Allegiant Air from Lehigh Valley

[cindy17]

Has anyone out there flown Allegiant Air to Orlando/Sanford? Or has anyone ever used Lehigh Valley Airport? Reason I'm asking is that it has become increasingly difficult to travel by air with our 15 year old ASD son. Normally we would fly from Newark to Orlando, but both of those airports are just so busy and congested lately. Way too stressful! Does anyone have experience with this airline or either Lehigh or Sanford airports? Are they less hectic than Newark or Orlando International? Any input greatly appreciated! I also posted this on transportation board. Thanks!!

 

[bookwormde]

Newark is one of the most challenging airports for individuals with ASD, not only is the airport congested and noisy, but hold times both departing and arriving are often exceptionally long. I have been to Lehigh but never flown out of it but it is much smaller. We have found that PHL is as easy as MCO as long as you do not book a flight during the busiest times and the if you fly SW, the terminal is rarely crowded since they only fly 737s which is one of the smaller aircraft.

bookwormde

 

[mel698]

Lehigh Valley airport is much better than Newark.( Not very crowded at all) You should have no problems! Orlando/Sanford is about an hour or so outside of the Disney area if I remember right. so your only problem would be transportation to your hotel. Hopefully you are renting a car! I don't know if you made your flight reservations yet but AirTran is flying direct to Orlando International from Lehigh Valley now. I hope this helps! Enjoy your trip!

 

[cindy17]

Thanks to both of you for your quick replies!!

Going the extra time to Sanford I don't think would be a problem, as long as it is more "low key" than MCO. We will rent a car. MCO is a little overwhelming for Brian due to all the stores and often the lines for security are "out of control" with the crowds. If anyone knows how Sanford is as far as "nuttiness" I would love your input! Thanks again!

 

[mel698]

Your Welcome! Sanford is a very small airport. The crowds should be very small.

 

[figment82]

I grew up in the town that Lehigh Valley International is in, so I used to spend a lot of time there (back in the days when you could go past security without a boarding pass).
It's a calm, quiet, small regional airport - NOTHING like Newark. I now live just outside of Philadelphia, and it's way smaller than that even. I would highly recommend it.
Airtran now offers direct flights from LVIA to MCO on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sundays now as well (although it's only one flight per day each way)...probably doesn't help you if you don't want to go through MCO, but I was excited when I saw that just now!

 

[Mskanga]

I have flown out of LVIA into Sanford with allegiant twice and I will tell you I would do that over Newark anytime !
We had a 7 hour delay at LVIA the last time but allegiant really stepped up to the plate and not only gave us a credit but also provided food and drinks while we waited. And the airport had free wifi , so since I had the laptop it made the wait a lot more bearable.