Allegiant Air! Never flown with them before! WWYD?!

[Soon2B4]

Ok, we live close to the Cleveland airport. BUT, Allegiant Air has flights for $303.00 total for our dates out of Y-town. It would only take us about an hour to get there, but it's not a huge deal with the amount we would be saving. Flying out of CLE right now would cost us almost $900 for 3 people!

My concern....What happens if there is a snow storm in January or high winds (which as happened to us before) and we can't take off? The flight is later in the day than I like, leaving at 6:55pm arriving at 9:20pm. Also, they don't have another flight scheduled for 4 more days! Would we have to wait until then to leave for our vacation? TIA!

 

[Sandi]

We flew Allegiant a couple of times when they had the Lansing to Sanford route. It was in the summer, however. They were fine. Now they've added lots of fees (seat selection, early boarding, luggage, etc.) that makes them not the deal they once were. So, first, make sure you are comparing apples to apples when you look at the fares.

They do not have agreements with the legacy airlines and they do have a very limited schedule. While I'm sure they would try to do a flight sooner than the 4 days later, they just might not have a plane to put into operation any sooner. Say they are waiting for the Orlando to Youngstown plane to come in before your 6:55 flight. If weather is delaying them, you might be waiting a day or more for that plane to get there. With the legacies, they will typically have more planes and, in a real pinch, can even accommodate you on another airline (of course, weather will affect everyone).

I'd be wary in the winter months myself.

 

[sam_gordon]

Not that it helps a lot, but from Allegiant's web page:

What do I do if my flight was canceled?
Allegiant's Schedule Change Department will contact all passengers who are on a canceled flight with their available options.

 

[Sandi]

And those options will include such things as "we'll refund your money" and "we'll change your dates to 4 days later on both legs." I remember when they moved from Lansing to Grand Rapids, they had some real messes in Grand Rapids with lots of unhappy people. This is from the February 21, 2009 Grand Rapids Press:

GRAND RAPIDS -- After launching its Grand Rapids operation less than three weeks ago, the discount carrier Allegiant Air is looking to recover from an early stumble that angered more than 100 passengers caught in a two-day flight delay.

A 1:15 p.m. flight to Orlando was canceled Thursday after passengers waited all afternoon in the terminal, then were stuck in another five-hour delay for a promised Friday-morning flight that didn't leave until 2 p.m.

"It's tiring and it does get frustrating," said an upset Daniel Holwerda of Grand Rapids, flying to Florida to see his daughter.

Weary passengers complained of losing valuable vacation time and criticized Allegiant for not delivering on a promise the plane, beset with a mechanical problem, would still get out late Thursday. They became even more aggravated Friday morning, at one point requiring airport police to respond to an unruly passenger.

 

[Soon2B4]

I did contact them and they said they would get the plane flying as soon as it was safe. The issue is that Y-town only has that one airline. So that does make me nervous and is my main concern.

As far as apple to apples, Continental/United doesn't offer priority boarding and if they did we wouldn't take it. If we decided to do the seat selection, it would cost us $66. Allegiant Air's baggage fee is $15 more per bag. Taking all of that into consideration, Allegaint Air is still $442 cheaper.

I am really going to have to decide if it's worth the risk or not......

 

[Pembo]

Did you check Southwest out of Columbus? We had some great fares this summer...$59 one way. We're in Lorain County and it was a 2 hr ride. Parking is cheap too and they have about 3 or 4 non stops to choose from.

 

[Soon2B4]

Did you check Southwest out of Columbus? We had some great fares this summer...$59 one way. We're in Lorain County and it was a 2 hr ride. Parking is cheap too and they have about 3 or 4 non stops to choose from.

I'll check there too, but that may be further than we want to drive. We are both originally from the y-town area so we can have family drop us off.

Continental has cut flights drastically since they announced the United deal. I am afraid that we aren't going to find the deals that we used to with Continental. I wish we had non-stop with Southwest.

Also, hi fellow Clevelander!