Anyone else an Allegiant Air Fan?

[FSUTribe76]

I've used them several times now and loved it for the cost. Sure they don't do multileg only direct flights and if you try to multileg it yourself and get left behind you're screwed and they nickel and dime you for food, drinks and storage space but it is SOOO cheap if you know how to pack properly.

If you don't care about being there on a specific day, you can fly from Vegas to Honolulu in the fall for $342 roundtrip. You can fly up to Bangor Maine for $140 rountrip like I just did. Seriously, I may just start randomly flying places wherever they have direct flights (I'm eyeballing Vermont/Montreal for $140 roundtrip).

Btw, if you don't know what I'm talking about, they're a bargain airline company that only sells direct via their website, no sales through Travelocity, Kayak, Priceline that cut through their profit.

 

[TexSkills]

My sister-in-law uses Allegiant every year when she comes down to Florida to see my in-laws. They live 45 minutes east of Fargo, ND and Allegiant has seasonal direct flights from Fargo into St Pete/Clearwater. Every year she bitches about the nitpicky extras they charge you for but she keeps going back. She's probably the cheapest person I've ever met.

 

[FSUTribe76]

My sister-in-law uses Allegiant every year when she comes down to Florida to see my in-laws. They live 45 minutes east of Fargo, ND and Allegiant has seasonal direct flights from Fargo into St Pete/Clearwater. Every year she bitches about the nitpicky extras they charge you for but she keeps going back. She's probably the cheapest person I've ever met.

As long as you know how to pack you only need one bag anyways so that's just an extra $50. So as opposed to doing what you do on the "real" airlines which is cram everything into the largest suitcase that can be crammed into an overhead along with the same size addon all while paying twice the price for the ticket, you just get one big bag and a scale to make sure you don't go over 40lbs and then you're only out $50. Plus you can always bring your own drinks and snacks and they'll give you "free ice". But if you forget it's $2 a soda. Not exactly movie theater prices but not Costco prices either.

 

[cfbfan23]

My sister-in-law uses Allegiant every year when she comes down to Florida to see my in-laws. They live 45 minutes east of Fargo, ND and Allegiant has seasonal direct flights from Fargo into St Pete/Clearwater. Every year she bitches about the nitpicky extras they charge you for but she keeps going back. She's probably the cheapest person I've ever met.

Change North Dakota to Indiana and I think we have the same S-I-L. Mine is married to a heart surgeon and she still makes a lot of her own clothes and I think gets her hair done at Supercuts.

 

[fsufantoo]

Holla out at me when they come to Tallahassee. Worst airport in the state.

Daughter and SIL used AA to fly from Tenn to Sanford/Orlando. Cheap, no frills.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Holla out at me when they come to Tallahassee. Worst airport in the state.

Daughter and SIL used AA to fly from Tenn to Sanford/Orlando. Cheap, no frills.

I would LOVE for them to come to Tally. They are miles better than Spirit and usually well below Southwest and other so called bargain carriers.

Truthfully I haven't noticed much difference in quality of plane and skill in flying or comfort in the seats over Delta or USAir the two I'm forced to fly out of Tally. The only nonbargain airline I've thought worth the money was Virgin Australia. "Free" decent quality wine and food, comfy seats and an open snack bar during the flight with free sandwiches and various salty snacks. I don't know if regular Virgin is as good as I've never flown with them, but Virgin Australia was five stars.

 

[nolealum99]

I would LOVE for them to come to Tally. They are miles better than Spirit and usually well below Southwest and other so called bargain carriers.

Truthfully I haven't noticed much difference in quality of plane and skill in flying or comfort in the seats over Delta or USAir the two I'm forced to fly out of Tally. The only nonbargain airline I've thought worth the money was Virgin Australia. "Free" decent quality wine and food, comfy seats and an open snack bar during the flight with free sandwiches and various salty snacks. I don't know if regular Virgin is as good as I've never flown with them, but Virgin Australia was five stars.

I flew virgin upper class from Newark to London. Unbelievable. I find it hard to believe that I could have a better flying experience. Of course we paid through the nose for it, but it was well worth it. I can't speak for the regular class as we did not mix with the common folk

 

[TexSkills]

As long as you know how to pack you only need one bag anyways so that's just an extra $50. So as opposed to doing what you do on the "real" airlines which is cram everything into the largest suitcase that can be crammed into an overhead along with the same size addon all while paying twice the price for the ticket, you just get one big bag and a scale to make sure you don't go over 40lbs and then you're only out $50. Plus you can always bring your own drinks and snacks and they'll give you "free ice". But if you forget it's $2 a soda. Not exactly movie theater prices but not Costco prices either.

