Allegiant Strands Hundreds at LAS for Days, Blames Mechanical Issues
Jeff Edwards July 25, 2017
Passengers who thought that they would be heading home from Las Vegas on Sunday night learned that the airline won’t be able to get them back in the air until Thursday at the earliest.
Passengers who counted on Allegiant Air to get them home from their Las Vegas getaways on Sunday soon found out that all bets were off. The ultra-low-cost carrier canceled the scheduled Sunday afternoon flight from McCarran International Airport (LAS) to Oklahoma City Will Rogers World Airport (OKC) just after boarding and reportedly told the nearly 200 disappointed passengers that another flight home was not scheduled to depart for at least four more days.
“We are all just trapped here now at the airport in Las Vegas,” passenger Alana Buckner told Oklahoma City ABC affiliate KOCO. “They asked us to deplane, we all got off of the plane. They gave us some soda and then said that they regretted to inform us that unfortunately there’s no other flights until Thursday. No money to eat, no flights, all of the cars are gone, no rental cars. We have no hotel room.”
To make matters worse, Buckner says that airline employees threatened to call security on dozens of the stranded flyers who were simply looking for information about their significantly altered itineraries. “They locked the doors,” Buckner told ABC News. “We asked to speak with somebody higher up, they said that she is on vacation.”
Allegiant Air spokesperson Krysta Levy told Fox News Travel that the last second cancellation was a result of a mechanical issue. Levy apologized for the unavoidable travel delay. The airline says that all of the affected passengers will be receiving $300 in compensation within the next two weeks and that those flyers who chose to make other travel arrangements will be entitled to refunds.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
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This is why people should NEVER fly this airline. Spirit Airlines is at the same level and should be avoided. Legacy carriers are worth the extra cost, as they often cooperate with each other during irrops. UA will accommodate pax on DL and AA in cases of mechanical issues if no other options are available. Additionally, there is inherent risk associated with taking a flight that only flies 2 times per week, which is the case with many Allegiant routes. You are so much better off flying legacy and making a quick connection in IAH (in the case of OKC). LAS-IAH has 8-10 flights per day on UA alone, and IAH-OKC has several as well. DL and AA are similar via different hubs. Allegiant is a roll of the dice at best... Government needs to regulate more closely what the airlines must compensate pax that are stranded overnight or for longer periods of time. Avoid this terrible airline at all costs. There are many more stories like this over the years.
Well, this shows the contempt in which Allegiant apparently holds its customers. Sorry, our plane broke and we're cancelling your flight and stranding you here for at least four days is not an acceptable response to something like this. What an awful company.
Wow Allshitairlines thanks for the $300 in compensation for not getting us home.
One could compare an unprofessional carrier like Allegiant Air to playing the slots. Some times you win, most of the time you lose. About time for the Feds to step in and enact a passenger protection program similar to the one used by the EU. Force airlines to either provide tickets home on other airlines or pay all the cost of hotel, meals, and transportation until the next flight. This is just one of thousands of reasons why Allegiant Air is considered a 7th world airline at best. Russian airlines are actually better.
It is truly sad that the US doesn't have better consumer protection laws in place to prevent debacles like this. Allegiant should have been required to immediately re-accommodate these passengers on other flights instead of forcing them to spend their own money on hotels and then "hope for the best" as far as getting reimbursed by the airline after several weeks. Management at Allegiant should go to jail for this to teach them a lesson.