Anyone had any experiences (Good or bad) with Allegiant Airlines

[fsmith2845]

Allegiant just came into our area basically to replace Airtran which is departing one of our local airports. They are offering some really great rates to fly down to Orlando (of course they fly into Sanford not MCO). I have never had any experiences with this airline. I use Airtran quite a bit traveling for work (as well as Delta and USAir). It's a non-stop from here (Newport News) to Orlando so i'm not too worried about connections.. Of course since they don't fly into MCO so we can't use DME.. (bummer)..

Anyway, I welcome any input.. I'm trying to book our flight arrangements for our upcoming December trip to the world. (yes i know.. i'm waiting til last minute).

 

[duffy]

Yes.

They got us to Sanford at a great price. All went smoothly. I'd fly them again.

 

[vossjemi]

We've used them before and thought it was just fine. We will be using them again here in a few weeks. Also, a little $ saving tip....if you buy your tickets at the counter you save a $13.50 convenience fee per ticket. You have to go when their counter is open though....for 2 hours after a scheduled flight.

 

[DebbieB]

Do they have the dates you want to travel? They typically only fly 2 or 3 days a week from each city.

Also watch out for their fees:
http://www.allegiantair.com/aaFeesForOurServices.php

 

[Belle & Ariel]

We have used them a few times when some of our family cannot stay as long as the rest of us due to work.
I agree about going to the airport to buy tickets--you save a lot over the online convenience fees.

 

[fsmith2845]

Do they have the dates you want to travel? They typically only fly 2 or 3 days a week from each city.

Also watch out for their fees:
http://www.allegiantair.com/aaFeesForOurServices.php

No we'd have to fly a day earlier and make a reservation for one night, then check in at OKW the next day after that.. we thought about maybe staying at a universal resort for a night, hit the park, etc. then move over to Disney.. There will be some extra costs (in addition to the convenience fees you mentioned) for transportation to/from the resort and an extra hotel night. We typically do the DME If we book with them, i'll definitely head over to the airport and purcahse the tickets.. it's only a few miles from my office.

 

[Alesia]

Keep in mind that transportation to and from WDW will cost around $200.

 

[fsmith2845]

Keep in mind that transportation to and from WDW will cost around $200.

Yeah i know.. that's what i'm concerned about.. after the extra costs, etc. it may be a wash to just go with Southwest or Airtran as usual

 

[clanmcculloch]

I haven't flown them because my risk tollerance just isn't high enough. When things run smoothly, they seem to be just fine. If there's a weather or mechanical problem or any kind of problem that results in a cancelled flight well that's when you're in trouble. They just don't have enough planes or enough scheduled flights to recover so people end up stranded. I normally don't buy trip insurance for WDW trips but I think I'd feel compelled to buy insurance if I was flying with them just so I'd know we'd be covered for alternate flights home if something happens to our flight. That also would eat up some savings. That coupled with the cost of my own transportation to and from Sanford, it would have to be a HUGE difference in price before I'd consider flying Allegiant.

 

[thewesterberg]

I flew them about a year and a half ago when they had some AMAZING deals from our hometown airport (cost about $80 round trip for a ticket!). Like others said, you have to look at all their extra fees plus having to find transportation to see if it's worth it.

When we flew them, we could fly out of our hometown where someone was able to drop us off (no parking!), we only went for a few days so just carry-ons (no extra luggage fees!). Normally we have to drive 2.5 hours to the "big" airport because our local one is just way too expensive, so saving on gas and parking fees in MSP was huge. It made the rental car an okay expense. Plus since we were only going for a super short trip, having our own rental car made only being there for 3 nights easy to get to where we needed to go without having to rely on Disney transportation (which I usually have no problem with.) The flexibility on a short schedule was awesome.

Our flight was great... comfortable, good service, and I loved that it was a direct flight. Nothing fancy, but it served our needs just fine. (We were comfortable flying them because it was June... had it been winter in Northern Minnesota, we probably wouldn't have because of their limited schedule. Too big of a chance getting stuck.) I just wish they'd have those $80 airfares again... instead they've suspended flights for this past summer and they aren't flying to Orlando until February.

 

[sammielynn]

We use them several time a year. Love Sanford, very easy airport to get in and out of. Drive to Disney is also easy. We generally stay off site so we would need a car anyway so that is not an issue for us. Even with the cost of a car we come out better flying Allegiant than any other carrier.
I have never been stuck at an airport because of a problem, I have been two to three hours later than planned. Will be flying them in December.

 

[TaraPA]

AT & AL are the only non-stop flights to MCO from our local airport. When AL flew into MCO, we'd use whichever had the best rate. We've flown as low as $19.99 one way to MCO- a steal! Now that they're back to Sanford, we use AT exclusively just for the convenience of using ME, and what others have mentioned about the flights being infrequent. If you miss a flight or there's bad weather you're pretty much stuck.

Service on AL was mediocre at best, but for $19.99 we put on our headphones & put up with it!

 

[fsmith2845]

Thanks everyone for the input.. we made our decision and the final answer is..... well we chose Airtran.. I think the biggest factor is the convenience of using DME and those pesky extra costs and extra costs getting to our DVC resort.. It's pretty much a wash.. plus i get to add to my airtran points..