Surf Air might be the coolest thing to happen to travel since the invention of flight itself.
The Santa Monica, Calif.-based carrier promises to offer more than just roomy seats and decent service. It's giving members the chance to buy all-you-can-fly plans for $790/month, $990 or $1,490, much like Jet Blue or Sun Belt did previously with varying success.
The $790 plan lets members hold two reservations at once, while the $990 plan offers four flights per month, and $1,490 buys you six flights.
Starting this summer, Surf Air will operate out of four small airports in SoCal and NorCal—Los Angeles, Palo Alto, Santa Barbara and Monterrey. The flights should be cheap and fast: No more five-hour trips between San Fran and Los Angeles—Surf Air assures customers it'll only take 75 minutes.
The carrier has plans to expand to Las Vegas, San Diego, Lake Tahoe and other areas soon. But what really makes Surf Air special is that it hopes to do away with everything that's made flying so unbearable.
It'll pare down the booking process with a mobile app that asks users three simple questions: Where do you want to go? Which day do you want to go? And which flight do you want to get on? And it will banish the annoying check-in process by letting passengers board directly and bring guests along for free, room permitting. There will also be NO luggage fees whatsoever.
"We'll even wash your car when you're away," CEO Wade Eyerly told CNN Go in a recent profile.
Eyerly and his brother, a former Frontier Airlines manager, decided to launch their business after Eyerly got fed up with traveling 27 days out of the month as a former aide to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. He was screened all the time, and felt he spent more time moving from Point A to Point B than actually traveling.
"I can walk up to the vice president and talk to him but I cannot get onto the plane without extra screening," he recalled.
Things might get much easier with his eight-plane fleet, so long as business travelers and frustrated consumers buy in. Whether the business takes off remains to be seen, but for now we're pleased to see a cost-effective alternative to big name carriers.
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