Unfortunately, when flying from Bellingham Wa to Vegas, Allegiant is the only available flight for most of the year, with Alaska opting out over slower months, and then during prime season only flying limited schedules. I have never experienced anything happen in-flight, but have had a couple of times prior to flight that makes one's head shake. Once, we loaded the plane, then sat for a longer while than normal, until the pilot came on, saying there was an alarm in the cockpit, so he was going to have a mechanic take a look...guys came on and you could see them climbing under the 'dashboard' for a while, then basically had a scrum, and left the plane. Pilot came back on, said they couldnt' find anything wrong, so he had been instructed to taxi to the runway, rev the motors a few times without moving, then if everything was ok, to go ahead and take off! He did all that, and we took off...pretty low-tech solution!?
I did read a business themed article some time ago (wish I could find it now) talking about how Allegiant was the darling of the airline industry, with the highest per-passenger profit in the entire industry, etc etc. They went on to explain why - oldest planes in the industry, lowest paid in-air and ground staff, most hidden fees when booking, etc, etc. The author even went so far as to explain how they charge credit card service fee if you pay by credit card, and an online service fee if you book on their website. However, he tried to call in to book by phone, and pay by some other method, and it was impossible. I guess it's the airline industry's version of 'resort-fees'. Impossible to escape!
...after saying all that, flying Allegiant to Vegas next week!!
But, the flight back is at 3pm, so I don't have to stay up the entire night before if I don't want to.
