Having problems contacting Skybus? This should help

by Justin Glow on

“Travel troubleshooter” Christopher Elliot has been fielding customer concerns about new low-cost carrier Skybus since the airline’s first day in the skies. The big concern is that Skybus claims it has no customer service department (a reason why their costs are so low), so instead they offer a “more convenient” website to deal with issues, presumably. Problem is, Skybus rarely — if ever — responds to customer emails, and people are mad.

“But here are the facts: there is considerable evidence that Skybus is not reading customer e-mails,” Christopher writes. “My ‘in’ box is filled with Skybus complaints. And there is overwhelming evidence that it does have phones, despite its insistence to the contrary.”

So Elliot took matters into his own hands and posted the names, phone numbers, and email addresses (which you can find after the jump) of the top 5 executives at SkyBus. Maybe this will get their attention. “I have their cell phone numbers, too,” he warns. “I’m not going to publish them. Yet.”

Bill Diffenderffer
Chief executive officer
(614) 947-3103
bill@skybus.com
billdiffenderffer@skybus.com

Ken Gile
President and chief operating officer
(614) 947-3104
ken@skybus.com
kengile@skybus.com

Charlie Clifton
Vice chairman
(614) 947-3105
charlesclifton10@hotmail.com

Judy Timberlake
VP of Marketing
(614) 947-3041
judy.timberlake@skybus.com

Denis Carvil
Vice president, ground and airports
(614) 947-3375
denis.carvil@skybus.com

Spontaneous Weekend Trips: Los Angeles, Part One

by Jamie Rhein on

My spontaneous, solo trip to L.A. two weekends from now, Sept. 28-30 ,started with an e-mail. A friend who works for the City of West Hollywood sent out a mass invite about an event he is in charge of organizing. The Algonquin West Hollywood Literary Award Soiree is the first ever. “Great!” I thought, “looks interesting.” Then, when I saw Mark Salzman is the author who will receive the award, I thought. “Damn, I’d like to go.” He is one of my all time favorite writers–one whose book, The Laughing Sutra, I have taught and someone who has a humorous, interested eye on the world.

Next thought was, hmmm, I wonder how much the flights cost? After a visit to Travelocity, the wheels started to turn. Can you believe this? A round-trip ticket on Delta to L.A. from Columbus is $218.80, taxes included. Seriously. I was astounded. Skybus is now at $285 and that flight is to Burbank. After heading to Delta’s Web site, I saw a detail I also couldn’t believe. The ticket is fully refundable if it’s canceled within 24 hours of the flight. What?!!!

Even though the price was right, what about timing? The timing couldn’t be more perfect. It leaves in the evening on Friday, well after a conference I’m going to–and after the kids and husband get home. The flight back is a red eye that leaves L.A. at night. It will get me back to Columbus on at 6:30 AM or thereabouts, plenty of time to make it to my Monday commitments. This also gives me all day Sunday in L.A.

What about getting from the airport and where to stay? A good friend of mine who lives in Santa Monica was at a Dodger’s baseball game when I called him. “Sure, I’ll come get you and you can stay with me,” he said. That problem solved.

From the time I got the email to the time I got my ticket was about an hour. When I sat down to read my e-mails I had no idea that this trip to L.A. was in my future. Some details are still being worked out–but man, am I glad I didn’t try to figure out all the angles before I said yes. The West Hollywood event is open to the public. Anyone can get a ticket. Go the event Web site for details.

Still feeling skeptical though, I called Delta and talked to a person–a real person, to find out if the refundable ticket information is correct and to find out how often that flight to Columbus gets canceled or is late. Either she’s lying through her teeth, or she’s honest. She said she’d check.

Packing Tips: Tried and True

by Jamie Rhein on

I’m an overpacker. I read the missives about how to pack less, but my adage is, better safe than sorry. Here are some things I’ve found that help when I’m packing to deal with my excess.

With the number of allowable pounds per bag dropping, for instance on Sky Bus it’s 50, if you are going to be buying souvenirs, presents and great deals you can’t pass up while on vacation, pack an extra duffle bag. This way, if you get to the airport and find out you are overweight, you can unload some of the items and repack them in your extra bag. Last year, I used this method in the Denver airport. I have no qualms about repacking at the side of the check-in line.

