Flying into Sanford/home from MCO, thoughts?

[lynnfitz]

HI, we fly from a small airport in NY, which always runs high in price. Alegiant is now flying out of the airport. We can save quite a bit of money if we flew Alegiant down into Sanford, then take Jet Blue home from MCO. We have always just flown Jet Blue in the past, the reason we wouldn't take Alegiant both ways, is that it only flies twice a week, so the return date doesn't work for us.
I guess one of my biggest concerns is the rental car (I haven't looked at this yet), since the pick up and drop off are 2 different locations, is that going to be a huge difference in price? Any thoughts on doing this, or anything else I should consider before doing this? Thanks!!

 

[Alesia]

I would take a close look at allegiant's safety record.

 

[goofy4tink]

Have you run the numbers for the rental car? I haven't seen a huge difference in price when picking up at one spot and dropping off at another.

 

[Best Aunt]

1) Make sure you have priced out exactly what Allegiant will cost. They charge extra for a lot of things, as I recall. Checked bags. Carry on bags. Seat selection. Paying with a credit card. There are fees you might be able to avoid (printing boarding pass at airport, priority boarding, deciding you want to take bags at the last minute instead of when you book your flight). And of course taxes.

2) Have a back-up plan. If your Allegiant flight to MCO gets cancelled, how are you going to get to Florida? Probably not on Allegiant, because they probably won't have any other flights that day.

3) Do JetBlue and Allegiant both fly out of your airport in New York? If you are using one airport to fly to Florida and will be arriving home at a different airport, you will have an issue if you had planned to drive to the airport and leave your car there.

We flew Allegiant to MCO and JetBlue Home because the JetBlue flight to MCO left very early in the morning and wouldn't have worked for my friend. We used Tiffany Towncar to get from Sanford to our Disney hotel. Tiffany Towncar wouldn't let us book as round trip since we would be going from hotel to MCO instead of back to Sanford, so we booked one way and took a cab to get to MCO. That was a few years ago; today I would use Uber or Lyft to get to MCO.

Sorry I haven't answered your question about rental cars. My friend and I didn't want to drive.

 

[AngiTN]

We have had Allegiant here at our airport for about 8+ years. I flew them once. Never again.
Even if their airline was not horrible (they are really bad), their schedules are even worse to deal with. We had 1 flight out to come back home. Left at like 9 AM. It was just awful getting to Sandford. And if our flight had been cancelled, we wouldn't have been able to fly home for 3 days. They only fly to our airport 3 days a week and on those days they only have 1 flight.
Besides, I've never found them cheaper than Southwest (which we can get 2 hours away). Not by the time you pay them to even bring a darn purse on the plane. They will nickel and dime your fares till you pay nearly double. I'm surprised their don't charge you for oxygen!

 

[richmo]

I have to agree with the sentiments the earlier posters have made: Allegiant has the poorest safety record of any US airline still in business, they have the oldest fleet, a lousy ontime record and probably the worst nickel and diming of any of the airlines. A couple examples: Unless they've changed, Allegiant, I believe, is the only airline that charges extra to book online. Some airlines charge extra to book over the phone and Allegiant also does that. So how do you escape the booking charge at Allegiant? You have to go to the airport and book it there. When can you do that? Only when the desk is open, and that's only near times a flight is going out (which may be very limited). And another thing I saw Allegiant charging for in Trenton, last I looked: $5 to print out a boarding pass. Really?

Another thing to consider, and @AngiTN touched on this, is that Allegiant's schedules tend to be very limited. There may only be one flight a day to SFB, if that. If that flight gets cancelled, make sure you have a backup plan. I guess what I would be thinking is that I would book both ways on JetBlue to MCO if at all possible. The price difference would have to be very, very significant to do otherwise.

I wouldn't worry too much about picking up a car at SFB and returning to MCO. Generally speaking, there aren't dropoff charges within Florida. However, the rental cost at SFB could be quite different than MCO. I think MCO's rental rates are generally a little less than SFB, but that can vary. Run both sets of numbers to see what you'll get; also keeping in mind that the rates may well change as your dates get closer.

