Terrible experience with Avelo

Submitted by Tunarepa2 t3_zn2s08 in newhaven

Writing this for my family member as they don’t have Reddit and are also currently flying BACK to Orlando so internet is limited.

Wanted to make this post so that people are informed and know what they may be getting into with Avelo.

Family member was booked on the 9 AM flight from Orlando the Tweed. After arguing that they had already prepaid the checked bag and it is was on the receipt, they get to the lobby and wait for departure time.

They board the plane. Then they announce a one hour delay due to mechanical issues. Not a big deal. That turns into 3 hours, and passengers are taken back to the lobby. Afterwards, new time of departure is 4 PM due to hydraulic issues.

At 4 PM they announce they will need a different plane and departure pushed to 6 PM. 6:09 pm they board the second plane. 6:45 they finally depart to New Haven.

Around 8 PM after being halfway to New Haven they turn the plane around and return to Orlando because the Air conditioner is broken. They just landed back in Orlando and Avelos respond to everything is basically “sucks to suck”.

I understand that delays happen. This is just a dumpster fire. This isn’t worth avoiding a drive to Hartford.

Absolutely terrible.

EDIT/UPDATE:

Good news is that they found a flight for the passengers today at 0830. The bad news is that it’s already been delayed.

Gate staff are claiming the flight can’t leave because “Tweed New Haven Airport is closed”. I called the airport, it’s not closed.

Wonderful job.

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premiumcaulk t1_j0elg6d wrote

So, as perspective. I myself have flown avelo, and have many family members who have now used avelo a minimum of 15 times in the last 2 years. Mostly to Florida and back.

No bad experiences, on time departures continuously, arrivals were early every single time coming back to CT, quick and easy in the lines, security was super fast. And the coffee in the terminal could be worse too.

Sucks when someone has a bad experience, but does not mean the whole company is bad.

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tequilamockingbird37 t1_j0eot19 wrote

Agreed the vast majority has good experiences and the prices and travel distance can definitely be worth it. I'd go there over hartford or new york any day

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0ghaj3 wrote

Oh well in that case that means this 26 hour delay is acceptable, no big deal.

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[deleted] t1_j0gl79m wrote

[removed]

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newhaven-ModTeam t1_j0go460 wrote

Your post or comment violates u/newhaven's rule against personal attacks. Please read the rules before posting again. Repeat offenses or particularly offensive comments may result in a permanent user ban.

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0gmsg5 wrote

Did I say the whole entity was bad? I said that the experience was terrible and it’s unacceptable.

There’s also no need to call me a “cunt” for writing a review and informing people.

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[deleted] t1_j0gq0r3 wrote

[removed]

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0gr2dz wrote

I’m not “demonizing” anything. I’m reporting an experience in a review.

I’m also not talking about the airport. The airport has nothing to do with the post.

And once again you use a sexist insult to personally attack me. I’m done speaking to you.

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premiumcaulk t1_j0gqecx wrote

Though also in your post you said it's not worth avoiding the traffic to Hartford which sort of states that you wouldn't use them again, and advertises that you are saying people shouldn't go there. That would be the whole entity..

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eddie964 t1_j0enjse wrote

Sucks, but if you fly often enough, something like this is going to happen eventually. Could have been any airline.

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0gejkq wrote

It is sad that a simple flight domestically being delayed 10 hours, then turned around and then delayed once again the next day (over 25 hours delay so far) is “just another day” in the American airline industry. Shit standards if you believe this is acceptable.

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eddie964 t1_j0hvri6 wrote

When you consider the complexity and interdependency of our air travel system, what I find surprising is that it works as often as it does. Even small problems can escalate into total clusterfucks in a matter of hours.

I'm willing to forgive the occasional fuckup. What is inexcusable is the lack of customer service and accountability when something does go wrong.

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ankly98 t1_j0fipq5 wrote

I had a similar experience recently! If yall are interested, look up the flight map for XP 410 on Nov 25th.

