We have done it twice now and had a good experience both times (hopefully I didn't just jinx you!). Nashville is a great town and 3 days is about the perfect amount of time - at least for an old man like me.
How bad is Allegiant?
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Yeah its really great. They did a great job with it. Kid found a small indoor playground there last time and I thought that idea was genius.
We got a direct round trip flight to the Orange County airport for a Disneyland trip around Thanksgiving. Will be flying with a 3 year old and little one will turn 1 while we're there. I'll happily take a cheap 'nickel and dime' airline for a direct flight. Just be aware of what you're dealing with going into it.
With those ages though, remember to brings treats and Allegiant will ding you if you use overhead but under the seat is free.
Yep! After the last trip before kid #2 was born we've sworn off having anything beyond a backpack on the plane for us anyway, at least until we're past the full car-seat stage. Too much **** to lug through the airport. Wife was 8 months pregnant and I played pack mule
Realististically, economy flying on any airline is crowded, underserved, and uncomfortable. Might as well save the money with Allegiant. The only measurable difference, IMO, is that Allegiant doesn't offer a headrest entertainment system. So download some movies on your phone or pad.
We need to return to a day when air travel wasn't so accessible. Half the people flying Allegiant or Spirit should be confined to ground transportation only.
We had flights booked from DSM to LA last November at roughly $1K. They emailed us less than a week in advance that our return flight was cancelled. Tried to see if we could come back 1-3 days on either side and those flights were also cancelled. We ended up having to book last minute tickets on Delta for almost $4K. Found out from coworkers they had similar things happen in Oct, Nov, Dec last year.
It should be. It's brand new.
Anything was better than the POS we had. No food, no bathrooms, no ******* seating at the gates, and there was no room beyond security. Just wish that had done it 25+ years ago and put it on the west side of the metro. It would have made light rails to DT, JoCo, and Lawrence viable. But that ship sailed long ago.
As I mentioned earlier - this is the biggest roll of the dice with Allegiant. They do this less frequently with their newer fleet but when it happens, it sucks. At least they gave you notice because I and others have had it happen the day of departure or the day of the return flight and you either 1) scramble to find another way, 2) cancel your trip, or 3) if it happens on your return flight, its a panic to find a way home. You can't just jump on later flight like you can with most airlines.
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This is 100% spot on. Those saying Allegiant isn't any different than the major carriers like United, American, and Delta must not fly very much. I do 60-100 flights per year and its a huge difference. Allegiant has minimal to no flexibility, small seats, no frills, greatly reduced flight schedule, can't swap planes out when something goes wrong, and their customer service will not help you out if they do cancel a flight.
When everything goes smoothly, Allegiant is fine. But if you get caught in delays or cancellations, it really, really sucks. But its cheap and flies direct to a lot of places and it has its place. Just be aware of the pitfalls with them.
I would agree with this. We certainly won't ever use them again on a big planned vacation like Florida or California. The only time I would use them going forward would be if we were looking for a really cheap long weekend to Vegas and didn't care if it got cancelled.
Some of the planes are sketchy AF, but Allegiant can be a life saver for both cheap flights AND the ability to get to destinations otherwise inaccessible by other carriers.
My brother lives in Phx and my sister, at one time, lived near Glenwood Springs. I wanted to spend time with both but did not want to drive or rent a car. While Allegiant didn't fly to Grand Junction from Phx they did fly out of McCarron. I booked a SW flight (cheap) to Vegas from PHX, stayed at a cheap Airbnb, then flew Allegiant to Grand Junction in the morning. Pretty sure I did everything for under $250 dollars. It was probably the oldest plane I've flown on by about 20 years.
My brother lives in Phx and my sister, at one time, lived near Glenwood Springs. I wanted to spend time with both but did not want to drive or rent a car. While Allegiant didn't fly to Grand Junction from Phx they did fly out of McCarron. I booked a SW flight (cheap) to Vegas from PHX, stayed at a cheap Airbnb, then flew Allegiant to Grand Junction in the morning. Pretty sure I did everything for under $250 dollars. It was probably the oldest plane I've flown on by about 20 years.
Yep, agree. I still take a random Allegiant flight because its direct and might have better flight times. We'll take it to Vegas every now and then but always book a back up SW flight for later in the day or the next day because we learned the hard way with Allegiant twice.
When Allegiant first started offering direct to Vegas flights from here, they "celebrated" by having even more cheap fares and discounted stays in Vegas hotels. Well, my wife and I decided to give it a try. We booked a flight and a stay at the Bellagio through Allegiant. 4 nights or something like that. Flight was supposed to leave around 7:00 pm, getting us to Vegas around 9:00 or something. Flight from Vegas had some issues, and they decide instead of flying from Vegas to Cedar Rapids they'd go to Milwaukee. Then everyone can sit tight while they replace some parts. Then they will come back to Cedar Rapids, drop off, board Vegas bound passengers and fly back to Vegas. Flight ends up leaving Cedar Rapids about 1:00 am. Lands in Vegas about 3:00 am. So the first night of the trip isn't really a night in the hotel we booked. Allegiant wouldn't do a thing about it. We had booked the flight and the hotel as a package through Allegiant. Lost a night, lost hours of day 1 in Las Vegas.
Anyway, no, never again Allegiant.
Anyway, no, never again Allegiant.
Point taken. I don't fly frequently enough to know this, and Allegiant has worked every time I've flown it.
I do know that my elderly and exceedingly frugal parents will only fly Allegiant to visit us. But then, dad would probably ride in the cargo hold of a biplane if it'd save him $50.
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If you get a chuckle out of pointing out the aircraft is so old there are still ashtrays in the armrests then Allegiant might be fun once.
Our only bad SoCal experience was American out of John Wayne to Minneapolis. No reason given for four hour delay or much info even, said never fear, we will get you on the later connection to DM. At least in 2008, there was no food to be found at Minneapolis airport on a Sunday night. They did give you free beverages then so about the time they gave us some juice at the back of the plane, they were picking up for our descent to DM.
