The Super Cheap Airline Ticket

(CBS)  If you're looking for a cheap way to take your family on vacation this summer, there may be a new way to go. As CBS News correspondent Joie Chen reports, you just have to be willing to ride the bus.

Flying can already feel like a bus trip in the sky – at least now an airline is admitting it.

Skybus Airlines launched its first flights this week, promising super cheap seats on brand-new aircraft.

The hook: ten seats on every Skybus flight will be sold for $10 forever.

The carrier insists it's not just a promotion.

Skybus flies to smaller airports on both coasts like Burbank, California, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Every flight starts or ends in Columbus, Ohio.

"I'm flying to Columbus, renting a car and driving to Cleveland and saving a thousand dollars," one early Skybus passenger said.

Those really cheap seats can be hard to find. When CBS News tried to get them, the first $10 ticket from Portsmouth to Columbus wasn't available until October 10th.

We couldn't find any tickets for less than $50 between now and Thanksgiving from the Bay Area to Ohio. Still, $50 is pretty cheap.

All reservations are made online, and there's no phone number to call for help.

Inconvenient? Yes.

But Skybus bets you'll put up with it for the low fares.

"We're tapping into a market that's simply staying at home," said Skybus's Josh Flyr. "So if you want to know who the Skybus competition is, Skybus' competition is the couch, and the car and the bus."

Following the lead of European super-discounter Ryan Air, Skybus will try anything to make money.

If you get to the airport less than 30 minutes before takeoff, the ticket counter will be empty, as the people who work there also have to help board the plane. Even the planes are for rent as flying billboards.

And by the way, you can't bring your own food on board, but the flight attendants will happily sell some to you: they get a commission.

"It's kind of like going into a movie where you have to buy their popcorn and cokes and stuff like that," airline industry analyst Darryl Jenkins said. "Whether that's going to be enough to make that a success in the United States, I don't know."

Expect big name carriers to watch the new entry's take-off carefully as they decide whether to play catch-up in the super-low fare game. Or they risk missing the bus.

[gabrielallen]

I wish that Southwest flew to Europe. Then there would finally be a cheap solution for finding <a href="http://www.farebuzz.com/Default.aspx?tabid=2087">plane tickets</a> on international flights.

[goldesprit]

When I go to the theater, its true they try to coerce you into buying their &quot;food&quot;.

Now it will be tried with greater force on airplanes.

What about people with heart problems (even currently undiagnosed)?? Or diabetes??

How long before there is a class action suit against those who would hold you hostage and attempt to force you to alter your diet on their monetary behalf???

NOT VERY LONG.

I have the right to eat what I designate I will eat wherever I am, and so do you folks.

DUH.

[kevboom]

I stand corrected. Apparently Airtran does have the second youngest fleet... http://www.airsafe.com/events/airlines/fleetage.htm Seems I saw a tv report indicating budget airlines were among the worst, but they might have been referring to Aloha and the like. Lesson learned, check your sources kids. And my apologies for the &quot;idiot&quot; comment. Admittedly crass for the dead in a situation marred by bad signage and an understaffed tower. Still, the original point of preferring a veteran pilot who has been on a selected airport's runway several times stands. Peace out.

[drummer94]

I ain't flying nowhere nohow. My last flight was in '76 coming back from Germany,gettin out of the army, and there was a bunch of incidents with aircraft at the places I was going. That was enough. I've gone 'cross-country in my car. I like the slowed-down,laid-back cruise. I think we Americans are way too much in a hurry to go nowhere. That's why you feel ripped off when ya get back from a vacation. Hurry,hurry,hurry, then what? it's over? Oh man..........!

[Ed0719]

I think this is a neat idea. Within reason, competition is always a good way to promote innovation in an industry.

To the uninformed person who commented first, the Kentucky pilots were both seasoned, not fresh out of the service and the accident wasn't due to their inexperience. And Southwest and Airtran both fly some of the newest fleets in the business. Many Airtran planes are new Boeing 717s. In fact, Airtran has, overall, the newest fleet of any of the major airlines.

[j_flood]

Please fly to/from Europe soon!

[ms38654ob]

Well Kev, your post shows just how much you know. The Southwest fleet is made up mostly of 737-NG's which are less than 5 years old.

Also, calling the pilots of that ill fated flight idiots is a disservice to all pilots. The crash was more related to over work, inexperience and confusing charts, plus throw in an over worked, exhausted air traffic controller.

Maybe you should stick to your kiddy cart and training wheels.

[canaima]

The pilots who took off on the wrong runway in Lexington because of recent tarmac construction that was poorly &amp; inadequately marked hardly makes them &quot;idiots&quot;.

I'd say that YOU fit the description of an &quot;idiot&quot; far better with your condescending attitude.

[kevboom]

Cool, but they really should reveal how qualified their pilots are. I'd rather pay $250 for a flight to Columbus with a veteran at the controls than $50 with a 24 year old pilot fresh out of Iraq with a penchant for hard banking. Lest we forget the idiots in Lexington that took their plane down the wrong runway. Kudos for buying an all new plane fleet, however. Beats the 25 year old dinosaur planes Southwest and Airtran send up multiple times every day.