JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – An Allegiant Air flight on one of its newest routes from Memphis, Tennessee, to Jacksonville was delayed seven hours Monday.
The flight was supposed to leave Memphis International Airport for Jacksonville International Airport about 9 a.m. Monday.
An Allegiant spokesperson told News4Jax that Flight 656 was first delayed because the “inbound aircraft was late arriving.”
The plane left the gate at 3:44 p.m., Allegiant said, but returned 30 minutes later because of a mechanical issue.
Once the issue was fixed, Allegiant said, the plane departed just before 5 p.m. and arrived in Jacksonville about 7:40 p.m. local time.
There were 128 passengers and six crew members on board.
One of the passengers told News4Jax that he went to spend his birthday weekend with his girlfriend in Memphis, but the delay put a damper on his special day.
“Eventually when we got on the plane, they did tell us that they were having trouble starting the engine. We actually taxied out and then had to go back to the gate so they could start the engine again. The second time, we were able to get it started. We basically had to pop start it to get it going. It was a little weird and so we were on the plane for two hours before we took off. About half the time, we didn't have any air. They did offer us some cups of warm water,” Andrew Charles said. “It’s just annoying. I have many other ways I would rather spend my birthday.”
In a statement to News4Jax, the Allegiant spokesperson said, “Passengers were offered the option to change their flight to another one in the Allegiant network at no cost, meal vouchers in Memphis and $100 off vouchers for future travel on Allegiant.”
This was only the second round trip since the new route began April 15.