I bet the people at Mid-America Airport aren’t happy about last night’s “60 Minutes” piece on Allegiant Air’s long list of safety problems — and the FAA’s shameful failure to do anything about it. The story (which took up two segments) should have been called “An Accident Waiting To Happen.”
Mid-America, in Belleville, Illinois, was built as an alternative to St. Louis Lambert Airport, but it has never been able to draw any major carriers and has cost taxpayers over $300 million. That’s a lot of money for an airport with only one passenger airline and some cargo service.
I flew Allegiant exactly once, but had such a horrible experience I swore to never set foot on one of its planes again. There’s a difference between running a “budget” operation and being so rock-bottom that your hyper-cheap service isn’t worth the trouble — uncomfortable seats, fees for everything, etc. — not to mention risking your life.