Allegiant Air ~ I need the good, bad & the ugly

[DisneyGuess]

We keep coming back to Allegiant as an option for our December trip. They are the cheapest locally, otherwise we drive 3 hours to either Raleigh or Richmond for AirTran or Southwest.

But the 1 flight per day, 2xs per week makes me nervous. They are so much cheaper though, even with a rental minivan. If we fly Southwest or AirTran, we'd have to rent a car for 1 day as DH wants to take a day off to go out on one of his uncle's fishing boats, thur the Alamo onsite, that's $102. Minivan thru Allegiant with Alamo is $326 for the week.

So I need some opinions & thoughts on Allegiant, good or bad.

 

[DsnyMama]

I'm interested too... Allegiant is local to me amd for less than $75 round trip per person to orlando-Sanford

 

[Laz]

I do not fly Allegiant to Orlando, but I have flown to ST. Petersburg quite a bit. My thoughts:

-You can get inexpensive tickets, but remember that they charge for everything. Check in luggage has a fee, carry on luggage has a fee if it does not fit under the seat in front of you. choosing your seat has a fee. All food and drink has a fee.

-The flights that I used were notorious for not being on time and on more than a few occasions cancelled until the next day. Allegiant will get you to your destination, but they do not promise when. Some flights I have sat in the plane while they fixed a mechanical problem.

-I do not know about Sanford, but St. Pete's Car rental stands do not stay open 24 hours. If you are to arrive after their closing time, you can contact them and they will have someone stay at the stand to get you your key. A four hour delay got me into St. Pete at 2am in the morning, but the car rental co. had someone their to meet me.

 

[jkennedy626]

We are flying with them in August out of Gary, IN. I've read good and bad about them. We were going to drive until I found out about how cheap the flights were. We paid $546 RT for my family of 4 and that includes checking two large bags. We are also gaining a couple nights, so we will be staying at the beach those two nights. My husband and I both feel that it is still cheaper than driving. I've heard that the rental car places (Alamo in particular) will wait for your flight to arrive. I would assume that most of those people would be renting a car.

 

[goof4ever]

We keep coming back to Allegiant as an option for our December trip. They are the cheapest locally, otherwise we drive 3 hours to either Raleigh or Richmond for AirTran or Southwest.

But the 1 flight per day, 2xs per week makes me nervous. They are so much cheaper though, even with a rental minivan. If we fly Southwest or AirTran, we'd have to rent a car for 1 day as DH wants to take a day off to go out on one of his uncle's fishing boats, thur the Alamo onsite, that's $102. Minivan thru Allegiant with Alamo is $326 for the week.

So I need some opinions & thoughts on Allegiant, good or bad.

I have used Allegiant from Knoxville to Sanford many, many times. There was only one time that there was a several hour delay due to a plane that was en route and then had to return to the airport that it was coming from. The biggest drawback with me using them now is that you do have to either rent a car or pay for a van to get you to Disney. Allegiant is now charging for carry on baggage which is another reason why I am trying Frontier airlines in July. I would look at all options to determine which airline is best for you.

 

[greenclan67]

We are flying with them in August out of Gary, IN. I've read good and bad about them. We were going to drive until I found out about how cheap the flights were. We paid $546 RT for my family of 4 and that includes checking two large bags. We are also gaining a couple nights, so we will be staying at the beach those two nights. My husband and I both feel that it is still cheaper than driving. I've heard that the rental car places (Alamo in particular) will wait for your flight to arrive. I would assume that most of those people would be renting a car.

We flew Allegiant in March from Niagara Falls, NY to Sanford! Loved the flight we had no major problems. Yes we did sit for about 1/2 on the tarmack before flying back, something to do with the de-icing mechanism is what they told us, but decided it was ok to fly! So we only ran about 15 mins behind. As far as car rentals, our flight didn't get in until after 8:30 pm and the car rental places were all still open when we were there. We used Alama and got a mid size for 13 days for $221.00 I thought that was reasonable. Loved the smalled airport, and it wasn't much further to drive from Sanford.
That all being said, that was before they started charging for carry ons. Now I do take carry ons, but I also pay for 2 checked bags, so I don't overflow the carry ons. 2 laptop bags, and 2 small duffle type bags, and if they were to charge me for those, I am sure I would be back to looking at Jetblue from Buffalo!

 

[ZellyB]

We have flown them several times to both Sanford and to Vegas. They are a no frills budget airline and as others have mentioned they charge you for EVERYTHING. The new charge for carry ons is an annoyance to me, but that's just part of the deal with them now. Just be sure you think through all of that before you decide they are really the cheapest. All those extra charges add up in a hurry. That said, we like it because almost all other carriers out of our local airport end up having a stop someplace while Allegiant is non-stop. That's a big bonus for us. Our flights have always been on time, but like any airline, there's always the chance for delays.

 

[jkennedy626]

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/...ell-seat-children-next-to-a-parent/55694658/1

This makes me feel better. Of course I'm cheap if we are even flying Allegiant, but it would be $80 extra to pick our seats. I didn't chose that option since I called and the lady said my 3 and 7 y/o's would most likey be sat next to an adult. I don't care if the 4 of us don't sit together, just as long as the kids are with one of us.

 

[leebee]

Don't forget that they also charge you for purchasing tickets online. Here in Bangor, you have to go to Allegiant's desk at the airport to get your tickets to avoid the fee. This can get complicated, as they only have a few flights a week, and the ticket desk is only open for about 90 minutes on either side of a departing or arriving flight. Not an insurmountable task to get there when they are open, but just another annoyance in Allegiant's nickel-and-dime attitude.

 

[jkennedy626]

Don't forget that they also charge you for purchasing tickets online. Here in Bangor, you have to go to Allegiant's desk at the airport to get your tickets to avoid the fee. This can get complicated, as they only have a few flights a week, and the ticket desk is only open for about 90 minutes on either side of a departing or arriving flight. Not an insurmountable task to get there when they are open, but just another annoyance in Allegiant's nickel-and-dime attitude.

I think they did away with the fee for purchasing online. When we booked, I didn't pay any extra.

 

[richmo]

If you're comparing fees using Allegiant, make sure you also factor in car rental costs. Renting a car from SFB is not necessarily the same as renting from MCO. There may be cases when its less expensive, but it can also be quite a bit more.

If you're comparing car rentals pretty far out, also look at some similar dates about two weeks out. Sometimes, if MCO's car inventory is high, there's some steep discounts that may or may not happen at SFB.