are valid July 13 - Oct. 31 -- perfect for peak summer and fall travel. Once the $9 fares have sold out, prices start at $29-$59 each way."

http://www.jetamerica.com/

Jet Who?

Now there's another small start up airline that will go belly up within 12 months.

Try to get one of the $9 fares. Does anyone ever get them or are they a figment of the advertisers imagination?

BTW, I even read this morning about a start up airline that will transport PETS ONLY. How long will that last? :confused:

i think that this will be another skybus.

i think that this will be another skybus.

same CEO, so why not. Just this time they are wetleasing from a reputable charter co, and it won't last that long.

They are owned by the Charter airline Miami air interestingly enough..

What's really classy is the asp errors since they use Micro$oft for a web-app...can't book, view, anything except render the index.

Cranky Flier did a good post on this airline today (www.crankyflier.com). I'd be surprised if they ever see their first departure.

I like how they post "No Gimmicks" and then have fine print about a $5 convenience fee per ticket.

Booked EWR-SBN on 9/24. $49.20 AI

Leave EWR at 3:50pm, 1:15 on the ground, back in EWR at 9pm.

Lots of $9 seats still left

Origin Destination Flight Number. Depart Time. Arrival Time.
NEWARK SOUTH BEND J1 - 403. 24Sep2009 3:50 PM 24Sep2009 6:00 PM
SOUTH BEND NEWARK J1 - 404. 24Sep2009 7:15 PM 24Sep2009 9:00 PM

Uhhh, I understand mileage runs as well as anyone, but why are you doing this?

Interesting. Through reading the Wikipedia page, I learned that Locair provides service to Lake Cumberland/Somerset KY from Nashville. If I wanted to get away this weekend, the fares are only $39. Not bad!

For the same reason I flew Skybus on the first date I found one of their 10-bucks-a-seat fare from Conneciticut to Ohio and back...

They aren't going to be around for long!

I give 'em 9 months, tops.

They also fly the 737-800s. :td: CO has had quite a few of these "bean-counter specials" for some time. Flying coach on a full plane is especially horrendous with the narrower seat widths.

They also fly the 737-800s. :td: CO has had quite a few of these "bean-counter specials" for some time. Flying coach on a full plane is especially horrendous with the narrower seat widths.
:confused: How exactly do 737-800s equate to narrower seat widths?

If I was in driving distance to any of these airports, I'd do them all in a heartbeat just to do the new (to me) airports. But a $270 positioning flight for a $9+ fare just doesn't quite fit the bill for me.

Sorry if this does not fit in the MR forum, but I did not know where to post it else:
Hi ElvinW, welcome to the Mileage Run forum - before you post a LCC airline fare in Mileage Run Deals, please (in future) read this sticky thread at the top of the forum:

Sticky: Welcome to the Mileage Run Forum - Important information how the MR forums work (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mileage-run-deals/454485-welcome-mileage-run-forum-important-information-how-mr-forums-work.html)

It is not helpful to post non-mileage run fares here as the whole purpose of the forum is to provide a heads-up to other FTers of fares which earn status qualifying miles on airlines in alliances or fares which earn a massive amount of miles at an exceptionally low cost per mile.

Cheeers,
BiziBB
Moderator, Mileage Run

I've moved this to Budget Travel.

Allegiant and Spirit would seem to show there's a business model in there somewhere, but I think you need more than just hand-me-down planes and favorable deals from under-served airports to make it go. And even the best plans are likely hurting in this economy.

Spirit is serving some big markets where they can pull in a lot of people, but also where they're not likely getting breaks from the airports. OTOH, I'm sure the bet with places like ACY and MYR is that they're under-served, so there's a bit of that strategy mixed in, too.

With FLL as the biggest hub they can try to get a slice of the cruise-passenger market. An added benefit there is that those people are likely to rack up some baggage fees. I think the other part of the plan is to get as many people as possible going to the tropical destinations beyond FLL, where total fares will modestly undercut the major airlines but won't be anything like $9/segment. As someone who flies the $9 deals to FLL a fair amount (now $49 RT a-i thanks in part to their bogus "passenger usage fee"), I'd say I'm their least-favorite customer and preferred only to flying an empty seat.

Allegiant looks more like an airline trying to use hand-me-downs and preferential airport deals to go to places shunned by larger airlines. Nearly all the routes are leisure routes, though (LAS, PHX and Florida), so most of the customers will be of the ultra-frugal type. One place they seem to like to fly is GSP, which happens to be driveable from both CLT and ATL areas.

There's definitely no shortage of used aircraft, and many medium-sized cities are hungry for more air service.

Be very cautious about flying this one. Only one aircraft to start with, basically circling the initial cities. Any troubles and you're screwed...just like Skybus. You may get stuck for a while. Probably some clause like Skybus has that relieves the company of any liability if you get stuck somewhere and won't guarantee that you can even get a seat on an upcoming flight for the airline.