INDIANAPOLIS (WTHR) - Tuesday has been a scary day for passengers on two U.S. airplane flights.
A Southwest plane was forced to land in Philadelphia after an engine blew and broke a window, killing one person onboard. Then, a Delta plane lost a tire and had to make an emergency landing.
These come just a couple days after a new "60 Minutes" report which raised questions about safety while flying with Allegiant Airlines.
Since that story broke, we've received hundreds of comments about the airline, both good and bad. One of them was a scary story from the skies from a passenger who said he will never fly Allegiant again because of it.
There's only one non-stop way to New Orleans from Indianapolis and that's on Allegiant.
“The first time I went to New Orleans was 1996,” said Chris Keiner. “We keep going back.”
Most recently, Keiner and his family were there this past weekend. They had a fun trip and were ready to head home. But first, there was an issue on their Allegiant plane.
“They told us they couldn't get the engine started, so they had to use something on the ground to start the engine, which is a little disconcerting,” said Keiner.
After the crew figured things out, the flight started. Keiner says there were even more issues when they got to Indianapolis.
“When we landed, the cockpit door flew open on touchdown,” said Keiner. “And it wasn't a hard landing. We overheard the crew laughing ‘oh the cockpit door flew open, the lock doesn't really work’ so I was a little surprised to hear that.”
A national report shows that over the course of a year, Allegiant flights had more than 100 serious mechanical incidents, including aborted takeoffs and flight control malfunctions. They were also nearly three and a half times more likely to have a mid-air breakdown than five other major carriers.
Those numbers have sent shockwaves across the country.
“They seem to justify it because no one has died yet,” said Keiner. “And to me, that's not the standard they need to have for air travel. When planes start falling from the sky, that's a big problem.”
Allegiant is one of the cheapest airlines to book. Passengers say they don't mind paying extra to check a bag or pick their seat, but safety should come standard.
“You're trusting them with your life and with your family's life,” said Keiner.
Keiner says for now, he'd rather hit the road than fly with Allegiant again. And that way, he won't have to pay extra to check his bags.