Allegiant Air

[LuvsEpcot]

Allegiant Air has changed our flight out of Knoxville, TN. We were supposed to leave at 7:45AM on September 14th. I received an email today saying that they have changed us to the 7:45PM flight. Well that kind of changed our whole itinerary for Disney. We switched to the night of the 13th and had to grab rooms at Pop for one night! Geez, had to spend more, but I didn't want to miss out on a whole day at Disney! That's like an evil, horrific diabolical plot from a scarry movie ! Make me miss one whole day at Disney...I think NOT!

 

[MPLsDad]

We received the royal treatment from Allegiant Air last February - we got royally screwed! They cancelled our non-stop flights altogether and but us another airline with stopovers and different times. It messed up our plans for our first and last days. We waited months to hear from them regarding the changes and spent countless ours on hold listening to how great Allegiant Air is. I would never, ever use them again. I'm sorry this happened to you - see if they can change your flights to the evening before if you can extend your stay at all.

 

[Edd]

Which airlines did they put you on? Because they are a regional flight they would have had to pay a bunch more for airline tickets for you. You are the first I have seen posting that has had that problem. To do something like that they would have had to do the same thing for the whole planeload of passengers. They operate differently than the main airlines because most the the airports they go in and out do not have many other carriers operating from the intended airport. Sanford is one. Allegiant is the only main carrier operating into Sanford so they would have had to put you on a carrier landing Orlando. There are no other domestic airlines landing Sanford at the present time, or even February. There are International flights landing Sanford.

 

[GoofyBaseballMom26]

I've been hesitant to try Alligient Air out of Knoxville because of the flight times. The Delta non stop flight gets us there by 8:30 a.m. but it has gotten so expensive. Three of us are going in May 08 and I've been thinking about Alligient. I'd really like your input after you get back from your trip!

TIA!!!

 

[nextidiot]

I am taking my chances. There has been 100s of successful flights with 1000s of very satisfied customers. Folks around here love Allegiant.

I am paying $600 for 4 round trip tickets from Huntington to Sanford, non-stop, on Allegiant. I can't complain (yet). The only other direct flights to Florida are out of Columbus and Cincy. Either city would have cost $1200 for those same tickets----plus I would have had to drive 2 and 1/2 hours before even reaching the airport.

 

[GCM]

I just had to join the DIS to say a little something about Allegiant. We too had flights scheduled out of Knoxville for the 4th of September. We were to depart at 7:45 am. Last week Allegiant emailed us that our flight had been canceled and they had rescheduled us for two days later. Two days...... We have vacations scheduled, rooms booked, tickets bought, etc. We couldn't miss two days of vacation. I called and canceled our flight. The Lord blessed us to find flights out of Knoxville on the 4th for just a couple hundred over what we were paying for Allegiant. We figured that we saved money by not having to rent a car since we can now use ME. By looking at it this way were aren't out too much more money. I just worry what would have happened if our departure flight would have been on schedule and our return flight was changed. We have jobs and commitments to return to. We couldn't return later.

I will say this for Allegiant. The representative I spoke with was extremely nice and friendly and canceled our flights without any problems. He also apologized several times for the cancellation.

GCM

 

[nextidiot]

I just had to join the DIS....

Another recruit.

 

[Lewisc]

Earlier this year Allegiant pulled out of the Newburg NY airport. They made arrangements with other airlines to accommodate those passengers.

Sounds like Allegiant found airlines that would transport passengers for the original fare paid, in exchange for horrible routings. In other words encourage passengers to request a refund and make their own plans.

Your right, airlines like Allegiant don't normally transport passengers on other airlines.

Which airlines did they put you on? Because they are a regional flight they would have had to pay a bunch more for airline tickets for you. You are the first I have seen posting that has had that problem. To do something like that they would have had to do the same thing for the whole planeload of passengers. They operate differently than the main airlines because most the the airports they go in and out do not have many other carriers operating from the intended airport. Sanford is one. Allegiant is the only main carrier operating into Sanford so they would have had to put you on a carrier landing Orlando. There are no other domestic airlines landing Sanford at the present time, or even February. There are International flights landing Sanford.

 

[Nik's Dad]

We flew Allegiant in May from Knoxville. We flew to Clearwater instead of Sanford. The drive over was an easy drive, missed rush hour. The rental car are located in the airport in Clearwater, actually it was very easy to get around in the airport. No stress at all. We will do this routing again. I think the flight times are actually better to Clearwater.

