When it was announced last Friday that Skybus was going to fold, it did not come to me as a complete shock. After all, the fledgling carrier had been hitting much turbulence during its short, bumpy flight.
It was, however, a disappointment for those of us who had altered our perception of the world between where we could fly for $10 and everywhere else.
Skybus came into being with bold, new (and sometimes borrowed) ideas. The super-low fares, a la carte services, income-generating advertising, flight attendants who worked on commission, small regional airports, brand new jets, nonstop flights and quick turnaround times made this an attractive bargain.
For my wife, Carmel, and I, it was our other car. We got to use Skybus to take three trips — all for the $10 one-way fare.
Skybus took a raucously musical evening in an Irish pub in Boston, a walk on the sandy beaches of Florida, a taste of genuine Kansas City barbeque and a stroll on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and brought them all as close as a drive to Port Columbus.
Skybus sent me crazy with new ideas, most of which stayed as just ideas. What about spending nearly every weekend in Florida in the winter? What about a flight per day for a week, where we get to see a few cities and sleep on the plane? What about just flying to Boston for a weekly class in history for a semester? What about following the Cleveland Indians around on a road trip?
A friend of mine who is a Green Bay Packers fan, and who would, otherwise, have needed to marry a daughter of a season ticketholder for a chance to go to a Lambeau Field game, jumped at an opportunity to see his team at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
Carmel and I saw Kansas City during the Labor Day weekend. We have no family there, but we were attracted by its huge Irish Fest. The low fares allowed us to splurge on the hotel, but we didn’t have to splurge much. The Hyatt Regency in Kansas City’s famous Crown Center was offering $99 per night for a two-room suite and free Irish Fest tickets every day. The hotel/airport shuttle and Kansas City’s public transportation system meant that we never needed to rent a car. For what we got, this was a cheap vacation that was endlessly entertaining.
We took a $10 flight to Boston in the last week of October. What we saved in airfare, we splurged on accommodations, setting up in the Salem Inn.
Salem, Mass., on Halloween week has, in recent years, become comparable to Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Visitors from all over come to Salem just to put on masks, dance, have a few beers and enjoy the music and entertainment.
The Saturday night before Halloween was a party night, the World Series in Boston was more celebration (even without going to a game) and official Halloween on Tuesday night in Salem was a blast.
Last month, we escaped from the clutches of the Blizzard of 2008 by taking another ten buck special to St. Augustine, Fla.
We stayed in the Anastasia Inn, a really nice budget motel that was kept scrupulously clean. They served a free continental breakfast everyday, making this a real low-cost trip.
We were there in time for their Rhythm and Ribs Fest, St. Patrick’s Day and the yearly Lighthouse Festival on Anastasia Island. I ran a 5K race on an unexpectedly warm and sultry day and didn’t do as well as I wanted, but I didn’t do too badly.
We were looking forward to a spring flight to Niagara Falls and a summer trip to Virginia Beach, but Carmel and I were wondering aloud how long Skybus could survive the outrageous hike in fuel prices that they could never have foreseen.
Even before then, the headlines revealed a shaky road for Skybus. Although company executives sounded hopeful, many experts outside the company weren’t buying it. With no end in sight to high fuel costs and rumblings of labor troubles, hope seemed to grow dim for Skybus’ long-term prospects.
Days before Skybus folded, CEO Bill Diffenderfer left the company, ostensibly to pursue a writing career. With the company bleeding money, the more-than-obvious was all but confirmed with the departure of a second Skybus exec that same week. Skybus was going down in flames.
About 9 p.m. Friday, Skybus flyers got the news as it rolled across the local TV screens to tease the 11 o’clock news.
When I think about Skybus, I will always remember early morning jogs down Derby Street in Salem with the smell of the sea air and the screech of the occasional seagull. Looking over a Kansas City sunset from the revolving rooftop restaurant of the Hyatt, and strolling down the crooked and narrow streets of the old Spanish Quarter in St. Augustine.
Skybus made these destinations almost as close as next door.
Without Skybus, the world is a much larger, more distant and less friendly place. Without Skybus, Ohio winters will seem longer.
It was over way too soon but, thank you Skybus for a wonderful year.
