Airline ticket: $10; pillow: $15

[question everything]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cheapflights29may29,0,1842079.story?coll=la-home-center

From the Los Angeles Times

Airline ticket: $10; pillow: $15
Ultra-low-cost carriers cut freebies to keep fares low. Some flight attendants are paid partly on commission.
By Peter Pae
Times Staff Writer

May 29, 2007

How low can airfares go?

Try $10 for a one-way ticket from Burbank to Columbus, Ohio. Or $9 from Los Angeles International Airport to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. Better yet, there is a 1-cent fare for flights from LAX to Guatemala.

Yes, those are actual fares offered by a new generation of carriers that are redefining budget travel by taking "low-cost, no-frills" service to new heights. Such as $15 for a pillow. Or two bucks for water. Don't want a middle seat? You can pay $10 and you can jump ahead of the line to board a Skybus Airlines plane. And the flight attendants are paid partly on commission based on in-flight sales.

(snip)

Even so, flights on these cheapie airlines, now officially dubbed ultra-low-cost carriers, can be a bargain and quite a trip even if you missed out on grabbing one of the limited number of $10 teaser fares.

"The seats were comfortable and the flight went pretty well," said Allyx Kronenberg, a Santa Monica resident who paid $105 for her round-trip ticket on an inaugural Skybus flight from Burbank to Columbus last week. "But you do have to pay for everything." These flights have been around Europe for several years, but they are now making a splash in the U.S. Skybus offers 10 seats on every flight for $10, with the vast majority of the fares ranging from $50 to $175 one way. That's about half the cost — or less — of other airlines flying to Columbus.

(snip)


To generate additional revenue, it will allow a company to paint a logo on its planes for $500,000. To keep costs down, the airline doesn't have a telephone service center. Everything, from booking a flight to changing or canceling a reservation, must be done on its website. The airline flies only to secondary, less-crowded airports that have lower fees and can turn Skybus planes around in less than 25 minutes.

(snip)

[charlie]

1. Cheap flights are swell and all

but I wonder in what ways that rockbottom approach affects maintenance and adherence to safety procedures?

[Solo_in_MD]

2. Kind of like the Chinese and toothpaste

[charlie]

4. Yeah

I'm thinking about that ValuJet crash, where they illegally stored hazardous materials in the cargo hold. Operating on miniscule profit margins makes just about any opportunity to squeeze out a few more bucks irresistable.

[Scooter24]

3. I'm not about to give up my fresh baked cookies

on American Airlines. Sometimes it's worth the extra cost just for them. :)

I guess if you're looking to really save money this would be the way to go, but as a business traveler, I usually stick to one of the legacy carriers.

[BlueJazz]

5. I flew on one but Damn..It was a rather Windy flight. and a .....

..."Wing Seat" kinda' sucks.