Sanford Airport/Allegant Air

[EjandMD]

Okay doing two things we have never done before. Flying into Sanford and using Allegant air. Allegant flys out of Lansing ,MI so we got a fair of $74 each way. We will have 1.5 hour drive to Lansing, but it's worth it. But what about Sanford? Has anyone flown in there? We are only going for 4 days so we are not checking luggage and are renting a car to speed things up. We are 4 adults who can move quickly! Any thoughts or advice on this airport?

 

[munchkin bunchkin]

We flew into Sanford on Allegiant Air in Jan. it was very easy to get through on arrival and also very easy on departure( of course we left Sanford at 8:30am )so check in at 6:30am was a breeze.

 

[EjandMD]

Cool, we might just be onto something. We go to WDW so often that for me, I'm not interested in ME or taking trams to terminals, I just want to get in and get going!

 

[ColleenLovesMinnie]

We are doing the same exact thing for our trip in August. Luckily, we only have about a 30 min. drive to Newburgh, NY to catch our Allegiant flight. We were able to get $79.00 pp flights into Sanford so it was well worth it for us. I have heard from a lot of people that Sanford is a breeze to check in and out of. We are also renting a car even though we could have used the ME from our package - we just hate being solely dependent on Disney transportation!

Let us know when you get back how it all went for you - I'll be anxious to hear!

 

[goofy4tink]

We're hearing a lot of good things about Allegiant flights out of our regional airport. Seems things are going very smoothly. I have flown into Sanford before from Worcester Ma, and it was a terrific airport. Very user friendly. It is further away from WDW than MCO is though. Plan on about 45 mins of driving.

 

[Sandi]

We are also doing Allegiant's Lansing to Sanford flight in July. I've arranged for a car rental through Dollar. (One of the rentals I checked on is closed by the time our flight arrives, so it kind of limits the choices.) I've never flown Allegiant, but have many friends and colleagues who have. Most everyone has had a good experience. A couple people had issues with the Lansing to Las Vegas flights, but I think the delays were weather related more than anything else.

The Lansing airport is nice and small. I hate going to Detroit, but love direct flights, so I've done that drive for Spirit and NWA. Folks up here compare the size of Sanford to the size of Lansing; I see that as a good thing.

Also, if you go to www.FlyLansing.com, I believe you can download a coupon for half off your parking fees at Lansing if you're flying Allegiant. You have to give the specific flight information, but any discount is good to me!

 

[DISUNC]

We are also doing Allegiant's Lansing to Sanford flight in July. I've arranged for a car rental through Dollar. (One of the rentals I checked on is closed by the time our flight arrives, so it kind of limits the choices.) I've never flown Allegiant, but have many friends and colleagues who have. Most everyone has had a good experience.
The Lansing airport is nice and small. I hate going to Detroit, but love direct flights, so I've done that drive for Spirit and NWA. Folks up here compare the size of Sanford to the size of Lansing; I see that as a good thing.
You have to give the specific flight information, but any discount is good to me!

I am flying into Sanford also in July, by Allegiant! Coming in from Allentown.GREAT PRICES for DIRECT flight!
I am now trying to get a good price (CHEAP) car rental.
If you dont mind me asking, how much did you get a car from dollar? Any codes?

 

[EjandMD]

I got Dollar... 4 days = $78.40. No codes, just a killer rate ( I think cause it's out of Sanford) If you go to the Sanford website they give you the links to the car rentals. Remember to make sure you get an on location car rental or else you will have to take a shuttle to the agency. I don't know about you, but after I get off the plane, I'm so excited to be there I can't waste time renting a car I HATED ME BECAUSE OF ALL THE WAIT TIME!!!

Good luck! Maybe we're all getting smarter in our old age

 

[EjandMD]

Thanks Sandi I'm totally going to get that coupon! I hate DTW to when possible we fly out of Flint. I don't mind driving the distance if the rate is cheap and frankly I don't trust NWA.

 

[Sandi]

I am flying into Sanford also in July, by Allegiant! Coming in from Allentown.GREAT PRICES for DIRECT flight!
I am now trying to get a good price (CHEAP) car rental.
If you dont mind me asking, how much did you get a car from dollar? Any codes?

I have an Intermediate through Dollar from 7/14 through 7/23 for $290. Not cheap, but better than what I was finding with some other companies. Also, because we are arriving rather late (10:00 p.m.), a couple companies wouldn't give me a rate because the counter would be closed by the time we got there. (I think Alamo was in that set.) Interestingly, I tried some discount codes from Mousesavers, but those codes actually INCREASED the rate.

We need a car because we're going over to Tampa for a few days. I'll still try to find a better rate. Flying Allegiant is saving enough money to help stomach the car rental.

I'd love to catch something as good as EjandMD did. I'll keep trying.

 

[4everyoung]

The 2 of us flew from SOuth Bend to Sanford in January at the intro rate of $59! We were very impressed with the plane, the service, the employees, the fast nonstop flight (1 hour 57 minutes), and the Sanford Airport and expecially the rate.
So happy with this airline we booked again in March with Allegiant for our October Trip at $79. Sanford airport is in the middle of nowhere, and very light traffic. We flew along the eastern Florida coast on the way down, very scenic and exciting.
We rented from Alamo last time and after you check in with them at the counter they turn you loose in the parking lot to pick your own car, keys are in it. On the way home we got stuck in traffic on I-4 for 2 hours and barely made the flight back. (10 minutes before departure we walked into the terminal) and they let us on the plane! THey kept telling to stop running in the terminal though.

