DH didn't pay for seat assignement on Allegiant, is this a big problem?

[mapmakerj]

My DH found $69 each way tickets to Sanford for our June trip. He didn't pay for priority boarding or seat assignments, just for 1 pc of luggage. We were going to drive our truck but the price of gas is high and only getting higher. The cost of air and renting a car came out to be the same as we would have pd to drive there. However, our DS 11 has never flown before (well he did at 6mo but doesn't remember)and he is a bit nervous. I could strangle my DH for not paying for seats because he is well aware of DS's anxiety issues. Does anyone know if we can add seat assignments online or do we have to wait to do it at the airport? The website is not really clear. DH said we should just take our chances since the airports we will fly in and out of are not that big and we should be ok getting good boarding numbers if we get there really early. The airport we fly out of is teeny tiny and has minimal traffic and we will fly back from Sanford, which I understand is a medium sized airport. Would you wait and see when you get to the airport or try to see if you could get reserved seats? We wouldn't all need to sit together, just would like one of us to be able to sit w/ DS. Right now, there are only 8 seats reserved on the outgoing flight and 5 on the return.

 

[sam_gordon]

My suggestion is to simply call the airline and ask. They can probably do it over the phone.

 

[nytimez]

Everything with Allegiant is a huge PITA. Including this. Sorry, OP and good luck.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Everything with Allegiant is a huge PITA. Including this. Sorry, OP and good luck.

I believe they should wait until they get to the airport. As you say, Allegiant charges for everything above a guarantee for a seat on a specific airplane at a given date at a given airport.

For example:
Base prices do not include PFC, segment tax or September 11 security fee of up to $10.70 per segment. A segment is one take-off and one landing. A convenience fee of $14.99 per passenger will apply when booked on allegiantair.com. A convenience fee of $14.99 per passenger, plus $14.99 per segment, will apply when purchased through Allegiant Air call center. Purchases made at any Allegiant Air Airport Ticket Office will not incur a convenience or call center fee. When purchased at time of booking, a checked bag fee of up to $34.99 per bag, per segment will apply for the first two(2) checked bags. If purchased at flight check-in, a fee of $35 per checked bag, per person, per segment will apply for the first two bags checked. In all cases additional higher fees will apply for three or more checked bags.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

For the OP, that one-way pp cost of $69 that you quote is actually $69.99 plus $25.69 for a total of $95.68 if you are flying from Appleton, Wi (ATW) to Sanford, FL (SFB). Then you add $35 per bag, up to two bags. Priority boarding per seat ranges from $10 to $15 for each segment. If you use their call center or do it online, it is another $15 convenience fee.

So.........your husband may be right to do your seat assignments at the airport. The MD-83s that Allegiant uses primarily will hold around 100 passengers per flight.

 

[mapmakerj]

Yep, they charge for everything. However, when you live basically in the middle of nowhere with few choices, you take what you can get. We could drive a total of 3200 miles roundtrip which takes about a day and a half each way. We could drive 2hrs to the largest airport in the state, but the rates we are getting on all carriers are $420 and up roundtrip per person. DH booked Allegiant because, including all fees (booking, airport, luggage, taxes, etc.), he was able to get our tickets for $205.52 per person round trip non-stop and we only have to drive 25 minutes to the airport.

FYI: We are only checking one bag and they charged us $24.99.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

Yep, they charge for everything. However, when you live basically in the middle of nowhere with few choices, you take what you can get. We could drive a total of 3200 miles roundtrip which takes about a day and a half each way. We could drive 2hrs to the largest airport in the state, but the rates we are getting on all carriers are $420 and up roundtrip per person. DH booked Allegiant because, including all fees (booking, airport, luggage, taxes, etc.), he was able to get our tickets for $205.52 per person round trip non-stop and we only have to drive 25 minutes to the airport.

FYI: We are only checking one bag and they charged us $24.99.

Your DH did a great job with your ticket price. And, Allegiant provides a great service to secondary markets at a reasonable price. The traveler just needs to read the fine print on additional fees that could be incurred for add-ons. But, that is true for all airlines, not just Allegiant.

