I’m not ordinarily a huge fan of Allegiant Air (to put it mildly), but I feel like the story of an Allegiant Air “flight from hell” is dramatized a bit.
In this post:
A complicated Allegiant Air flight from Las Vegas to Stockton
This incident involves Allegiant Air flight 161, which was scheduled to operate the 359-mile flight from Las Vegas, Nevada (LAS), to Stockton, California (SCK), on Monday, July 12, 2021. Passengers were supposed to get in at 9:30PM on Monday, but ended up arriving at around 2PM on Tuesday.
CBS Sacramento did quite a story on this incident, referring to this as a “flight from hell,” and talking about how passengers are “still reeling from this nightmare trip.” In general I find local news segments on these kinds of incidents to be rather amusing, especially the way they interview people involved in the incident, who clearly have no clue what happened.
So, what happened that made this Allegiant Air flight such a mess?
- The plane took off from Las Vegas and approached Stockton at a time that the air traffic control tower was closed; in and of itself this is normal, since the control tower was scheduled to be closed at night, and Allegiant operates to all kinds of airports with very limited commercial air service that also have closed towers
- This wouldn’t have been an issue, except the Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) at Stockton Airport was down; this is intended to provide a weather report at the airport, and without this, Allegiant Air couldn’t land at the airport
- The plane was then supposed to return to Las Vegas, but the weather deteriorated there, with thunderstorms and low visibility, so the plane needed to divert elsewhere
- After spending nearly three hours in the air, the flight diverted to Los Angeles (LAX), where customers were each proactively given a $250 Allegiant Air voucher, though had to book their own accommodation
- The next day passengers were finally flown to Stockton, and that flight took less than an hour
You can watch the CBS Sacramento news clip here:
My take on this Allegiant Air flight
I actually think Allegiant Air deserves credit for how it handled this situation? Don’t get me wrong, this was obviously an extremely frustrating situation for passengers, because they could have driven between Las Vegas and Stockton faster than Allegiant Air transported them.
That being said, I think Allegiant Air actually this professionally and as well as it could have, all things considered. This was definitely a case where several things had to go wrong for this result to happen, starting with the issue with the ASOS, followed by the bad weather in Las Vegas. I’m not sure what the airline should have done differently?
The local news station poses the following questions, which seem easy enough to answer:
- Why is the control tower closed at night? Because there are barely any aircraft movements, so there’s not a need for one
- Why does the airport rely on an automated system for planes to land? See above…
- Is it safe? Yes…
Ultimately it’s not surprising that an incident like this would happen with Allegiant over another airline, when you consider that:
- Allegiant often serves smaller city pairs that don’t otherwise have commercial service, and even serves many airports that don’t otherwise have commercial service
- Flying to these kinds of airports also keeps costs down, and allows Allegiant to offer extremely low fares
Bottom line
Allegiant Air passengers traveling from Las Vegas to Stockton this past Monday had quite an eventful flight. While the flight usually takes about an hour, passengers only arrived at their destination around 17 hours after departing Las Vegas.
While no doubt extremely frustrating, I don’t think Allegiant Air has any responsibility here. Rather the airport’s ASOS being down was what caused the diversion, and then bad weather in Las Vegas caused a diversion to a third airport. I’d consider this to truly be outside of Allegiant Air’s control, and arguably the airline even handled the situation well by offering each passenger a $250 voucher.
What do you make of this “Allegiant Air flight from hell” story?
This just happened again! Portland to Santa Maria. Santa Maria tower closes after a certain time and ASOS was broken….so on a perfectly clear night with the runway in sight, my mom went to LAX. They’re talking about busing them 4 hrs to Santa Maria. Allegiant seriously needs to change their policy. If the aircraft is below a certain altitude and the runway is in sight, they should be able to just land VFR. They...
This just happened again! Portland to Santa Maria. Santa Maria tower closes after a certain time and ASOS was broken….so on a perfectly clear night with the runway in sight, my mom went to LAX. They’re talking about busing them 4 hrs to Santa Maria. Allegiant seriously needs to change their policy. If the aircraft is below a certain altitude and the runway is in sight, they should be able to just land VFR. They have on board radars to detect any storms that could really affect them. This is the dumbest policy.
