Avelo Airlines Boeing 737-700 Economy Class Review [STS to BUR]

Airline: Avelo Airlines (XP)
Aircraft: Boeing 737-700
Flight Number: XP119
Route: Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport (STS) to Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR)
Date: February 23, 2025
Duration: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Cabin and Layout: Economy class, 3-3
Seat: 32B
Cost: $58 per passenger

I don’t know about you, but I don’t mind flying low-cost carriers. That’s especially true on short flights with dirt-cheap prices. Am I willing to sit in a middle seat for 80 minutes to score a great price? All day, every day.

That’s how my wife and I ended up on an Avelo Airlines flight for the first time, returning to Southern California after visiting the Peanuts-related tourist sites in Santa Rosa, California, where Charles Schulz grew up. Since we’d never flown Avelo before, we had no prior experiences to compare our flight to. However, we’ve flown numerous low-cost carriers and had a good idea of what the experience would be like.

Here were the good and bad elements of this short Avelo flight within California.

Booking Avelo Airlines

We paid $58 per person for this 80-minute, nonstop flight. Since this was a weekend trip and we were packing light, price was the most important factor, which led us to Avelo in the first place.

We booked this flight directly with Avelo Airlines for several reasons. First, Avelo doesn’t have a frequent flyer program yet, meaning I didn’t have any Avelo points to use. That also meant I couldn’t transfer any points like Chase Ultimate Rewards or Amex Membership Rewards to Avelo for an award booking. There are also no partners you can use to book Avelo flights with points.

It’s possible to use rewards from Bank of America or Capital One miles to offset travel purchases after the fact. That’s an option if you really want to book an “award flight” with Avelo, rather than paying out of pocket.

Unless you purchase a more expensive fare type, Avelo charges fees for nearly everything. Prices for choosing a seat were very clear. Given the short flight time, I didn’t think paying for a window or aisle seat was worth it.

Avelo displayed a pop-up message saying that adding carry-on and checked luggage was cheapest during booking. At the time of booking, a carry-on bag cost $45, while a checked bag cost $42. These both jumped to $60 each during check-in.

It was also possible to buy priority boarding at $15 per person or bring a pet on board for $125.

Avelo accepts PayPal and most major credit cards for payment. It doesn’t accept American Express, though.

Hot Tip:

Normally, I pay for flights booked directly with airlines using The Platinum Card^® from American Express to earn 5x Membership Rewards points (up to $500,000 of these purchases annually, then 1x). Since that wasn’t an option, I had to consult our list of the best credit cards for airline purchases. That led me to use the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card to earn 3x points on the purchase.

At Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport

Checking In

Unlike some low-cost carriers — especially those in Southeast Asia — Avelo doesn’t charge a fee for checking in or printing your boarding pass at the airport. Still, we checked in online 24 hours in advance using the mobile app (iOS, Android). Since we didn’t pay to choose seats, we were randomly assigned seats that weren’t together.

On arrival at the airport, we went to the check-in counter to ask if it was possible to get seats together. We were very curtly told the flight was full, but we could ask the flight attendants about our seats once we boarded.

Within the check-in area, there were separate lines for bag drop and “full service,” which was meant for those who hadn’t checked in online before coming to the airport.

Boarding

Our flight departed from gate 1. An Alaska Airlines flight was boarding at the same time as ours, and gate agents made clear announcements to ensure passengers got the right information for their flight.

We boarded in group 3, while everyone who had paid for extra perks or carry-on baggage boarded before us. When I went to the desk to scan my boarding pass, the employee told me to step aside and squeeze the bag with my snacks into my backpack since I was only allowed to carry 1 item onto the plane. After that, I scanned my boarding pass and walked outside.

Outside, I found an employee directing people to their correct flights. I showed her my Avelo boarding pass, and she indicated the line going up a ramp to the plane’s front door. The line moved extremely slowly.

