A New Way to Fly from Salem

 

I travel an awful lot by air and have frequently wished  for the return of the Delta service to Salt Lake City that ended in 2009. Any service to a major hub would be welcome - anything to avoid the time-consuming, often frustratingly slow crawl to PDX. And now there is an alternative - sort of.

Avelo Airlines announced service to Las Vegas and Southern California (Hollywood/Burbank) starting October 5, targeting the greater Salem area and the whole South Portland market like Wilsonville, Tualatin, Sherwood, and the like. The service is only two days per week to each destination and focuses on the leisure travel market. Avelo is a low cost carrier like Spirit, Allegiant, or Frontier. Fares are cheap but beware the ignorant passenger who wants a seat or other "luxury"  item. There's a charge for everything! Even so, fares are usually considerably cheaper (sometimes a lot cheaper) than the big carriers like Delta, Alaska, United, etc. 

I did a little checking and Avelo seems to have generally good reviews. Seating is tight, but it's only a 2 -hour flight and you can buy a seat with more leg room. Onboard service is pretty much nada, but it's cheap and that's why. Probably the biggest problem is if your aircraft has a mechanical issue. The airline doesn't have extra planes sitting around or additional same-day flights to the same destination, so it can wreak havoc with vacation plans. 

In summary, it's a start. Obviously it's a risk and "use it or lose it." If all goes well, we can expect additional frequencies to these first markets and the airline is already talking about adding San Francisco and Phoenix, perhaps even Palm Springs in the winter. So if you're heading for the glitz of Las Vegas or the palms of Southern Cal, give Avelo a try and see what you think.