When you're traveling with a pack rat wife, child and all the accompanying items a kid brings (stroller, car seat, etc), those extra fees start to tack on. We're going to Fargo later this summer and, for the hell of it, I priced out the flight on Allegiant from Sanford. With seat choice, bags, stroller, car seat, etc, the total price still came out to be $750 for the two of us. IIRC, Allegiant also charges for "lap infants". We bought tickets on American, where I don't pay a dime for checked bags because of my AAdvantage status, for $798 out of JAX. That's roundtrip for two people and a child under 2 can sit on your lap for free. If I throw in having to drive to Sanford and loss of my time, it's going to probably cost me more money than to fly American out of JAX.

There will probably come a situation where Allegiant is significantly cheaper but it wasn't in this case especially since I get free checked bags on American and they don't charge for checking car seats or umbrella strollers.

 

[TexSkills]

Change North Dakota to Indiana and I think we have the same S-I-L. Mine is married to a heart surgeon and she still makes a lot of her own clothes and I think gets her hair done at Supercuts.

My S-I-L is a lawyer who is taking a hiatus from work to stay at home but her husband is also a lawyer. They live in the boonies of northwestern Minnesota about 45 mins from Fargo but he makes a good amount of money since he's a partner or shareholder (can't remember which) in his firm. She's still a tightwad.

 

[YogiNole]

A few years back, I flew to Niagara falls from Sanford with my family. I think I paid in the region of $150/return ticket which made me really happy. They don't have too many choices on schedule so if you're flexible, you can get better deals

 

[FSUTribe76]

When you're traveling with a pack rat wife, child and all the accompanying items a kid brings (stroller, car seat, etc), those extra fees start to tack on. We're going to Fargo later this summer and, for the hell of it, I priced out the flight on Allegiant from Sanford. With seat choice, bags, stroller, car seat, etc, the total price still came out to be $750 for the two of us. IIRC, Allegiant also charges for "lap infants". We bought tickets on American, where I don't pay a dime for checked bags because of my AAdvantage status, for $798 out of JAX. That's roundtrip for two people and a child under 2 can sit on your lap for free. If I throw in having to drive to Sanford and loss of my time, it's going to probably cost me more money than to fly American out of JAX.

There will probably come a situation where Allegiant is significantly cheaper but it wasn't in this case especially since I get free checked bags on American and they don't charge for checking car seats or umbrella strollers.

Just out of idle curiosity I looked it up not because I'm playing one of those douchey gotcha Internet games but because my phone conference that was supposed to start at 4:30 got pushed back 15 mins so I was bored (although I've finished it after my call).

Anyways, I have no idea if what you said was true at some point and they changed it because it was an ahole manuever, but infants under their second birthday can sit in laps for free, one stroller per infant is free and you get an extra carryon diaper bag for free just for having a rugrat. So the only extra fees are however many bags you bring (and the food).

https://www.allegiantair.com/traveling-with-children

"Children who are between 15 days old and under the age of 2 years old will not be charged if they are not occupying a seat and held in their lap for the duration of the flight by a fare-paying passenger who is at least 15 years old."

"There is no charge for checking or gate checking one stroller per fare-paying passenger."

"Each fare-paying passenger traveling with a child may travel with a diaper bag at no charge. The diaper bag will not count as the passenger’s personal item or carry-on."

I picked random dates of July 23 with a return on the 30th and Orlando/Sanford to Fargo was $94 plus tax per leg, so basically $220 per person.

According to Kayak, the cheapest American Airline (which was the cheapest on Kayal btw) was $453 per person plus tax, so basically $490 per person.

So assuming you need 2 checked bags to go with your free stroller, diaper bag and 2 personal items, if you pay ahead of time it would be $25 per leg per bag so $100 and if you wait until check in at the airport it's $50 per leg per bag so $200.

But with my random check just now for July 23-30, Allegiant would set you back $188 per person plus tax and fees and then $100 for the bags. So $540 or thereabouts give or take the tax and fees for roundtrip for 2 people plus infant. For the American it's $980 assuming you get your bags for free.

So you'd save $440 for flying Allegiant on those dates versus the cheapest rate through Kayak.

So I'm not saying all this to be a douche, I'm trying to be helpful and point out that if they ever had the policies you think they did then they've changed them and it's MUCH cheaper.

 

[FSUTribe76]

A few years back, I flew to Niagara falls from Sanford with my family. I think I paid in the region of $150/return ticket which made me really happy. They don't have too many choices on schedule so if you're flexible, you can get better deals

Yeah, that's the key to Allegiant. If you plan your trip and THEN look for prices you can get screwed because they'll either not have it or it can be expensive (my recent trip to Maine I had no choice on the dates so one leg was the base $70 but the other was $138 as it was close to a full flight). So what you do is just look at where they fly and then look at the monthly cost list for those flights and pick two days. Then plan the Vacay around that. Then you'll get those mega savings.

