SKYBUS is ticking me off!!!!

[musicgirl63]

Well sometimes its not what you say but how you say it. ;)

 

I think someone is very perceptive.

[musicgirl63]

I tried...they got bounced back as not found

 

Ok, I just got one through to Judy....I'm not holding my breath!!!

[FlyerTalker]

Skybus says Bill Diffenderffer has resigned to resume a book-writing career and will be succeeded as CEO by Mike Hodge, the company's chief financial officer for the past year.

Personally, I always get bad feelings when finance guys take the reins at airlines....but, it's the trend. Operations people used to be in CEO positions - now it's just the pencil pushers. Just my wistful rememberance of days gone by.

[musicgirl63]

Ok, I have to give credit where credit is due. I have received a reply from the BBB in regards to the issue with Skybus. That being said, I just received an email from Skybus...

 

One of my issues had been the fact that when I booked my flight, the luggage fee was $5 per piece of luggage. It was raised to $10 about 2 weeks later. Like many of the other airlines, Skybus should be automatically honoring the lower or non existent luggage fee. This is not the case unfortunately. However, in the email it was stated that Skybus would honor the $5 fee. I just have to contact them before we leave to make sure it is set up. I of course will be taking advantage and have a copy of the email with me.

 

Will it actually happen? I'll have to wait and see!

[greatam]

I tried...they got bounced back as not found

 

Glad someone got back to you. I am very curious why you didn't just pick up the phone. I am sure they changed their email addresses after the contact list was posted.

 

And why you think Skybus should allow you the $5.00 luggage fee is again beyond me???? Delta DID NOT care that you purchased tickets 6 months ago when they instituted the extra bag charge. And they did not care if you were flying internationally or domestically. They are within their rights as a business entity to change the rules any time they want. EVERYONE who flies after May 1 on Delta will pay $25.00 for a second checked bag. Makes Skybus' $5.00 increase seem paltry.

[Globaliser]

They are within their rights as a business entity to change the rules any time they want.

I'm not sure that this is necessarily right. Remember, RCI has recently had to agree to refund the retrospective fuel surcharges imposed on people who had already booked but not yet sailed, precisely because of doubts (I say no more than that) about the legality of imposing them on such passengers. At the very least, it will all depend on the terms of the contracts, but even then that may not be enough to entitle the airline to do it.

[greatam]

I'm not sure that this is necessarily right. Remember, RCI has recently had to agree to refund the retrospective fuel surcharges imposed on people who had already booked but not yet sailed, precisely because of doubts (I say no more than that) about the legality of imposing them on such passengers. At the very least, it will all depend on the terms of the contracts, but even then that may not be enough to entitle the airline to do it.

 

Let's put our legal hats on. If I am not mistaken, the Florida AG got involved in the discussions after much prodding from Congressmen/Senators and the Florida Tourism Bureau. This was a voluntary agreement on the part of RCCL. There was NO legal basis in Florida. There are questions of Interstate Commerce, foreign flagged ships/American based company, and no prevailing Federal rules, policies or laws which were never addressed.

 

RCCL COULD have gone to court. But in the interest of public relations and to reduce their legal expenses, they caved.

 

The US trucking industry has used fuel surcharges since the 80's. DOT/FHSA has absolutely NO say in how fuel surcharges are instituted, other than the rates and any changes are sent to DOT, generally after the fact. I can call all my customers this morning and inform them that even though we have a standing agreement/contract to pick up freight at XXX price per pound, I can now charge them XXX AND an additional fuel surcharge. This is done every day in the US. Most companies give their customers about 2 weeks notice.

 

Delta also instituted their per bag charge. Did not matter when the tickets were purchased. If you fly after May 1 and want to check more than one bag, you will pay. I think SkyBus is within their legal rights to charge the additional fee to the OP. SkyBus, again in the interest of public relations, will allow the OP to check the bags under the original $5.00 fee. Most of time in the US, it is easier (and MUCH cheaper) to relent on the "little stuff".

 

Maybe you look at it differently.

[Globaliser]

Maybe you look at it differently.

Well, I don't want to get into an argument with you about this, because it is obvious that the airline might have a contract in place that allows them to change the fees and add surcharges at whim, even after the passenger is locked in to the contract.

 

But this is not necessarily the case. When BA was changing its baggage allowances (changing the entire system, for most flights), there was a lot of FT discussion about the legality of it doing so for people who had already bought tickets. The more hysterical were threatening to sue for damages in advance, although (IMHO) it's plain that a court would not have entertained this, and would only have allowed the passenger to claim damages after the event, and then only if and to the extent that they had in fact been prejudiced come the day of travel.

 

And, in the event, the changes were modified at least twice, so actually nobody lost out and everyone who will get caught by the new rule when it finally comes in in November 2008 (if it does) will have bought their ticket after the new rule had already been announced.

 

The same goes for fuel surcharges on airlines: typically, they are only charged on new tickets or re-ticketing, which avoids any potential legal difficulty.

 

All I wanted to point out was that it isn't categorically the case, in every circumstance, that the business can change the rules whenever they like, even after you've bought the ticket. Many times, they can't.

[musicgirl63]

Glad someone got back to you. I am very curious why you didn't just pick up the phone. I am sure they changed their email addresses after the contact list was posted.

 

And why you think Skybus should allow you the $5.00 luggage fee is again beyond me???? Delta DID NOT care that you purchased tickets 6 months ago when they instituted the extra bag charge. And they did not care if you were flying internationally or domestically. They are within their rights as a business entity to change the rules any time they want. EVERYONE who flies after May 1 on Delta will pay $25.00 for a second checked bag. Makes Skybus' $5.00 increase seem paltry.

