Allegiant Air Savings

[manning]

Had an aunt who flew them from tampa to south bend Indiana. they got off the ground on time. Half way through the flight they did a "U" turn back to tampa due to a malfunction

 

[Narnia_girl]

Update!! I visited the airport.

The flights dropped in price, I knew in advance because I checked online before driving in.

$61 outbound
$38 inbound

We are going to check 1 shared bag for $30. Buying at counter saves roughly $30/person.

You have to buy 1 hour after a flight departs, so I’m going to swing by tomorrow.

It’s going to cost less than $200 round trip for both is us.

Just curious if those flights are refundable? Can you buy at the counter for flights a few months in advance?

We've flown Allegiant several times but never bought at the counter.
I like that they are located at a closer airport and there is no parking cost. I admit they are not my preferred carrier but for a big savings I'm willing to fly them when my schedule isn't tight.

 

[Alli1988]

I'm looking at an allegiant flight for an upcoming trip, non disney related. So you can look at the online price and subtract $30 from it and thats the total fare? My flights are only $33 each way to begin with, so that doesn't seem right. I think with frontier it is $19 less to buy at the counter.

It's around $15 each way according to the clerk the counter... applicable regardless of the fare because this is a flat fee, not based on the fare price. The $15 fee was applicable the same way to my $61 fare as my $38 fare. I can't for sure say, but I think you might be pleasantly surprised. The guy I talked to was laughing that I was amazed - he said it didn't make sense to him either and Allegiant was the only one like this (but he may have meant only one at this airport, which doesn't have Frontier gates), he also said word is getting around and way more people stop in to buy tickets than anyone would probably believe.

If the airport isn't too much of a hassle, or this trick may be useful on multiple occasions in the future, I would take the small effort to find out.

 

[Alli1988]

Just curious if those flights are refundable? Can you buy at the counter for flights a few months in advance?

We've flown Allegiant several times but never bought at the counter.
I like that they are located at a closer airport and there is no parking cost. I admit they are not my preferred carrier but for a big savings I'm willing to fly them when my schedule isn't tight.

The refundability etc. would be the same as buying online, so pretend you are buying online. As far as buying bags at the counter IDK, but I'm hoping it's the same as buying online - where you can buy when buying fare to save money. Also, as far as buying in advance, anything available to be purchased online can be purchased at the counter... according to the guy I talked to. Just remember, visit the 1 hour immediately following a departure. This limits sales times significantly, look on your airport website to see Allegiant outbounds… my local airport is about 2 per day, but one is usually after 9pm.

 

[Disneyfan754321]

I thought one of those did not fly to mco only to Sanford, we are considering it only cause we are renting a car anyways but I have been checking all three... I think one of our plans had us flying two different carriers one there one back

 

[Alli1988]

I thought one of those did not fly to mco only to Sanford, we are considering it only cause we are renting a car anyways but I have been checking all three... I think one of our plans had us flying two different carriers one there one back

Correct. Allegiant flies into sfb. If you are getting a rental it wouldn’t much matter. Little bit longer of a ride, not much. We will not have a car and use Uber/lyft and it’s looking like about $10 extra each way. We arrive Sunday evening too late to do anything anyway, so the extra time doesn’t matter to us.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Correct, they don't have a lot of daily flights, and yes I agree it's a bit more of a "risk" if your flight gets cancelled for some reason. However, in all my flying experience it's rather rare to have a flight cancelled completely. Yes, it happens, but not often.

Odds of getting delayed, possibly for days, are much higher on airlines like Allegiant.

Allegiant has 99 planes flying to 177 destinations overall, with 102 flights per day.
American has 1,569 planes, flies to 350 destinations, with 6,700 flights per day.
Southwest has 754 plane, flies to 100 destinations, with 4,000 daily flights
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_airlines_in_North_America
Not that any airline has planes just sitting around in case of eergency, but I have (much) less faith in an airline with Allegiant's numbers.

 

[Lisa0620]

I think with frontier it is $19 less to buy at the counter.

I tried to buy a return flight at the Frontier ticketing counter at MCO last month and they wouldn't let me do it. I had a credit to use and was having trouble getting it to work online. The clerk told me "it's cheaper to buy it online" and when I explained that I needed help with a credit she said that I would have to call. (Why do I have to call, I'm right here!?) Not sure if I just got a really unhelpful counter person or if it's really cheaper to book online. I ended up calling and they were able to fix the credit so that it could be applied online and she actually stayed on the phone with me while I booked it to make sure the credit went through okay.

 

[Alli1988]

I really wish people would stop commenting on this post about how bad allegiant is. The original post had to do with budget and saving money, which is why I posted under budget. There is $0 risk to me of the flight be cancelled or postponed, etc. for outbound, and next to nothing inbound. I’ve flown allegiant many times and will be again. I’d like to keep this thread as many people here can easy save $30/per person per trip by reading this. People aren’t reading this thread to learn how bad allegiant is, they are reading it to save money!! Anyone trying to save money is probably well aware of the trade offs, or understand there would be some.