We were supposed to fly out of Baltimore back to Tweed at 10 am. We boarded the plane and after pushing out, were told a heating element of the engine was not turning on so we had to return to the gate. We waited 2 hours for the 2 mechanics to come and fix the problem, just to be told that the plane was severely overweight and would not be able to land on the short runway at Tweed. Fuel was apparently cheaper down in Baltimore, and they just loaded the plane up (without making calculations regarding the pieces of luggage and souls on board?). We needed an oil truck to take the fuel out, but after waiting for more hours, were told that no oil truck could take the fuel. We proceeded to burn oil at the end of the runway and did loops above the ocean like it was the Indy 500. It was 6 pm when we arrived at Tweed, and I might have returned earlier if I had stayed on the Amtrak that took me to the airport. Over the PA I heard that the unlucky passengers flying to Florida would not receive their checked-in luggage until the next day, presumptively because we burned all that fuel up.

It's nice to be able to fly out so close to home, but they really need to do better maintenance on their fleet of planes. The first delay for safety, I do understand cause I do not want to fly on one engine. The second delay just feels like a mistake that was never addressed, as the pilot "never experienced anything like this in his career".

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JmnyCrckt87 t1_j0hm5dy wrote

For me, I get that stuff happens. I'm not going to go into extensive detail with my issues I'm currently facing at PBI with Avelo trying to get to New Haven, but I can tell you that I'm perplexed by their customer service. It's truly a whole different approach...it's like they're actively trying to poke the bear and agitate a terminal full of angry passengers, rather than do a single thing right. You're entitled to mess up, and I know it's not these employees faults...but, wow...this was a disaster and couldn't have been dealt with in a more chaotic manor. All the PBI people are apparently constantly furious with Avelo Operations on a 365 day basis...their responses were much more professional, but basically along the lines of, "good luck with those guys..."...the employees were not prepared or knowledgeable and put gasoline all over the flames. My flight was the canceled flight because they got the plane stuck in the mud at the tweed runway, lol

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ankly98 t1_j0huuos wrote

Yeah, it sucks cause Avelo knows they are the only airline servicing Tweed. You either put up with their "customer service", or deal with getting to/from JFK or BDL. With their cheaper price and New Haven location, they know customers will be back to take the gamble. So as customers our only choice is to either pay more for the "United/American/Delta" experience or play the game with Avelo and hope that everything goes well...

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0i6stm wrote

But everyone on this sub says they’ve never had a bad experience with Avelo and they can do no wrong.

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ankly98 t1_j0ie7p9 wrote

I am sorry for what your family members have had to experience but there are good days and bad days for everything. Just like how Tweed could be normal on other days and today, a plane got stuck in the mud and closed the taxiway.

My flight out of Tweed to BWI was fine and smooth too. I guess I sat next to someone with a cat and I kept feeling something touch my legs? It just doesn't make for as good of a story to tell when everything works as it should.

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JmnyCrckt87 t1_j18xq5v wrote

It's how you handle the bad days that makes the difference. In my case, they dealt with it without any grace.

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EmuBoth t1_j0gdgqw wrote

we've had only good trips from New Haven so far with avelo. and i see overwhelmingly positive reviews on the Google reviews for tweed which are all avelo flights. That said -I would not wish your trip on anyone- sorry for that

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PercyBluntz t1_j0g46jq wrote

This sounds like a risk of flying. Would you rather them make the flight anyway when a system isn’t functioning?

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0gclju wrote

I would rather they maintain their planes so they don’t have to delay flights for 8 hours to deal with things that should be standard maintenance

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PercyBluntz t1_j0geti6 wrote

Are you an airplane mechanic lol?

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0ggi8f wrote

No but I was a marine diesel mechanic for a while. Are you?

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PercyBluntz t1_j0ggtrh wrote

No but I’ve flown on an airplane and know that this happens regardless of airline.

