How to deal with airlines new "basic economy" fare class?

[Syonyk]

I'll have to look into this. I honestly began to fear for my safety on Allegiant, especially after the aborted takeoff incident in Vegas a couple years back.

You know, I was going to say something about how an aborted takeoff wasn't that big a deal, and then I looked into the issue.

https://www.aeroinside.com/item/6222/allegiant-md83-at-las-vegas-on-aug-17th-2015-rejected-takeoff-due-to-premature-rotation

Basically, they didn't install a cotter pin to hold a nut in place, leading to an elevator jammed in a nose up condition.  They're incredibly lucky that the failure wasn't in flight, because that can easily lead to a crash (loss of pitch control in flight is a big deal).  Serious, serious maintenance procedure failure.

I'm happy to pay a bit more for airlines that can afford proper maintenance procedures.

Buying the cheapest tickets on the cheapest airlines just encourages them to find ways to skimp and be even cheaper.  Not something I care to fly on or encourage.

[LifeHappens]

I'll have to look into this. I honestly began to fear for my safety on Allegiant, especially after the aborted takeoff incident in Vegas a couple years back.

You know, I was going to say something about how an aborted takeoff wasn't that big a deal, and then I looked into the issue.

https://www.aeroinside.com/item/6222/allegiant-md83-at-las-vegas-on-aug-17th-2015-rejected-takeoff-due-to-premature-rotation

Basically, they didn't install a cotter pin to hold a nut in place, leading to an elevator jammed in a nose up condition.  They're incredibly lucky that the failure wasn't in flight, because that can easily lead to a crash (loss of pitch control in flight is a big deal).  Serious, serious maintenance procedure failure.

I'm happy to pay a bit more for airlines that can afford proper maintenance procedures.

Buying the cheapest tickets on the cheapest airlines just encourages them to find ways to skimp and be even cheaper.  Not something I care to fly on or encourage.

Yeah, I read an article about that incident quoting a retired mechanic who basically said, "There are 3 levels of redundancy in that system. This failure should never, ever happen." I was already finding them sketchy - those MD80s looked beat to hell, even to my civilian eyes. That was the last straw.