Allegiant Air experiences?

[Katy]

I tried to start an elaborate poll, but the browser crashed and I lost my questions.

 

I've flown Allegiant a few (terrible) times.  DH never has. When scheduling a vacation DH is leaning towards them again because they're so much cheaper.  The last time we got none of the seats we reserved (they seriously tried to seat a TODDLER in a row with strangers, 3 rows away from everyone else!  Oh, and none of the flights actually were Allegiant, they had too many maintenance problems, so the flights were many hours late and chartered through another airline (Maybe Sun Airlines?)

 

My point is, have any of you had positive experiences with them?  Before I put my foot down and insist on Delta or driving, I'd like to know.

[ebrindam]

TERRIBLE! We ended up at a different airport, several hours away from our intended destination, in the middle of the night with zero attempts by Allegiant to help us get where we were supposed to be and pick up our rental car. We had to pay a $200 Uber to get to our hotel and another Uber to get to the correct airport the next day to pick up our rental car. This was in January. 

[milovany]

I know someone who uses it every time she flies from Washington state to Arizona.  She's an older woman who prefers comfort and she apparently finds it quite doable.  

[Elizabeth86]

We flew with them 5 years ago a few times with no problems.

[MedicMom]

They fly from a local airport to Florida for less than a hundred dollars so I know a lot of people who fly it regularly. I've not heard any complaints. It's no frills, but it's cheap.

[Ottakee]

We flew Grand Rapids MI to Cleareater Fl in December for $67/each one way and had no big issues. We paid for 1 suitcase and shared that between the 3 of us. Our flight out was even early. Our return flight had a 1 hour or so delay but it was still way faster than any other airlines and much much cheaper.

[Stratford]

Dh took a one-way flight with Allegiant this summer.  He was concerned - due to the mixed reviews - but the price was ridiculously cheap so we figured we'd give it a shot.  His experience was fine.  No hiccups with booking or boarding, flight was on time.  

[wendyroo]

My aunt flies Allegiant from Punta Gorda, FL to see us in Grand Rapids, MI a couple times a year.  She has never had any issues beyond minor 20-30 minute delays.

 

Wendy

[mysticmomma]

My MIL says it ends up not being much cheaper once you factor in the fees and such. Their face value looks cheaper, but I think the value isn't actually there.

[JonesinIndiana]

NO, NO, NO!

We flew them many times (10 +) from Florida to the Midwest. Yes, the price is low, but factor in being charged for every bag except the one under the seat in front of you. They were routinely late, and I'm talking hours and hours. Also, the limited flights are a real problem if (when!) your flight is cancelled. So many times the delays were due to mechanical issues. Allegiant buys old planes and there are always mechanical issues. We won't fly them again, we pay more but the safety issues are a real concern with them, IMO.

[PeterPan]

I can fly the same price on Southwest when I take my time to watch for the better tix. My brother flies Allegiant, and by the time he pays for bags, he's literally paying MORE than I pay. With Southwest I can two bags checked for free AND for a small fee I can get priority seating to avoid standing in line with my really not fun to be in line with ds.

Edited August 21, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[PeterPan]

You know, you could solve this problem by vacationing somewhere else where Southwest flies. They go to Florida. You need to go to Florida. :D

[Lanny]

I read the OP and all replies. Any carrier with an old fleet is going to have more issues due to problems with the aircraft. Add to that issues reported in this thread where a flight terminated in another city and they didn't help their passengers and that would be a NO for me. That flight may have terminated in a city where Allegiant doesn't have service to and in that case what can the pilots and flight attendants do to help the passengers? I think you will be in better hands on Delta. Things can happen even on a brand new aircraft and a large carrier is better able to help if things go away.

 

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[Lanny]

Correction. The last word in post 13 should be awry. I'm on my phone

 

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[lauraw4321]

Horrible. Awful. No way. Never Again. Not worth it. I shudder when I see their name.

[abacus2]

We and our family members have flown with them several times on the same TN to FL route without problems. We don't pay the fees that they offer. We check one suitcase and bring backpacks for everyone's personal item. We don't pay to pick seats or any of the other convenience fees. They seated us together. Even with the cost of a rental car, its comparable in cost to driving. The only issue I have with Allegient is I wish they flew other places I go.