I don't understand why they couldn't divert to somewhere much closer, like.... Sacramento (~1 hour drive from Stockton), or even Oakland where Allegiant has flight ops; at least these pax would have been able to get home that night. Maybe Allegiant has a bigger presence at LAX, so they opted to go there instead.
Some people, no matter what the situation....just love to have a good old wghinge and whine! Especially airline passengers!
I wonder why they did not divert to Oakland or Sacramento which are closer to Stockton than LAX?
In the Air Force (and presumably in many air carriers) it is advised to file an alternate airport if our use of our planned destination is dependent upon an automated weather service, also if the airport is uncontrolled (i.e. the tower will be closed at/near arrival time). So there are at least two good reasons to have an alternate on this fight. On such a short flight, you *could* file/plan to use your departure field...
In the Air Force (and presumably in many air carriers) it is advised to file an alternate airport if our use of our planned destination is dependent upon an automated weather service, also if the airport is uncontrolled (i.e. the tower will be closed at/near arrival time). So there are at least two good reasons to have an alternate on this fight. On such a short flight, you *could* file/plan to use your departure field as your alternate, but if there were a chance of thunderstorms there (LAS) in the forecast, I don't know what pilot would think it a prudent plan. So I'm left puzzling with several questions:
Were they telling passengers that they couldn't get back into Vegas because that was actually their plan? If so, that's such a short flight. There must have been a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast when they left. Were they telling passengers about issues with fuel because they didn't plan for enough fuel to hold while the forecast chance of thunderstorms passed at their planned alternate? Was LAX actually the alternate all along (not LAS)? If so, wouldn't there be a suitable alternate closer to Stockton? These are a few questions I have.
No mention in the news about "the flight from Hell II which happened on Friday july 15,2021 that was suppose to be a 3he flight from Vegas to Mcallen,Tx. We did not get back home till the following day the 16th at 12:noon. Flight was suppose to leave at 5pm but we did not board till 7:45pm due to mechanical problems that passengers were never told off and Allegiant could have started making plans just...
No mention in the news about "the flight from Hell II which happened on Friday july 15,2021 that was suppose to be a 3he flight from Vegas to Mcallen,Tx. We did not get back home till the following day the 16th at 12:noon. Flight was suppose to leave at 5pm but we did not board till 7:45pm due to mechanical problems that passengers were never told off and Allegiant could have started making plans just in case. Passengers were already frustrated so we finally board the plane starts taxing n returns back to loading area was instrument panel indicated a problem. The doctor mechanic was able to fix the problem in 5 to 10 minutes, so we are off. 2 hours into our flight the pilot tells us that we are diverting to the airport in Austin,Tx due to problems with the plane again, but not to worry cause the airport had already been notified n emergency crews would be waiting for our arrival. We are able to land safely which was already 12:30am Texas time. We are ushered into the arrival area at the South Terminal, where Allegiant flies in n out off not the main terminal which is 10 to 15 miles away. Anyway nobody from Allegiant comes to give us any news until 30 minutes later to tell us nothing, but they are working on a plan n the young man leaves without answering questions. The people are getting crazy at the point. When the young man returns he tells us that they are organizing buses to come pick up the 150 passengers and drive us to McAllen a 6 hour drive, but that he does not know when the buses will arrive cause their bus offices are closed already, people are already upset n start yelling at him to get with Allegiant and look for a better solution. The young man leaves again and he when he comes back tells us that the now infamous airline has made arrangements with two hotels to take us in for the night, we have to make our own arrangements to get to the hotels. It becomes more chaotic then, cause people are lost as to what to do next, then he leaves the room again. The group consisted of old, young, n several handicapped persons, plus little kids, each with our own problems to deal with the problem at hand. Finally after eternity the young employee returns n says to get in line to hand out hotel vouchers, this was around 4:am n people were not listening anymore,with all the pent up anger they had bye them. Aside from that problem airport security arrives n tells us the lobby was gonna be closed n the building had to be empty, plus we could wait outside either for that matter and it was not their problem, but the airline's, sorry. So what were the people gonna do? The security chief was the one who finally took action to help the stranded people, buy having 2 employees start up the airport shuttles n take those who wanted too take a ride to Austin's main terminal that was open 24/7 and people could spent the nite to be back at the South Terminal bye 9am the following day or actually later that day for our return flight home, cause Yea! the airline had already made plans for a new plane to pick us up , whoever was left off the passengers . Anyway i have made a short story lomg and I am no where near the end of this saga. Anyone is welcomed to contact me on my email listed above. Thanks for the opportunity to let you all know about "the flight from Hell II" and please excuse my writing n errors in typing
Great Pilot was thinking, Lord spared all on board, thank you Lord God
Allegiant Airlines is affordable and there crew have always been very kind and respectful.