 

[blessedby3]

I have flown Allegiant twice and have had no problems so far. We are actually looking at flying with them again for our Jan. trip as I can get tickets for $49 each way. SW has had horrible dings from RDU to MCO lately at about $79-$97 each way. I would hope that they would not change or cancel my flight if I book with Allegiant

 

[Jcmlcm4]

Glad to see this post! We purchased tickets on Allegiant last week for Sept. 30. I had to add a couple days to our stay at WDW which I did not mind one bit! However, I didn't realize until I was scheduling ME that we were flying into Sanford. Now I need to find transportation from Sanford airport to WDW! Is anyone willing to share some ideas of what they have used before? I know we have options such as FL tours, taxi, rental car - whtats the best? Please and thank you all! I am fairly new to this board and appreciate all the help!

 

[nextidiot]

Same deal for me from Sanford to WDW. I just rented a car for the week which I found to be only slightly more expensive than the various shuttle services. I rented a full-size car (for the luggage capacity) for about $350 including taxes and fees for 9 days. I am betting the cost will come down on the rental, too.

The cheapest shuttle I found was something like $200 round trip. But I didn't look that hard because I knew I would need a car for most of the first leg of the trip anyway.

 

[LuvsEpcot]

Hey Nik's Dad we were just in Clinton today and went to eat at Litton's tonight in Fountain City!

When I received the Allegiant email at first I panicked then decided it actually turned out to be a good thing for our family. Our oldest daughter was dreading going to the airport at 5AM! The only real inconvenience was having to pay for two rooms at Pop which they actually had, I figured there would be nothing. Now if they don't do any more changes we are good to go! In reading the boards over the past couple of months I kept seeing where others had their flights changed/canceled and I was thanking my lucky stars, so it sounds like I need to be thankful they didn't completely cancel or move us too many days forward or backward. The CS person that I talked with was very nice and helpful. She also told me that because they have added a couple of new hubs so they weren't offering the morning flights out of K-town. So as it turns out our magic starts a little earlier than anticipated

 

[vasusan]

We are flying ALlegiant the end of this month from Roanoke, VA to Sanford. I could never find a good rate for a rental car for 10 days. I have a car reserved thru Enterprise offsite to avoid airport fees currrently for $224. We will have to take a taxi the 8 miles to their office though. We are not planning to go to a park that day.

 

[CarolA]

Hey Nik's Dad we were just in Clinton today and went to eat at Litton's tonight in Fountain City!

Oh MY! This brings back memories. I grew up in Fountain City!


Anyway, back to the topic.

The "risk" with Allegiant or any of these "minor" airlines is the VERY limited flight schedule and very limited plane situation. So as others have pointed out if they "cancel" or reschedule you are stuck. There just aren't other flights and/or planes to put you on. And they don't have "interline" agreements with DL out of Knoxville for example.

My impression is that the airfares make people think it's worth it, but you need to understand the risk.

 

[blessedby3]

We are flying ALlegiant the end of this month from Roanoke, VA to Sanford. I could never find a good rate for a rental car for 10 days. I have a car reserved thru Enterprise offsite to avoid airport fees currrently for $224. We will have to take a taxi the 8 miles to their office though. We are not planning to go to a park that day.

Just jumping in to say howdy neighbor
We live right outside of Roanoke too. We have flown Allegiant twice from Roanoke to Sanford. Good experience so far. Have a great time!!

 

[LuvsEpcot]

Oh MY! This brings back memories. I grew up in Fountain City!


Anyway, back to the topic.

The "risk" with Allegiant or any of these "minor" airlines is the VERY limited flight schedule and very limited plane situation. So as others have pointed out if they "cancel" or reschedule you are stuck. There just aren't other flights and/or planes to put you on. And they don't have "interline" agreements with DL out of Knoxville for example.

My impression is that the airfares make people think it's worth it, but you need to understand the risk.

CarolA it looks like you've been in the Nashville area also, we used to live in Smyrna TN and today they set the all time heat record of 107 degrees

I agree about the airline fares and the super "deals" they offer. In a discussion recently about such things a former airline pilot said he hated the way things were getting with the competition sometimes, a little is healthy, but what happens in the long run is that people want a great flight with all of the ammenities really cheap...thus filet mignon for a big mac price! It put things in perspective for me.