Our (mis)adventures with Allegiant

[diswedwish]

You have to wonder in this situation (at least my mom and I did) just how much this cost Allegiant? The little stuff like the soda and pizza, the big stuff like flying the mechanic from FL, the vouchers for all of us, were they also responsible for the overtime costs for the staff at ABE? Interesting to think about...

The only time I was very frustrated was with the children who were running up and down the terminal playing football or whatever when they finally announced what they were going to offer us - because we couldn't hear what was going on at all.

But then I just kind of hovered up by the front desk until I finally got the gist of what was going on - I don't think anyone could get a refund from what I understood. You could use the $ you spent on the current flight and use it on a future flight with no penalty like there usually is, but no refunds. I know they said they'd try to book people on a different flight - that was "option #3" and for a while I listened to people trying to do that. On Sat. they had one flight to St. Petersburg that had 2 spots and on Sun. a flight to Sanford with no spots. Or you could get the voucher as we did.

I felt really bad for the people who booked the $29 flight - we talked to a few who planned on spending the weekend there and wanted to fly home on Sunday. But I guess you take your chances whenever you travel right?

For me it was especially ironic because I commute a fair distance to work and the day before we left it took me an extra 3 hours to get there. So I had 2 lessons in 2 days about staying patient when you travel because it does absolutely no good to get upset... I should be good for a while now right? Right?

 

[Lewisc]

Allegiant had to get a mechanic up to ABE to fix the plane. Based on the schedule it looks like Allegiant may have needed that plane in MCO for a return flight the next morning. The plane was going to Florida with or without passengers.

Pizza and vouchers probably cost Allegiant less than refunds. My guess is many (most?) of the vouchers won't be used.

The real issue is the small, charter type of, airlines don't have extra equipment available nor do they have repair facilities in all airports.

It was nice that Allegiant gave you pizza but it would have been nicer if they had a contract to have repairs done at ABE or if they had an extra plane the could have used.

You have to wonder in this situation (at least my mom and I did) just how much this cost Allegiant? The little stuff like the soda and pizza, the big stuff like flying the mechanic from FL, the vouchers for all of us, were they also responsible for the overtime costs for the staff at ABE? Interesting to think about...

 

[Yosemite Mice]

The real issue is the small, charter type of, airlines don't have extra equipment available nor do they have repair facilities in all airports.

It was nice that Allegiant gave you pizza but it would have been nicer if they had a contract to have repairs done at ABE or if they had an extra plane the could have used.

Typically no airline can afford to have a mechanic at an airport unless they have a large number of flights at that airport every day.

In terms of having someone to contract with at ABE would there even be another airline with enough flights to afford to have a mechanic based there.

Also the only flights at ABE are turboprops and regional jets so even if there were would the mechanic have the knowledge of the aircraft type and spare parts for the Allegiant aircraft type on hand.

Typically the airlines probably do not keep airplanes sitting around the country not earning money just in case of a breakdown, too expensive to waste the millions in investment. They may have an aircraft with some available flying time at a hub. But any airline would still have to fly an aircraft in to a smaller city, which would take several hours to do.

Travel to/from a smaller city is different than in a major hub. Options are more limited and things happen. But it also happens at large cities. I have travel horror stories from all the major airlines similiar to this one, unfortunately its part of travel.

One time a connecting flight I had on a major airline from its hub to a small city had a mechanical problem. After almost 2 hours of no info they finally told us they were putting us in a van for a 4 hour ride to our destination. Food? Better grab a candy bar because the van leaves in 10 minutes. Of course when we finally got to the destination airport it was closed so no rental car, no taxi, etc.

Whether it is an aircraft or an automobile things happen to delay travel that are out of our control. We just have to deal with them as best we can and move on.

 

[Yosemite Mice]

In that case my suggestion is to read the rules on thier website and see if they say what they will do. They probably have "excluded" writing you over to another airline which makes things much more difficult (It's also one of my issues with SW, but they tend to have more flights and more planes!)

I think one of the problems would also be that this flight was leaving Lehigh Valley at 6:25 PM. I think there are only 2 other flights out of that airport on any airline after that, a 34 seat prop flight to Dulles and a slightly larger prop flight to Philadelphia. So Allegiant would not be able to accomodate over 100 people by booking them on the remaining seats on another airline.

 

[Lewisc]

I think one of the problems would also be that this flight was leaving Lehigh Valley at 6:25 PM. I think there are only 2 other flights out of that airport on any airline after that, a 34 seat prop flight to Dulles and a slightly larger prop flight to Philadelphia. So Allegiant would not be able to accomodate over 100 people by booking them on the remaining seats on another airline.

Interesting problem many of us don't think of. Flying a tiny airline out of a small airport leaves the passenger/airline with few options. The airline can't fix the plane, doesn't have other planes to use and doesn't have other flights (even with other airlines) they can use to rebook passengers. Sounds like a bus to PHL was the only other option.

Larger airports and larger airlines can steal a plan from another route and combine flights. They can also book a passenger on a connecting flight, even an indirect connection.

 

[pamjb]

I am glad that you took all the delays in stride. I was in a similar situation flying from MCO to PHL ( i refuse to fly from ABE, even though I live about 20 minutes away, but that's just me). It was Southwest in March. Flight was originating in Chicago, to Buffalo, to Orlando. Hmm, sounds like a recipe for disaster. Due to snow in Chicago, the plane was delayed in arriving in Buffalo, and after it got to Buffalo, the flight crew was done for the night due to FAA regulations on flight time. It was the last flight out, but since it was a weather-related cancellation, no voucher, no hotel, nothing. We did get a distressed traveler rate. There were a lot of people screaming at the gate agent...."I have to be a work tomorrow" (Don't schedule the last flight out in the winter if you have to be at work tomorrow) "You better get another plane here right now (Yeah, I'll get right on that).
I have come to be a "Go with the Flow" type. My life is crazy enough without adding to it. I look at it this way, I will get home (or whereever I am traveling) eventually.