JH88

Hi all, just wanted to say that everything I say and ask below is with complete respect and ignorance of the industry.

I am a fearful flyer who has only flown 5 round trips in my life (late 20s). Have always been weary of allegiant based on cost and the old motto you get what you pay for. I have flown delta everytime and each and every flight I am miserable and completely on edge in my seat. Even the days leading up to the flight make me nervous. I was just about to beat all this and book my first ever allegiant flight and then this 60 minutes report came out.

I am sick of not traveling though. I am wanting to go to carribean for first time with my gf but major airliners want close to a grand for my round trip flight to the Cayman Islands. This is where allegiant came into play. I live in Louisville and can fly to punta gorda on allegiant for under 200 (I have a family member who lives there). Then drive to Miami and catch a direct flight to grand cayman for about $300, bringing my total flight cost to around $500 - something I can afford.

My questions are

1. Pilots. I am making complete assumptions here and am probably completely wrong. I am asking/saying this with upmost respect. But with the companies business model, I feel like pilots here get paid less. Then I think - well what pilot wants to work for an airline that pays them less, probably has less benefits/perks/prestige and puts them on older aircraft? Then I assume that it’s young, less experienced pilots or just pilots that couldn’t make it to major airliner. Again I am not trying to offend anyone. I put my life in the pilots hands and just want some reassurance on their expertise and record.

2. I was so paranoid that I looked up the flight number for this Louisville to Punta Gorda route (1610 and 1611) and looked at the aircraft being used. Thankfully it is the newer A320 and not the MD. I would refuse to step foot on the MD here even though I think it’s what Delta puts me on when I connect through Atlanta all the time, solely because it’s “allegiants MD.” I got on this plane website and it gave me the age of the different planes in your fleet and I see these A320s are 15-20 years old. How safe are these and are they similar aged to major airliners or do they get extended lives at allegiant?

Just a nervous flyer sick of not traveling but also not rich to where I can just drop a grand on major airline flight to the Carib. Just looking for someone to convince me on why I am safe on an allegiant flight. After all, I know you pilots want to come home every night to your families so you wouldn’t be working here if you thought that was at risk, but I’m just irrational when it comes to air travel.

Also did this on my phone so sorry for grammar!