Allegiant Air

[tribus121]

Has anyone out there used Allegiant Air ? I am considering using them for my trip to the world next Febuary Flying out of portsmouth NH ( Free Parking & less than $ 200 cdn ret )

 

[bicker]

My brother used them for our trip together in January. They were "okay". The up-side, of course, was the price. The down-sides were very poor flight times and the limitation on which days of the week they flew (he had to take Friday off work, before our trip, because Allegiant simply didn't have fligths on Saturday that week), and the extra inconvenience of flying into Sanford airport instead of Orlando.

 

[Disneynutbsv]

We are using them this next August. Flying out of Portsmouth. I like the free parking at the airport and it doesn't really bother me to fly into Sanford. The only bad thing about it is the rental cars at Sanford are quite expensive. It's direct flights, no stopovers, I like that.
I don't like that they want to charge you $10 per flight to get your seat ahead of time. I didn't pay for it. I figured we will just get there as early as we can and hope that they will put us together.

 

[bicker]

I think we'll be seeing a lot of unbundling of services over the next few years. Consumers are still clamoring for lower prices for everything, and still aren't responding to the lower quality they're receiving in return. So the next set of service quality reductions we'll see will include a lot of cases where things that used to be included in the base price now being a separate add-on. It allows suppliers to lower the price, thereby giving consumers what they want most of all, and making the lost revenue up either by reducing cost through providing less service or by assessing premiums for previously included services.

I think this specific unbundling is a bad deal for families. Generally, individual and adult couples don't place as high of a value on sitting together on airplanes, so taking their chances to safe a few dollars may make sense. I think, though, for families, after the first time there isn't any available space to fit the entire family, the $10 fee will begin to look like a bargain.

 

[Allison]

We used them in December and are using them again in June. LOVED having a direct flight. We had a really good experience with Allegiant.

We will rent a van for one night to get us from Sanford to Disney and will return it to the Dolphin the next morning. It will only cost us $38.

 

[emagirl]

Just an FYI
We were scheduled to fly Allegiant 10/16/06 - 10/22/06 from Portsmouth, NH. After checking on their website, we (friends we are travelling with) noticed the 16th flights had been removed from the schedule. After calling Allegiant, we were told they were eliminating the Monday and Friday flights to/from Portsmouth. (in September and October is what we were told)

Our Monday reservations were moved (by them - without notifying us) to Sunday 10/15/06 (which won't work for us). I was offered and took a full refund and cancelled my reservations (now I will book on another airline)

I MIGHT have kept the 15th-22nd but I was nervous that we would be stuck at Sanford on the 22nd with no Allegiant flights home until the 26th! I didn't want to have to haul all of my stuff (and family) to MCO to try to get a flight home spur of the moment! Or have the 15th flight get cancelled and have no way to get there until the next Thursday when they flew again.

Hope this doesn't impact anyone else but better to know now than later.

 

[bicker]

That's one of my two biggest concerns about little airlines like Allegiant: That they simply won't be reliable. (The other big concern is that they'll burn through their capital by undercutting the fares of other airlines, thereby making all airlines less reliable.)

 

[hsmamato2]

My brother used them for our trip together in January. They were "okay". The up-side, of course, was the price. The down-sides were very poor flight times and the limitation on which days of the week they flew (he had to take Friday off work, before our trip, because Allegiant simply didn't have fligths on Saturday that week), and the extra inconvenience of flying into Sanford airport instead of Orlando.

With kids, i Liked the sanford airport better, smaller, less lines, easy to navigate!

 

[tribus121]

Thanks

 

[Lewisc]

The overseas discount carriers like Ryanair have different luggage rules. Ryanair for example is starting to charge for all checked bags and has limits on carry ons. Other overseas discount airlines have very low weight limits and sometimes include your carry on bags in the allowance. Limiting luggage will allow airlines to carry more cargo.

I wonder how the public will react when they start getting charged for seat assignments, soda and even carry on luggage.

People who want to sit together may be stuck paying for a seat assignment since most of the seats left might be middle seats.

Bicker--I'm glad it worked out for your brother but I'd be nervous with an airline that doesn't have the ability to get me to my destination if they have a weather or equipment problem. Most airlines can get you out shortly, a carrier like Allegiant might just give you a refund.

I think we'll be seeing a lot of unbundling of services over the next few years. Consumers are still clamoring for lower prices for everything, and still aren't responding to the lower quality they're receiving in return. So the next set of service quality reductions we'll see will include a lot of cases where things that used to be included in the base price now being a separate add-on. It allows suppliers to lower the price, thereby giving consumers what they want most of all, and making the lost revenue up either by reducing cost through providing less service or by assessing premiums for previously included services.

