Flying Allegiant does mean accepting limitations. Some routes are only available twice a week. If there is a cancellation, travelers could be stuck for days. It charges a host of fees for add-ons—picking a seat assignment, bringing a carry-on bag or even ordering a premium beverage. But Allegiant only flies nonstop, meaning fliers can avoid annoying layovers that increase the chances of a trip gone wrong.
Allegiant has grown more reliable. In 2022, it canceled 4.25% of its flights, the most of any airline in the WSJ rankings, and fewer than 2/3 of its flights arrived on time. It finished 5th overall in that 2022 rankings. In 2023, the airline canceled less than 1% of its flights and improved its on-time arrival percentage to 72.8%—10 points up from the year before. (Allegiant still finished 6th of 9 carriers for on-time arrivals.)
So what are its operation management advantages? First, Allegiant flew its planes for about 7.5 hours per day in 2023, hours less than Spirit and Frontier, which are its low-budget competitors. That relative infrequency gives Allegiant more time to recover if things do go wrong. Second, Allegiant flies less than Frontier and Spirit. It had 115,500 flights scheduled in 2023—60% of Frontier’s total and 38% of Spirit’s. Third, unlike Spirit and Frontier, Allegiant doesn’t oversell its flights, so it didn’t bump a single passenger last year. It also placed first in baggage.
Allegiant placed 5th in complaints in the rankings. It says it plans to add more self-service tools so customers can make changes on their own, as well as add more precise callback features. Allegiant had a higher rate of delayed flights than the larger airlines because of the infrequency of its routes and the fact that it frequents smaller airports. The airline says it would rather delay flights than cancel them.
Classroom discussion questions:
- From an OM perspective, what is Allegiant doing well? Why?
- How can it improve its perceived quality?