At the plane’s door, a flight attendant smiled and said hello. I realized this was the first Avelo employee who’d greeted us or smiled at any point — something we hadn’t experienced at the check-in counter or boarding gate. While she was friendly, the flight attendants weren’t doing anything to make boarding more efficient, such as telling people to step out of the aisle to let others go by. This was the cause of the line outside and could be fixed rather easily.

On Board Avelo Airlines’ Boeing 737-700

Cabin and Seat

Avelo flies 2 versions of the Boeing 737-700 series. Both have a 3-3 layout with 17-inch-wide economy seats offering 2 inches of recline.

One version has 149 seats, while the other has 147 seats. That’s the version I flew on. The easiest way to tell the difference is to check the exit row (row 21) for the missing seat next to the over-wing exit.

While the B737-700 series is an older plane model, the seats didn’t look old or beat up.

However, the pitch (distance from your seat to the one in front of it) offered by Avelo is below average for U.S. airlines at just 29 inches. I’m 5 feet, 10 inches tall, and my knees were resting against the back of the seat in front of me. This would be pretty uncomfortable on a longer flight.

The back of each seat had a pocket containing literature and the safety card. It also easily held my laptop. There was also a tray table on the seat back, which released by turning a latch.

The generous size of the tray table contrasted with the cramped space in each row. The table dwarfed my 14-inch laptop.

There weren’t any headphone jacks, charging points, or entertainment screens at our seats.

However, each passenger had an air nozzle and reading light overhead. The overhead bins were spacious, generally free of scuffs, and the latches worked well.

Food and Beverages

There weren’t any drinks or snacks served on this flight. Avelo’s marketing team tries to spin this by saying, “[W]e prioritize putting you in charge of your experience,” but that’s just code for “anything you want is up to you.” You’ll need to pack any snacks or drinks you want during the flight.

Amenities

The list of amenities on this flight is rather short.

Lavatory

The plane had 1 lavatory in the front and 1 in the rear. These were small and didn’t include anything beyond the typical toilet and sink.

No Internet

The flight didn’t offer Wi-Fi service, and there were also no outlets at the seats for charging devices.

Service

When there’s no drink or snack service on a flight, the role of the flight attendants is purely about safety. Flight attendants said hello and smiled as passengers boarded. They didn’t ask passengers to step out of the aisle (letting other passengers go by) or proactively help people find their seats. This meant the boarding process was slower than necessary.

Before takeoff and before landing, flight attendants gave us the necessary safety information and ensured we had our seatbelts fastened. Those were my only interactions with the flight attendants, so it’s hard to judge the service on this flight. The crew didn’t do anything wrong, but do they get 5 stars for service when there was no … well, service?

Arrival at Hollywood Burbank Airport

As we approached Burbank (BUR), our pilot and crew made the necessary safety announcements. Once we touched the ground, we made a quick taxi to gate 1 while flight attendants announced our baggage claim location and told passengers to sit back down (yes, we had “one of those” on board).

After passengers had already started exiting the front door, using a ramp, the crew announced that the rear door was also opening for passengers to use. However, exiting this way required using steps — something that wasn’t communicated clearly, and the steps were difficult for some passengers to navigate.

Avelo has made several additions to its flight network out of Burbank in recent years. However, given the size of the airport, travelers still walked across the tarmac between planes and the terminal, and Avelo didn’t have any visible presence outside the gate.

Final Thoughts

It’s hard to beat $58 for a flight. However, adding a carry-on or checked bag would nearly double the cost of this ticket, and Avelo might not provide the best price for anyone bringing more than a small backpack. In our situation, we found a short flight at a great price, saved money on the ancillaries, and were willing to ride 80 minutes in middle seats. We didn’t experience much “service” on the flight, but I can overlook that.

Would I go out of my way to fly Avelo? No. Would I be willing to fly the airline again? Sure. Just show me the cheap fares and let me visit the snack shop before boarding.