Allegiant Airlines: worth the discount?
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I am a frequent (domestic) flyer, and always enjoy flying an airline for the first time. There are few airlines I have not flown, mostly limited to newer discount airlines such as Allegiant Airlines. My wife and I got the opportunity to fly Allegiant Air from Clearwater / St. Petersburg International Airport to Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Tennessee this past holiday weekend to visit my parents at their Cabin in North Carolina. Prior to Allegiant Air offering this route, we were stuck flying US Airways into Charlotte NC and then having to drive 2 ½ hours north.
Allegiant Airlines is a discount airline that primarily serves vacation spots and smaller regional airports. Like most discount airlines, they only offer one class of service, have a limited flight schedule, and are free of most frills. They are big on fees, such as a fee for selecting your seat, priority boarding, checked luggage, and even charging for drinks on board ($2.00 for a Coke). However, their fares are usually very low, sometimes as low as $20.00 each way, and they service areas that some of the major airlines do not.
Their fleet consists of mostly MD-80s (2 -3 seat configuration). They have very nice leather seats, but they do have the typical cramped coach cabin (almost all airlines do now). Their seats do not recline, which I personally don’t mind (I find it rude to recline you seat in coach for short flights). Also, their seat backs have no seat back pockets, which bothered me because I enjoy putting commonly used things (phone, water bottle) in the seat back pocket during flight.
All this being said, would I recommend them? Yes! They offer ridiculously discounted fees; have friendly customer service & in-flight crew, offer direct flights where other carriers don’t, and they are even on Twitter! You can forego the conventional in-flight amenities for low fares and direct flights to more regional locations. Some advice – do fork over the seat fee in advance for peace of mind, and pack light with carry-on, I found their overhead bin space to be much smaller in comparison with other airlines.
PS - Not that I *endorse* using electronic devices below 10,000 feet, but I did film the take off and landing; see it on YouTube.
4 Comments
Felix Burgos
July 6th, 2009
at 7:38pm
David, great job reviewing this airline. Although the cabin space did look cramped the price is unbeatable and you get service to a lot of airports that other airlines don’t service. I will be flying Continenal tomorrow to Puerto Rico so hopefully my flying experience is as good as yours was.
JB
July 7th, 2009
at 8:28am
I agree with the review. I enjoy flying the direct flights with Allegiant. I always feel it is comparable to “traveling with friends” because it is never the big hustle of the bigger airlines and they take good care of you.
JD
July 27th, 2009
at 1:52pm
Allegiant Airlines has the rudest staff of any airline I have ever dealt with, and I have been a frequent flier since I was 2 and am myself the daughter of an airline employee! My daughter was flying home from visiting her cousin in Vegas. She got to the counter in plenty of time, but due to slow service was 5 minutes late for the 45 minute window. The employee refused to help her, made her feel like a criminal, and since they would NOT let her get on the flight, made her miss two days of work since the next available flight was THREE DAYS later! (What kind of podunk airline only flies twice a week to VEGAS??) She had her phone on when she was speaking to the supervisor, Richard, at the counter, so I heard the whole conversation. If I had been able to reach through that phone I would have slapped that a@@! Every airline I have ever dealt with teaches their employees to be polite, even when the customer is not. My daughter was crying, not yelling, and that a@@ treated her so rudely!! If Allegiant can’t provide basic customer service, then they don’t need to have customers! They have certainly lost all of our business and I intend to extend that to all of our very large family, friends, and coworkers. DO NOT FLY ALLEGIANT AIRLINES!
Sonja Tillberg
September 28th, 2009
at 2:09pm
Hello:
Just a little ‘concerned comment’ I would like to make. My husband and I flew on Allegiant Airlines for the first time leaving Bellingham enroute to Las Vegas September 7/09. Unhappily we ended up having a 5 hour delay at Bellingham. Plus it was quite scary to some of us as we were in full thrust going down the runway when the captain shut everything down, braked and turned around. The captain informed us that he wasn’t getting the proper readings on some of the printouts. A few of us had our concerns about returning to the same plane but all finally went well after the 5 hours wait and we finally took off (in the same plane). Happily, we only had 1/2 hour delay on our return. However, yesterday our daughter and son in law had a 6 hour delay in Las Vegas enroute to Bellingham and found out their were various things going wrong mechanically. They deplaned a couple of times I believe for further maintenance. I also knew our brother in law and wife had at least a 4 hour delay for mechanical problems in the spring. These are just a few we know of so wondering why all the mechanical problems just before flights are supposedly to take off?????
My husband and I have always flown from Seattle to our various destinations previously and we now feel after having these concerns that we should continue to do that. This is too bad since your Bellingham airport is a lot closer.
Here’s to ‘happier flights’!!!