Trust me, I've already mid planning on a trip to Honolulu as I've found cheap dates where it's well under $400 roundtrip back to Vegas.

 

[TexSkills]

Just out of idle curiosity I looked it up not because I'm playing one of those douchey gotcha Internet games but because my phone conference that was supposed to start at 4:30 got pushed back 15 mins so I was bored (although I've finished it after my call).

Anyways, I have no idea if what you said was true at some point and they changed it because it was an ahole manuever, but infants under their second birthday can sit in laps for free, one stroller per infant is free and you get an extra carryon diaper bag for free just for having a rugrat. So the only extra fees are however many bags you bring (and the food).

https://www.allegiantair.com/traveling-with-children

"Children who are between 15 days old and under the age of 2 years old will not be charged if they are not occupying a seat and held in their lap for the duration of the flight by a fare-paying passenger who is at least 15 years old."

"There is no charge for checking or gate checking one stroller per fare-paying passenger."

"Each fare-paying passenger traveling with a child may travel with a diaper bag at no charge. The diaper bag will not count as the passenger’s personal item or carry-on."

I picked random dates of July 23 with a return on the 30th and Orlando/Sanford to Fargo was $94 plus tax per leg, so basically $220 per person.

According to Kayak, the cheapest American Airline (which was the cheapest on Kayal btw) was $453 per person plus tax, so basically $490 per person.

So assuming you need 2 checked bags to go with your free stroller, diaper bag and 2 personal items, if you pay ahead of time it would be $25 per leg per bag so $100 and if you wait until check in at the airport it's $50 per leg per bag so $200.

But with my random check just now for July 23-30, Allegiant would set you back $188 per person plus tax and fees and then $100 for the bags. So $540 or thereabouts give or take the tax and fees for roundtrip for 2 people plus infant. For the American it's $980 assuming you get your bags for free.

So you'd save $440 for flying Allegiant on those dates versus the cheapest rate through Kayak.

So I'm not saying all this to be a douche, I'm trying to be helpful and point out that if they ever had the policies you think they did then they've changed them and it's MUCH cheaper.

You're assuming you know what my travel dates and what would be my inputs for extra charges. Since Allegiant has limited outbound and return options (Thursdays and Sundays), I input August 6th-August 16th and added fees for seats, carry on bags and the accompanying items, it came out to $750 for both of us. That was also assuming charge for stroller and car seat. I didn't know if they charged for strollers or lap infants, which is why I said "IIRC" . My only frame of reference for Allegiant is my S-I-L.

My wife and I booked our tickets on American for August 7th-15th and got two tickets for $798. As I said, I don't pay for checked bags on American so that is a charge I don't factor in.

Since I live in St Augustine, I also have to factor in extra costs for flying out of Sanford. Travel time to/from Sanford, extra days in the kennel for our dogs (since Allegiant outbound/return dates are limited), gas, etc. In the end, it doesn't really save us enough to make a difference. Under different circumstances it might but, in this case, it really doesn't.

 

[skramer100]

Tribe, fly virgin America. Book the class just below first, then 6 hours before flight you cs upgrade to first for 50$ best flight I've ever had. Lauderdale to sfo. Wine glass was never empty, served is breakfast, sushi snack, and lunch. Just phenomenal airline.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Tribe, fly virgin America. Book the class just below first, then 6 hours before flight you cs upgrade to first for 50$ best flight I've ever had. Lauderdale to sfo. Wine glass was never empty, served is breakfast, sushi snack, and lunch. Just phenomenal airline.

Next time I fly out of the country I probably will. I flew Delta last time to London and it blew!!!! Flying less than 6 hours or so I don't need to pay for comfort, but I was VERY glad I got Virgin Astralia for my flight to Sydney. Best flight I've been on par none.

 

[skramer100]

Next time I fly out of the country I probably will. I flew Delta last time to London and it blew!!!! Flying less than 6 hours or so I don't need to pay for comfort, but I was VERY glad I got Virgin Astralia for my flight to Sydney. Best flight I've been on par none.

Whenever I fly across country I see what flight they will give. Just an amazing airline all around.

 

[Lemon Thrower]

i believe Alegiant comes up when you search in Google flights, so you can compare their prices and schedule to everything else.

 

[DanC78]

I just checked a few flights that I do a few times a year and it was half the cost. whats the catch? Do I need to read all the above post to find that part out??? They seem so long

 

[BillWesJay]

i fly about 80k miles a year and would really like to take allegiant... but they don't have many options, and those they do have never mesh with my schedule.

