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Old 01-02-2020, 09:57 PM   #1
Sue Doe-Nym
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Default Elite Airways

This information might not come as a shock to many of you, but I must share today’s experience with you . We were booked on a direct flight from Portland to Sarasota, scheduled to leave at 1:15, arriving at 4:15. Yesterday we received a text that it would leave at 2:30 instead. No big deal. We had friends who were willing to take us so we decided on a time and off we went. But wait! Another text: delayed until 4. We did not want to ruin our friends’ day so we sat at the airport for 4 hours. Apparently, this stuff happens with Elite all the time. I don’t know how they manage to stay in business! Fare ain’t cheap either....$650 one way for two of us. They make Southwest shine. My point is....it’s not an efficient airline. End of rant.
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Old 01-03-2020, 06:43 AM   #2
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That’s the risk you take flying a small carrier that has only 10 airplanes. A small delay creates large ripples in their network.
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Old 01-03-2020, 07:01 AM   #3
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Heard the same about Allegiant. Non stop to Punta Gorda but frequent maintenance issues and many delays and cancellations,
They buy older planes that have been retired from other airlines.
Was going to try them but checked them out and changed my mind
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Old 01-03-2020, 07:50 AM   #4
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My friend flies Elite from Portland to Melbourne. On one of her trips, she went to Sarasota and because of that had to stop in (I think Myrtle Beach) for fuel and then went on to Portland. One time she had to wait 3 hours. Other times she has been on time. She loves the direct flight. I think she is more patient than I.
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Old 01-03-2020, 08:08 AM   #5
Sue Doe-Nym
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tis View Post
My friend flies Elite from Portland to Melbourne. On one of her trips, she went to Sarasota and because of that had to stop in (I think Myrtle Beach) for fuel and then went on to Portland. One time she had to wait 3 hours. Other times she has been on time. She loves the direct flight. I think she is more patient than I.
Yes, the idea of a direct flight is very appealing, BUT at what cost? The drive to Manchester is not bad, but Tampa to Sarasota via 75 can be harrowing. If Southwest would only fly into Sarasota....🙄....it’s not likely to happen. It’s time to check out other possible options.
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Old 01-03-2020, 08:17 AM   #6
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I fly from Boston to Ft Myers and back several times each winter. Jet Blue has 6 non-stop flights on that route every day. I might need to do it again for business in early February and the flights start at $119 on the day I plan to go. When I did this a couple of weeks ago the one way flight was $79. It makes Elite Airways seem very expensive! There are also daily direct flights from Boston to Tampa and Sarasota on Jet Blue.

I never fly out of Manchester because there are no direct flights to Ft Myers. Flying non stop is obviously quicker and eliminates the possibility you will get stranded at some other airport. One night stuck in Philly helped me make up my mind on that!

Like Samiam, I looked at Allegiant and their dependability was a concern. The small airlines with a limited number of flights and aircraft leave you no options when something goes wrong.

I take the bus to and from Logan out of Concord or Newburyport. You can leave a vehicle there for up to 21 days so there is no need to bother a friend for a ride. The bus has wifi and moves right along with traffic.
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Old 01-03-2020, 09:36 AM   #7
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Default Elite - Allegiant Air

Sue Doe-Nym & TiltonBB....

I feel your pain !

Back in Nov. I booked a flight on Allegiant, from Providence to Savannah.
It was a non-stop flight and reasonable in-expensive, compared to the large main air carriers. NEVER AGAIN !

I saw our plane at the gate, but the lights on the plane were all 'out', totally in the dark ! That should have been a dead give-away. We were told there was a maintenance issue with the plane, and that they had to locate a mechanic to fix the issue. They said they had to fly a mechanic in... Are you f****** kidding me ! After four flight delays, they decided to cancel the flight.

Allegiant doesn't have daily flights, and the next flight to our destination, was days away.
Here I am in Providence and now have to return to NH, thank God my sister-in-law lives in Worcester, so we stayed overnight with her, and returned to NH next day. In the end we decided not to proceed with our trip. Allegiant, did finally refund all our money in full.

Lesson learned, NEVER fly on Fred's Airline aka: Allegiant, Elite, Spirit, etc
You get what you pay for !
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Old 01-03-2020, 09:46 AM   #8
Susie Cougar
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Default Elite Airways

Sue Doe-Nym, Welcome down! It’s already 75° outside. Forget about your terrible trip and enjoy yourself in paradise.
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Old 01-03-2020, 10:05 AM   #9
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Default Flight statistics

If you are flying and concerned about on time flights (and who isn't) the link to the site below is for the US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation statistics.

