Anyone flown Allegiant Air?

[DreadpiratK]

We just somewhat impulsively booked airfare on Allegient Air from Scranton to Orlando for the last week in January. $250 round trip total for both of us, couldn't pass it up. Great fares, but they really nickel and dime you for everything. You have to pay for everything including carry on luggage. Since this is a budget trip, we only paid for 1 carry on ($24!). Having clothes to wear there may be an issue.

Has anyone flown them before? How bad is it? I'm expecting very bare bones, no frills travel, but it's only a 2.5 hour flight, so how bad could it be? I know we may not even be able to sit together as we didn't pay extra for reserved seating. Oh well, If it gets me out of the cold for a week and helps alleviate the SAD, I'll travel in a cardboard box if that's what it takes!

Anyway, any suggestions for making it more bearable?

My suggestions (tongue in cheek) to the wife for the luggage issue were these:

Simply wear 5 layers of clothes on the plane- no extra charge for what you wear-yet!

or

Stay at a nudist resort so we don't need any clothes! (she was not amused)

or

Stuff our undies in a flat rate box and mail ahead

or

Go to a thrift shop in Orlando, buy some outfits and toss or return them when we leave!

Any other ideas?

Obviously she's taking the problem a bit more seriously then I am.

 

[angierae]

Does Allegient, like Spirit, allow you to have an under the seat "personal item" for free? Spirit will let you have a good sized bag under the seat as long as it fits, my daughter and I took two large backpacks stuffed with stuff for under the seat plus paid for one checked bag and we managed to go to Florida for five days.

 

[ranthony]

...and would do it again! We used them from Allentown when they flew into MCO. We did not pay for seating and at that time they did not charge for carry-ons. We are a family of 5 and we were able to sit together both ways with no problems. Just show up a bit early and hope for the best with seating.

I loved the smaller airport, ease of parking, etc. and would not hesitate to fly with them again.

 

[TCB in FLA]

I am flying them for the January Marathon. Great rate -- and the only direct flight nearby -- but oh the extras! It's just me for three nights, so one suitcase is fine. Remember to wear your bulkiest shoes on the plane, freeing up suitcase space. Your wife should use a big purse (even if her real one is tucked inside). Consider shipping a box down as well.

Will be interested to hear others' ideas.

 

[mapmakerj]

I have flown with them three times this year to/ from Sanford during our move to FL and really enjoyed the small airport. I flew in February, April and June. All three times I was able to take a personal item and stash it under my seat at no charge. I took a tote bag with a change of clothes and a few personal items ( camera, small purse etc) with no issues. The one flight my son took with me he was able to take a backpack with a few outfits in it. So you both should be able to take backpacks or some sort of bag with a couple extra pieces of clothing in them.

 

[photos_101]

You get one personal bag per person. Size is 7x15x16. I am curious as to how this goes for you.
We can fly Allegiant for a little cheaper than SW, however, with all the extra charge for bags and the fact that they fly into Sanford instead of MCO which means rental car or cab, I don't know that we would save any at all. But I am still curious as to how the flight itself is.

 

[MickeyMickey]

We fly them frequently to Vegas. No issues, nice planes, direct flights, we always bring a personal item (tote bag or backpack) in addition to the carryon that we pay for

 

[DWGal210]

We are flying them the end of this month, and I am curious as well. I flew Allegiant to Vegas but that was about 5 years ago and I don't remember what bags I took, what I paid, etc.

I know I am going to have to take a look at the size requirements for the checked back, as the "big" suitcase I have in my set is probably too big.

I am taking my camera bag as my purse, and a medium sized Vera Bradley zippable tote as my carry on.

 

[libinatorsmom]

We flew Alligent to Vegas - about 4 Hour + Flight - yes no Frills and we did pay for the extra pick your seat optition and we were glad we did - but we had no issues - decent flight. I am thinking of using Alligent for our next Disney trip but Hubby is a little unsure...

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Hope you plan to wash those clothes from the thrift store before wearing.


I would just go ahead and bit the bullet and pay for one checked bag. Then you have no need to worry about having clothes to wear.

Just keep in mind Alliegent only has a few planes so if there are any weather troubles you could end up being stuck at the airport for awhile if not days especially since you are traveling in Jan. So keep that in mind and plan accordingly.

