Allegiant Air, discount carrier - high record of in-flight breakdowns

Yep, pretty much on point. Where I live currently it's a joke about people who want to try their luck twice while flying out to Vegas.

 

And this is also what happens when Allegiant buys Sun Country:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/trav...tells-fliers-find-another-way-home/521587002/

 

Not good news. I only fly Allegiant from the RGV to Vegas. It's a cheap, direct flight and I've never had any issues on my flights. I have a feeling that the safety issues will be addressed and the price of flights is going to reflect that. Once took a flight on Spirit as part of a "free vacation" for attending a time share meeting....I didn't think I was going to make it off that flight in one piece.

 

I work in aviation. Spirit has a very good safety record (as good as any other airline you'll ever fly on). You might get horribly delayed like any high utilizing LCC but I'm as confident in their maintenance as any other airline.

But I flat out refuse to fly Allegiant. They've had this reputation for years. And its not just their maintenance. They've had crazy personnel and management issues for years. News organizations in Florida have been reporting on Allegiant failures for years now. I'm glad 60 minutes raised this.

Two problems to note

1. Allegiant is a terrible airline. Awful management and incredibly unprofessional. They also fly dated planes but don't have the maintenance structure to support them. Delta flies the same planes but Delta's maintenance operation is impeccable. Allegiant's is a joke in comparison.

2. The FAA has become toothless. Go back 20 years, Allegiant would have racked up millions in fines at this point. Instead they've gotten nothing. The FAA needs a new mandate to enforce penalties harshly. The rules are on the books. The FAA's enforcement of those rules and the penalties associated with them have been beyond terrible. There needs to be a complete overhaul.

 

Bricker needs to be fired asap. He's trashing SY's hard earned reputation in MSP. You can't operate Sun Country like Allegiant. I get the idea of adding seats and contracting out airport ops. In fact, they had to do those things to stay competitive.

But you can't compromise on things like this. Sun Country's whole reputation was built around the idea of being the hometown airline that provides good service at cheaper prices than Delta. People will tolerate lower pitch on seats if they can still get to their destination safely with good service. But once you screw up the service part, you basically ruin Sun Country's market position.

 

Yep. If they didn't want to impact their schedule, they should have chartered however many planes it would take to get the folks home. I do not like flying airlines like Sun Country due to this type of issue. If they have a plane problem - even routine ones - , they generally have issues getting passengers to their destinations in a timely manner.

I'm also curious if, when buying tickets for the affected flight, if folks were made aware of the fact it was the last flight out for the season and this possibility existed. (I just googled this and found the following regarding all Sun Country tickets):

"Purchase of a ticket does not guarantee transportation."

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/04/16/sun-country-a-lesson-in-reading-the-fine-print-

 

Thanks for that info. I guess I've just been lucky with Allegiant and not so lucky with Spirit. I sure hope Allegiant cleans up their act. My next choice is Southwest and their prices are much higher and they do not offer direct flights from my airport.

 

What airport do you fly out of?

 

Rio Grande Valley...Either Harlingen or McAllen.

 

Maybe I just shouldn't book a flight for awhile. Southwest is the big airline out of Harlingen.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/southw...landing-today-2018-04-17-live-stream-updates/

 

I was just reading about that. How crazy and terrifying. I was just on a SW flight a week ago!

 

Looks like someone has died on that SW flight. How terrible

http://abc13.com/ntsb-1-person-dies-after-southwest-plane-emergency-landing/3356220/

 

1000 X safer than walking across the street or getting in a car or train

 

Because of all the regulations and stuff they have now. Its the FAAs job. Air travel used to be much more dangerous.

 

Sun Country is stepping up....

http://www.startribune.com/sun-coun...rs-stranded-in-mexico-last-weekend/480031723/

 

Well its still overall a very safe thing to do. I wouldn't use that one incident to avoid flying. That's the first death in close to a decade on a US plane. And Southwest is very good about maintenance. And Southwest's business model really hinges on their reputation as they no longer operate in the low cost space.

It only took getting bludgeoned by MSP (and national) media. Sun Country is still totally reliant on MSP travelers and their whole business was built around their reputation in the Twin Cities. Still hope they fire Jude Bricker. This is the type of damage that is hard to recover from. The narrative has already been written. Delta could go in for the kill and just price match Sun Country on Caribbean and Mexican routes for a year or two and finish them off.

 

No....that will make my Delta flights more crowded.

 

@geeimsobored ...i was just being facetious. I'll still fly. I only had a fear of flying in the 70's when planes were dropping like flies. I hope everyone gets all their messes straightened out though.