I advise anybody not to use I-4!

I sure hope Allegiant makes it cause they are top notch

 

[Brumeiser]

I talked to my travel agent about Allegiant Air. I was going to use them for our trip from Toledo to Sanford with the good 84 dollar rate. The total was around 560 with all taxes and fees for the 3 of us. When I went in to book it the total was 950 dollars. My agent says yeah they advertise the rate of 84 dollars but they usually have only a limited number of seats then they jack up the rate for most of the seats. She was very dissapointed with this new airline coming to Toledo. I feel the same way. Ended up flying Spirit from Detroit to MCO because of this, ended up saving 400 dollars.

 

[abner1776]

While I have never flown Allegiant, I have followed the comments about them and about Sanford. In booking Allegiant, the best way is to go to their website and once you put in your cities and dates, it will show a monthly calendar with the prices for each day of the month in which they have flights. You see right up front what the fares are and if there are any additional fees,etc.

I have yet to find a travel agent who is happy with a no frills discount airline simply because the agent gets little if any commission.

Every airline from El Al to Lufthansa to Delta to Allegiant advertises low fares when in actuality only 3 seats on each flight is available for that fare...it's part of the game that the airlines play, and unfortunately...we have to play along. I have been trying for 5 years to claim a free ticket from my Delta Skymiles account...but every time I try...it's restricted...that's just part of the game....

 

[4everyoung]

I talked to my travel agent about Allegiant Air. I was going to use them for our trip from Toledo to Sanford with the good 84 dollar rate. The total was around 560 with all taxes and fees for the 3 of us. When I went in to book it the total was 950 dollars. My agent says yeah they advertise the rate of 84 dollars but they usually have only a limited number of seats then they jack up the rate for most of the seats. She was very dissapointed with this new airline coming to Toledo. I feel the same way. Ended up flying Spirit from Detroit to MCO because of this, ended up saving 400 dollars.

I made reservations on allegiants website http://www.allegiantair.com. Perhaps you chose dates that were high in demand thus the higher airfare. On the website there is a calendar that shows rates for each day. After you click on your travel dates it will show you exactly what you will pay and has a chart with avaiiable seats further into the process. You can choose what seats you want for $10 extra pp per segment. We did not choose our seats but got to sit together anyway.

Before you commit to the reservation it will give you exact totals.

 

[pk1959]

Allegiants prices have gone up a bit here to where they are no longer any cheaper than other carriers out of our regional airport. We just booked our December airfare with Delta. Allegiant has not opened up December dates past the 15th, and we needed a return flight on the 20th, so we went ahead and booked with Delta, and our price was actually a few $$$ cheaper than what Allegiants prices would be if they hold at the current rate for what they are showing for the beginning of December, plus no guessing game of when will they open up the rest of the dates for December, and what will the prices be when they do. We do have 1 stop with Delta to where Allegiant would have been non-stop, BUT the flight time chioces were much better with Delta, and the car rental prices seem to be cheaper from MCO over Sanford. We would have loved to tried Sanford airport, but when everything was considered, Allegiant just didn't seem to be the better choice. Good luck to everyone with their travel plans.

 

[ColleenLovesMinnie]

I agree with booking flights with Allegiant directly from their website. Once we knew our travel dates we got online where they have a calendar that shows their available flights and their price. We booked our August trip with $79.00 pp flights both down and back. We did pay the extra $10.00 to pick our seats but we have small children and wanted to make sure we were all together. I found that easier than the check-in on SWA, which to me was a nightmare. The last time I looked the fare down for our travel date was $119.00 but that may be due to the increase in fuel price. This is our first time using them but I have heard great things from the many "snowbirds" here in the NE that travel back and forth.

 

[mkjmom]

Sorry if this is a silly question or already asked over and over... if you fly into Sanford, can you use Magical Express? I just checked slights on Allegiant and it would be almost $400 cheaper for my family of 4, but we would have to add 1 day to our stay and if we couldn't use ME it would cost us even more.

 

[goofy4tink]

Sorry if this is a silly question or already asked over and over... if you fly into Sanford, can you use Magical Express? I just checked slights on Allegiant and it would be almost $400 cheaper for my family of 4, but we would have to add 1 day to our stay and if we couldn't use ME it would cost us even more.

No, you can't use DME when you fly into Sanford. Allegiant does have a shuttle to WDW for about $21 pp each way I believe, or you could just rent a car for each way.

 

[Augustheather97]

we flew them in march....they were good...i only wish they would offer more flight times for oct....out of Portsmouth Nh.....UGH SOON

 

[Allison]

We had a great experience with Allegiant and Sanford in December. It was just my husband and I and no checked luggage. It seemed we were driving out of the parking lot with our rental car in 10 minutes. Sanford is very small and it is extremely easy to get in/out of.

The direct flight was a huge plus for us so we didn't mind a longer drive.

We are using them again in June with the 3 kids. We were able to rent a van for one day at a rate of $38 to get us to WDW. We will just return it the next day at the Dolphin car rental.

I highly recommend Allegiant and Sanford.