  • When packing toilet paper, take out the tube. That way it squishes down to a smaller size. Put toilet paper in a ziplock bag though so it doesn’t shred.
  • Stuff socks into shoes. Put shoes in plastic bags and place them, soles out, at each side of the suitcase.
  • Roll up T-shirts as tightly as you can. They take up less room that way. Rolling up underwear works too. Underwear can also fit inside shoes.
  • Buy travel size shampoos and lotions so you can throw out the bottles as they are used up. Put them into small ziplock bags so that if they leak you won’t have a mess.

Here are some other packing tips from Travel Sense. And one last tip, when zipping up a suitcase, I always find sitting on it helps.

A Quest for a Cheap Car Rental

by Jamie Rhein on

As part of my family’s trip to Montana via Seattle, (aka Bellingham, Washington,) finding a car rental was the next step after I picked the airline–Skybus (see post), I was particularly interested in making a car rental reservation ASAP since one Gadling reader commented that when he flew into Bellingham he noticed there weren’t many car rental options. Since Sky Bus has a link to Avis on its website, I Iooked there first and wondered if I could do better. I also checked prices through Travelocity –Enterprise car rental, the cheapest was $10 more than the Avis rate.

I was determined to find a better deal. Then I remembered that AAA had travel discounts. Sure enough, by using the trip code on the AAA website, I found a Hertz rental about $30 cheaper than the Sky Bus deal. I reserved a full-size car since there are four of us and we have a bit of luggage to contend with. The last two times we rented cars, however, we upgraded for no extra charge at the check-in desk. We’ll see. If not, we’ll save on gas. Who knows, maybe our AAA standing will help out in a way I don’t even know yet. Next step, find a hotel for the night before we fly home. Our rental is for two weeks and includes two weekends, by the way.

Skybus: Montana Via Seattle, Washington

by Jamie Rhein on

A few days ago, I was kvetching and in a quandary about how exactly we would go to Montana. (see post) After checking with every cheap airline ticket site I could think of to see if maybe, just maybe, prices might have dropped since the last time I looked, I did break down and buy four SkyBus tickets. What made me hit the pay button had to do with the calendar that highlights each month with a ticket price listed for a one-way flight each day. Neil mentioned SkyBus price ranges in one of his posts as well. Since we want to be in Philipsburg, Montana on July 28th for the Flint Creek Valley Days parade, the latest we can fly to Seattle is the 26th. That ticket was $150 per person. A ticket on the 25th cost $175, and the 24th was $280.. The tickets over the weekend were even more. My fear was the $150 would jump to $175 if I waited one more day to think about it and we’d be again wondering if we should suck it up and drive.

So, I hit the pay button after deciding that– no, we would not pay the extra $10 each for priority boarding on the trip back and we would forgo the extra travel insurance until I figure out if we actually need it. (That would add $65 to the cost of the total) We’ll still need to pay for four suitcases, maybe five at the airport. This will be $5 a piece. (The 5th suitcase is for bedding since we stay in a teepee in downtown Philipsburg, but that’s another story.)

Once I hit pay, I found out that it’s recommended that we get to the airport two hours early. Because the flight leaves at 7 in the morning, that means 5 o’clock. WHAT!!!! Without assigned seats we kind of need to get there early. There isn’t any priority boarding for people with small kids unless you pay for it, and we didn’t pay for it since the flight from Columbus to Seattle didn’t have any more priority boarding available. There are limited priority passes. Of course, maybe I could just put my five year-old son in between two people, hand them coloring books, crayons and a juice box or two to keep him occupied and hightail it towards a few rows back.

Another reason to get to the airport early is because my husband is a big guy. If he doesn’t get an aisle seat, heavens, that won’t be fun. I’m interested to see if there’s a mad dash for the door when it’s time for general boarding or if they give people colored boarding passes that sort you by first come first serve. I have to say, it does make me a bit nervous that I haven’t actually talked with a person who works for Skybus and won’t be able to until I show up at the airport. I assume they have people who work at the airport. There is not a number to call with questions. The website does have a place you can email questions, but doesn’t promise to answer them in a timely way. I emailed at the end of April to ask why I got a warning in red saying the web site wasn’t secure during one of the times I planned to pay. I have yet to hear back. Back then, we would have spent only $800 plus taxes for the airfare part of the trip. By waiting for an answer, it cost us $400 and priority boarding. When I did break down and whipped out the credit card, I still got the security warning, but decided to take a chance and pay anyway.

Our next travel arrangement involves tracking down a deal on a rental car. Since we actually fly into Bellingham, I hoping it is cheaper than Seattle.