Paul Folger KOCO NEWS 5
Oklahomans Frustrated With Airline After Being Left Stranded in Las Vegas
July 25, 2017
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  • LAS VEGAS — An Oklahoma woman was one of hundreds of passengers left stranded in Las Vegas. Their flight to Oklahoma City was canceled.

    Officials with Allegiant Air told them that they’d have to wait days for a new flight or figure it out on their own.

    Alana Buckner and her friends left Oklahoma for a fun time in Las Vegas. It was fun until they tried to get home Sunday.

    “We are all just trapped here now at the airport in Las Vegas,” Buckner said.

    Buckner said mechanical problems stopped the Allegiant flight from Las Vegas to Oklahoma City.

    “They asked us to deplane, we all got off of the plane. They gave us some soda and then said that they regretted to inform us that unfortunately there’s no other flights until Thursday,” Buckner said.

    All that’s offered in return — $300 in seven to 10 days.

    “No money to eat, no flights, all of the cars are gone, no rental cars. We have no hotel room,” Buckner said.

    The passengers tried to get answers.

    “They locked the doors, they said, we asked to speak with somebody higher up, they said that she is on vacation,” Buckner said.

    They asked again, and Buckner said Allegiant on Monday night called security on the group.

    Realizing that it was Sunday and her next Allegiant Flight out was Thursday, four days away, she and her friends had to get a hotel and then pay $1,500 Monday to get home.

    “It’s ridiculous. I feel like at the very least you should give us another plane, even at 7 a.m., give me something. Thursday is not even an option. We all have children and jobs that we have to be to Monday morning and no way to get back home,” Buckner said.

    Buckner should have been home in Lawton at 4:30 p.m. Sunday. She got home at 6:30 p.m. Monday.

    KOCO 5 reached out to Allegiant Air, and officials with the company sent the following statement:

    “First off, please know that this is an unusual situation – canceling without a reschedule is rare, and is only invoked when there are truly no other options available for switching aircraft or rescheduling. Also be aware that unlike many larger carriers, Allegiant does not have daily service to all markets served from Las Vegas. In many instances these are two times weekly flights.

    Flight 454, scheduled service from Las Vegas to Oklahoma City on Sunday, July 23 was canceled due to a mechanical issue with the aircraft. All options were explored to get our passengers to their destination, but unfortunately there were no practical solutions given the heavy Sunday and Monday schedules in our network.160 passengers were scheduled to travel on this flight.

    We sincerely apologize for the interruption to our passengers’ travel plans. All passengers have been issued refunds for the flight, as well as an additional $300 to help defray costs associated with the disruption to their plans. In addition, each passenger has been issued a $150 voucher toward future travel on Allegiant. Passengers were also given the option to be reaccommodated on another Allegiant flight at no charge, for example, some chose to take today’s flight from Las Vegas to nearby Tulsa, OK.

    If passengers have questions or need assistance, they should contact customer care at 702-505-8888.”

     

    http://www.koco.com/article/oklahomans-frustrated-with-airline-after-being-left-stranded-in-las-vegas/10355936