 

[DreadpiratK]

Travel this winter is looking pretty chancy regardless, at least so far. didn't think about that being worse with a small airline. One big advantage we have is that my parents live only a few minutes from the Scranton airport- that's what clinched the deal for us- they are keeping the kids for us for the week and taking us to the airport. Anyway, if we get seriously delayed at least we have a place to go that's local. We'll just hope and pray for the best.

One thing Allegient doesn't make clear, and we only found out when we had to call their CS and wait on hold for 90 minutes was that you can add all the extra's up until the day of the flight but logging into their web site. When you book they make it sound like you have to pay the baggage fees and so on then or pay a lot more at the airport, but that's not true.

They also offered a rental car for the week for $199. We didn't buy that when we booked but may go back and get it if we can't do better.

 

[poohfriend77]

We looked into Allegiant for our January trip, but like the OP, I was shocked at how fast the "extra" charges added up. We are planning to rent a car anyway, but the transportation costs from Sanford to our WDW resort would have canceled out any potential savings.

What really kept us away, though, was that there are only something like 4 or 5 flights a week from our small local airport. That means if there is a weather cancellation or mechanical problem, there is no easy way to move to a later flight. Friends were delayed for 20 hours in July (waiting around the airport with little info for more than 9 hours, then told to come back in the morning), so we really didn't want to take a chance like that when we're talking about unpredictable January weather. We decided to go with a bigger airplane out of a busier airport (not that we can avoid all weather-related problems, but hopefully any issues we may encounter would be resolved more easily)

 

[disfanforlife]

We looked into Allegiant for our January trip, but like the OP, I was shocked at how fast the "extra" charges added up. We are planning to rent a car anyway, but the transportation costs from Sanford to our WDW resort would have canceled out any potential savings.

What really kept us away, though, was that there are only something like 4 or 5 flights a week from our small local airport. That means if there is a weather cancellation or mechanical problem, there is no easy way to move to a later flight. Friends were delayed for 20 hours in July (waiting around the airport with little info for more than 9 hours, then told to come back in the morning), so we really didn't want to take a chance like that when we're talking about unpredictable January weather. We decided to go with a bigger airplane out of a busier airport (not that we can avoid all weather-related problems, but hopefully any issues we may encounter would be resolved more easily)

This is the exact same reason we don't want to go with allegiant either. That plus we don't rent a car. However, the local airport for us is 30 minutes away vs. 2to 2 1/2 hour that we have to travel to fly either SW or JetBlue. Someday we may try allegiant but not yet.

 

[cjbcam]

I have flown Allegiant Air a couple times now and i will tell you if you don't pay to sit together you won't be sitting together. They do that on purpose so you will pay the next time. We are flying with them in Jan and hope all goes well we haven't had a problem so far.

 

[lindsey]

We have flown Allegiant to Sanford four times, Ft Lauderdale two times, and will be flying to Ft Lauderdale in January. They are short flights, and only the two of us, so if we don't sit together, no big deal. The last trip to Ft Lauderdale, my parents were driving a few weeks early so we sent our clothes, and beach stuff with them. When we checked in and they saw we did not pay for luggage, they quizzed us on our carryon's. When we showed our bags that would fit under the seats, they were ok. This time we are checking one bag, plus our under seat carryon's. You also pay for drinks and snacks, if you want any.
I checked all of the rental car agencies in Sanford to find the best prices. The drive to Disney is not a bad route. Just bring cash for the tolls.

 

[lakelandgal70]

Flown on them once and it was very good experience. Yeah no frills but all the flight attendants had great sense of humor. Would fly them again in heartbeat!

 

[DreadpiratK]

Thanks for the feedback. It was either fly this way or not go, so as long as we end up in Orlando roughly when we want to be there, it'll be OK, but it's good to hear that others have had good experiences. Plus it was cheap enough we may be able to spend a few days in Disney while we're there.

 

[DisneynBison]

We are flying them in January and the weather delay definitely concerns me.

Also remember with them the checked luggage weight limit is 40 lbs and not 50 like other airlines.

 

[BubMunkeyBles]

I got a cheap fare so even being nickel and dimed it was worth it. The airline itself was nice onboard too.

 

[blfbrat]

Our family flew them this weekend, we had 4 from Allentown, 3 from Harrisburg and 5 from Hagerstown, MD. No frills, charge for even water. But fine. Our family from Hagerstown flew back on Monday, the airport was closed at last minute, so they flew them to Youngstown, OH, put them in a hotel, fed them and returned them in a Limo to the airport the next morning. I will fly again.