# Allegiant Air - CBS News "Tee Off"



## GBNorman (Apr 16, 2018)

Has  CBS News, by means of a segment aired this past Sunday on "60 Minutes", ever "teed off" on low-fare Allegiant Air. For those "not in the know", including myself, this airline, while "hubbed" at LAS, mostly connects "The Meadows" with smaller airports such as St. Petersburg (PIE).

They also, according to journalist Steve Kroft, have a safety record, albeit no fatalities, that would make me "think twice" about flying them.

With so many around here in the industry, could this report be responsible journalism or is it simply a piece to drive CBS's ratings?

Enquiring mind wants to know.


----------



## Bob Dylan (Apr 16, 2018)

According to friends who work in the Airline Industry, Allegiant is a "bottom feeder" on a par with Class I RR CSX when it comes to Maintainence and Safety.


----------



## Devil's Advocate (Apr 16, 2018)

Although I've never flown Allegiant Air myself I've heard nothing but negative stories from those who have. Mainly involving excessive delays and unethical or nonsensical business practices that unfairly or disproportionately penalize the customer with little or no responsibility being accepted by the company. The honest truth is that it's hard to know what is genuinely safe or unsafe just from being a passenger. We depend on market oversight by regulatory agencies such as the FAA to inform and protect us on such matters. Unfortunately with our fiercely anti-regulation government, strangled agency budgets, and lack of meaningful oversight that's not something you can realistically depend upon. Personally, I find our FAA's vague answers, opaque management style, and laissez faire attitude to be far more concerning than any single airline's safety record. We've been here before and apparently we didn't learn our lesson last time.


----------



## B757Guy (Apr 17, 2018)

As a pilot, and safety liaison for my airline, I can tell you that for years we have been warned to avoid Allegiant. I was literally told not to let "anyone you love" fly on them. It is a miracle none of the incidents they have had the past 24 months has led to fatalities.


----------



## Seaboard92 (Apr 17, 2018)

I read about their safety record about a year ago and I've banned everyone I care about from flying with them.


----------



## railiner (Apr 17, 2018)

What gets me on that story is the fact that they are apparently enjoying large profits, yet seem to operate like a company thats is struggling financially....


----------



## JRR (Apr 17, 2018)

My only experience with Allegiant was last year when my sister arrived in Ft Lauderdale and her gate checked walker arrived with the handle broken off.

The agent took all of the information, and gave her a loaner to use. 30 minutes later when we arrived at my house, I received a telephone call from them acknowledging their responsibility. They gave me the name of a medical supply store near my house, furnished a claim number and said for the store to call to verify that Allegiant would pay.

The next day we went to the store and picked up a top of the line Nitro Walker.

Everything went smoothly and my sister got a much better walker to replace her 15 year old one!

They did this right. I wouldn’t fly them myself but they were convenient (Ogdensburg NY non stop to FLL), and cheap (all my sister could afford).

Sent from my iPhone using Amtrak Forum


----------



## brianpmcdonnell17 (Apr 18, 2018)

When I used to fly domestically, I almost always travelled on Southwest, but did use Allegiant once round-trip in October 2013 from St. Petersburg to Allentown. On the way there, I was in business class which was worse than coach, while on the way back I was delayed significantly. However, there wasn't anything obviously terrible that was significantly worse than Southwest. It was kind of odd that in St. Petersburg, which they fly out of a few times per day, passengers still walk out on the runway and use stairs to access the plane.


----------



## trainman74 (Apr 18, 2018)

brianpmcdonnell17 said:


> It was kind of odd that in St. Petersburg, which they fly out of a few times per day, passengers still walk out on the runway and use stairs to access the plane.


Here in California, you can get this experience in Burbank, and I believe Long Beach as well -- those are both served by Southwest and a handful of other airlines. (In fact, on Southwest, they'll pull two sets of stairs up to the plane for passengers to use, one at the front door and one at the rear door.)


----------



## brianpmcdonnell17 (Apr 18, 2018)

trainman74 said:


> brianpmcdonnell17 said:
> 
> 
> > It was kind of odd that in St. Petersburg, which they fly out of a few times per day, passengers still walk out on the runway and use stairs to access the plane.
> ...


I actually flew out of Burbank in April 2015 on Southwest but somehow I forgot about that. On the Allegiant flight in St. Petersburg, both sets of stairs were also used.


----------



## Swadian Hardcore (Apr 20, 2018)

Well, you'd be better off on our Streamliner Lines motorcoach if you had to go between Reno, Las Vegas, and Phoenix.

Sorry, I just had to put that in here.


----------

