JetAmerica Airlines - will this be our version of Ryanair?
Remember Skybus? That didn’t go so well, but the former founder John Weikle is trying it again with a new low-cost carrier called JetAmerica Airlines. It’s offering $9 one-way fares departing out of six cities starting July 13. Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of some of the airports, they are regional airports that don’t come anywhere close to the West Coast.
Cities: Lansing, Mich.; Melbourne-Vero Beach, Fla.; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; New York/Newark, N.J.; and South Bend, Ind.;
Tested: The website was slow to load, but I found the promotional fare $9 seats between New York (Newark Livery International Airport) and Melbourne, Fla. (Melbourne International Airport) Tuesday, July 21 – Sunday, July 26, 2009. The total price after taxes and a $5 booking fee came to $49. When I called the reservations line to ask what the $20 baggage fee was for I was on hold for seven minutes. When the $9 seats were not available, I found seats for $59 each, pre-tax.
Caveat: The seat might be cheap and the flights scarce, but they’ll make money off you with fees if you’re bringing anything along. A child on your lap and use of a wheelchair is free, but they’ll charge you $50 for a cat or dog in the cabin, sports equipment, surfboard or sending an unaccompanied minor. There is also a $20 baggage fee. Note: The luggage policy shows the baggage fee as $10 for the first checked bag and $25 for the second bag (both not to exceed 50 pounds). When I called JetAmerica they said that there had been a change and both the first bag and the second bag are $20. The third checked bag is still $50.
Contact: JetAmerica, (727) 451-3970
– Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times Travel & Deal blogger
[Photo: jetamerica.com]
9 Comments on “JetAmerica Airlines - will this be our version of Ryanair?”
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May 27th, 2009 at 9:17 am
FYI: Newark Airport is called Liberty, not Livery Airport.
May 27th, 2009 at 9:27 am
You mean Newark Liberty?
May 27th, 2009 at 10:48 am
If this is anything like Ryanair they’ll soon be charging you to book online.
Inflight, you’ll pay to drink their water and use the bathroom!
May 27th, 2009 at 11:51 am
Sign me up, fees and all. Fifty for a pet in the cabin is fabulous; Delta charges $150.
May 27th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
The age of cheap flights hits the US ! Be careful though - over here in Ireland (the home of Ryanair - the first “low-cost-airline”) the price advertised is often doubled by check in charges, baggage allowances, pre-selected insurance, credit card charges, priority boarding and unexplainable taxes ! And thats before you pay $10 for a sandwich !!!! You’ve been warned !!!!!
May 27th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
We just saw how going cheap on everything ends up with Colgan flight 3407. Now here we go again. What kind of pilot do you think they are going to be able to afford to hire on 9 bucks? A “Sully” or a “Marvin”? Before you buy a ticket you better find out how much they are paying to attract “The Best and the Brightest” or “Bottom feeder wages to get the bottom of the Pilot talent pool”
Pilots get paid per hour of block time not “On duty” time or “Trip time” This causes much confusion since the “Block” hourly rate often looks high yet much time “Duty” or “Trip” time is unpaid.
Back to the question “What are they paying to attract top talent to the flight deck?”
How does $40 per hour sound for a new co-pilot? Not bad… oh wait that’s per block…. Divide that by the trip rig 5:1, $8 per hour out on the trip! Yes I’m sure you can get a quality pilot for $8. Not!
May 27th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
“Tested: The website was slow to load”
That says it all to me. If they can’t afford to have their own dedicated server (which generally is under $100/month), why should I entrust them with my life?
May 27th, 2009 at 11:09 pm
If I remember, there has ALREADY been a Jet America - back in the 80s I think and they flew out of Long Beach, CA (near L.A.)
Josh
http://www.joshfriedmantravel.com
JoshFriedmanTvl on Twitter
May 28th, 2009 at 10:55 pm
It is an odd time for a new airline to surface. What bothers me the most is the lack of real livery photos. Even this article used the computer drawing of the aircraft, which seems to be the only thing available.
David
http://www.theairlineblog.com