They lost money by giving out those vouchers and having to divert, fuel costs for flying in the air longer and many other factors. Kudos to the airlines for managing it so well and keeping their passengers safe.
This is only one side if the incident. You forgot about the people in Stockton who were trying to get home. Allegiant did not inform them of the delay until 2 hours later. There is no public transportation at midnight. Some people were stranded and ended up missing work. But yeah, let's talk about the people leaving Las Vegas. So maybe Stockton Airport need to develop a back up plan because they couldn't turn on the lights on a clear night in Stockton.
My child and I were on that flight. Nobody with authority cane out to speak to us when we finally landed in L. A. Nobody took control of the situation. We were actually told you are on your own. Its after 1:00 am and I am scared and unsure of what to do. I start calling hotels many were booked up or over $200. I was told to hurry there wont be any more shuttles...
My child and I were on that flight. Nobody with authority cane out to speak to us when we finally landed in L. A. Nobody took control of the situation. We were actually told you are on your own. Its after 1:00 am and I am scared and unsure of what to do. I start calling hotels many were booked up or over $200. I was told to hurry there wont be any more shuttles running tonight. Well we didn't get one, we had to walk long and far to a parking lot that had taxi and uber. By the time i got to my hotel room it was 3:30 am. The situation was horrible. This was my 8 year old sons first flight for his birthday. He was traumatized, the things that were being said on board were horrible during this situation. I didn't receive any funds in my account until the next day. And they weren't released until the following day. To this day I still have not received funds for my sons ticket, which was a full price adult ticket.This was are first time flying on Allegiant, I would expect better. I would expect someone in high position/ standing to come out and address us. To guide us and help us with are needs. A blanket, shuttle, hotel , snack charger. This is a multi-million dollar business. It does matter. Take charge let us know you care and we are alright. You did nothing. We still don't have answers on why the weather system failed in Stockton?
Flying out to Seattle for a few days
I think I would have used the voucher to rent a car and driven to Stockton.
Under these circumstances, Allegiant handled it as best they could, putting passenger safety first. No doubt it was a frustrating 17 hours for passengers but in a few days, I am sure they will come to the conclusion that Allegiant handled it well. I like Allegiant and hope to fly with them again soon.
Pre-COVID I was commuting every week between Sanford/Orlando (SFB) and Asheville (AVL) on Allegiant. I have nothing but good things to say about it. Yes, they will nickle and dime you to death if you let them, but everyone knows what they are getting.
The airline should have covered accommodations at LAX.
"there is NO need for one" is the proper syntax ("there isn't a need for one"...so clumsy) is one of many annoying typos, missing words and poor syntax. This article is typical of 99.9% of what poses as "writing" online; even major news outlets have poorly written articles from the NYT, to the Washington Post. It's so irritating to the reader that "writers", journalists, bloggers, et al, disregard the editing and/or proofreading process prior to...
"there is NO need for one" is the proper syntax ("there isn't a need for one"...so clumsy) is one of many annoying typos, missing words and poor syntax. This article is typical of 99.9% of what poses as "writing" online; even major news outlets have poorly written articles from the NYT, to the Washington Post. It's so irritating to the reader that "writers", journalists, bloggers, et al, disregard the editing and/or proofreading process prior to submitting their work. Too busy? They're such important folks, far too elevated to allow for error? Editing & proofreading was & is essential to every article, story, written paper, essay, thesis, absolutely vital throughout the education process.
