When you run a low-cost carrier with a tiny marketing budget, you have to be creative to get publicity.

That explains why Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air has let a television crew film a game show in the cabin of its planes during regularly scheduled flights.

"We are always looking for ways to get exposure," said Brian Davis, Allegiant’s marketing vice president.

"The Game Plane" recently signed with Allegiant to begin filming a second season of episodes that include trivia contests and onboard games of skills, with cash prizes and vacations awarded between takeoffs and landings.

Allegiant reported a 13 percent growth in passengers in 2014 compared with 2013, plus a 9.5 percent increase in income for the first nine months of the year.

Davis said he doesn’t know whether the game show has played a direct role in boosting the carrier’s popularity or profits, but passengers seem to like being part of the show. "The feedback we’ve gotten from customers has been great," he said.

BUSINESS TRAVEL IS BACK IN A BIG WAY

The AIG effect may be dead.

During the nation’s financial collapse, insurance giant AIG held a weeklong retreat at a swanky resort in Dana Point, Calif., less than a week after getting an $85 billion federal bailout. The scandal sparked such outrage that most business travelers steered clear of ritzy hotels and first-class airline seats.

But big spending on business travel is back in style.

During 2014 business travelers in the U.S. spent $292 billion, a 6.7 percent increase over 2013, according to a study by the Global Business Travel Association, which projects business travel spending to jump an additional 6.2 percent to $310 billion in 2015.

But the same study said that the total number of business trips taken increased only 1.4 percent in 2014 and is expected to rise 1.7 percent this year.

That means that some of that spending growth is going toward more expensive trips. Still, don’t expect to see business travelers splurging the way they did before the recession.

Hugo Martin, Los Angeles Times