 

[Bav803]

Never used them, but are a fan of them.

The fill a nice little niche. For those reading, they basically fly from obscure places and airports to vacation destinations (Orlando, Las Vegas, Tampa and Phoenix). So, if you are in Appleton WI, or Branson, MO, and want to take the kids to Disney, you don't have to connect, nor pay an arm and a leg (on Average).

They fill a nice little niche. It also comes in handy for friends of mine who fly to the ACC basketball tournament in Greensboro using them.

 

[FSUTribe76]

I just checked a few flights that I do a few times a year and it was half the cost. whats the catch? Do I need to read all the above post to find that part out??? They seem so long

No catch other than they typically use smaller airports like St Pete instead of Tampa and Sanford instead of Orlando Both of which are larger than the Tally airport anyways AND they nickel and dime you on luggage and food and drink ie no "free" soda and peanuts, it costs $2. But whoopty do, it usually it substantially below the costs of "regular" airlines and still well below that of other bargain airlines like Spirit and Southwest.

Oh and another catch is they do NOT do multileg flights. You have to string together your own single legs and if you miss one even if do to their fault so sad too bad, no refunds. So if you're going to do what I'm going to do when it gets cold again (cheap Allegiant flight to Honolulu), you need to fly out to Vegas a couple of days ahead of time just in case there's a flight delay or cancellation. I know...the horror of spending a day or two in Vegas before flying to Honolulu.

 

[seminoledq]

I just checked a few flights that I do a few times a year and it was half the cost. whats the catch? Do I need to read all the above post to find that part out??? They seem so long

The catch is you have to supply your own duct tape for the propellers.

 

[FSUTribe76]

The catch is you have to supply your own duct tape for the propellers.

Nah, the two planes I flew on recently were nicer than anything I've flown on with Delta or USAir out of Tally or Ft Lauderdale.

They ONLY fly the midsize Airbus 320s, Boeing 757s and McDonnel Douglas 80s. So they don't even have those tiny POS Brazilian and Canadian planes that USAir and Delta love to fly. Plus the seats are noticeably more comfortable than Delta and USAir although (and it could be my imagination) they don't seem to lean back as much.

 

[FSUTribe76]

Delta has a bunch of %*^ 717s they are renting from AirTran and a ton of the 737s, plus a bunch of the tiny and #*%* little Canadian Bombardiers and Brazilian Embraers which are debatably worse. Delta has 462 of those tiny POS and and about 250 other older worse than Allegiant planes and only about 500 as good or better.

And that's assuming you don't get a Delta "partner" small company with its little prop planes.

 

[DFSNOLE]

Looked up to see if they go to Pitt where my wife travels a couple of times a year to see her folks. Problem is the closest airport they fly out of for us is 4 hours away in Jacksonville.

 

[More Kirk Less Spock]

wife loves it.

 

[seminoledq]

Might have just became less of a fan
Pilots are concerned

 

[FSUTribe76]

Might have just became less of a fan
Pilots are concerned

I've already looked this up because my mom is always paranoid and knows I fly with them when possible. Eh, that's just part of their ongoing labor dispute as they have threatened to strike for more money. They're using an incident where in June a flight was forced back in St Pete due to a smoking engine and six people claimed they were hurt when the plane landed (I know how BS this is, I was on a USAIR plane that landed hard enough to snap off two of its four wheels on one leg and everyone was actually just fine but when I read about it the next day about a dozen people claimed they were "injured"). But I believe that's only the second time in the lifespan of the company that there has been claims of injury. Then they try to trump up 65 times in 6 months that a plane either turned around OR was held on the ground due to mechanical issues (most of them). That sounds like a lot in isolation, but the government transportation statistics say that industry wide the number of midair diversions for technical issues is 0.59% on average and that 5.9% are held up or significantly delayed due to technical issues with only about 82% of flights occurring seamlessly with no delays for any reasons (weather is a huge chunk). So 65 in six months given that they have 100 different flights many of them daily or multiple times a day doesn't sound like they're even meeting the industry average for problems.

And those universal statistics work out for me personally give or take. My "crash" really just a hard landing in a blizzard was on USAir I believe, I had a flight diverted on Delta and been delayed countless times for mechanical issues on Delta. So really my experience with Delta is WAY WORSE than industry averages. Meanwhile so far (only 8 flights) we've only had 1 delay and it was due to weather in Maine.

 

[YogiNole]

I was trying to book a cheap one to New Orleans but these recent Allegiant troubles ain't helping with the paranoid news consuming missus