Please honor your work and the time of those who choose to read your work.
I flew with United, flying out of Cleveland, Ohio to Midland, Odessa Texas, well the plane I was boarding had to be de-iced, so we left late when we finally got to Houston there were no more flights going to my destination that day. So we got put up in a nice motel, got fed and was handed a hygiene kit. No we had no access to our suitcases but made the best of it! When flying always be prepared for the unseen out of everyone's control possible delays.
I think it’s important to know when the ASOS actually went down. Did it go down before the flight departed? Or mid-flight? If prior to departure, is this something that Allegiant can check on? Then they make alternate plans as needed. Or they can be given a timeframe of when it’ll be fixed, and if reasonable (say a couple hours) they can delay the flight until it’s ready.
I think you're baiting the "Anti Ultra-Low Cost" carrier haters here, Lucky. Really, Allegiant did exactly what they should have. Instead of sensationalizing this headline hinting at a "story of a flight from hell," you should have praised the carrier up front for doing what they should have.
I ALWAYS fly Allegiant. I have only experienced 2 delays since I started using them years ago and they supplied drinks and snacks and a voucher to eat dinner...Yes it's frustrating to get delayed, but sometimes stuff happens that is out of their control. This is the same with ANY airline. I'm glad I read this article because now I know if I get delayed again this could be the reason. They are as good...
I ALWAYS fly Allegiant. I have only experienced 2 delays since I started using them years ago and they supplied drinks and snacks and a voucher to eat dinner...Yes it's frustrating to get delayed, but sometimes stuff happens that is out of their control. This is the same with ANY airline. I'm glad I read this article because now I know if I get delayed again this could be the reason. They are as good as any other airline and I love the fact that they keep their prices so low, They make it affordable for me to fly quite often. The fact that they gave out $250 voucher for your inconvenience is great. GREAT JOB ALLEGIANT
They could have diverted to any number of places that are closer than LAX or LAS, but chose not to. Two relatively close airports - FAT and SMF - even have 24 hour control towers. This was extremely poorly handled, especially since they could have found alternative weather reporting.
I think the question that leaps to mind most strongly is this: Why not fly to Oakland? Per an earlier poster, SMF (Sacramento) has no Allegiant service. Allegiant flies to/from Oakland "normally" (at least, per Wikipedia) and a lot of the pax would probably have just said "F*** it" and gotten an Uber (for $75-90 per the Uber Estimator) even if Allegiant couldn't round up a bus that night. For everyone else...just comp them tickets...
I think the question that leaps to mind most strongly is this: Why not fly to Oakland? Per an earlier poster, SMF (Sacramento) has no Allegiant service. Allegiant flies to/from Oakland "normally" (at least, per Wikipedia) and a lot of the pax would probably have just said "F*** it" and gotten an Uber (for $75-90 per the Uber Estimator) even if Allegiant couldn't round up a bus that night. For everyone else...just comp them tickets on Amtrak the next morning (the San Joaquins are unreserved and tickets are $11 each) and offer vouchers for a taxi from the Stockton Amtrak station to the airport. This probably would have been cheaper, all told, than doing what they did. Fresno (also served) would offer essentially the same option (the Amtrak ticket is $20 instead of $11, but any "local" taxi/bus ride is shorter).
This is a dumb question, but could the flight crew have used the METAR from the airport if the ASOS wasn’t broadcasting? What about using a nearby AWOS/ASOS station?
I’m not super familiar with 121 regs so I’m curious how stricter things are as opposed to the Part 91 world.
No, this is not OK- a real airline would provide hotels for the passengers!
@william - Im still amused at your plural spelling for buses
I’m olde-school.
From a former Rap Rat for a major airline who worked in a small airport about the same size as the Stockton Airport. Our tower was also closed from 1 am to 5 am. If the Stockton air traffic control tower knew that its ASOS was inop, and the tower knew that Allegiant had a flight scheduled to land at Stockton, then the control tower should have been manned the tower until the ASOS is fixed and the Allegiant flight land no matter how longs it takes.