You can check the history of any flight on any airline. Now if they could only predict the future! (Like the stock brokers say:Past performance is no.............)

https://www.transtats.bts.gov/ONTIME/FlightNumber.aspx
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Old 01-03-2020, 01:23 PM   #10
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Default Not just the little guys

Big guys have problems too. Last October we flew from Boston, plane change in Denver, en route to Maui. In Denver, we delayed for 5 minutes for passengers arriving late from another flight. Five minutes turned into 20. Then the pilots had a glitch as they finally started the checklist. "Soon" turned into 45 minutes. It was determined that the glitch had redundancies, and since they couldn't fix it, we didn't need it and we could depart. But now we had lost our place in line for the de-icer. That of course meant we lost our place in line for taxi and take-off. Three hours in the plane, before we actually took-off. Good flight the 777 was very comfortable, seats recline to a flat sleeping position. Plus 25 minutes since we boarded early. When we got to Maui, you guessed it, we lost our place in line at the gate. Good news: United was the cheapest fare.
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Old 01-04-2020, 08:23 AM   #11
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When I was working I was never “on time” when flying United and never had a good experience through Denver. After a couple of years I asked the Corp travel agent to avoid them if possible. Give me a longer flight time but don’t put me on United or fly through Denver.


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Old 01-04-2020, 09:56 AM   #12
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In early December my oldest son and his wife flew from Seattle to Tasmania via Honolulu on JetStar, an airline I had never heard of. Well, due to mechanical problems a short wait in Honolulu turned into two days, not a bad place to be delayed but nonetheless......


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Old 01-04-2020, 10:08 AM   #13
Sue Doe-Nym
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Default Waiting, waiting, waiting

I guess the bottom line is this....you might have to cool your heels at the airport, so have your iPad or a good book. The wait is better than a 1500 mile drive any day of the week, especially on 95 and 75!
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Old 01-04-2020, 10:44 AM   #14
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Bigger carriers, while having same type of problems, can recover quicker from these events as they routinely swap aircraft and crews to get the schedule back on track. Small carriers don’t have that flexibility and problems last hours into days to recover.
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Old 01-04-2020, 01:13 PM   #15
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Everyone is always looking for the cheapest fares but never considered the extra fees or in some people’s responses on here long delayed or cancelled flights. Sometimes cheap is not the cheapest. Just my opinion.
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Old 01-04-2020, 01:18 PM   #16
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Default Plan and then expect the worse but hope for the best.

I fly frequently for business. When in NH, I fly out of Manchester. Yes, it's small and almost always involves a connection. But I'm happy that the time lost with that is at least partially made up by the fact that MHT is easy to get to, easy to navigate, easy to get out, offers ample parking and a straight shot home to the lake. Not that I have a lot of choices.

Important to successful air travel is planning your connections so that:

1. There's at least 90 minutes between flights; two hours is better. This gives you flexibility with potential delays or getting from one gate in terminal A to your next one in Terminal G. There's nothing worse than a flight worrying about whether you're going to make your connection.

2. You stay away from more difficult airports if possible (such as Philly, Dulles or LaGuardia IMHO). East coast airports - Baltimore, Charlotte and Atlanta have been pretty good for me and offer great access to the rest of the US.

3. You consider smaller airports if they can fit into your itinerary which, as suggested above, may offer benefits that outweigh less convenient connections or a longer drive once you land. For example, when traveling to DC, I'll sometimes fly into Baltimore and drive from there. Compared to Reagan or Dulles, it can be less of a hassle plus Southwest-Manchester offers good access to BWI.

4. You are flying earlier in the day. If possible, get out on that first flight in the morning so that there's less opportunity that you'll be impacted by downstream events.

5. Most of all, you try to be in the right state of mind to begin with. Expect unforeseen problems - be happy when there aren't any and role with the punches when there are. If you fly frequently, then you're eventually going to have some issues, period. I try to remind myself that there most certainly are others in the airport that for whatever reasons are having a far worse day than I am.

Granted, I'm compensated for my travel so I'm able to make choices that others on a tighter budget may not be able to. But, I'm sure that saving some additional dollars isn't always worth the additional stress and headaches that can result.

Happy travels...I hope.
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Old 01-04-2020, 03:29 PM   #17
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Time to spare?

Go by air.
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