Any Hawkeyes out there? (or Cyclones, Huskers)

[My2Cinderellas]

I have flown Allegiant from DSM to Las Vegas. I was pleasantly surprised by the service, they fly large jets that seat 5 across 2/3 and were professional and on time. It's no frills, you get drink service/pretzels but no meal, no tv screens or music service. They are based in Vegas and fly to quite a few places, most are smaller airports that don't usually get direct flights. They are setting up Orlando/Sanford as a 2nd hub. I looked into using them into Orlando and there are pros and cons. If you can get the intro rates during their start up then it's hard to beat! The standard price seems to be $99 each way plus tax, or about $218.

things to consider:

1. Allegiant usually flies in/out once a day and not every day a week so you don't get a choice of times.

2. because they fly into Sanford you must rent a car or use a car service, Magic Express is not available. Car service is more expensive since Sanford is farther away than MCO. Estimates I've seen vary from 45-60 minutes to WDW. Round trip car service looks to be similar to renting a car for the week, at least for us. If you were planning to rent a car anyway, this isn't as big of an issue.

3. as a plus - the flights are direct and Sanford is a smaller airport more along the lines of CID/DSM and is easier/quicker to navigate than MCO.

I figured up the cost into Sanford plus rental car for the 4 of us. We ended up booking an American fare into MCO that is a bit higher, but overall we save money by using ME. We also arrive 8 hrs earlier in the day giving us extra time at WDW. the Allegiant flight from DSM doesn't land until about 9pm.

Allegiant offers vacation packages through their website. We think the Vegas ones are a great deal during the week. I looked briefly at the Orlando offerings and since I'm not as familiar with the offsite hotels offered I don't know if it's a deal or not. you can also add on park tickets at a discount.

 

[Scotch]

I think we'll stick with driving to Moline to fly Airtran. The price is competitive with Allegiance, I know if I miss our flights there are other flights that day or definitely the next day, albeit they may not be nonstop, and we like MCO since it is (a) closer to WDW, (b) we can use Magical Express (which DH really likes) and (3) it is a great airport when we have to hang out because there are so many restaurants and shops.