The basic unanswered question is whether the ASOS system was functional at takeoff?
Seems highly unlikely the system would fail in the 1 hour between TO and landing but Sod's Law sometimes rules.
If they took off without checking the status of the ASOS at destination that is a total failure of the airline.
That's nothing. In December, 1999, I took a scheduled one-hour evening flight from BUR-SFO. During the flight, SFO became fogged in, as were OAK and SJC. We were told it was unprecedented for all three Bay Area airports to be closed simultaneously for landings. We couldn't divert to SMF, since they were already full of diverted Bay Area flights, so we landed in RNO. However, a gate never became available, and we finally flew back...
That's nothing. In December, 1999, I took a scheduled one-hour evening flight from BUR-SFO. During the flight, SFO became fogged in, as were OAK and SJC. We were told it was unprecedented for all three Bay Area airports to be closed simultaneously for landings. We couldn't divert to SMF, since they were already full of diverted Bay Area flights, so we landed in RNO. However, a gate never became available, and we finally flew back to BUR, *many* hours later. Another passenger and I ultimately rented a car several hours later and drove the 6 hours to get home. She was scheduled to start her very first day at a new job and was determined to get there ASAP!
My question would be: why didn't they land at any of the nearby airports, rather than returning to Las Vegas and then LAX? Sacramento is close, as are the three Bay Area airports, and they all have towers that are staffed 24/7.
Curious-did their luggage stay on the plane?
Uncomfortable having to get back on the plane next day with yesterday's clothes (and maybe no toiletries?). I violated my "take one set of clothes plus toiletries plus charger on carry on" ONE TIME and of course that was the time a plane broke down and I had to stay overnight LOL.
The flight path displayed looks like they were more than halfway to LAX before they turned north toward Stockton. That’s a strange routing if that’s what they did.
There is a lot of restricted airspace around Edwards Air Force Base and Mojave airport. Typically a flight would be routed north of that complex, but it's not uncommon to see jets cleared for the southern route shown. I just did a check on Foreflight and it's only 84 miles out of the way. Could have been due to weather, winds, or other reasons.
Tower closures are common. Keeps your taxes lower because when airport are not busy (typically overnight) it doesn’t make sense to pay controllers to be there. That in and of itself does not prevent airplanes from landing there. But if the pilots cannot obtain a weather report, they legally cannot land, nor would you want them to. Would you rather be, in the grand scheme of things, mildly inconvenienced or try to fly into the...
Tower closures are common. Keeps your taxes lower because when airport are not busy (typically overnight) it doesn’t make sense to pay controllers to be there. That in and of itself does not prevent airplanes from landing there. But if the pilots cannot obtain a weather report, they legally cannot land, nor would you want them to. Would you rather be, in the grand scheme of things, mildly inconvenienced or try to fly into the unknown and risk your safety landing earlier? It’s unfortunate about the thunderstorm but it is definitely unfair to blame the pilots or Allegiant for something 100% out of their control. Kudos to the pilots for making the hard decisions and keeping all you passengers safe.
My only complaint on how Allegiant should have made this situation better: accommodating the displaced pax in a hotel for the night at company expense. Their poor planning led to this…not an “act of god” that allows them to weasel out of paying.
Of the ULCC, Allegiant is the better ones and Frontier is probably the worst.
I still think G4 has part of the blame here.
1. They left LAS knowing ASOS was down?
2. Why didn't they divert to their base in OAK?
I'm going to guess LAX has a larger crew base there and easier to rotate crews than OAK.
Had an experience just like that from Las Vegas to Rapid City a few years ago. The plane was supposed to leave at 1:00pm but was delayed 3 hours because.of a malfunctioning air conditioning. We hovered over Rapid City because of the same problem, the whole while being lied to by Allegiant. We diverted to Bismarck, ND and were forced off the plane at 8:00pm. At midnight, it was pretty apparent that we not going...
