Welcome to this Xtra Airways Review. If you’re reading this review, you must be trying to find out a number of things about it such as Does it still exist? What services does it offer? Are those services reliable? What are its main pros and cons? These are just but some of the questions that we shall be answering in today’s review. Read on to get a more comprehensive understanding of what Xtra Airways is out to achieve.
Company: Xtra Airways (Now known as Avelo Airlines)
Website: https://www.aveloair.com/
Years in business: 33 (the original company)
Wide variety of aircraft: No
Overall rating: 
(4 / 5)
P.S.
See my #1 recommended private jet company on this page
What is Xtra Airways? 
Xtra Airways was the name that the company that’s currently known as Avelo Airlines went by. The transition to the name Avelo Airlines was not the first one in the history of its existence. It was previously known as Casino Express Airlines. Today, the company that’s known as Avelo Airlines is simply a U.S-based ultra-low-cost carrier that has its headquarters in Houston, Texas. Its flight operations are based out of Hollywood Burbank Airport in California.
The first flight under the name Avelo Airlines happened on April 28, 2021, with the aircraft ferrying passengers from Burbank to Santa Rosa, California. Being a US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certified company, Avelo Airways can conduct both local and international operations.
Do they have a wide variety of aircraft?
No. Before changing its name to Avelo Airlines, this company has a fleet of 20 Aircraft, which were all part of the Boeing 737 series. The fleet comprised of the following aircraft:
- Boeing 737-200 – 7 aircraft
- Boeing 737-300 – 1 Aircraft
- Boeing 373-400 – 12 Aircraft
Currently, under the name Avelo Airlines, the company’s fleet comprises 3 Boeing 737-800 aircraft. There are plans to purchase other aircraft in the series (Boeing 737-700), to increase the effectiveness of the company. The good thing is that its 3 Boeing 737-800 aircraft all have a capacity of 189 passengers each. The size of Avelo’s fleet is, however, way smaller than that of the industry’s leading brands, which have access to tens of thousands of aircraft.
Do they have a wide variety of pricing options for different budgets?
No. Avelo Airways, unfortunately, doesn’t have any varying pricing options. The one thing I know is that the prices are very low, to the extent that anyone who’s never traveled in any aircraft in the Boeing Series can actually save a couple of bucks to pay for a flight. The trip charges start from as low as $19. When most people see such low figures, the first thing that comes to their minds is the type of quality to be expected. Is Avelo Airways delivering reliable services? Read on to find out.
Does Avelo Airlines offer Flight sharing services?
Flight sharing services are common for companies that offer air charter services. With this service, you can have your friends, family or other colleagues join you in the aircraft that you’ve chartered, then you can all cost-pool to meet the expenses of the trip (including fare). Avelo Airlines is an air carrier that fulfills scheduled flights that you can book through the company’s official website. Scheduled flights are not the same as flight-sharing services, in that they do not offer any flexibility. So to answer the question, Avelo Airlines does not offer flight-sharing services.
Does Avelo Airlines accept Bitcoin Payments?
Upon checking through this company’s terms and conditions section, I discovered that it’s currently only accepting payments made via Visa and MasterCard debit or credit cards. No other method of payment is currently accepted. This may, unfortunately, lockout a significant number of customers who’d like to pay for their flights using cryptos, to take advantage of the benefits that these alternative payment methods offer (e.g. privacy/anonymity, low transaction fees, zero taxes, and fast transactions).
Membership options?
No. This company does not have a membership program in place. In most cases, you’ll only find the membership programs offering the benefits they’re supposed to offer in private air charter companies. Having a frequent flyer program (membership program) is one of the beneficial features private air charter firms have, in a bid to lure customers who fly regularly all year round. The lack of a membership program in the Avelo Airlines case cannot be viewed as a downside, since the prices are already very low. You don’t have to worry about any other price discounts if let’s say your flight will only cost you $19.
The quality of the support?
Avelo Airlines currently has a very functional booking system that gives instant feedback showing you the available carriers, aircraft, and the prices being charged for specific routes. If you encounter any problems during the booking process, you can contact the support staff using any of the following options:
- Customer support email
- Customer support center phone
- Customer support mail (to a physical office address)
We shall see in the customer reviews section how Avelo Airlines is faring on in terms of responding to customer requests made through various channels.
In what countries are their service available?
Being a U.S. FAA-certified carrier, Avelo Airlines can travel not only within the local territory (US) but also to different nations in the world. Currently, however, Avelo Airlines is only offering its services to those who’d like to travel to and from Hollywood Burbank, Los Angeles. Its favorite destinations are currently:
- Santa Rosa-Sonoma
- Arcata-Eureka, CA
- Medford-Rogue Valley, OR
- Eugene, OR
- Redding, CA
- Redmond-Bend, CA
- Pasco Tri-Cities
- Bozeman Yellowstone, MT
- Ogden-Salt Lake
- Grand Junction
- Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
Avelo Airlines Reviews (What their customers say)
By taking a look at customer reviews, you can get a rough idea of how a given company’s services are like. In most cases, the feedback given by customers will give you a hint of the company’s strengths and weaknesses. Let’s see what the customers who have given their reviews on Facebook have to say about the state of Avelo Airlines and the nature of services delivered.
Rating: (4 / 5) (out of 11 customer reviews) click here for details (opens in new window)
This company is yet to receive a solid rating, but I’ve given them a (4/5) rating, as we wait for them to prove their worth in the industry. So far, however, it’s great to note that this company has already served a number of customers (May 2021), which is barely a month since its operations commenced. The feedback given by customers is so far very positive, and the hope is that nothing changes in the future (unless it’s for the better). The quality of customer support is impressive, with some customers mentioning how the support staff went over and beyond to guarantee their comfort.
If you’d like to take a break from airlines, you can also have a look at what affordable private air charter companies have to offer, more so if you want that privacy as you travel, or you simply want to steer clear from government regulations.
**You might, for instance, want to look at the company I have given the highest rating on this page instead
PROs & CONs
So far, we’ve seen that Avelo Airways (formerly Xtra Airways) is performing quite well, and from most customer reviews, it seems like a pretty decent firm. Let’s sum up its core strengths and weaknesses.
Pros
- Excellent customer support
- Ultra-low-cost flights
- Large aircraft capacity (with its Boeing 737 series aircraft)
Cons
- Doesn’t accept crypto payments
- Doesn’t offer flight-sharing services
- No membership programs
- Small fleet size
Do You Own or Represent Avelo Airlines?
If you are a representative, or associate of Avelo Airlines and have found something that isn’t accurate in today’s review please, feel free to reach out to me and I will update the information on this post. You can do this by leaving your feedback in the comments section below or simply by sending me an e-mail to contact@goldretired.com.
Final words and verdict
Verdict: Legit!
Overall rating: (4 / 5)
Avelo Airlines has, despite being very new in the industry, managed to take off with a bang. Customers are quite excited about this company’s ultra-low-cost services, and you can tell that it’s a company that will attract many others due to this one feature. That said, we can only hope that as this company’s client base grows, that they’ll be capable of maintaining high customer service standards. Don’t forget to check out the alternative below (this one is mostly for those who’d want to book a private air charter flight, which would definitely cost more than the air carrier services provided by Avelo Airlines).
[btnsx id=”16587″]
That will be all for today’s review on what Xtra Airways is about. I hope that it was helpful and that you’re well-equipped with information to help you decide whether you’ll rely on the services it has to offer. Let me know if you have any more questions about it.
I wish you well,
Eric, Investor and Team Member at Gold Retired!
Leave a Reply