OK, how bad is Allegiant?

[vegas]

I mean, I know it's bad, but is it THAT bad.  I just found r/t tickets for $300 TOTAL from Vegas to Hawaii and I'm considering booking.  It's literally half the cost of Hawaiian.  It's a direct flight so no need to change planes.  I know they charge for seats but when I called they said they never separate kids from their parents so DH and I may not be sitting together but each of us would be with one of the kids even if we don't pay extra for pre-assigned seats.  And we usually take food and entertainment on board so I'm ok that it isn't provided.  I guess I'm most worried about their poor record for being on time and having delays/mechanical issues/cancellations, etc.  Just wondering if anyone had first hand experience.

[belle55]

I personally will not fly them. Yes, they are cheap. But you get what you pay for. The last time my dad booked allegiant to come visit us, he sat in the airport for 6 hours on a "mechanical issues" delay. Every other allegiant flight that day out of their airport was delayed for mechanical issues and they only gave out a $20 voucher for food. Some were delayed more than 12 hours. It really messed up our weekend plans and was incredibly frustrating, because he had no other options for booking (just one of this particular flight per day). My parents fly them regularly (I don't know why) and every single time they have some sort of issue. It has never been a smooth experience. Maybe others have had good luck, but it has not been my experience.

[caddywompus]

I know people that fly between Canada & Arizona a lot, and they have never had any problems with Allegiant. They have gotten some really cheap flights ($50 each way!), but the # of flights/day is really limited.

[vegas]

Apr 18, 2014 21:33:11 GMT -5 caddywompus said:

I know people that fly between Canada & Arizona a lot, and they have never had any problems with Allegiant. They have gotten some really cheap flights ($50 each way!), but the # of flights/day is really limited.

The flight times actually work out really well for us.  

We may be taking the trip with my husband's business partner and his wife who happens to work for Allegiant.  I'm sure it won't make a huge difference that she works there, but it's something!

[caddywompus]

I would go for it. As long as you are not super crunched for time (in case there are delays) I think it would be worth it to save that much money.

[irishbride2]

We fly them all. the.time. They have two flights out of the airport 15 minutes from us that go to random airports that we have to fly to a lot. Its fantastic.

They are fabulous for kids. I never feel guilty if one has a melt down, lol.

[zitiqueen]

We never had a problem flying them to Las Vegas in nearly ten years, but they ruined enough Florida vacations for us that we've given up on them and now fly Southwest. Price-wise, once you add up all of the nickel-and-diming that Allegiant does, the cost is about the same.

[G22]

My SIL flew from Ohio to Florida with them last month. She was supposed to fly home on a Tuesday, and when she showed up for her flight got told "Oh we changed your flight time/day to yesterday (Monday) and sent an email to everyone telling them." She never got an email and was screwed out of flight, and apparently wasn't the only one because other travelers were trying to check in a day later as well.

Her story is enough for me to avoid Allegiant unless is a damn good flight deal. I don't know if she got any compensation later, but she certainly didn't before making it back home.

[vegas]

Apr 19, 2014 17:58:03 GMT -5 zitiqueen said:

We never had a problem flying them to Las Vegas in nearly ten years, but they ruined enough Florida vacations for us that we've given up on them and now fly Southwest. Price-wise, once you add up all of the nickel-and-diming that Allegiant does, the cost is about the same.

See that's what I thought but even after luggage fees and seat fees we'd still be saving $300 each, or $1200 for the family. That's really the only reason I'm considering it. Their on time and delay/cancellation rates look horrible.

[littlemisssunshine]

I've flown Allegiant about 10 times in the past several years and honestly have never had a problem. Nothing was every cancelled, and I had maybe one delay, but nothing bad. They aren't very nice, the planes aren't too terribly clean, but its cheap. I would definitely fly them again.

I liked them better when they didn't charge for carry on luggage, but for a short weekend trip I've mastered the art of packing everything into one large purse.

[jennybee1018]

My SIL used to fly them often when she lived in LA, because she could get cheap fares to Montana, where my IL's live. We used them once (also from LA to Montana) and didn't have any issues at all.

I think it's worth a try for the cheap airfare!

[water*drop]

They pushed our flight to Vegas back by 12 hours and our flight home up by 12 hours a couple of weeks before we left (basically, there were two scheduled flights each way per day, and they combined them into one). Considering that we were only going to be gone from Thursday morning until Sunday night, that made a huge difference in our vacation time. The flights were cheap and direct, but I wouldn't do it again unless we had a lot of time at our destination and lots of flexibility in our plans to accommodate issues like that.

[wise_rita]

Apr 19, 2014 19:04:33 GMT -5 G22 said:

My SIL flew from Ohio to Florida with them last month. She was supposed to fly home on a Tuesday, and when she showed up for her flight got told "Oh we changed your flight time/day to yesterday (Monday) and sent an email to everyone telling them." She never got an email and was screwed out of flight, and apparently wasn't the only one because other travelers were trying to check in a day later as well.


OMG! That's traumatizing.

That happened to me once on Tap Portugal but they booked us right on the next flight. They righted their wrong.

[zitiqueen]

Apr 22, 2014 5:22:32 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

Apr 19, 2014 19:04:33 GMT -5 G22 said:

My SIL flew from Ohio to Florida with them last month. She was supposed to fly home on a Tuesday, and when she showed up for her flight got told "Oh we changed your flight time/day to yesterday (Monday) and sent an email to everyone telling them." She never got an email and was screwed out of flight, and apparently wasn't the only one because other travelers were trying to check in a day later as well.


OMG! That's traumatizing.

That happened to me once on Tap Portugal but they booked us right on the next flight. They righted their wrong.

That's part of the fun with Allegiant. They rarely right their wrongs, unless it's in the form of a $50 voucher good on a future flight with them. That's what we got after a nine-hour delay in a two-gate airport in Florida a couple years ago. No food, no water, but here's $50 you have to use with us within six months. They also aren't buddies with any other airlines, so if your flight gets cancelled, too bad.

[thelurkylulu]

We flew with them once. They had some computer issues the morning we checked in and it took FOREVER, but the flight itself was perfectly fine and the staff was very nice. I don't know that I would use them to book a trip to Hawaii (given the horrific cancellation stories I've heard from others) but if you do, I'd definitely have a back up plan in place.