Skybus cancels flights, but there’s hope

by Jamie Rhein on

On last night’s news there was a report on Skybus woes. Flights,18 in all, were canceled yesterday and the day before due to repair issues with two planes. That may not seem like many planes, but the way Skybus works is that the same planes are used for various flights on the same day–and evidently there aren’t spare planes ready to fill in if there’s a problem.

Because Skybus doesn’t have agreements with other airlines, people couldn’t be transferred to other flights. Instead, Skybus is either refunding people for the flights they didn’t take or re-booking them when possible. From what I caught of the news clip, there were Sky bus staff on hand to help with the snafus, but without a call center, there’s no way for anyone to get personalized help except by being at the airport.

Cheap tickets on a cheap airline sometimes does not make for paradise, or help people get to paradise either. I’m hoping that Skybus is able to make it financially and that the issues that make people unhappy do get worked out. I’m looking forward to snagging some cheap seats somewhere one of these days. Our trip to Seattle, as I’ve posted before, was not particularly cheap, but the idea of cheap tickets is holding my interest in the airline and making me think it would be fun to go someplace Skybus goes for an inexpensive few days away. For a special occasion or an important trip, I’d probably opt for an airline with more options, though. Skybus doesn’t have flexibility built into its system. The airline is back on track today because the repairs have been made. [via USA Today]

Orbitz introduces travel blog

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Orbitz, the online travel monolith, has debuted a new blog, which travel guru Chris Elliott has recently dubbed the “hottest new travel blog.” Though it is only a few weeks old, Elliott praises the blog, saying, “[H]ere’s what I like about the Orbitz Blog so far: it’s completely unpretentious, practical and … fun. Yes, fun. I think the blogosphere needs more of that and a lot less of the link-free navel-gazing that seems to be in vogue these days.”

So far, the blog’s topics have focused exclusively on domestic locales and skewed to a slightly older audience than most other travel blogs (e.g. “Fresh ideas in Vegas buffet dining,” “Vegas vacation: Bargain buffets“). It will be interesting to see whether online readers will embrace a travel blog that is so closely linked to a massive travel corporation like Orbitz.

But I predict that if the writing is interesting, entertaining, and appeals to a wide audience, readers will not be put off by the Orbitz logo in the corner of the screen. Only time will tell.

Get a refund if your flight falls in price

by Jerry Guo on

I posted last week about a bad experience with Kayak. Their chief architect was nice enough to give a helpful response. Anyway, a reader, Sam, then pointed me to Yapta, what he calls “a sexier Kayak.”

We’ve posted about Yapta back in April when they first opened. Unlike Orbitz or Travelocity or Kayak for that matter, it’s not meant to help you find cheap tickets. What it’s good at, aside from centralizing airfare options into one convenient location, is helping you land a refund after you’ve booked your flight if it goes down in price. Apparently most airlines have this secret policy, but they don’t advertise it, and of course, almost no one bothers to look up ticket prices again for a flight they’ve already booked. Until now!

Now it seems after the news of Kayak buying up Sidestep, other travel sites are eyeing Yapta, which is still a fledgling startup. The site’s been fairly successful in the half year it’s been open; a couple weeks ago, they announced a Firefox add-on that makes tracking your purchases that much easier. What you do is input your flight itinerary into Yapta, and they’ll send you an email when it goes down in price. If you don’t think this is a big deal (or big business), just out these stats from a beta trial Yapta did earlier this year. “Yapta found that 34% of purchased tickets became eligible for a refund. The average refund was 16% of the ticket price, or $85. During the beta period that worked out to a total of $28,900 in aggregate potential refunds, or about $100 per beta user,” said the good people at Techcrunch.

The only thing is I’m not sure just how easy or costly it is to get the refund. Newsweek claims that you’ll be charged $100 on most airlines for the flight change.

So long, Maxjet

by Grant Martin on

Well, it was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it, Maxjet?

This Christmas Eve, Maxjet, the budget airline flying among New York, London, Las Vegas and Los Angeles, filed for bankruptcy, ending a tumultuous four year journey through the uncharted realm of business-class-only jets.

It was a great idea, offering a low cost alternative to canonical first and business class tickets, but finding traction in a notoriously fickle and petty market is difficult — even without atrocious oil prices. Maxjet’s unfortunate entry into the airline world at this critical time proved to be a death sentence for their company. It’s too bad, I would have liked to fly business class on them some day.

Farewell Maxjet. I hope you gave all of your employees huge Christmas bonuses before you shut your doors.

Travelhappy’s guide to Bangkok

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Over at Travelhappy, Bangkok resident Chris Mitchell has put together a vast assortment of links to help the first time visitor to his adopted city. They’re separated into categories– money, shopping, guidebooks, hotels, day trips– to make the list extra useful-like.

Be sure to check out his Seven Reasons to Go Traveling Solo if you’re worried about looking like a loser with no friends (we’ve all been there), and his article Cheap Long Term Accomodation in Bangkok if you’re interested in staying a month or more. And when you can’t handle any more time in the serene oasis that is Bangkok, he’s got some great visa and flight information under the “Leaving Bangkok” section. Go on, give it a look.

For Gadling’s coverage of all things Thai, perform a click here.