Anyone fly Avelo before?

[BoozinCroozin]

They will be flying out from a nearby airport. Fares are great compared to the rest now. General reviews are good. The total airfare for a cruise next year is 50% that of all other carriers. Just wanted to see what people think of using them.

[Zach1213]

I have not flown Avelo. They're growing very fast, but there have also been some growing pains. I saw today that they're cancelling a route (Lexington to either Tampa or Orlando, can't remember) in January...and the route just started four days ago. So yeah...prices are low because (a) that's their business model, and (b) they may not be reliable at this point. Just things to consider. 

[CruiserBruce]

And...last I looked, a very small fleet. No room for maintenance issues.

[FlyerTalker]

Limited schedules, ala Allegiant.  When all goes well, they get you from A to B.  When something goes askew, there is little system flexibility for adapting.  Plus, it's an ala-carte airline like Allegiant, Frontier and Spirit - you pay for all the "extras" (some of which are "requirements" in my book).

 

Would I fly them fly them for a low-cost trip to a land leisure destination?  Quite possibly, depending on the overall picture.

 

Would I fly them for time-critical travel, such as making a cruise departure?  Hard Pass.

[Zach1213]

1 hour ago, CruiserBruce said:

And...last I looked, a very small fleet. No room for maintenance issues.

 

Yeah...I've seen some of the records of aircraft they're getting, and I can definitely say they are getting good aircraft with clean records. However, it's all about how you maintain them after getting them, and that's the unknown at this point. Also, crazy maintenance stuff can happen to even the best maintained aircraft before, well, machines are machines after all and crap breaks. 

[BoozinCroozin]

Well, we booked our flights TO the cruise through them. Price, non-stop, and time made it worth it. IF something should happen and the flight is delayed, maintenance issue, canceled, etc, we have the time to make the drive still. It would not be ideal, but it would be our backup. We would probably make the run down towards Daytona/Fort Pierce, then the rest the next morning hitting the road about 4AM. 

 

Flights on all other carriers were $500pp for our trip. We got in on Avelo for $90pp One-way so far with 4 checked bags. 

[zzdoug]

When I fly one of these smaller airlines that doesn't have daily service for something that has a deadline, such as a cruise departure, I usually buy trip insurance that covers delays. The airline has no way to reroute me in case my plane is delayed before my flight. Insurance hopefully will help me get to the ship via a major airline if the small airline can't. However I have not had to make a claim like this so I don't know for sure. It adds to the cost of the otherwise rock bottom flight but still much less than the legacy carrier. 

Edited December 10, 2022 by zzdoug

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, zzdoug said:

When I fly one of these smaller airlines that doesn't have daily service for something that has a deadline, such as a cruise departure, I usually buy trip insurance that covers delays. The airline has no way to reroute me in case my plane is delayed before my flight. Insurance hopefully will help me get to the ship via a major airline if the small airline can't. However I have not had to make a claim like this so I don't know for sure. It adds to the cost of the otherwise rock bottom flight but still much less than the legacy carrier. 

 

Trip insurance will NOT get you to your ship.  The insurance is to reimburse you for actual financial expenditures (losses) that you incur due to a delay.  Further, there are definite qualifications that have to occur before those coverages come into effect.  Plus, buying a ticket on another carrier may or not be covered by the specifics of your policy.  Details matter, and the fine print is what governs what you are covered for and not covered for.

 

Caveat emptor.

[6rugrats]

6 hours ago, zzdoug said:

When I fly one of these smaller airlines that doesn't have daily service for something that has a deadline, such as a cruise departure, I usually buy trip insurance that covers delays. The airline has no way to reroute me in case my plane is delayed before my flight. Insurance hopefully will help me get to the ship via a major airline if the small airline can't. However I have not had to make a claim like this so I don't know for sure. It adds to the cost of the otherwise rock bottom flight but still much less than the legacy carrier. 

Read your policy carefully.  This is not how trip delay coverage works.  The latest trip insurance policy I purchased only kicked in after 12 consecutive hours of delay, and then only paid for reasonable expenses I might incur during this delay, up to the maximum per day ($125 for this policy).  It did nothing to purchase a new plane ticket on another carrier.

[zzdoug]

Good to know, thanks