It was on the front page of the paper this morning. Allegiant Air will no longer fly out of Belleville, IL (St. Louis metro area) after January 3, 2009.
People complain about them a lot but they have some really low fares if you keep watching. I%26#39;m not really concerned that they charge for drinks and snacks or bags (tons of other airlines are doing the same thing anyway).
Allegiant Air will no longer fly out of St. Louis area
Sorry to see the news but not surprised since after much fanfare when they began, they flew Topeka to Vegas for about 9 months then abruptly quit citing lack of passengers...funny since the planes were full pretty much every flight according to the staff at the airport. hmmmmmm
Allegiant Air will no longer fly out of St. Louis area
They did the same thing to Toledo with Vegas flights!!! The problem with Toledo is that they would only sell a very limited amount of tickets cheaply and then the price would be way higher on the others. Then they only had flights like 2 days a week. Well I live in the city and it takes an equal amount of time to get to Toledo Airport as it does to Detroit. Detroit was killing them in Toledo because you have 7 day a week service with multiple airlines and flights a day.
The sad part for Topeka is that we are too close to the airport in KC so in fairness to Allegiant, they probably can%26#39;t compete with the special rates and packages Southwest offers from the KC airport (and also direct flights).
It was convenient for people though here, because the parking fee was minimal (like $2 a day) and a savings in gas and time by not driving to the KC airport.
Yeah, same here for Knoxville. Great demand but decided to discontinue the service. Sucks...big time!
I wonder what airline Harrah%26#39;s will use for its junkets to Laughlin.
I flew out of this airport several times on Allegiant and really enjoyed the experience. Parking is free and it%26#39;s the only passenger airline that flies there. It got to be a drag toward the end though because they only flew on Thursday and Sunday nights. You didn%26#39;t arrive in Vegas until after 10:00 local time so you in effect ';lost a day.'; When you combined that with the fact that their checked bag fees and other extras once added on cost way more than you initially thought you were getting (119 dollars each way).
In October I flew out of Lambert Airport in St. Louis on Southwest. It ran me about the same price and the great thing is you fly out of McCarran in the secondary terminal which means shorter security lines. Plus Southwest has a nonstop flight that leaves at 7:00 in the morning going out and another one around 7:00 in the evening coming back which allows you to extend your time in Vegas.
Airlines routinely discontinue service to airports. They are in business to make money, if a route does not fir into the business plan, it goes. Many more routes will be discontinued as demand wanes. I%26#39;m old enough to remember entire airlines that are no longer - and that will happen again, some survive, some do not.
gasoline has dropped to 1.59 here so I assume that jet fuel also took a big dive lately with oil under $50. Allegiant flies from here to orlando, two flights a week, in ';season'; only. If the plane breaks down, your out of luck for a week. I think they are operating so tight on finances, you can never trust booking a few months ahead unless your prepared to skip the vacation.
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