 

[kaytieeldr]

You can message a Moderator and ask to have the the thread closed, but even the original poster of a thread can't control the conversation. You want it to exist (in, imo, an unusual forum for an airline thread) to provide information to figure readers.

So do the other posters.

 

[zoo2tycoon]

I really wish people would stop commenting on this post about how bad allegiant is. The original post had to do with budget and saving money, which is why I posted under budget. There is $0 risk to me of the flight be cancelled or postponed, etc. for outbound, and next to nothing inbound. I’ve flown allegiant many times and will be again. I’d like to keep this thread as many people here can easy save $30/per person per trip by reading this. People aren’t reading this thread to learn how bad allegiant is, they are reading it to save money!! Anyone trying to save money is probably well aware of the trade offs, or understand there would be some.

It might be helpful to those who don’t know about low cost carriers (Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant) to know the risks of getting stranded with airlines only flying on certain days. It is also helpful to know they won’t really help if you are stranded by them.

People need to consider if the want to save a few bucks on an airline ticket to lose a day or two of vacation(potentially losing hundreds of dollars) because the airline cancelled flight (yes any airline can) BUT that airline had no flights to destination for several days,

 

[disneymagicgirl]

I tried to buy a return flight at the Frontier ticketing counter at MCO last month and they wouldn't let me do it. I had a credit to use and was having trouble getting it to work online. The clerk told me "it's cheaper to buy it online" and when I explained that I needed help with a credit she said that I would have to call. (Why do I have to call, I'm right here!?) Not sure if I just got a really unhelpful counter person or if it's really cheaper to book online. I ended up calling and they were able to fix the credit so that it could be applied online and she actually stayed on the phone with me while I booked it to make sure the credit went through okay.

You have to be persistent and ask for a supervisor if necessary. I’ve not ever flown them, but I read up on it quite a bit.

 

[Klayfish]

Odds of getting delayed, possibly for days, are much higher on airlines like Allegiant.

Allegiant has 99 planes flying to 177 destinations overall, with 102 flights per day.
American has 1,569 planes, flies to 350 destinations, with 6,700 flights per day.
Southwest has 754 plane, flies to 100 destinations, with 4,000 daily flights
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_airlines_in_North_America
Not that any airline has planes just sitting around in case of eergency, but I have (much) less faith in an airline with Allegiant's numbers.

Yes, there's no debate they have less planes. They're a small airline. But if you think American or SW just has plains sitting around too, you're mistaken. My biggest delay ever was with Southwest (what a shocker...not). It was 14 hours. Our original plane had a mechanical issue. They tried to fix it. Then they couldn't get us another plane...for 10 hours. From experience using those smaller airlines, I haven't found the incident of delays any higher, in fact it's been lower.

 

[kaytieeldr]

But if you think American or SW just has plains sitting around too, you're mistaken.

Nope, don't think that at all! In fact, I typed similar words yesterday. I just don't remember where...

 

[Narnia_girl]

The refundability etc. would be the same as buying online, so pretend you are buying online. As far as buying bags at the counter IDK, but I'm hoping it's the same as buying online - where you can buy when buying fare to save money. Also, as far as buying in advance, anything available to be purchased online can be purchased at the counter... according to the guy I talked to. Just remember, visit the 1 hour immediately following a departure. This limits sales times significantly, look on your airport website to see Allegiant outbounds… my local airport is about 2 per day, but one is usually after 9pm.

The bolded part confuses me. Are you saying go to the Allegiant counter exactly one hour after any plane has departed and then book the flight I want?

 

[DisneyHardin]

The bolded part confuses me. Are you saying go to the Allegiant counter exactly one hour after any plane has departed and then book the flight I want?

You have to visit within an hour of flights. I think the desk is only open for the a window of time surrounding a flight - they aren't open regular hours like 8-5.

 

[Darcy03231]

Update!! I visited the airport.

The flights dropped in price, I knew in advance because I checked online before driving in.

$61 outbound
$38 inbound

We are going to check 1 shared bag for $30. Buying at counter saves roughly $30/person.

You have to buy 1 hour after a flight departs, so I’m going to swing by tomorrow.

It’s going to cost less than $200 round trip for both is us.

Thanks for updating. $30/pp is a good savings and worth going to the airport since you're local.

Sounds like for you the rewards of flying Allegiant outweigh the risks involved. I have a co-worker who flies the discount carriers all the time (Allegiant, Spirit, etc.) to her condo in Florida. Most of her flights go fine and she doesn't need to travel with luggage. If something happens it's no big deal to her. She has a place to stay, a car, clothes, etc. in both places and she just takes the next flight out. Sometimes it's been a day or two, others it's been a week. She has the flexibility to work from anywhere though, as long as she has a laptop and internet connection everything is good.

 

[Alli1988]

The bolded part confuses me. Are you saying go to the Allegiant counter exactly one hour after any plane has departed and then book the flight I want?

You are correct... go 1 hour after a flight on an advanced date. If you are flying in September, go today for example, or an August date...whenever you like the price online or think it's as low as it will go, etc. check departures in advance.

Just my guess, they want the line dedicated to those checking in, bags, etc. when they are within two hours of a departure.