Had an experience just like that from Las Vegas to Rapid City a few years ago. The plane was supposed to leave at 1:00pm but was delayed 3 hours because.of a malfunctioning air conditioning. We hovered over Rapid City because of the same problem, the whole while being lied to by Allegiant. We diverted to Bismarck, ND and were forced off the plane at 8:00pm. At midnight, it was pretty apparent that we not going anywhere that night, and all of the local rooms were booked for a state-wide track meet, so we rented the last available rental car and drove 500 miles in a terrivle storm to Rapid City. Terrible experience and a terrible airline. Apologized by offerin a single ome-way ticket to Rapid City. No thanks...
Inaccurate headline
The flight didn't last 17 hours at all.
Come on Ben you're better than this.
He is quoting the local news station that originally used that headline. Hence why he quoted "flight from hell" in the title.
It still wasn’t a 17 hour flight though!
And that’s the inaccurate headline.
Ben wrote that headline and he should know better.
I think for these smaller markets it's a trade off. You get non-stop service that 90% of the time goes off without a hitch. The other 8% it sucks. The 2% like this is hell. But that can happen on any route. I just had an AA LAS-ORD 12:30pm departure take off at 11:15pm this week. It happens....it sucks...but it happens.
That said....no way I am ever flying Allegiant.
The weird part is going to LAX and not the 5 closer airports that have allegiant service, including Sacramento and Fresno
Also, living near XNA I have had increasing opportunities to fly Allegiant, and I have nothing but great things to say about their staff and crews. At first I was put off by the fee structure, but once you get the hang of it it’s not so bad. Not having first class option was annoying, but the convenience of nonstops to Orlando, Nashville and Vegas outweigh that (especially now that first is nothing
Special...
Also, living near XNA I have had increasing opportunities to fly Allegiant, and I have nothing but great things to say about their staff and crews. At first I was put off by the fee structure, but once you get the hang of it it’s not so bad. Not having first class option was annoying, but the convenience of nonstops to Orlando, Nashville and Vegas outweigh that (especially now that first is nothing
Special on most flights), and I don’t miss all the upgrade drama of the majors.
And though I understand Ben’s standards may be disproportionately high, living as he does in the cultured, sophisticated confines of South Florida, I have found that the passengers on my Allegiant flights are generally nice, decent people who just want to get where they’re going for hard-earned vacations, family visits, and other travels.
Great post!!
I think people are overestimating the simplicity of chartering busses late at night, rounding up ground crew to pull luggage from plane, getting that luggage transferred to passengers, getting passengers to bring their luggage to the busses, loading bags and passengers on busses, and heading out - especially since at least some passengers may have opted to not take the bus and have friends/relatives pick them up, so that would take some processing? (Or I’d...
I think people are overestimating the simplicity of chartering busses late at night, rounding up ground crew to pull luggage from plane, getting that luggage transferred to passengers, getting passengers to bring their luggage to the busses, loading bags and passengers on busses, and heading out - especially since at least some passengers may have opted to not take the bus and have friends/relatives pick them up, so that would take some processing? (Or I’d Allegiant said everyone had to take the bus, at which point Community Theater News would have aired the shocking story of how an out-of-control airline FORCED passengers to travel by BUS!
Was the ASOS down when the flight took off? If so then I think the airline owns more responsibility.
Excellent point.
Weather at OAK on Monday night was clear, the tower was open, and it’s an allegiant station.
That’s a two hour drive from Stockton vs a five hour drive.
Seems like they could have come up with a better plan.
Fresno's about the same distance. I wonder why it wasn't an option as well.
Excuse me, why not divert immediately to OAK or SAC and bus the passengers to Stockton (both less than 100 miles away). Yes I know it's late in either of those airports but passengers would have arrived home 10 hours earlier.
I’d be curious as to the terms of the voucher. If the voucher is restrictive (not covering fees or no residual value, for instance), it would be hard to get $250 of value out of it on Allegiant.
I was on a flight from Idaho to Orange County airport that took 22 hours on Delta airlines we went from Idaho to Seattle and then from Seattle we were supposed to go to Orange County we got diverted to
Oregon spent the whole night in the airport no hotel vouchers no pillows or blankets so all airlines have there problems.