Avelo (ah-VEE-low) Air is spreading – it’s another of the super-cheap airlines flying point-to-point between second-tier and out of the way airports. Perfect for me, living 25 miles from the Burbank airport and wanting to get to Eureka, CA on a regular basis.
Avelo is very cheap unless you want to bring anything more than a laptop, a spare pair of undies and a drink. One 14”x9”x9” is complimentary. Everything else is $60 if you pay online, $65 at the airport.
Each way. Holy cats. $120 a bag??
Beloved and I shared a bag, but Granny and the Boy had one each, so basically, we paid as much to schlep our sh… uh, stuff as we did for our tickets. Not our seats, mind, as those were $14 – 16 each for assigned seats at the steerage end of the plane. It’s twice that if you want an exit row.
Lemme tell you, the seat pitch is nothing to admire. I’m 5’4” and I was okay until I tried to stuff my bag under my seat. To accomplish that required nothing short of the most objectionable manspreading. Pro tip: put your bag under your seat before you settle in and especially before your neighbor does.
It’s a 737 700 series, so it’s the typical single aisle 3 x 3. Perfectly serviceable, and the livery looks like these are decommissioned Southwest aircraft – they have the blue pleather seats with tiny seat back pockets. Also, for the generous of girth, be aware they do not have those sensible longer seatbelts now popular on many airlines…
I sure do miss the 1980s and Alaska Air’s idea in that decade of 2 x 3 seating… they used to advertise 80% of their seats were aisle and windows.
Of course, in those days, they gave you breakfast on the LA – SF hop. Nothing spectacular, but nothing to sneeze at, either. Sigh. On one flight in those days, they offered me a second breakers… yes please. Chomp, chomp, chomp.
Avelo, however, sends you an email suggesting you buy a drink after you get through security and bring your own snacks. It says they’ll give you a mini bottle of water if you ask for it, but otherwise, there’s nothing on the flight for yoooooouuuu…
With charging for carryons, the overhead bins are much like the European budget airlines… empty. Otherwise, the similarities to Vueling (the Spanish cheapo air) end there – they don’t do that awesome “we excuse you in five row increments so sit your ass down” disembarkation… it’s the same as every other airline where it’s every man for himself.
On our outbound trip, the bags took a little while, but considering we thought Enterprise wouldn’t open until noon (their website, Costco Travel’s site AND Google insist neither Enterprise nor Budget, the two remaining rental car companies on site, wouldn’t open until midday), waiting for our bags didn’t see like such a big deal… until we realized Enterprise DOES, in fact, open up their location for the incoming Avelo passengers.
If you need to rent a car in ACV, book it for noon and show up. Just don’t dawdle as they close up shop again as soon as they think they’re done.
All in all, it’s great as a convenient flight between two places I want to be. It’s not terribly competitive in terms of pricing if you want to bring clothes – United isn’t much more, on the whole, in my experience – but to get to BUR you have to connect through SFO, which is unpredictable at best.
Yeah, I’d fly it again.
Examining Misadventures 