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0gmw2z wrote

So why bring up the mechanic question?

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PercyBluntz t1_j0gouel wrote

Because unless you’re a mechanic you have no idea what you’re taking about lol.

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0gp1hv wrote

I am a mechanic. And if not being a mechanic means someone has no idea what they are talking about, then that means you have no idea what you’re taking about.

I know that the issues they had yesterday are due to a lack of proper preventive maintenance.

Why are you taking a review of an airline experience personally? You don’t have to respond if you don’t like the post.

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JmnyCrckt87 t1_j0h02ru wrote

Ugh. Trying to bring my family and young children from PBI to New Haven currently with Avelo. My son is special needs so Avelo and TSA said to arrive 3 hours early, but we had to wait for Avelo employees to arrive at 10am for our 11:25am flight just get our bags checked and start going through security. Now, our flight has been delayed until 3:30pm, we are going to miss an entire day of our vacation, I'm stuck with a 5 and 7 year old, and there's not even Avelo employees in the terminal to speak with. There's a terminal full of irate people and no Avelo personnel to speak with. Flight xp346. Zero recourse....wife is on hold for an hour now, and their email just says, "We know this is not the smooth on-time experience you were expecting. Unfortunately, we fell short this time. We greatly appreciate your understanding and patience."

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0ha5cm wrote

It’s been 27 hours and third boarding and the plane still won’t get to new haven

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JmnyCrckt87 t1_j0h2nci wrote

Finally, a girl for Avelo showed up at the terminal. She says she has no contact with Avelo and not getting any answers from them, but we are all sitting here. She can't get through to anyone from the company that employs her, but claims they will smush us onto the 6:30pm flight since it's not full, worst comes to worst...but our 3:30 has been delayed, indefinitely...

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Tunarepa2 OP t1_j0i6hmk wrote

Now the flight arrived to Tweed and they’ve been stuck on the plane for an hour and a half.

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RongoSprongo t1_j0i34na wrote

To be fair, Tweed was closed this morning due to a plane getting stuck in the mud off the taxiway (lol). Doesn't explain the original delay, but everything today is royally fucked up.

https://simpleflying.com/avelo-boeing-737-stuck-in-mud/

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EmuBoth t1_j0iie94 wrote

but it said the Airport remained open and flights did continue even afterward. I

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Yesouisi01 t1_j0iks3m wrote

Planes will slip into the mud when the airport is built on a flood zone, which is where Tweed is located.

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goldenoreo02 t1_j0gonlf wrote

I also had a bad experience with Avelo. They lack in communication IMO.

When leaving tweed, we boarded the plane and just sat there for awhile until they announced that we would be rerouting due to weather. Fine, no problem. But then we were told there wasn’t enough fuel. The gate we were at didn’t allow access to that so we had to buckle in and circle around the airport to get to one that did.

Coming home from tweed, our flight was also delayed. As a result, when we landed, there were no gates open for us. We sat an additional 2 hours waiting to get off. And by the way, that landing is ROUGHHHHH. We came to a screeching halt. Had the flight attendants not said, “if you’ve never flown to tweed, make sure you brace yourself,” I’m sure I would have hit my head on the seat in front of me.

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deusrex_ t1_j0hlyim wrote

Avelo has like 11 jets in their fleet. If one is broken they literally have no backups to swap in.

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flytweed t1_j0f5d05 wrote

Sorry about that horrible trip, for sure!

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Old-Bedroom8464 t1_j0ga4pl wrote

Me and family members have flown it dozens of time, excellent experiences and cheap tickets.

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Wyngann t1_j0gtqdm wrote

Had a trip with Avelo this year, no delays or problems at all. Technical difficulties can occur with any airlines, it was just unlucky.

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Bdigital70 t1_j0j1xb0 wrote

I have had nothing but good experiences with Avelo, I am using them again next month

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[deleted] t1_j0h6ss0 wrote

thank you for your service

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