Skybus: starting at $10, adding up fast

Midway through the budget-airline Skybus trip, flight attendant Olivia Champ had had enough of "the $10 question."

Yes, there were people who had paid only $10 for a seat on the July 16 flight between San Diego to Columbus, the flight attendant announced to the cabin. And for those who were still skeptical, Champ asked the lucky few for a show of hands.

Nine arms shot up, including mine. A few rows ahead, Mary Engelhardt, of San Diego, turned back toward me. "You, too?" she said over the seats and flashed a sly you-devil look. "Welcome to the club."

The handful of $10 seats were the lowest fares on Skybus Airlines, the new bargain-basement carrier that in May began flying between Burbank, Calif., and Columbus and quickly added flights between Bellingham, Wash., and Columbus. This summer, it added flights between San Diego and Columbus, and now has routes from Columbus to 11 cities nationwide, including in Florida. It's the ultimate "no-frills, low-cost" airline. And I mean no-frills. For rock-bottom fares, passengers have to pay for almost everything. No movies, no music and no complimentary coffee, tea or milk. No phone reservations; tickets are bought only online.

It's a la carte flying taken to the extreme, as one airline industry consultant put it. But if it stays in business, Skybus could be the future.

I couldn't resist checking out the 10-buck bonanza even though there was no reason whatsoever for me to go to Columbus — personal or business.

The journey to Columbus actually began in April, when Skybus announced that it was beginning service and that it would offer 10 seats on every flight to and from Burbank for $10 each. Other seats wouldn't be as cheap, but many of them were still half the price of other airlines.

After the $10 seats, the one-way fare starts at $50 and rises in $25 increments to $175. The airline won't say exactly how many seats are sold at which price, but the average fare typically runs $100.

In a lightning-fast Internet society, I was too slow. Within hours, the $10 fares on every flight for the entire year had been sold out online (at www.skybus.com). Business commuters and couples in long-distance relationships were hoarding them, buying up a dozen tickets at a time. "It was like a feeding frenzy," said Carmen Hulbert, director of marketing for Skybus.

But one night in late May I got a call. The tipster said that the next morning Skybus would begin selling tickets for a new service from San Diego to Columbus. It felt like insider trading, but I wanted that $10 fare.

Engelhardt, the woman from San Diego, said she had a tipster of her own. Her sister-in-law in Columbus checked the Skybus Web site every day for a week before calling her in the middle of the night.

She scored one-way ticket

"She woke me up and told me I had to get it right away," Engelhardt said. Engelhardt and I had a problem: We couldn't get a $10 return fare. The time difference gave Columbus residents a three-hour advantage to grab all the Columbus departures. So we ended paying $10 one way and $50 coming back.

Still, for $60 — it was actually $80.80 after taxes and security fees — we would fly to Columbus and back, roughly a 4,000 mile round trip for less than 2 cents a mile.

Skybus marketing geniuses must have figured it wouldn't stop there.

Fearful of getting stuck in a middle seat, I paid an extra $10 for priority boarding, because Skybus, like Southwest Airlines, doesn't assign seats. I paid another $10 for priority boarding for the return trip as well.

Now the round trip cost had risen to $100.80.

Knowing that the airline charges $5 for each piece of checked baggage, I flew with only a small carry-on case.

At the airport, it's clear how the airline cuts costs. Passengers can either check in using the Internet at home or at self-service kiosks at the airport that print out boarding passes. It has no telephone customer-service department.

Three people help check bags, but the terminal counter is closed 30 minutes before the flight. The counter staff then moves to the gate to help board passengers. Meanwhile on the plane, the flight attendants clean the cabin, eliminating the need for a separate cleaning crew.

"The result is that we have a cost structure that is so much lower than anyone else," said Bill Diffenderffer, Skybus' chief executive.

Many passengers were surprised by the plane, which was a new Airbus A319 that had been delivered just a week before. It had slick, comfortable leather seats designed by Recaro, the famed Italian seatmaker for Ferrari sports cars, and a seemingly wider aisle than other planes in its class.

"I thought it would be a rinky-dink airplane, but it is much better than I thought," said Amanda Faretta, who was traveling with her new husband, Jonathon. They paid $50 each for the one-way fare to Columbus.

Skybus officials claim that new fuel-efficient Airbus planes keep maintenance and operation costs down.

But cost cutting comes right down to legroom. The seats had about 2 inches less than on other airlines. Taller passengers took up seats at the exit or at the front of the plane, where there was more room.

Keeping seats closer together allows Skybus to cram about 20 more passengers into the cabin than on other airlines, which typically configure their Airbus A319s to carry about 134 passengers.

A captive audience

Once the plane was in the air, passengers got to experience what could be the future of domestic air travel.

Armed with wireless, hand-held credit card readers, flight attendants in long-sleeve shirts and black pants began selling what other airlines provide for free. Skybus says it's selling advertising space on the shirts, as well as on the overhead bins, aisle carpet and even on the outside of the plane. It already has signed up Columbus-based Nationwide Insurance to have its logo painted on the plane for $100,000.

The flight attendants are paid lower wages, but they get 10 percent commission on what they sell on the plane.

For $8, you can get a breakfast entree — a platter of bagel, pastry, yogurt and fruits. A lunch box with a ham sandwich, fruit salad and cookie costs $10. Bottled water, soft drinks and candy are $2, with alcoholic beverages $5.

I bought a turkey wrap for $10 and a Sierra Mist soda for $2, bringing my flight total to $112.80.

Shortly after the meal service, the flight attendants rolled another cart down the aisle, this time it was loaded with $47 Calvin Klein perfumes, $125 Skagen watches and $98 Crislu cubic zirconia bracelets.

At first, attendants Tracey Post and Erin Schramm, who was also modeling a children's backpack for sale, weren't having much luck.

Then Post pushed the cart next to the $10 riders.

Having saved a bundle on the airfare, as they later explained to me, the previously frugal bargain hunters went on a shopping spree.

John and Gloria Fuentes spent $80 buying two chocolate gift boxes, two children's backpacks and a travel pouch. They spent another $24 on their meal and drinks.

"We're still saving a bundle," John Fuentes said, adding that they would have had to spend about $700 on airfare for the both of them on another airline.

For the record, the 10th passenger to buy a $10 ticket for the trip to Columbus was the Fuenteses' granddaughter, who got sick and couldn't make the flight. Skybus tickets are not refundable, but that didn't bother them.

"We can't complain," John Fuentes said. "It's only 10 bucks."