Closed ATC Turned One-Hour Allegiant Air Flight to 17-Hour Ordeal
Joe Cortez July 14, 2021
After the pilots of an Allegiant Air flight couldn’t contact an air traffic control tower, a one-hour flight from Las Vegas to California turned into a 17-hour event. Flyers were ultimately dropped in Los Angeles and given $250 flight credits for their troubles.
A regularly scheduled flight between Las Vegas McCarran International Airport (LAS) and Stockton Metropolitan Airport (SCK) is supposed to take around one hour from departure to landing. However, an Allegiant Air flight took 17 hours to get flyers home from Nevada due to weather-related issues. Sacramento CBS affiliate KOVR-TV reports the flight was forced to divert to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) when two different issues made it impossible to continue.
Unstaffed Air Traffic Control Tower and Weather Issues Forced Incredible Diversion
According to those on the flight, the regularly scheduled service to Stockton was supposed to land at 9:30 p.m. on Monday, July 12, 2021. However, when the pilots attempted to contact the air traffic control tower for a weather report at landing, nobody was home. The airline said a visibility sensor integrated into the weather reporting system was broken, and the tower was closed for the night.
Because the pilots could not land without the weather readout, the decision was made to return the flight to Las Vegas. That’s when they encountered another problem: Heavy thunderstorms in the area brought visibility down to zero, making it impossible to land.
Ultimately, the flight carrying 175 passengers was forced to divert to Los Angeles. Upon arrival at the diversion location, passengers say they were escorted to a holding room without restrooms. When the flight was cancelled, they say the carrier only gave everyone a $250 voucher for a future flight, and left them on their own.
“We had to find transportation and our own hotel rooms,” flyer Jade Watts told KOVR-TV. “There were people sleeping in the airport.”
The travelers were ultimately returned to Stockton on Tuesday, July 13, at 2:00 p.m. – making for a 17-hour flight. Outside of confirming the issues, Allegiant provided no further comment on the flight.
Lawmakers Pressure DOT to Investigate Delays and Cancellations
The 17-hour flight comes as lawmakers are leaning on the U.S. Department of Transportation to investigate issues where flights are cancelled, and flyers aren’t duly compensated. An investigation by The Wall Street Journal shows airline complaints spiked over 600 percent higher in 2020, while legislators want answers why airlines aren’t doing more for customers.
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It's not that "nobody was home" in Stockton. it's that everybody had gone home.
Stockton tower publishes their hours. Like most Class D VFR towers, they close at some point. Allegiant schedules flights to arrive after the tower closes, so stop suggesting this is somehow an aberration. There are plenty of other airports near Stockton to divert to - Allegiant just chose not to.
I seldom blame the victims, but the old adage is "you get what you pay for." And when you have an irrops with Allegiant, you either get what you pay for - or a whole lot less.
It seems like Allegiant missed this before they departed LAS. SCK tower is open from 7 AM to 9 PM. The last reported visibility on the 12th was at 5:55 PM local time (12:55 AM on the 13th Zulu time). The next reported visibility was at 6:55 AM local time (1:55 PM Zulu time) on the 13th, shortly before the tower opened. KSCK 131355Z 31006KT 10SM CLR 15/12 A2982 RMK AO2 SLP099 T01500117 KSCK 131255Z AUTO 32005KT CLR 14/12 A2982 RMK AO2 SLP096 T01440117 KSCK 131155Z AUTO 33005KT CLR 16/12 A2980 RMK AO2 SLP092 T01560122 10200 20156 53008 KSCK 131055Z AUTO 32006KT CLR 16/12 A2980 RMK AO2 SLP089 T01610122 KSCK 130955Z 33006KT CLR 16/12 A2979 RMK AO2 SLP087 T01610117 KSCK 130855Z 33006KT CLR 17/12 A2978 RMK AO2 SLP085 T01720117 58001 KSCK 130755Z 31005KT CLR 18/13 A2979 RMK AO2 SLP087 T01830128 403440156 KSCK 130655Z 29010KT CLR 19/12 A2978 RMK AO2 SLP084 T01890117 KSCK 130555Z 31008KT CLR 20/12 A2979 RMK AO2 SLP085 T02000117 10339 20200 53011 KSCK 130455Z 29015KT CLR 23/11 A2978 RMK AO2 SLP083 T02330111 KSCK 130355Z 29009KT CLR 26/12 A2976 RMK AO2 SLP077 T02610117 KSCK 130255Z 29012KT CLR 28/09 A2975 RMK AO2 SLP075 T02780094 56005 KSCK 130155Z 27010KT CLR 31/11 A2976 RMK AO2 SLP075 T03110111 KSCK 130055Z 29010KT 10SM CLR 33/14 A2975 RMK AO2 SLP074 T03330139
As seems to be routine, there are some inconsistencies in the article. Of course nobody was home; the control tower at SCK closes at 2100, and this information is published in all the usual places. If the ASOS (automated weather reporting system) was down then it should have been published in a NOTAM that would have been looked at when the flight was dispatched (concession: it is possible that it broke after the tower closed for the night, but that would have allowed only a 10-15 minute window). However, if everything was done according to Hoyle then I will grudgingly accept that Allegiant was the victim of a weather diversion and by the carriage of contract (that nobody reads) doesn't owe the passengers any compensation.