Depending on the number of passengers flying on your flights, you can probably work out a way to have someone trade seats so at least one of you can sit next to your child, if the arrangement can't be made when you check in at the airport. Good luck, and enjoy your trip to the Magical Kingdom.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Depending on the number of passengers flying on your flights, you can probably work out a way to have someone trade seats so at least one of you can sit next to your child, if the arrangement can't be made when you check in at the airport.

Not necessarily. People who paid to choose their seats aren't going to be willing to give up those seats so passengers who didn't pay can sit together.

OP: you can still pay for seat selection online http://spirit.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/563/kw/purchase seats "To pre-purchase a seat after having completed your booking by using My Reservations:


(1) Click the "My Reservations" tab on the home page.


(2) Enter the Last Name of the customer and the confirmation code associated to the flight (which can be found on your confirmation email) and hit Search. That will open the Reservation Summary page.


(3) Click on the "Assign Seats" button located under the Flight Details section. That will open the "Purchase Checked Baggage In Advance" page. You will be shown an image representing the seating layout in the aircraft. As you hover over each seat, the price will appear.


(4) Click on the seat of your choice. Use the "Previous Flight" and the "Next Flight" buttons to switch between your flights.


(5) When you have completed your seat selection, make sure that the "Enter billing information" option is checked and enter your credit card information in the fields shown. When finished, click on "Continue with Purchase".


(6) If you do not want to purchase any seat, check the "I do not want to purchase any seat at this time" button and click on "Continue with Purchase". You can purchase pre-assigned seats at a later time by choosing either the "My Reservation" tab or the "Online Check-in" tab located on the home page."

 

[sam_gordon]

Depending on the number of passengers flying on your flights, you can probably work out a way to have someone trade seats so at least one of you can sit next to your child, if the arrangement can't be made when you check in at the airport. Good luck, and enjoy your trip to the Magical Kingdom.

Don't we have a big thread going right now where it was said multiple times that if it's important for you to sit with someone to purchase the tickets ahead of time?

OP, if you don't mind gambling, wait until you check in at the airport. I can't guess at the odds. It might be 90-10 in your favor, 50-50 or 10-90 against. If you'd rather be SURE, purchase your seats.

 

[maxiesmom]

Depending on the number of passengers flying on your flights, you can probably work out a way to have someone trade seats so at least one of you can sit next to your child, if the arrangement can't be made when you check in at the airport.

Not so much now that people are paying for seat assignments. Why should I give away something I paid for, to someone else who had the same option to pay for it, but chose not to?

I think that people who fly fairly often get tired of others who try to play the " I have a child, so I can't be seperated from them" card. If you can't be seperated, then pay for your seat. Don't try to save a few buck and expect others to accomodate that choice. Especially if they paid for what they have.

 

[SaraJayne]

OP, if you're flying out of ATW, it's always more expensive. Even with driving to MKE, we usually come out ahead of ATW.

Did you check prices in GRB?

And yes, I will not fly Allegiant, just because they are such a PITA about everything.

I'll stick with Delta or SW.

If you want to choose your seats, you'll either have to pay the "extra" fee now or take the chance and do it at the airport.

 

[SaraJayne]

Yep, they charge for everything. However, when you live basically in the middle of nowhere with few choices, you take what you can get. We could drive a total of 3200 miles roundtrip which takes about a day and a half each way. We could drive 2hrs to the largest airport in the state, but the rates we are getting on all carriers are $420 and up roundtrip per person. DH booked Allegiant because, including all fees (booking, airport, luggage, taxes, etc.), he was able to get our tickets for $205.52 per person round trip non-stop and we only have to drive 25 minutes to the airport.

FYI: We are only checking one bag and they charged us $24.99.

Next time, try pricing out flying into Tampa. It saved us over $800 last trip.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Would you wait and see when you get to the airport or try to see if you could get reserved seats?

I missed this.

If you do wait until you get to the airport, you MUST take what you get. Do NOT expect passengers who paid for their seats to gjve up those seats to passengers who didn't pay for preselection, no matter what the reason.

 

[dudspizza]

Not necessarily. People who paid to choose their seats aren't going to be willing to give up those seats so passengers who didn't pay can sit together.

OP: you can still pay for seat selection online http://spirit.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/563/kw/purchase seats "To pre-purchase a seat after having completed your booking by using My Reservations:


(1) Click the "My Reservations" tab on the home page.


(2) Enter the Last Name of the customer and the confirmation code associated to the flight (which can be found on your confirmation email) and hit Search. That will open the Reservation Summary page.


