 “Enjoy our first class section” |
The no-frills startup airline JetAmerica — which currently owns only one airplane — yesterday started offering the absurdly discounted one-way tickets on flights from Newark Airport to such hot spots as Lansing, Mich., South Bend, Ind., and Melbourne, Fla. Between nine and 19 seats on every flight will be sold for nine bucks, but after that, tickets may top off at $199, spokesman Bryan Glazer said.
“This is not an introductory offer — this is for all eternity,” he said. “As long as we fill 70 percent of the plane, we are making a profit,” he said. The airline hopes to expand its fleet from a single 187-seat Boeing 737-800, which will make 36 flights each week, to 20 jetliners over the next five years. The deal is made possible by federal grants designed to encourage use of regional airports. “The airports are able to waive our landing and gate fees and help pay for the groundcrews,” Glazer said.
“This is à la carte airline — you pay two bucks for a soft drink, six bucks for beer and wine, $2 to $5 for snacks, $5 to watch TV, and $15 for the first piece of luggage,” Glazer said. Modeled after discount carriers such as Europe’s Ryanair, JetAmerica also charges passengers an extra $10 to choose a seat assignment. Despite the $9 price, the airline estimates the average ticket to be between $71 and $79.
Lansing Michigan is a hot spot destination? Who knew?
 “Our highly trained mechanic” |
Normally an airline costs an arm and a leg.
At least this airline lets you keep the arm.
$15 for the first piece of luggage?
I’ll take a two suiter.
THIS is, about, what it should/could be..
Airline without a profit margin.. Why pay $200-400 and still be in coach..
Will cost more after Sec Chu gets a hold of em.
uhm i bet they will always tell you that you missed the bargin prices seats too
scam scam scam.. you think they are gonna tell anyone the truth about the bargin seating?
If you were in Newark and this was the only way out, you would take it.
That little mask that drops from the ceiling is so people can’t hear you scream.
You get what you pay for. The pilots, mechanics and all will be the ‘others’ that couldn’t get or aren’t qualified for the established airlines (see Colgan outside of Buffalo). I am always amazed at how people don’t blink to spend several hundred dollars on a hotel room, but will comb the internet for hours to get the best deal for a seat on a metal tube going through space at several hundred miles per hour, OPERATED BY PILOTS WITH LITTLE OR NO EXPERIENCE. Do the math- what kind of pilot is attracted to a 23K a year paycheck?
Enjoy your flight….
RTaylor…either Lansing or SB is WAY better than Newark. Been to the latter a few times, and live between the other two…
#8. Yeah, like we have a choice….uh, can I see the pilots credentials before I fly please? Wait, please don’t taze me ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!
I have this mental picture of Alphie flying on one of their flights. Praying out loud. Then calling the pilot a statist moonbat loon. Aaahhhh, yup.
#11 Fusion,
And with your luck, you’d be sitting in the back of the plane.
And with my luck, I’d be in he seat behind you.
I’m sittin’ with Fusion. That way at least one of us knows how to fly the plane.
Melbourne is only about 30 minutes from Orlando so that actually is a very hot ticket for 9$.
This startup is by some of the same people that ran Skybus, out of Columbus, Ohio for a little over a year before folding. I flew Skybus quite a bit while they were in operation. Skybus offered $10 seats (each way) and I was actually able to procure a $10 seat on three different round trippers to St. Augustine, FL. from Columbus. Total coast for the trip was about $36 or so total. All in all, Skybus was not an unpleasant flying experience for me at all. In the end, the business model couldn’t survive though. Skybus paid their pilots well below the going rate and threats of unionisation and other cost related issues forced them out of the market.
EDIT: That should have been “Total cost for the trip…” not “coast” However, at $10 a seat, there could have been some coasting going on to save fuel.
#12, Ah Yea,
And hopefully, I’ll have a gas problem. A bad gas problem
😉
#13, Bubba,
Ignore what I just wrote in #17, your sitting beside me would assure me of intelligent conversation and a qualified back up pilot on board.
I recently got tix to Belize for $140pp/RT. The airport fees and taxes were much higher than the $30 for the seat. Yes. I did get to sit inside. I had to fly back on Xmas day. But, my wife and I did get to go to Belize for less money than a trip to the local ski slopes for a similar time would have ended up costing.
#6,
You can get from Newark to NYC fairly easily. I’d be more likely to say that about Pittsburgh.
“This is not an introductory offer — this is for all eternity,”
I wonder if one could pay them with 9 bucks worth of “Forever Stamps”, purchased from last month before the postage rate went up? That would be a booklet of 20, and two more stamps. Isn’t “forever” and “eternity” basically the same thing?
Hey, it’s Scuttlebutt wing walking. Isn’t that Patrick Duffy for his right leg? (ie South Park)
This photo should have been saved for a caption contest.
Europe has had Ryanair and similar for ages. I’ve had 2 hour flights paying 1 pound sterling plus taxes (one way). In Canada it would not work because airport-related taxes are astronomical. In USA … who knows?
I’ve even travelled on a discount bus line in the UK (Megabus). 1 pound from London to Southampton, assuming that you take the indicated journey. It was a lot slower than the train, but a lot cheaper, too.