Sun Country: To fly or not to fly?
Posted on November 12th, 2008 – 7:58 AMBy Chris Welsch
I’ve been watching the struggles of Sun Country from afar this fall and wondering if the airline will survive. Losing Sun Country would be a shame for many reasons, including healthy competition for Delta. But I would miss its service and comfort most of all. Amid an increasingly cramped and grungy mode of transport, Sun Country managed to provide relatively comfortable, competent and cheerful service (for which it was recognized as among the best in the nation for the third time in October.) Here in Boulder, I’m watching the similar struggles of Frontier, another small airline that’s been losing money. Like Sun Country, Frontier is banking on the busy winter vacation season to provide a cushion — and some profits.
For consumers, the question is when do you give up your loyalty for security? What if you book your vacation to Mexico for February, and the airline goes under at the end of January? Consumers who buy their tickets with credit cards typically are protected from the loss of the cost of the tickets, but booking a new flight on short notice could be prohibitively expensive. I’m planning a trip to theYucatan for the second week in April, and I’m really torn. The cheapest fares and direct flights are on Frontier. But April is just past the winter travel peak; the airline is going to go kabluey, it will likely happen as winter sales tail off. I haven’t made up my mind. If you’re planning a winter getaway, what are you going to do?
5 Responses to "Sun Country: To fly or not to fly?"
I certainly hope Sun Country makes it!!! We just returned from a trip to Laughlin, NV, flying both ways with S.C. and the employees are WONDERFUL! Everyone was so friendly and helpful, and this, in spite of being forced to take a cut in wages of 30-50% from a few weeks ago until the 1st of the year. I have flown S.C. more than any other airline and will continue to do so as long as they are in business which will, hopefully, be at least as long as I’m able to get on a plane to anywhere.
I HOPE SC DOESN,T GO UNDER I HAVE FLOWN S.C. FOR MANY YEARS BUT WISH THEY HAD MORE FLIGHTS OUT OF PORTLAND,OR.TO LAUGHLAN N.V.
Sun Country is our airline of choice whenever possible - and we’re booked to a Caribbean location on SC late January. Their service, from check-in on, is a better experience than what we’ve had on Northworst. It’s our sincere hope that travelers will not lose confidence in SC, but will show their support of the hometown airline and continue to book flights.
I agree that Sun Country is great and hope they continue to keep going, however, I am using another airline to fly a relative home for Christmas. I can’t risk this person not being able to come home due to Sun Country going under. If they stay afloat after the New Year, I will think about using them again.
We would like to vacation in Mexico in February of 2009. We would like to fly on Sun Country. Is there any feeling as to whether or not Sun Country will make it through February of next year?
Thank you.
Kerri Westenberg has globe-trotted for National Geographic and other magazines. Now she zips around the region, on the lookout for travel news you can use.
Elizabeth Larsen lived in Salzburg, Austria, and has traveled throughout Europe and the Americas. She can say "diaper," "bottle" and "crib" in four languages.
Troy Melhus has heli-skied on glaciers, dived alongside Monk seals and raced for 24 hours on a mountain bike. All this, and he rarely spends more than $500 on a trip.
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