Allegiant Air travelers bound for Denver on Aug. 3 wound up back in Allentown 11 hours later

The Big Sky Country beckoned to travelers who boarded an Allegiant Air flight to Denver from Lehigh Valley International Airport around 1 p.m. on Aug. 3.

These tourists did not get to see the Rocky Mountains or the Denver Art Museum.

“There’s no place like home,” as the expression goes, and that is where the Airbus 320 wound up early the next morning. Right back in Hanover Township (Lehigh County), after a stop in South Dakota.

And for that experience, each got a refund for the flight and a $200 payment, a passenger said. The airline said compensation also included a $200 voucher toward future travel.

Allegiant Air said issues out of its control – bad weather in Denver and federal rules – led to the long trip home.

“Unfortunately, Allegiant flight 167 on Aug. 3, originating from ABE (Lehigh Valley) to DEN (Denver), had to divert to FSD (South Dakota) because of a weather-related ground stop in DEN. The crew decided to return to ABE before reaching their FAA-mandated maximum hours they are allowed to fly in order to avoid stranding passengers in Sioux Falls,” the statement said.

The FAA is the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates air travel.

The flight between LVIA and Denver started in June, and usually takes a little over four hours. This one turned into a half-day adventure.

“We are very sorry for the inconvenience to passengers and the disruption this caused to their travel plans,” Allegiant said in a statement. “We know it must have been frustrating to have a long day of travel to ultimately not arrive at the destination. We provided passengers a full refund, and as a gesture of goodwill, $200 in vouchers for future travel as well as an extra $200 sent via Paynuver, our online payment distribution platform.”

The flight started about an hour late, the passenger said. As the plane approached Denver, the travelers were told to take their seats for descent, and then the flight was diverted to South Dakota because of storms.

The passenger, who asked not to be identified, said the pilot said the craft did not have enough fuel to circle Denver and that it would refuel at Sioux Falls Regional Airport in the southeast corner of South Dakota.

Then, the plane sat for hours.

“They wouldn’t offer us food and water,” the passenger said. Some travelers opted to get off at the South Dakota airport, and the passenger said anybody who left was told they could not get back on. They also forfeited their checked luggage, at least temporarily.

Sioux Falls is about 600 miles from Denver, slightly further than the distance from Allentown to Detroit.

“We were on that plane for a total of 11-and-a-half hours,” the passenger said. Those who stayed on board arrived back at LVIA shortly after midnight Aug. 4.

“I’m very proud of our plane because as frustrated as everybody was, including a woman who missed her son’s wedding, we were being really fair,” the passenger said. “We were just asking questions and yet we were being treated as if it were our fault.”

The passenger who spoke to WFMZ said there was a lack of communication from the staff: “We knew it wasn’t their fault, it was just handled very poorly.”

The passenger said an email sent to Allegiant’s president has not been returned.

“It’s a half day of your life,” the traveler said of the experience, noting that in the long run, the lost time means more than the money lost.

Allegiant is based in Las Vegas. It flies travelers from Lehigh Valley International Airport to several Sunbelt locations in addition to Denver.

Shares in Allegiant Travel Co. are traded on the NASDAQ market under the ticker symbol ALGT. The closing price Monday was $86.29. At that price, the company has a market capitalization of $1.59 billion.