AVOCA -- Some are asking if you're really getting a deal when you fly low-cost airline Allegiant Air.
Some passengers complain flights are often delayed and say they can end up paying extra fees they did not plan for.
Allegiant flies out of the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Luzerne County.
Numbers indicate Allegiant Air passengers spend more time waiting at the airport than customers of all other large airlines.
This year, almost 40 percent of all Allegiant flights in the U.S. have been delayed by at least 15 minutes.
It was Friday afternoon at the Wilkes-Barre Scranton International Airport in Luzerne County. Passengers lined up at the Allegiant Air counter for a 6:30 p.m. flight to Clearwater, Florida.
Allegiant offers flights between Avoca and Florida four days a week.
Janine Shatrowskas of Pittston is making her fifth trip on Allegiant.
"Cheap flights," she said when asked what she likes about the airline.
"We don't have to do a layover anywhere, there's no two-hour layover here, two-hour layover there. It's a direct flight exactly where we want to go," said Rick Buckman of Dallas.
On the nights Allegiant has flights at Avoca, the lines are long. It almost seems like it is the only game in town.
But then this flight was delayed.
Rose Fasula of Laflin just learned she'll be getting to Clearwater later than she expected, and when she checked her bag, she learned her $89 flight wasn't quite as cheap as she thought.
"My suitcase was seven pounds overweight, and I was charged $50 for the suitcase."
Allegiant Air hit Dunmore native Mary Russo with the same surcharge when she came up from Florida to visit relatives.
"$50 dollars coming up and $50 dollars going back, that's $100! That's someone I could have brought up with me," Russo said.
Russo and Fasula are veteran flyers who say other airlines would not have added the surcharge for their suitcases.
A check of the top 10 U.S. carriers shows most carriers have a 50-pound weight limit for checked bags
But on Allegiant, that limit is 40 pounds.
"I got nickel and dimed," said Russo.
In a statement emailed to Newswatch 16, Allegiant writes, "size and weight limits for baggage are provided to our passengers on our website."
The other annoyance for Allegiant passengers: delays.
According to the website FlightStats.com, almost 40 percent of Allegiant flights are delayed 15 minutes or more -- a higher percentage than any other large American carrier.
For Mary Russo, it was a homecoming to Dunmore that involved more money spent on the flight and more time spent at the airport.
"I'm tired and I want to get home, I want to get home," she said. "But now instead of getting home at 9:30, I will be getting home at 10ish."
In addition to delays, statistics show Allegiant has a higher than average rate of cancelled flights.
Although statistics are nationwide and not specific to airports, we do know that over the past two months or so, four flights between Avoca and Clearwater were cancelled.
In its emailed statement, Allegiant says it is working to improve its on-time and cancellation record.
