Skybus effect on Midwest
 

Looks like Skybus has finally started selling tickets. One of there start up cities is Kansas City. I just looked on there website, and i can fly from MCI-CMH for 40 dollars total. I have heard that you have to pay for everything though, like soda, food and they are even gonna sell watches and perfurmes.
I think Skybus could have an effect on Midwest if they start focus cities in MCI and MKE, and MKE could be very possible

Skybus sounds a lot like Ryanair in Europe. I've flown them many times when I was practically living in Europe and when they say no frills, they really mean no frills. Ryanair has no window shades, no seat pockets, tight seat pitch, charges for checked baggage and beverage service, etc. They also fly to remote airports in major European cities.

I don't think it's any small coincidence that the first new CRJ route for Midwest was MCI-CMB. From their standpoint, it's probably more important to keep a discounter like Skybus at bay than worrying about Express Jet.

Midwest caters primarily to the business and higher-end leisure travelers. I doubt most of those people would subject themselves to the "service" Skybus will be offering.

No doubt they will fill the planes at the prices I see on their website. But from what I hear, they will nickle and dime you on everything. They are using A319 Aircraft, so I can't imagine it being too cramped either. Way better than a CRJ. My only question is their use of secondary airports.... Most business travelers won't fly to them if they are located too far from their final destination. That would also add to the cost of travel. Should be interesting to see how it goes. I wish Skybus the best of luck in their new business adventure. :)

Are you serious??? Skybus will be using A319s with 156 seats! People are going to be packed in like sardines. That will be a true cattle car:)

It's 134 seats with 32" pitch. 156 seats is two more rows, that can't be very comfortable, unless they remove the galleys/bathrooms or something...

As for charges, first 2 bags under 50lbs are $5 each/segment (not a big deal). Oversized and overweight are $25/segment. No medical oxygen.

They ask you not to bring food and beverage onboard to keep things neat and tindy...I'm surprised they allow newspapers! (this one would be enough to keep me away...I always bring my nalgene and fill it up at the bubbler post security...does gum count as food???).

As for cities, BOS=Portsmouth, NH. LA=Burbank, SFO=OAK (how can you advertise SFO as OAK, when every major serves both without tricking you into flying into oakland by calling it San Francisco-OAK...). SEA/YVR is Bellinham, WA. Other cities are Richmond, VA, MCI, Greensboro, NC, FLL, CMH.

Their website says 156 seats on the a319...they are leather however...

No phone number, just the website (that's better I guess than the supposed phone numbers ryanair has that everyone claims you can't ever use...).

Priority boarding is $10, you board after people with special needs, and it is a limited # per flight...if you want to change flights, you are then limited to flights with priority boarding available.

According to www.skybus.com, the planes will have 156 seats.

I meant that according to Airbuses website that 134 seats= 32" pitch. With skybuses 156 seats thats two more rows, I don't know what the pitch would be then, but its gotta be 30" or so

FWIW, I think SkyBus will fail. Mind you, the odds are ALWAYS in favor of a start-up airline failing, but there are some specific reasons this one will likely do poorly.

First, Columbus. It's a loser. Doug Parker is a very smart man and certainly knows how to run a low cost airline. Before buying US, he battled WN at PHX and LAS for years and SURVIVED. But he did close down AWA's Columbus hub -- because it had lost money for years. If there was a reasonable opportunity to run a low fare airline out of Columbus, do you think he would have done that?

Second, the domestic airline market is saturated. We've got plenty of good low fare airlines, and the majors have returned to profitability. This isn't an untapped market.

Third, Americans are still used to SOME service when they fly. JetBlue was a hit because it offered frills while the majors were removing service. Who wants to fly barebones service when there's a reasonable alternative?

In short, a bad business plan is going to lead to failure. At least that's my guess.

The flight attendant only get paid 9 bucks an hour too and the pilots are really underpaid at 65k a year.
Does this Airline charge for Toilet Paper as well, 25 cents per sheet and 35 cents if you want 2 ply

If this airline goes under, we know that most flying americans are about Quality instead of price

BTW, is this an airline you really want to fly? I would say "no," unless the price difference is dramatic.

I'd be particularly worried if something went wrong (gosh, and we all know that NEVER happens when flying!). No telephone number. "Limited" agents. It wouldn't be fun.

http://ask.skybus.com/about/rules-of-flying.shtml

That has been my contention all the time. I myself would like quality over quantity. Sure, I have shopped around and tried the lower cost airlines, only to find myself saying "never again" after trying them out. Sometimes it takes more than one flight to come to that conclusion. Would I try Skybus if they flew out of MKE? Probably not... Because I have no reason to go to Columbus, OH and I don't want to be herded from one plane to another on a connecting flight. Midwest has always been a sure thing for me. I know what to expect from Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect. I don't end up cursing myself after I fly with them. :)

Plus, it appers from the website that you can only buy non-connecting tickets (just as with Ryanair). How many people want to fly "sea"-cmh every day at 9am in both directions? So they can't even capitalize on people wanting to go from coast to coast, unless they buy two separate tickets, claim their bags and recheck with enough time (if it's even possible schedule wise).

They also don't appear to be doing the ryanair game of only serving certain cities on certain days, and right now, it's simply one little hub, not a few scattered minor hubs with some point to point service. They're also connecting the coasts with CMH...that seems to make it kinda hard to be efficient with aircraft utilization, etc. How many 4h ryanair flights are out there? It seems like they took ryanair's least appealing features, but forgot to bring along the more profitable aspects. Maybe I'm wrong, it just doesn't seem to make much sense. That's ignoring the help from CMH!

In looking, I only saw 10 or $50 fares...curious how much the top is. On a roundtrip at 10 each way, the tax is more than the fare. What kind of loads would you need on a cmh-"sea" or "sfo" flight to make it even break even?

SkyBus is offering 1 flight/day to/from KC, CMH-MCI is 9:11 PM departure/9:54 PM arrival ... you'd think they'd overnight and offer a nice early morning flight back to CMH, possibly making it a nice option for business travelers ... oh no, it turns back around and flies MCI-CMH with a 10:19 PM departure and 12:55 AM arrival. Just imagine when that flight is running just 30 minutes late and nothing's open in MCI how cranky the passengers will be getting ...

I'm not sure if the rules are different in Europe, but their flights also tend to be shorter anyway, so maybe they prefer to have four flight attendants, but I'd be shocked if SkyBus' A319's have 156 seats (as EasyJet's do apparently) rather than 150 seats (which would only require 3 instead of 4 flight attendants).