[hopskipjump]

Short Version: NEVER AGAIN

 

 

 

Detailed Version: First flight out was delayed due to "technical difficulties." We sat at the gate watching them apply a LOT of what looked like duct tape to the wing of the plane. Okay. I'm sure it was special airline-grade duct tape, but it didn't do much to inspire confidence in any of the waiting passengers (to see them fixing "technical difficulties" with THAT MUCH duct tape...). Once we finally boarded (2 hours late), dd and I are sitting at the exit row. Where there is an insane amount of duct tape completely around the exit door. During takeoff, the entire cabin of the plane starts to sway back and forth, making me feel seasick and, honestly, quite nervous (because the ceiling is swaying at a different rate than the lower portion of the plane). It was shifting separately from the outside body of the plane. Usually the cabin might "vibrate" but this one was swinging and swaying.

 

We made it to the airport (again, late... but we didn't have to be anywhere on that first day). Rented a car and drove 3 hours to our final destination. Stayed about 5 days...

 

The return flight. Whoa boy. Our flight was leaving early Thursday morning and had to be AT the airport by 7 am. We left our destination and drove the 3 hours back to the airport area, planning to get a hotel late that night, drop off the rental car early that next morning, and hop on the plane at 8:50.

 

Around 11:30 PM (we are almost to the airport city), I get an automated phone call. It tells me that our flight the next morning has been CANCELED. Not delayed. Not rescheduled. But CANCELED. And if we have any questions, to contact them (WITHOUT giving me any contact information IN that message).

 

We found a hotel, went to the airport ASAP that next morning to ask WTH was going on. THERE WAS NO ONE AT THE DESK. No one.

 

I had to return our rental car (to keep it an additional day was going to cost a fortune) - go to another rental place and rent another car. That single day rental cost us $80.

 

We returned to the airport. There is a line now and people at the desk. They had people at the end of the line who WOULD NOT LET ME GET INTO THAT LINE because we weren't on the flight they were checking people in for. :mellow: They said they could call security over if I had more questions about the matter (I was NOT being obnoxious or even raising my voice. I was simply calmly stating my intentions to get in that line and to speak to a customer service agent about the issue with my flight).

 

Went back to the hotel and reserved the room for another night. That cost us another $179. And we were now stuck in a random small town with no energy to find anything to do there.

 

Had a crappy, rotten day filled with attempts to reach an Actual Human Being on the phone (no luck).

 

DD missed a very important appointment that day (we were supposed to be home early afternoon... the appointment had been scheduled for that evening).

 

Next morning, went to check in for the new flight. They gave us a voucher for $10 for the airport food for breakfast and offered a $75 voucher to each of us.

 

HA! AS IF. Those vouchers expired this summer. We have had to fly a couple of times to the same destination since and I still didn't use those vouchers. Went with SW instead. Happily.

 

After returning, I called and emailed trying to ask about if/when they were going to reimburse us for the car rental and hotel costs. Zero replies. I filled out a scathing "Customer Satisfaction" survey and requested that someone call me back. Nope. Nada.

 

Never, ever, ever, ever will we use them again.

 

 

Their price is good and everything's fine. Until something goes wrong. Then it goes straight to hell in a handbasket.

 

 

(To end on a positive note: The return flight's plane, at least, wasn't literally held together with duct tape! Whoo!)

Edited August 22, 2017 by hopskipjump

[hopskipjump]

One more thing - when we were renting another car at the airport several people nearby said that Allegiant has a lot of trouble keeping pilots and flight attendants on staff. And that, at that time, at that airport, there had been several recently canceled flights due to lack of appropriate staffing to the fly the planes and to assist the passengers. :mellow:

 

And I have second, third, and hundred-times questioned my judgment that day putting myself and my daughter ON that first plane. Or anywhere NEAR that first plane. I was just ... in shock, I think. We were discussing the matter with several other passengers, people were googling information, and in the end, we all figured that the pilots wouldn't get ON the plane if they didn't feel confident in its safety.... but if I had to do it all over again... well... I'd make a different choice.

Edited August 22, 2017 by hopskipjump

[El...]

Wow, duct tape... that's insane!!  What a trip!

 

We used them without incident for a family vacation in June and saved about $1000, even after paying bag fees and fees to choose our seats.  For a grand, I can buy my own drink at airport prices!  Anyway, our trip was on time and perfectly fine.

