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Anyone ever flown them? I always fly United but air over the holidays, Newark to Fort Myers is crazy so we were going to drive..ugh ugh
Then my cousin sent a link for Allegiant but I've never heard of them and can't seem to find much info except for their recent emergency slide issue.
I can book a round trip for 2 on Allegiant from Allentown PA to Punta Gorda FL for $551.00 total for two. Are they flying planes that are 50 years old??
I don't mind a budget no frills but want to fly on safe aircraft.
Allegiant and Spirit appear to be 21st Century copies of PEOPLExpress from the 1980's: fly some oddball routes, offer low base fares but pile on a cacophony of a-la carte charges. Of course the end result is that often times the fare you pay ends up being the same or close to the same as had you flown one of the majors.
It's marketing psychology at its finest. Spirits CEO said something to the effect of "you can pay me now or you can pay me later. Either way, I'll get your money. If I can't charge you $200 upfront, then I'll lure you in with a $100 starter fare and you'll voluntarily pay $100 in add-on fees. So at the end of the trip, you still paid."
This of course didn't go over well with the Expedia junkies who like to pat themselves on the back thinking they are savvy shoppers and score hounds, but he's absolutely right: their stuffed planes and sky-high profits prove it. So both airlines are onto something. And Don Burr, who founded "People" back in the '80's should be credited as the inventor of this concept. Had he not gotten carried away with his own success and gotten so over leveraged and decide to compete with the majors on their bread-and-butter mainline routes, they might still be here today.
And Allegiants route map makes them look a lot bigger than they really are. Most of their flights are less than daily operations with most being a once, twice, or thrice weekly operation. Their 'planes seem to be dedicated more to a milk-run type of service than a dedicated hub and spoke operation. This allows them to yes, cover more ground but at the expense of flexibility. Basically if you want to fly them, you go when THEY say you go. Not necessarily when YOU want.
My sister-in-law flew recently from NW Arkansas (XNA) to Orlando Sanford. They only have two flights per week on that route. While she got an outstanding deal, about $200 per person R/T, she never mentioned all the little fees added to the price of a ticket, including the credit card charge. When she got to the airport the aircraft was broken. The next flight was four days later. Fortunately the aircraft was THERE and needed to be fixed to put it back into Allegiant's system, so they left the next morning. The added expenses (bag fees, a can of soda, credit card fees) added up to over $100 R/T. Then there was an hour-long bus run ($40 each way per person) from Sanford to their Disney World area hotel, much more than the $10 fare from MCO.
All legs are advertised as non-stop, but as mentioned above, only when THEY say you go.
We flew them exclusively for years to LV and Sanford last year.
They have good options that you can pay extra for and I normally take advantage of them. Priority seating, etc.
We're going to LV in November and are flying Southwest.
Edit: I should explain this. We are changing to Southwest because we can pick a different return day. Because Allegiant doesn't fly from LV to here on a Saturday we went with Southwest. Monetarily it was a toss up.
If you choose Allegiant make sure you understand the carry on restrictions. Their allowable suitcase size for the overhead is small.
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All legs are advertised as non-stop, but as mentioned above, only when THEY say you go.
This is an odd statement, That is true for any airline. I don't know of a single one that will allow you to tell them when to take off.
I fly only private jet (including international flights!) It gets me away from the riff-raff (even in first class, you do not know what "types" you will encounter), and as one person mentioned, gives me the freedom to leave when *I* want to, rather than when the airline wants me to. More expensive? Yes. But for those to whom money is no object, it doesn't matter.
I fly only private jet (including international flights!) It gets me away from the riff-raff (even in first class, you do not know what "types" you will encounter), and as one person mentioned, gives me the freedom to leave when *I* want to, rather than when the airline wants me to. More expensive? Yes. But for those to whom money is no object, it doesn't matter.
I agree with everything you said. But a person comparing a ticket on Allegient, Spirit, Southwest, etc isn't the same person who's looking at signing a contract with XOJet, FlexJet, NetJets, etc...simply a different caliber of money...aka, the person who's buying this ticket is likely not complaining about the cost of airfare to Naples, or anywhere else on one of legacy carriers.
the person buying the ticket on one of the low cost carriers, is likely not one who'll upgrade to 1st class, or even business class on the majority of airline flights...some can't afford it, and the others are looking for bargain basement pricing, and upgrading to 1st class negates that purpose.
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