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My wife was going to meet me in Vegas and I secured a one way flight for her for $108. The week before the flight, Allegiant cancels the flight claiming mechanical problems. They refund the ticket and give $100 flight credit (that's not of much use to us as the only place they fly to that we have any interest in is Vegas...and we don't go there much). I end up having to pay $289 on Southwest due to the late notice (so I lose out on that deal). The wife did ask about our return flight on Monday and the representative said there were no problems with that one (she was going to opt to stay home if they said that one might have a problem). Well, you guessed it, on Sunday night at 7pm, they canceled the 3pm flight on Monday and rescheduled for Tuesday. We both had to be back at work on Tuesday so again, I pay through the nose for 2 tickets on another airline due to Allegiant's notice of less than 24 hours (this time they claimed airplane availability?!). I put in a complaint with the DOT and Allegiant's representative claimed that they offered hotel compensation for Monday night (an outright lie). I forward their cancellation notice to the rep and she changes her story and says anyone that went to the airport were offered some sort of voucher for a hotel. So in other words, they contact people that their flight was canceled the night before via text and voicemail. No offer of hotel compensation is made on either communication. And for some reason, the rep claims people should have shown up for a canceled flight to get a voucher they didn't know about (I only wish I was making this up and the rep thought that was completely logical). I tried to give their stupid voucher away to a client (really don't want anything else to do with them) but they said they're not transferable. Seriously, this airline is a joke!
These low fare airlines are a nightmare. You just have to learn to resist the temptation of low fares. There's a reason. Last year the flight from SFO to PHL on Spirit took us 24 hrs to complete. Canceled the flight out of SFO for no reason and got us into a huge connection mess. Not that others are any better. Have had a similar experience on AA.
They fill a small niche. I can fly from Springfield,missouri{I live in town} to Punta gorda florida to see my mother{ she lives 7 miles from the airport} Did it last time for $183. Direct flight took about 2.5 hours. For anything else perhaps not a good choice...…...but for me its the perfect fit.
Basically, never take them other than direct or when you don't have to be somewhere on "the dot".....as the above mentions, it is OK if you are headed on such a visit. I used them from Sarasota to Pittsburgh. If they would have cancelled I'd have had alternatives.
Use SW or another airline - pay a little more. It will be worth it.
Basically, never take them other than direct or when you don't have to be somewhere on "the dot".....as the above mentions, it is OK if you are headed on such a visit. I used them from Sarasota to Pittsburgh. If they would have cancelled I'd have had alternatives.
Use SW or another airline - pay a little more. It will be worth it.
Actually both were direct flights, but agree with the "somewhere on the dot" comment. The problem with the "alternatives" is you will pay through the nose for them with that short notice. In addition, I've looked through a series of reviews over the last 24 hours and the mechanical problems and flight availability seem to be an ongoing problem with this airline. Yep, we will be using SW and not wasting any more time with Allegiant. We can't give the flight credit away so will just throw them away. Lesson learned.
Last edited by JJonesIII; 07-21-2018 at 07:44 AM..
They fill a small niche. I can fly from Springfield,missouri{I live in town} to Punta gorda florida to see my mother{ she lives 7 miles from the airport} Did it last time for $183. Direct flight took about 2.5 hours. For anything else perhaps not a good choice...…...but for me its the perfect fit.
I'm with you. From Wikipedia it looks like the primary airlines give you 7 hubs as options. At my local airport we have 5 hubs as options. Without Allegiant Air we couldn't fly to any destination in Florida. Finding an option like Southwest or JetBlue involves several hours on the road.
Springfield options other than Allegiant
American Eagle Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth
United Express Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, Houston–Intercontinental
Delta Connection Atlanta
Lehigh Valley options other than Allegiant
American Eagle Charlotte, Philadelphia
United Express Chicago–O'Hare
Delta Connection Atlanta, Detroit
They fill a small niche. I can fly from Springfield,missouri{I live in town} to Punta gorda florida to see my mother{ she lives 7 miles from the airport} Did it last time for $183. Direct flight took about 2.5 hours. For anything else perhaps not a good choice...…...but for me its the perfect fit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PacoMartin
I'm with you. From Wikipedia it looks like the primary airlines give you 7 hubs as options. At my local airport we have 5 hubs as options. Without Allegiant Air we couldn't fly to any destination in Florida. Finding an option like Southwest or JetBlue involves several hours on the road.
Springfield options other than Allegiant
American Eagle Charlotte, Chicago–O'Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth
United Express Chicago–O'Hare, Denver, Houston–Intercontinental
Delta Connection Atlanta
Lehigh Valley options other than Allegiant
American Eagle Charlotte, Philadelphia
United Express Chicago–O'Hare
Delta Connection Atlanta, Detroit
For both of you, that's a unique situation (but not the situation at hand here). Understandably, if the choice is between using them or an extremely long car drive, then you don't exactly have a choice. But for those of us that do have a choice, it becomes a question of inconvenience, and quite frankly, safety. If they are having that many mechanical problems, that doesn't give me a great feeling about them. Thankfully there haven't been any accidents, but I know their fleet is old (based on many comments I've read), and when I add that to the cancellations, I simply think my wife and I are better off with another carrier.
Allegiant has the highest in flight engine failure rate of any airline in the US. There is no way I would fly on one of their crappy, poorly maintained airplanes. SWA is far better, and not that much more expensive, especially if you have luggage.
The one Allegiant Flight I took was a brand new Airbus...I had looked first.
Given any choice, I would not fly on those 30-40 year old MD's they (and some others) use. Sure, the odds are still with you, but they are far worse than with a modern aircraft....IMHO.
Comfort is also important. Older planes are louder, rattle more, have worse interior air, etc.
Yeah, some people have no choice. The best thing, in that case, is not to tempt fate by flying a lot...something people might tend to do because fares are cheap.
Some former FAA officials say they won't - and won't have family - fly Allegiant.
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