Over the past two months, I have flown basic economy to 5, technically 6, cities. As someone who made a New Year resolution to travel more in 2019, I’m off to a pretty decent start. I will admit, traveling can be exhausting. The airline I choose can make all the difference.
If you think you can’t afford to travel, think again. There are ways to get around the high costs of being a jet-setter. In this post, I’ll be talking about my favorite frenemy – basic economy.
What is basic economy?
Basic economy, also called light or saver economy, is a restrictive class of fares that offers maximum savings to customers in exchange for a no-frills travel experience. You’ll sit in the same economy section of the plane as travelers who’ve purchased “main” economy seats, but you’ll miss out on a few benefits (or pay extra for them).
Scott’s Cheap Flights
Every traveler has a different set of priorities, but here are the top three things I’m concerned about when I fly:
- Timeliness
- Where I’m Sitting
- How Many Bags I Get
I won’t be getting into the nitty-gritty of what basic economy does and doesn’t entail. If you are interested in a rundown of things like booking, seat size, terms and conditions feel free to read this article from Thrifty Traveler and Scott’s. I’ll primarily be discussing the three things I mentioned above.
Airlines I Will Take Again 👍🏾
Delta, Sun Country and Frontier
In terms of timeliness, the Sun Country was the only one out of the three that failed in this category. On my way back to Minneapolis from Chicago, my flight was delayed by over two hours. If this was an EU flight, I would have been compensated. Unfortunately, the U.S. doesn’t have the same rules. It could have been worse though. My flight to Honolulu (one-way) was also with Sun Country and it had a layover in Los Angeles. Both legs of my fight were on time. For such a long trip like Hawaii, any delays would have seriously sucked.
Sun Country and Frontier are discount airlines, so it doesn’t really matter where you sit. All the seats are virtually the same. Delta, however, is like most carriers. They have first class, economy comfort, main cabin etc. On all three of these carriers I’ve managed to snag a window seat and even a row to myself.
In terms of bag allowance, I had at least a carry-on for the trips I had with these airlines.
JetBlue (Updated!)
I’ve heard so much about JetBlue and I even have an acquaintance that works there, but this July I got to take JetBlue for the first time this summer.
After the experience I had, I would take JetBlue again. My flight was from LGA (New York City) to MSP (Minneapolis) with a longer-than-I-would-like layover in BOS (Boston). I liked getting to the Jet Blue terminal in LGA. It was practically empty. Getting through TSA was surprisingly prompt and easy.
Taken on a JetBlue flight 
The plane itself for the first leg of my trip was lowkey raggedy. At least, considering how much I paid for this flight. (Note: I’m the chaotic traveller that buys flight tickets only two weeks out)
For the second and last leg of my
It’s A No For Me Dawg 👎🏾
United
Okay, I’m about to go off because United is really the stingiest airline I’ve flown on. As I previously mentioned,
First, you’re not allowed to check-in online. This means you will need to get to the airport early enough so you can check-in at the airport and get through security on time. I don’t enjoy getting to the airport earlier than I need to, so this was annoying to me.
Second, because a representative had to check if I had any bags, I eventually got sucked
Other than that, the flight was bearable. It was on time. There were snacks and entertainment..yadda yadda yadda.
Sorry for the rant
No Comment 🤷🏿♀️
Southwest, American Airlines, and Spirit
I haven’t taken any of these airlines in over two years. I had good experiences on the first two, but it has been so long I don’t want to say too much. However, I might succumb to taking Spirit for the first time in years later this month. Keep an eye out if I do 😅
Update: I didn’t have to take Spirit
Hope this was helpful in some why! Have you flown