I feel like 100 incidents out of however many flights they flew in those 22 some odd months is still a ridiculously small number, am I wrong about that?
60 Minutes segment on Allegiant Air
- Thread starter JP4CY
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If not I just upped my life insurance so that'll be good for my next trip out there
I think the issue is the percentage of airplanes with incidents out of a fleet of 99 planes; however, the story didn't really provide comparable numbers. Just said 3.5 x more likely to have an incident.
Both numbers matter but this one is more significant as it is a significantly higher percentage of trouble aircraft then other carriers.
Ethical or not, Allegiant entered the industry by buying dirt cheap, old planes and ran them to near (or complete) failure keep costs low. Now that the airline is established, they are at least trying to utilize their brand new Airbus A320 planes and phase out their old MD80s. I believe they plan to be 100% brand new A320's by next year. Along with their new planes and this new report by CBS which will encourage further development of their maintenance program, I wouldn't be surprised if Allegiant makes a complete turnaround in the next several years as far as major equipment issues.
This is like the Walmart vs Target argument, minus the whole fiery death part. My last flight on Allegiant was in 2015 and I'll happy pay a few more dollars to fly with others.
I took my whole family on a Vegas trip for Christmas several years ago flying Allegiant. On the return to Des Moines we lost an engine just past Denver and had to make an emergency landing in Colorado Springs. When I say lost an engine there was a big "bang" noise and a metal grinding sound all the way back to Colorado Springs. They landed us on the furthest out runway available and the runway was flanked by fire fighting equipment.
Of course with Allegiant you have to wait several hours before they can round up a plane to send to take you on. I did have the opportunity (while waiting for another Allegiant plane) to visit with a mechanic that had looked at our plane and asked if he had any idea what may have happened. He told me "it could have been a meteor that hit the engine." Unfortunately he was serious.
I have flown Southwest ever since. No more Allegiant for me.
Of course with Allegiant you have to wait several hours before they can round up a plane to send to take you on. I did have the opportunity (while waiting for another Allegiant plane) to visit with a mechanic that had looked at our plane and asked if he had any idea what may have happened. He told me "it could have been a meteor that hit the engine." Unfortunately he was serious.
I have flown Southwest ever since. No more Allegiant for me.
The US flew F-86 Sabres and even some modified P-51 Mustangs throughout Vietnam. We can’t get rid of the 70’s era A-10 it’s so freaking sweet.
Yeah, wow, not a pleasing story. I was more bothered by the FAA guy deflecting every question and refusing to answer anything straight out.
He shouldn't have been out anything at any point in that interview by saying "hold up, you found what stats or discovered what? I need to make a call and get my investigators going, thanks for the heads up. We will fix this"
He shouldn't have been out anything at any point in that interview by saying "hold up, you found what stats or discovered what? I need to make a call and get my investigators going, thanks for the heads up. We will fix this"
Yes, I do agree the MD 80s being aged and old are there biggest problem. I've used them 3 times to go to FL and once to Vegas, never had an issue on the flights. Yeah, it's barebones, you can't recline, no food or drink but you arrive at your destination for a reasonable rate in a short amount of time. If they can get safety crap under control there is a market for that.
I said it in the other thread but I will say it here too. Allegiant uses mostly old, MD-80 variants and they use them a lot. Because Allegiant is a budget airline, they have small profit margins, and the more time a plane is not in service, the more money Allegiant is losing. This leads to more quick-fixes and a poorly done job. Fortunately, Allegiant is phasing these out for brand new A320s but I am afraid the same situation will arise again when those begin to age. If you are flying on the budget (and it sounds like many here like to), fly Southwest
Is it really cheaper when they nickel-and-dime you on practically everything?
The quality of service and straightforwardness of pricing is so much better on even the major legacy carriers, and particularly Southwest.
Yes, Southwest is basically a legacy at this point.
Yup. I just did a sample flight for our family of four from CID-Tampa/St Pete. Mainline vs Allegiant. The mainlines are all right at $1500 round trip with one checked back. Even with selecting three seats one carry on and one checked bag round trip with Allegiant is at least $550 cheaper round trip.
That is why they are popular and that is why people will still fly them especially when you consider it is a direct flight which especially with kids is the chosen option.
Long story short, safety does have a price and so do families?
Glad I am usually flying alone, pretty much just book Delta cause most direct flights from MSP and quality/safe outfit.
Kinda looks like Sun Country, which used to be a decent independent direct option to Mexico etc, has gone full Allegiant. They hired one of their old execs to transfer to a cheap no frills and just sold to a bunch of finance money sharks. They just left hundreds of passengers stranded in Mexico after this weekend's storm. They say the flights were cancelled and Sunday was the last day flying to several destinations this season so the people booked to fly back with them are on their own. They'll refund that 1/2 of the ticket and but everyone is on their own to buy a ticket back on a main airline. Like the cost of that on short notice will even come close to 1/2 of a roundtrip. **** them. They are also canning 350 support staff here in their home base of Mpls. Sure that will help safety and service. Won't see me on any of their flights even though I haven't flown them in years.
http://www.startribune.com/sun-country-passengers-abandoned-in-mexico-due-to-snow/479814983/
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$953 for the 4 of us to fly round trip Des Moines to Orlando in June with 1 carry on and 1 checked bag, direct flight, and not an early morning or late night flight. So basically half the price and many fewer travel hours.
FAA motto: We aren't happy until you aren't happy.
