Allegiant Air had a tough start with its new flights to Hawaii, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.
Here’s a (link) to an article reporting that the airline had three of its five Boeing 757s grounded overnight due to mechanical problems. In three isolated incidents, two flights from Bellingham (one to Honolulu, one to Maui) and from Stockton were delayed, impacting 662 passengers. According to the article, passengers were given vouchers from the apologetic carrier. Nearly all chose to stick with the flights.
Allegiant is really messing up. The flying public doesn’t want to fly on rickety ill-maintained planes. The maintenance and safety record of an airline is just as important (or more so) than their marketing campaigns, routes, schedules and prices. Allegiant should take this to heart.
To add: I have a friend who came up to visit me this summer from L.A. I suggested Allegiant because of their lower fares. He’s frugal. He did a little on-line research and decided to pay more and fly Alaska and arrive alive.
James – can you enlighten us as to how many people have actually died on Allegiant flights? Have there ever been any deaths on Alaska flights? Where’s the data.
Yup:
1. Do you work for Allegiant?
2. Why do we have to wait for the first fatalities before speaking out?
3. There have been 88 deaths on Alaska flights. And the Flight 261 tragedy was because of poor maintenance.
Yup:
James lives in the basement of his mom’s house and just absolutely peeved that some people not only have lives BUT actually get out and travel to exoctic destinations. Knowing that he never will, he chooses instead to attack the carrier……..(makes him feel better about his own situation)…..
The rest of you come out and visit “paradise”….ALOHA! and Mahalo…….
I’m not interested in flying 6 hours over the ocean on Allegiant to save a few bucks unless they include a parachute and raft with the ticket.
Hey I was on that flight 1059 Monday from Maui to Bham. My family and I arrived at the airport at 6 am for a 8am flight. We sat in the airport and waited to finally fly out at 530 that afternoon. Only to turn around 2 hours later and fly back to Honolulu because of further mechanical issues. Got to land that plane not in Bellingham but in Honolulu! with 6 firetrucks on the runway, lights flashing, scared a few of us. Then stood in line till midnight at the Honolulu airport to get a voucher for a hotel in Waikiki. Had to cover 6 extra meals in Hawaii for my family, 2 50$ cab rides (to and from the hotel) to get home 32 hours late at 1 in the morning. Then had to cover another cab ride home (cause who wants to come get you at 1am?) All this, and when I wanted a diet coke to drink on the way home, ya that’ll be 2$. That airline wont be around long.
RajaD… what is your vested interest in Allegiant Airlines?
And you’re wrong. I live in my Dad’s basement.
You are wrong, this airline will be around for quite a while! Why? Because there will always be people out to save a couple of bucks. They will see the low fares and not count into the fact that Allegiant charges 30 bucks for each CARRYON, plus extra for reserved seating, not to mention any other ammenities they can tack on.
You can tell these people because they park at the U-Haul lot for 5 bucks a day, then forget that they will need a cab to get back and forth from the lot, then complain about the fare to the cab driver. Or better yet you will see them sprinting to the park and ride lot wearing shorts and flip flops, too cheap to front the 6 dollar fare to the AMPM.
Cary, I want to tell you Alaska is no better. We went to Kona from Bellingham, stopping over in Seattle. On our return trip we learned in Seattle that the bellingham flight was canceled due to fog. There were only 2 couples taking the fight as it was a 11:30 pm flight. We didn’t get anything, we were left on our own to find a way home unless we wanted to pay for a hotel for the night and try to get a flight the following day. Now we would have had to not only pay for the motel but the food and transportation cost. We decided to take the shuttle home. There was no fog at all, all the way home. BTW I had to fight with Alaska to get them pay for the shuttle because they refused to refund the two $119.00 seattle to bellingham flights.
Our 2 hour direct flight to Vegas turned out to be 4 hours because we had to “drop off an airplane mechanic in Pasco on the way.” People missed shows and dinner reservations with zero concessions from Allegiant.
On the way home, we were 1/2 hour late leaving because the “inside oil level gauge did not mach the outside gauge.”
No seats recline on Allegiant.
I’m done with them.
I’m moving on from Allegiant to Alaska. I’m tired to the nickel and dime costs beyond the purchase of the flight, no matter where you go. Bye Allegiant!
Allegiant has never had an hull loss accident, or a passenger fatality.
It would seem to me that they have a culture of safety and caution in operating their fleet.
After watching season after season of “Air Crash Investigation” and seeing the number of fatalities due to improper maintenance, or because an airline demanded that schedules are kept, I will stick with overly cautious safety concerns.
Your seat back does not recline? I would rather have my seat back not recline than to have my seat blown through the fuselage in an explosive decompression.
Sorry, Allegiant leaves me too nervous. I’ll fly Alaska every time.
If you really want to know what is going on with Allegiant and their maintenance just get a Google Alert and title it (Allegiant Airlines Maintenance Problems or Allegiant Airlines Emergency Landing)
And remember Allegiant has crashed a plane back in the Nineties back when they were named…….VALUE JET. SAME PEOPLE DIFFERENT NAME.
ALLEGIANT SUCKS……………..BAD!!!!
Joe,
Allegiant is not connected with Valujet. Never was.
Check your facts.
Joe, if you don’t know what you’re talking about why bother posting anything at all? Valujet merged with AirTran. Allegiant’s MD-80s are built in the late 80′s/early 90′s, American and Delta still operate a huge fleet of MD80s as well. Up until 2 years ago Delta was still operating Northwest’s 40+ year old DC-9-30/40′s with no problem and the general public was clueless as to how old those planes were. I can guarantee any major carrier has some sort of ‘emergency landing’ once a week and a majority of the time they don’t make the news.
Actually joe is correct. There is a connection between allegiant and Valujet. Namely the man running the show, Maurry Gallagher, as well as some of the upper management so globus and Brian check your facts as well. I am a former allegiant employee I spent three years with allegiant I started when they flew a dc-9 between vegas, colorado springs, and fresno, that was their routes. as they brought in the MD-80s and expanded safety started going out the window to meet the schedule. after neumerous emergencies and having times where various equipment was not in functioning condition, being asked to hold off on write ups until the end of the day, i was done it was not worth the risk and i left. And while allegiant has not YET had a loss of life, they certianly came close in lake charles. additionally they are known to take-off over weight. Ask many mechanics who left allegiant for being pressured to “Push the plane” their feelings. while they have mannaged to avoid a tragedy, if they do not change their safety culture they will follow the same route as valujet. I have the ability to travel on allegiant (free) and simply will not do it.