Website, mobile app malfunctions plague Allegiant Air

Officials at Allegiant Air were appealing for customer patience Wednesday as the Las Vegas-based airline's website and mobile booking app malfunctioned, frustrating passengers trying to check in for flights.

An Allegiant spokeswoman recommended that passengers scheduled to fly arrive early at their respective airports for check-in. Airport check-in fees are being waived by the company Wednesday and Thursday.

"We've got a whole team of people working on the issue," spokeswoman Jessica Wheeler said Wednesday afternoon.

She said the company has no reason to suspect that the website had been hacked. She said the website and app problems also are affecting the airline's call center, but that personnel can check in passengers at the airport and the airline can dispatch flights.

About 10 a.m. Wednesday, Allegiant announced on its Twitter feed that, "We are currently experiencing an outage for check-in via our mobile app and our website. Please proceed to the airport for check-in."

About four hours later, the airline messaged, "We're working diligently to resolve the issue and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Thank you for your patience," and at 3 p.m., the company tweeted, "Our website will be undergoing maintenance and will be temporarily unavailable."

Allegiant has experienced other operational problems over the past two weeks, with three flights making emergency landings, one each in Greensboro, N.C.; Las Vegas; and Fargo, N.D.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find him on Twitter: @RickVelotta.