Allegiant Airlines to Florida - Not Performing as Well this Year

I've been a huge fan of Allegiant Airlines' direct flights to multiple locations from Fort Wayne. It's so nice to buy a ticket and not have to make a connection through another city. Over the past ten years or so I've flown Allegiant several times - to the Orlando, Florida area; to Phoenix, Arizona; to Puenta Gorda, Florida, and there are other destinations I have not yet booked. Normally, the flights have left on time, except one time we hade a long delay departing Florida because it was cold and the airport or airline had no de-icing equipment.

But, a recent trip from Fort Wayne to Puenta Gorda resulted in my palatable disappointment with the airline. Once we got there, we had a great time in Florida: warm gulf waters on a visit to Sanibel Island, a wonderful day trip to Big Hickory Island, and a lovely stay at the upscale Hyatt Regency hotel in the Bonita Springs area.

But the experience of getting there and coming home was less than stellar. I wonder what's going on with Allegiant. The weather was not that bad, so they can't really blame anything on what was very mild winter weather. Mechanical issues with the planes? The airlines know the winter holidays are going to be one of the busiest times of the travel year. Airlines, get your planes in the shop and get them prepped and ready to go. In fact, get some extra planes ready, charter them from other carriers or whatever you have to do as a backup in case of potential mechanical problems or delays from other airports coming in.

My group was scheduled to leave Fort Wayne at 9:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve. We got a message as we were driving to the airport the flight would be delayed until 11:30 p.m. If you are a frequent traveler you are prepared to expect the occasional delay. But then, midnight passed in the airport with many patrons watching the ball drop on airport television screens instead of making their New Year's destination plans. Oh well, such is the fate of the commercial passenger. We arrived in Florida at 4:30 a.m. New Year's Day! Oy, that was exhausting.

But, we made the most of it, got a couple hours or sleep and enjoyed what we could of the sunshine on January 1. It's so nice to get out of the Midwestern cold winter and have a few fun days in lovely Florida. No complaints about that.

Had the return flight gone ok, I don't think I would have written this blog post. But when it was time to return on January 4, Allegiant's website was down. I tried off and on for a couple of hours to log-on and print or screen copy the required boarding passes, but that was impossible. Nor was it possible to reach Allegiant by phone - the recorded message told me there was at least an hour wait to speak to a human customer service representative.

The departure time of the flight was changed from 6:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. I think it actually left about 1:30 p.m. Many passengers on that flight were planning to make it in to their workplace upon arrival. But with the seven-hour change in the arrival time, their work day was shot. Then, Allegiant did not have one of their own planes available. Apparently, the airline chartered a plane from Sun Country, a different carrier. Sun Country didn't seem ready for this, and so their plane was not catered. This means there was no food or beverages available on the flight. All they had to pass out to passengers was water and pretzels. We were planning to buy food for lunch or at least get a Coke or a juice, but no dice. Not a big deal on its own, but the effects of disappointments are cumulative.

I paid for assigned seats three months ahead of time on Allegiant. Otherwise a passenger just gets the luck of the draw for seats. Since I was traveling with children, I was willing to pay a little more so we could sit together and I could help to meet their needs.

But when the doors opened for the now Sun Country flight, the assigned seats flew out the window and it was general boarding - open seating. The seats I had paid for together were gone, and we had to find what seats we could and were not able to sit together. At the very least I expect a refund for the purchased seats. I gave our passenger information to a gate agent when we disembarked the plane, and then later I got on the Allegiant website and sent an e:mail about the issue and my request for a refund for the seat assignment payment.

That was January 4 or 5. Now it's January 13, and I have heard nothing from Allegiant about that refund. I expect I will, but I wonder what's wrong with them. Did everybody in their company take a vacation at the same time? Is everybody quitting? Are they that short staffed? I know Allegiant is supposed to be a discount carrier, and I accept that, but what happened on this trip is disconcerting. Allegiant, you used to be better than this. We need that direct carrier out of Fort Wayne. What happened - what is going on?