Allegiant travel normal after threat of pilot strike

With one notable exception, travel on Allegiant Air was uneventful Thursday at The Eastern Iowa Airport after a judge's temporary restraining order averted a potential pilots' strike.

Allegiant Air pilots, represented by Airline Professionals Association Teamsters Local 1224, had planned to go on strike Thursday over long-simmering issues, which would have affected more than 33,000 passengers in just one day.

In an unrelated incident, a flight from St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport to Cedar Rapids was delayed after the flight crew returned to the Florida airport after noticing an indicator light in the cockpit of the MD-83 aircraft. Officials said the issue initially was reported as excessive heat in the jet's tail, but may have actually been a weight problem in the tail section.

That plane, Allegiant Flight 862, landed safely and without incident shortly before 9:30 a.m. Passengers were transferred to another aircraft to continue their trip to Cedar Rapids.

Waiting for his flight in Cedar Rapids Thursday morning was Blaine Moss of Clinton, who was traveling from Cedar Rapids to see his father and had heard about the potential pilot's strike.

'I go down to see him about very few months, so if I wasn't able to go on the plane, I would not have been able to see my dad,” Moss said. 'I was a little concerned, but now that it's all leveled out, I'm OK.

'My stepmother has been checking on everything, and I have a friend who is going on the same flight. She has been checking the website and letting me know what's been happening.”

Megan Meyerhoff of Waterloo said she received an email from Allegiant at about 3:30 p.m. Wednesday informing her of the possibility for a canceled flight due to a pilot's strike, but she didn't open and read it until much later.

'I opened the email at about 10 o'clock and I was concerned, so I checked Allegiant's website,” Meyerhoff said. 'I was kind of glad that I didn't read the email until late in the day so I didn't have to think about it earlier in the day.

'If you don't know about something, you don't need to worry about it.”

A family of four canceled their plans to fly Allegiant from Cedar Rapids to St. Petersburg-Clearwater Thursday morning, according to a gate attendant - the only known cancellation on the flight. A spokesman for Allegiant said the carrier did not yet have figures on how many passengers took advantage of the airline's offer to refund airfares or rebook flights.

Allegiant flies non-stop to more destinations from The Eastern Iowa Airport than any other carrier. The airline operates twice weekly flights to Las Vegas, Nev., Orlando-Sanford, Punta Gorda-Fort Myers and St. Petersburg-Clearwater, Fla., and four flights weekly to Phoenix-Sky Harbor, Ariz.

Thursday is one of the busiest travel days for Las Vegas-based Allegiant. This week is especially popular with more people vacationing for Easter as well as heading to Las Vegas to watch the NCAA men's basketball championships on telecasts from Indianapolis.