(3) Click on the "Assign Seats" button located under the Flight Details section. That will open the "Purchase Checked Baggage In Advance" page. You will be shown an image representing the seating layout in the aircraft. As you hover over each seat, the price will appear.


(4) Click on the seat of your choice. Use the "Previous Flight" and the "Next Flight" buttons to switch between your flights.


(5) When you have completed your seat selection, make sure that the "Enter billing information" option is checked and enter your credit card information in the fields shown. When finished, click on "Continue with Purchase".


(6) If you do not want to purchase any seat, check the "I do not want to purchase any seat at this time" button and click on "Continue with Purchase". You can purchase pre-assigned seats at a later time by choosing either the "My Reservation" tab or the "Online Check-in" tab located on the home page."

I don't think Spirit is going to help with booking OP's seats on Allegiant... though, from what I have heard about Spirit, they would probably be willing to take the fees for the transaction!

 

[mapmakerj]

OP, if you're flying out of ATW, it's always more expensive. Even with driving to MKE, we usually come out ahead of ATW.

Did you check prices in GRB?

And yes, I will not fly Allegiant, just because they are such a PITA about everything.

I'll stick with Delta or SW.

If you want to choose your seats, you'll either have to pay the "extra" fee now or take the chance and do it at the airport.

The price my DH got out of ATW is much less then GB or MKE. The cheapest flight out of GB for our dates is $437 pp. The 3 cheapest MKE flights are SW-$378, Airtran $327 and Delta $339. These all include 1 pc of luggage. (except for SW, of course) DH got ours for $205 so I can't complain about the price, I just wish he would have asked me about the seats before he booked. (even if he would have pd for seats it would have only added $12.99 ea way per ticket, so still less then the others.)

UPDATE: I found out how to modify our reservation online and I went ahead and booked the reserved seats. There was no charge for the change and the seats were $23.98 per person roundtrip, which only bumped our total up to $229.50. I guess I can relax and forgive my DH now

 

[WDWisTheBest]

The price my DH got out of ATW is much less then GB or MKE. The cheapest flight out of GB for our dates is $437 pp. The 3 cheapest MKE flights are SW-$378, Airtran $327 and Delta $339. These all include 1 pc of luggage. (except for SW, of course) DH got ours for $205 so I can't complain about the price, I just wish he would have asked me about the seats before he booked. (even if he would have pd for seats it would have only added $12.99 ea way per ticket, so still less then the others.) I will just keep monitoring the flights and watch to see how the reserved seating is filling up . If it gets too full, I will just call and reserve ahead of time. Right now, outbound only has 10 reserved seats and return has 5 reserved seats, so I won't hit the panic button yet.

I am curious. Is it true that Allegiant flies only to Sanford, FL and Las Vegas, NV from ATW?

 

[SaraJayne]

The price my DH got out of ATW is much less then GB or MKE. The cheapest flight out of GB for our dates is $437 pp. The 3 cheapest MKE flights are SW-$378, Airtran $327 and Delta $339. These all include 1 pc of luggage. (except for SW, of course) DH got ours for $205 so I can't complain about the price, I just wish he would have asked me about the seats before he booked. (even if he would have pd for seats it would have only added $12.99 ea way per ticket, so still less then the others.)

UPDATE: I found out how to modify our reservation online and I went ahead and booked the reserved seats. There was no charge for the change and the seats were $23.98 per person roundtrip, which only bumped our total up to $229.50. I guess I can relax and forgive my DH now

I'm glad you got it fixed. Now you can stop worrying about it.

 

[SaraJayne]

I am curious. Is it true that Allegiant flies only to Sanford, FL and Las Vegas, NV from ATW?

Yes.

 

[duffy]

Everything with Allegiant is a huge PITA. Including this. Sorry, OP and good luck.

Everything about Allegiant is hugely awesome. Sorry you don't like them, and good luck with other airlines.

 

[WDWisTheBest]

UPDATE: I found out how to modify our reservation online and I went ahead and booked the reserved seats. There was no charge for the change and the seats were $23.98 per person roundtrip, which only bumped our total up to $229.50. I guess I can relax and forgive my DH now

Congratulations. End of the problem. Why not cut your DH a break and just tell him what a good job he did?