 

Why didn't I pick up the phone? If you must know my personal business, I haven't been able to talk until just yesterday due to bronchitis. Every time I tried to talk, I felt like I was coughing up a lung. I don't think it would have been a very productive conversation. Yesterday I was a bit preoccupied have a skin biopsy done at the doctors office.

 

Why should Skybus and all the other airlines honor the luggage fee or the fact that there wasn't one when a person booked??

 

-Whether it is skybus or any airline, people book their flights based on the cost. A family of 4 going on a flight each taking 2 allowed pieces of luggage on a roundtrip might have booked when there wasn't a charge. Now the same amount of luggage will cost the family $200 ($25 per person, per way). That is no small drop in the bucket that wasn't put into the budget. Yes, I said budget some of us are on a budget. If this had been known up front, perhaps waiting for lower fares or changing travel plans all together might have occurred for that family. Had I not lucked out with the $10 flight, we would be driving the 9-10 hours since it is definitely cheaper than any other flight even with the cost of gas.

 

- If I need to change anything, I'll get charged. Why should this be so one- sided? The airline is not God......

 

-If they don't want to honor the luggage fee that was a part of their rules and regulations when a ticket was purchased, they should offer those people the option of a full refund. I don't know if that happened or not with any of the airlines.

 

-It's good business sense.

[pms4104]

First let me say that I got a great deal. We snagged $10 tickets for the 3 of us ...

Just after I booked the fee for luggage went up to $10 per piece per way so instead of $60 total it would be $120. Yikes...time to get pack less!!!

I can deal with this.

 

Do I understand correctly that the three of you are taking a total of 12 checked bags at $10 each, unless Skybus honors the $5 x 12 bags for 3 pax which was in effect when you booked with Skybus???????????????

[musicgirl63]

Do I understand correctly that the three of you are taking a total of 12 checked bags at $10 each, unless Skybus honors the $5 x 12 bags for 3 pax which was in effect when you booked with Skybus???????????????

 

I'm not sure I'm reading your post correctly so I'll do my best. I'm a bit confused by the use of the word "unless" because we are flying regardless of the luggage price. I don't think I ever stated otherwise, unless something was misinterpreted.

 

Originally it would have been $5 per piece per way per person. So my 2 bags would cost $10 one way or $20 for roundtrip. With 3 of us, the total for 6 bags

would be $60 for all bags for all of us roundtrip.

 

After we booked, Skybus raised the fee to $10 which when all totaled would be $120.

 

Part of your quote of my post had in it my original flight fare for $10. This is separate from the luggage fee.

 

My reason for the thread was to give others a head's up when using Skybus. Personally, I thought it would be helpful to those thinking about booking Skybus since some people don't have to time to research.

[greatam]

deleted

[pms4104]

I'm not sure I'm reading your post correctly so I'll do my best. I'm a bit confused by the use of the word "unless" because we are flying regardless of the luggage price. I don't think I ever stated otherwise, unless something was misinterpreted.

 

Originally it would have been $5 per piece per way per person. So my 2 bags would cost $10 one way or $20 for roundtrip. With 3 of us, the total for 6 bags

would be $60 for all bags for all of us roundtrip.

 

After we booked, Skybus raised the fee to $10 which when all totaled would be $120.

OOOOOPS ... my bad. For some reason my grasp of basic math escaped me for a moment and I wasn't thinking roundtrip.

 

My comment about "unless" had to do with your post that you believed or hoped they would honor the $5 price that was in effect when you booked the air.

 

Apologies!

[musicgirl63]

OOOOOPS ... my bad. For some reason my grasp of basic math escaped me for a moment and I wasn't thinking roundtrip.

 

My comment about "unless" had to do with your post that you believed or hoped they would honor the $5 price that was in effect when you booked the air.

 

Apologies!

 

No problem!! Before I responded, I actually did the math a few times myself because I thought I might be missing something!!!

[clyde3]

Check out the Skybus web site. They just closed their doors.

[greatam]

Wow!!!! The OP is REALLY going to be upset. Hope they have trip insurance.

 

The demise was MUCH faster than I expected. I thought they would hang on until after summer. Golden parachutes must have been REALLY good for the two execs that left. Bad news for a lot of travelers.

[musicgirl63]

Wow!!!! The OP is REALLY going to be upset. Hope they have trip insurance.

 

The demise was MUCH faster than I expected. I thought they would hang on until after summer. Golden parachutes must have been REALLY good for the two execs that left. Bad news for a lot of travelers.

 

Yes I'm upset...I'll live.

 

They said we would get a refund. The travel insurance wasn't worth the $109. We'll just drive now.

[musicgirl63]

As I tell this to my dh, he looks at me and laughs.....

 

our very good friend just flew to Skybus to Fl from Ohio.........guess what, he's not flying them back. DH is on the phone with him now. Thank goodness he can afford to fly home on another line.....if there are any left by next week.

[musicgirl63]

Trip insurance MAY come into play (obviously depending on the policy and coverage) due to the fact that the new airline tickets are going to cost about 6 times what has been paid. Columbus to NYC for June is running at least $200 x 3. That hurts.

 

That's the only reason we got tickets on Skybus, I got the $10 seats. We never planned on flying this summer until the notice came out that the $10 seats were available. We originally planned on driving, I guess that is on again and so are my original plans to spend more time in NYC.

 

God works in mysterious ways.....

[musicgirl63]

Just talked to the credit card company and I can get the refund. However I have to wait until tomorrow morning, something about the timing.

 

I really feel bad for the people who have already flown the 1st part of their trip and now will have to pay big bucks on the way home. What is really crummy is that even though this information was out about 3 hours ago, they let people board planes with roundtrip tickets and they didn't tell them.........

[Host Mike]

For continuation of discussion on demise of Skybus - please go to thread addressing the airline going out of business.

 

Thanks

 

Mike

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=749757