[historically accurate]

We use them quite often - they fly out of my little midwestern airport and land near my mom in FL. I've only had 1 major delay, where we had to hang out in the airport for 5 hours. Other than that, I've had 10+ flights with no problems. They're low budget, so I go in with low expectations, and I haven't had problems. I've paid for reserved seats (and never had a problem with having them), and I've gone where we just plop down. I've found if you head toward the very back of the plane, you will usually have several rows together so the kids and I can sit together and not pay the fee - they're old enough now that I don't worry too much if they're not right next to me. 

[Lanny]

We have a low-cost carrier here in Colombia. The name is "Viva Colombia". W have never flown with them and probably we will never fly with them.   Probably Allegiant AIr and some other carriers who expanded too fast and now have a reputation for unreliable service should follow what "Viva Colombia" is about to do, which is to greatly reduce the scope of their operations and then regroup and go from there. And, they announced they will get new (or newer?) aircraft for their fleet.  

 

Basically, as I recall, in June 2017, "Viva Colombia" filed the paperwork with our Aeronautical authorities, which apparently require 2 months advance notice or there's a big fine, that early in September 2017, they would suspend service to our local airport (CLO,  Cali, Colombia) and to the city of Barranquilla, Colombia, BAQ. Respectively, the 3rd and 4th largest cities in Colombia...   That will greatly reduce the scope of the "Viva Colombia" operations.

 

The reason they gave was the weather was bad.   :-)  Our largest airline (and my favorite airline for a variety of reasons) was faced with the same weather.   "Viva Colombia" cancelled a lot of flights.  They did not have a sterling reputation before that. They, IMO, expanded too fast and they had over scheduled their fleet. Probably too many hours of utilization, during each 24 hour period and not enough time for maintenance, which older aircraft require more of.

 

"Viva Colombia" also announced an injection of USD $50 million, which IMO (former airline employee) is nothing.  And, that they are going to buy (I assume lease) a bunch of new (newer?) aircraft.  I don't think 50 million dollars is going to go a long way, but if they learn how to schedule their fleet, more conservatively,  they will be on much more solid ground.  I worked in the Scheduling Department in the HQ of a major U.S. Flag airline.

 

My favorite airline, Avianca, is our largest airline and has one of the youngest fleets of aircraft in the world.  They are far from perfect, and they screw up, badly, on occasion and their aircraft have complex systems which can fail, just as on older aircraft.    

 

An airline as large as Avianca probably has one or 2 "Spare" aircraft, sitting in their Home airport (Bogota) as I am typing this reply. If an aircraft needs to be taken out of service, they can send a replacement aircraft to the city where it is needed.  An airline like "Allegiant Air" or "Viva Colombia" cannot do that.

 

One or 2 of the replies in this thread mentioned the lack of Customer Service from Allegiant Air.  In a city where an airline has service to/from and employees working there, that, IMO, is not something that can be excused or forgiven. 

 

Another thing Consumers should be aware of is that some carriers will not send a customer to another airline, if they must cancel their flight and do not have another flight they can reaccomodate them on. And some carriers will not pay for hotels, meals, etc., if someone is stranded, due to a failing on their part that is not an "Act of God" (weather, etc.).

 

Flights do get diverted to other airports, for a variety of reasons, every day. You can read the highlights on this URL:   http://avherald.com/   Common reasons for diversion to a nearby airport  include: The need to shutdown one of the 2 engines.  Common sense dictates that proceeding to the destination airport, if it is a long way from where the engine is shut down, on one engine, would not be a good idea...

 

Loss of cabin pressurization is another common reason. A bird strike would probably occur after takeoff and would result in returning to the origin airport, after burning off some fuel for about 45 minutes.

 

Bad weather at the destination airport, or some problem at the destination airport is another reason the aircraft might need to divert to another airport.

 

I tried to place myself in the shoes of an Allegiant Air Captain who had to divert to an airport Allegiant Air does not normally fly to/from and wondered what, if anything, I could do to help the passengers. Not much....

 

About all they could do would to be get the aircraft to a Gate and then try to get the checked luggage unloaded from the aircraft. That's assuming Allegiant Air Dispatch could not arrange for any Ground Services, from their Base of Operations, to be provided, on extrmely short notice, at some airport they do not normally fly to/from.  It would depend on the time of day and what services, if any, are available on short notice. In a very large airport, probably lots of services available 24/7, in a small airport, possibly no services at night or during the middle of the night.

 

Flawed as they are, among U.S. Flag Carriers, I would prefer to be on JetBlue or Delta or American or United, and not be on Allegiant AIr or carriers like it.