Another thing to consider: are you staying at a Disney resort? If so, you could Magic Express to and from MCO (assuming you go JetBlue both ways) and subtract off the car rental cost when calculating. Or...if you still fly into SFB, you could look into a one way rental from SFB to the Car Care Center (or Dolphin) if you rent from Alamo/National/Enterprise, then DME back to MCO.

 

[AngiTN]

I have to agree with the sentiments the earlier posters have made: Allegiant has the poorest safety record of any US airline still in business, they have the oldest fleet, a lousy ontime record and probably the worst nickel and diming of any of the airlines. A couple examples: Unless they've changed, Allegiant, I believe, is the only airline that charges extra to book online. Some airlines charge extra to book over the phone and Allegiant also does that. So how do you escape the booking charge at Allegiant? You have to go to the airport and book it there. When can you do that? Only when the desk is open, and that's only near times a flight is going out (which may be very limited). And another thing I saw Allegiant charging for in Trenton, last I looked: $5 to print out a boarding pass. Really?

Which is why I was only half joking when I said am surprised they don't have a fee for oxygen!

 

[JimMIA]

Definitely check ALL options on rental cars. I have had differences like $800 vs $0 for different dropoff locations. (Renting at LAX, returning at SFO) I've even had dropoff fees from one location to another in the SAME city.

Also, always check they specific car you are renting. You will often find that the same model is one category with one company and a different category with another company. Categories like midsize mean nothing except internally. When you're comparing company to company, the same car may be midsize with one and compact (or full size) with another.

 

[richmo]

Definitely check ALL options on rental cars. I have had differences like $800 vs $0 for different dropoff locations. (Renting at LAX, returning at SFO) I've even had dropoff fees from one location to another in the SAME city.

Also, always check they specific car you are renting. You will often find that the same model is one category with one company and a different category with another company. Categories like midsize mean nothing except internally. When you're comparing company to company, the same car may be midsize with one and compact (or full size) with another.

Totally agree on checking out all rental combinations. Just to repeat myself, at least with the major agencies, there aren't dropoff charges within Florida. I've done several pickup or dropoff at TPA, then dropoff or pickup at MCO, did a FLL to MIA rental for a cruise last year, then reversed it going home, etc. What Jim observed is definitely true in a lot of places (like California); why its different in Florida I don't know.

Jim's other point about comparing categories is also valid. One companies compact might be another's economy, for example. Unfortunately, except in very specific categories with some agencies, you don't get to rent a specific model. You may see a Toyota Camry listed as the example for a full size, but there's a better than even chance that isn't what you'll drive away with.

 

[Pappa Bear]

We have had Allegiant here at our airport for about 8+ years. I flew them once. Never again.
Even if their airline was not horrible (they are really bad), their schedules are even worse to deal with. We had 1 flight out to come back home. Left at like 9 AM. It was just awful getting to Sandford. And if our flight had been cancelled, we wouldn't have been able to fly home for 3 days. They only fly to our airport 3 days a week and on those days they only have 1 flight.
Besides, I've never found them cheaper than Southwest (which we can get 2 hours away). Not by the time you pay them to even bring a darn purse on the plane. They will nickel and dime your fares till you pay nearly double. I'm surprised their don't charge you for oxygen!

This is the same sort of experience my son and daughter-in-law had when they flew Allegiant. My son was convinced that if the oxygen masks had dropped down Allegiant would have charged an extra fee for their use before turning the air on. He was also surprised that there was no pay to use on the plane's toilet door.

They flew down and limoed to WDW where we joined them with the family car so I cannot help you with rental car information.

 

[lynnfitz]

oh boy!! Thank you all for the information!! After I posted, I quickly ran numbers, although there is a difference in pricing, don't think it's worth it at this point. I know they charge for everything, but safety obviously is a huge concern, plus never thought if the flight gets cancelled, we're stuck for a few days, or fly us into somewhere else. Thanks again everyone, I really appreciate all your input!