I think this specific unbundling is a bad deal for families. Generally, individual and adult couples don't place as high of a value on sitting together on airplanes, so taking their chances to safe a few dollars may make sense. I think, though, for families, after the first time there isn't any available space to fit the entire family, the $10 fee will begin to look like a bargain.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Does anyone have experience with this airline out of Allentown, PA? We're thinking of booking through them for our September trip. Do you know how long they've been servicing Allentown?

 

[momrek06]

I can only speak for AA out of Worcester, MA. My DS and his DGF flew Sunday March 5th. They had a 11AM flight to arrive O/S @ 2:00pm. The plane left at 10:50am as everyone was there and boarded and they were OFF. I tracked the Flight on FlightTracker. It was AMAZING...they arrived @ 1:10PM. My DS called me and was so PUMPED as they just wanted to get to Disney and to start the vacation 50 minutes (or so) early was the BEST as far as they were concerned. AA had a Shuttle for them right to their Resort. I cannot remember the name of it. AA paid $21.00pp rt and they paid the rest. I think it was an additional $40.00 for rt!
Returning Friday March 10th, flight left at 8:30am and arrived Worcester 10:30am!!! NO problems at all. No lines, no major security checks, it was great coming and going. DS said BOTH airports were great!!!

 

[welovedisneyx4]

I am reviving this thread b/c it has just been announced that Allegiant Air is coming to out local airport w/ direct flights to Orlando! (At least I hope it is something to cheer about!)

The flights from our airport are so over priced, there is no way we would ever take a regular flight out of here w/ RDU and Greensboro close by. However, we would welcome a low cost carrier. Does anyone have any other comments about AA? I have read the negatives about them and the schedule does seem to be a bit of an issue. They are just making the announcement today, so I don't know when they will have a schedule for us. I don't really care about paying for drinks and snacks (I guess we could bring some w/ us?) and paying 40.00 for reserved seats isn't ideal, but compared to not taking a flight from home, it isn't a big problem. We probably wont be going back to DW for at least a year, (just went this past November) but it would be very nice just to head to the airport here in town, instead of 3 hours from home. (The drive to RDU isn't so bad, but if it wasn't necessesary, that would be even better!)

Also, could I get a few more opinions on Sanford Airport? How far is it to the main DW entrance? How does the drive from Sanford compare w/ the drive from MCO? Is the Sanford airport a decent one-as far as cleanliness, customer service, etc.?

Any other advice/opinons are welcome. I am very excited about this news, but don't want too excited if it isn't worthwhile.

TIA! Orlando here we come!! (Maybe! )

 

[pamjb]

CRSNDSNY,

I think Allegiant has been flying out of Allentown for a little less than a year. It may be a little more than a year, but not by much. I only live about 20 mins from the Allentown airport (ABE) but I prefer to fly out of Philadelphia. Call me skittish, but the flights out of Allentown to Orlando/Sanford are constantly a-changing. The only direct flights are thru Allegiant and I am not real crazy about their track record. I could take a non-direct flight with a major carrier, but the 2 1/2 flight turns into about 5 or 6 hours. I would (and do) rather drive to Philly and have a direct flight with Southwest and be in Orlando in under 3 hours.

JMHO

 

[Sandi]

I, too, would like some advice on Allegiant. I'm looking at flying out of Lansing, Michigan. Allegiant is less than half the cost of the majors. Wondering about the drive from Sanford to WDW, rental cars at Sanford, etc., too.

Many thanks!

 

[CRSNDSNY]

CRSNDSNY,

I think Allegiant has been flying out of Allentown for a little less than a year. It may be a little more than a year, but not by much. I only live about 20 mins from the Allentown airport (ABE) but I prefer to fly out of Philadelphia. Call me skittish, but the flights out of Allentown to Orlando/Sanford are constantly a-changing. The only direct flights are thru Allegiant and I am not real crazy about their track record. I could take a non-direct flight with a major carrier, but the 2 1/2 flight turns into about 5 or 6 hours. I would (and do) rather drive to Philly and have a direct flight with Southwest and be in Orlando in under 3 hours.

JMHO

Thanks for the info on that. We have yet to fly out of Allentown. We're closer to Avoca/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but there are never any good deals there. For the last 4 trips we've gone out of Phila with Airtran. We're looking to use Southwest for this September or Allegient out of ABE. I do appreciate your advice...that's the type of info and opinion I was looking for.

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Wondering about the drive from Sanford to WDW, rental cars at Sanford, etc., too.

Many thanks!

We thought the drive from Sanford was a piece of cake and that the rentals seemed to be less expensive than out of MCO.

 

[Sandi]

Thanks. I was just pricing some rental cars. It's funny, but on National, if I rent a car from Sanford and then drop it off at the Car Care Center the next day AND on that day rent a car from the Car Care Center to return it to Sanford at the end of my trip, it's less expensive than doing Sanford to Sanford for the whole trip. It's a $60 difference on a 9 day rental. I think I might be cheap enough to do it. (Sanford did seem to be cheaper than MCO)