Over 20 passengers watched in horror as their Allegiant Air flight from Huntsville to Fort Lauderdale took off without them. The passengers had lined up at the gate, tickets in hand, when the plane pushed back. Apparently, the single ticketing agent had struggled to handle everyone on time and didn’t tell the plane to wait. Passengers called the airline once they realized they were stranded as kids shouted, “We want to go to Disney World!”

“So, everybody calls Allegiant Air,” Rigas said. “Three people got hung up on.”

“‘You’re on your own’ is basically what they told us,” Duncan said.

Roy Harris, Jr., a passenger from Huntsville, called an attorney after he realized nothing was being done to help the passengers.

“At first, they did not want to give us a refund,” he said. “Their attitude was, ‘Too bad, you lost your money.’ “

The people who did get through to Allegiant Air were told it was their fault for not getting to the airport two hours before their flight, Harris said.

“I arrived early before the flight,” he said, “but not as early as some others who had been there up to three hours.”

Allegiant eventually rebooked the stranded passengers on a later flight. By way of crappy apology, the airline offered everyone a $75 voucher for future travel or drinks on the plane. One passenger responded, “It was a little bit too little, too late. We’re all exhausted. It could have been much easier.”

Travelers left holding their bags as flight leaves without them [The Huntsville Times]
(Photo: Cubbie_n_Vegas)

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