Allegiant Airlines Strands Passengers At Pittsburgh International
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Allegiant Airline left dozens of Florida-bound passengers stranded at Pittsburgh International early Monday morning.
"We're here at 2 o'clock in the morning," said Edward Snyder.
Snyder was one of those traveling on the discount airline known for cheap fares but inconsistent service.
The saga began late Sunday morning.
"We were supposed to leave at 5 p.m. Got a text at 10:45 this morning, and told us our flight was delayed until 11 p.m.," recalled Janis Young, another passenger.
Sunday night, the incoming flight to Pittsburgh to take passengers back to Florida was further delayed.
"They kept telling us, it would be here, it would be here, it would be here. The plane finally pulls in," said Snyder.
All along, passengers were told, once here, Allegiant would turn the plane around quickly.
"After 12:45 when the plane finally came in, and we thought oh finally, we're going to get to Florida at 3:30 in the morning," said Young.
But then...
"At 1:23 a.m., they cancelled it," noted Snyder.
It turned out the flight crew had "timed out" or, under FAA rules had to rest before flying again.
What angered passengers was the airline knew that and should have told them that much earlier.
"I just wish they would have been honest with us up front," said Young.
"I wish they would have said to us, the flight is going to be cancelled. They knew that that crew was going to time out when it was in the air. They knew we weren't going to be able to fly out tonight, and I just wish they would have been honest with us."
Allegiant told KDKA money editor Jon Delano that "sincerely regretted the inconvenience."
Pittsburgh passengers were told to go home, while those more than fifty miles away were put up in hotels at 4 a.m.
"It feels shady. The whole thing feels very shady," said Young.
The flight to Florida was rescheduled for 3:45 Monday afternoon and left around 5:00 p.m.
Allegiant did give every passenger a hundred dollars for their inconvenience.
But it insists it communicated accurate information.
Discount carriers do offer great fares, but they come with a catch.
Unlike the major airlines, they do not have multiple flights to the same cities
So when there's a problem, passengers are usually stuck -- at least for a while.
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