Allegiant Air from Allentown?

[MulanMom]

We are considering trying Allegiant from ABE rather than traveling to Philly this summer. In researching the company's website, it seems they run their airline similar to SouthEast, an airline that flew out of ABE until a few years ago. Their fares seem quite competitive, but there seems to be a lot of additional charges, booking fees, fees for preassigned seats, etc. In reading the FAQ, I'm confused on a few items. Do they assess a baggage fee per checked bag, or are you allowed 2-3 checked bags per person? Are the inflight refreshments all an extra cost, or are nonalcoholic included in your airfare price?

Thanks!

 

[sammielynn]

I have benn looking into using them for out trip in May, from Chattanooga to Orlando Here is what I found. Snacks are not free. You may have two bags per person at a fee of $2 per bag per segment, $4 round trip per bag. Still is less per flight than most. A $39 ticket comes out to be about $52.50 per person with one bag per person.

 

[kmk160]

We flew them last August.
Yes, all drinks or snacks must be paid for. They did offer alot of different snacks, and even some gadgets (stickers, books, etc..) for kids!!!
We ended up paying an additional 10/per ticket to be sure that we could all sit together. Your seats are not determined until you check in, and being that we have two little kids, we wanted that security of knowing we'd all be together.
I have no complaints about the airline. Staff was very friendly and service was great!
Hope this helps!

 

[Mskanga]

We just flew them out of allentown last week and I was not asessed any luggage fees although I have read somewhere that they do. Neither of the seven people in our party had to pay anything except for the onboard drinks and snacks.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Do you think it's really necessary to pay extra to be seated together ? I'm considering using them as well...checked fares online but didn't see any mention of these extra fees ? When do they offer/charge these ---when you check-in ?

Thanks

 

[sammielynn]

The extra fees are mentioned just before you check out. You can either pay the baggage fees now or when you check in. Someone else mentioned that they did not pay a baggage fee. wonder if you don't pay it online if they will charge you at the airport. We would fly out of Chattanooga, TN.

 

[kmk160]

Probably would be ok without paying fee to ensure all seats are together.
We did it merely for the reason that it was myself, dh, dd 4 months, and ds 3.
We wanted that guarantee of being together with small kids.

 

[MiaSRN62]

Thanks sammielynn and kmk160. I didn't see the extra fees because I was just checking fares---still not sure what I'm going to do. I'm really hoping for a SW DING.

 

[~Kimmy~]

I myself have not flown Allegiant Air but I have sold their flights. (I am a travel aent.) One thing I would recommend is to keep verifying your flight times. They used to fly out of Madison to Orlando and all of a sudden stopped. They never notified us at all of that change. I also had a client in which flights were cancelled and I wasn't informed at all. Thank goodness I double checked that or it would have been a huge problem. I haven't had any complaints on service or anything like that though! Good Luck!!!

 

[Mskanga]

Do you think it's really necessary to pay extra to be seated together ? I'm considering using them as well...checked fares online but didn't see any mention of these extra fees ? When do they offer/charge these ---when you check-in ?

Thanks

It all depends on the ages of the people in your party , if young children are involved then I would say yes because you want to make sure they sit together with you but if they are old enough to sit by themselves ( like teenagers ) then I would say no.
We did not pay extra for the seating on the return flight and they actually appointed our seats together at check in. We did pay for them though on the outbound flight , that fee gets added to the cost of the ticket when you purchase it.
Yes you should keep an eye on the flight every so often like Kimmy said , but this happens with all airlines not just allegiant. I know many people who have been left stranded with other major airlines.

 

[MulanMom]

It all depends on the ages of the people in your party , if young children are involved then I would say yes because you want to make sure they sit together with you but if they are old enough to sit by themselves ( like teenagers ) then I would say no.
We did not pay extra for the seating on the return flight and they actually appointed our seats together at check in. We did pay for them though on the outbound flight , that fee gets added to the cost of the ticket when you purchase it.
Yes you should keep an eye on the flight every so often like Kimmy said , but this happens with all airlines not just allegiant. I know many people who have been left stranded with other major airlines.

Hey, Kanga! How are you doing? Weren't we on the same Southeastern flight a few years ago that almost got snowed in at ABE? Speaking of SouthEastern, when they pulled out, we would have been stranded in FL if we decided to fly rather than drive. Already was stranded there by another charter outfit running out of ABE....

Hope all is well with you!

 

[MulanMom]

Thanks, everyone, for your responses. I was putting numbers together to see where the breaking point would be to travel to Philly and use SW or try Allegiant. Allegiant was actually cheaper than SW when we looked for airfare for a XMas week trip, but we had already booked with SW. I really would like to support an airline flying out of our area and will probably try Allegiant. DME from MCO is a real draw to fly SW, but since we will be hiring a car to take us back to MCO so we can do curbside checkin, it makes it worthwhile to check out flying into Sanford again.

Also, another nod towards using Allegiant is that there were really no bargain airfares for SW last summer. We got a ding for our flight out which was around June 15th, but never saw anything lower than the fare we booked at when our return flight became available....which is similar to what Allegiant is currently offering.

Anyone have any idea when Allegiant will release past 6/10/2007?

Thanks again for all of your help!

 

[MickeyEars]

I would also like to know when Allegiant will release the next set of dates. Anyone know??

Thanks!
Carla

 

[Mskanga]

Hey, Kanga! How are you doing? Weren't we on the same Southeastern flight a few years ago that almost got snowed in at ABE? Speaking of SouthEastern, when they pulled out, we would have been stranded in FL if we decided to fly rather than drive. Already was stranded there by another charter outfit running out of ABE....

Hope all is well with you!

Yep that was me flying with SouthEast and the broken pipe and we couldn't have on flight coffee....remember that???
Small world !!!! I'm doing fine thank you , I hope you are too.

 

[MulanMom]

Yep that was me flying with SouthEast and the broken pipe and we couldn't have on flight coffee....remember that???
Small world !!!! I'm doing fine thank you , I hope you are too.

Oh, that's right...I forgot about the broken pipe!

Glad to hear you are doing well. Everything's fine down our way. Just trying to get my mindset into planning another WDW trip!

 

[MulanMom]

Has anyone ever booked a rental car when booking air with Allegiant? How was your experience?

 

[sammielynn]

Has anyone ever booked a rental car when booking air with Allegiant? How was your experience?

I would love to know that to. Our outbound flight is at 8:00 am and the dollar counter does not open until 8:00 and they will not allow early returns. So who will be open so we can return the car and still get on the plane???

 

[MulanMom]

I would love to know that to. Our outbound flight is at 8:00 am and the dollar counter does not open until 8:00 and they will not allow early returns. So who will be open so we can return the car and still get on the plane???

A few years ago, we dropped off our vehicle after the office closed at 5. There was a drop off box for the keys, but I believe it was for National/Alamo. Dollar might have the same arrangement. You may want to call the rental desk in Sanford directly and ask them.