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Reader Aimee recently shared a tip about a newish low-budget air carrier called Allegiant Air. They specialize in flying from major cities to a lot of little ones. I’ve never flown Allegiant and am curious if it is a good deal. Aimee said:
I just wanted to let you know about this crazy Airline. They have airfare for like $15 each way. You just have to fly on specific dates and they only fly to certain locations but it is totally a fun way to travel and see parts of America for cheap.
I am not affiliated with the airline. My brother flies it with his wife regularly to Vegas. He’s mentioned the cheap airfair and that it is just like a regular airline. I have not flown it yet but I’m looking to soon.
Have you flown Allegiant Air? Are the low prices the real deal – or is the supply limited? Do high fees offset the super low base fares?
Welcome to Bargain Babe! I’m Mara, and I’m so glad you’re here. I am an obsessive bargain hunter and penny pincher, and I am determined to live a full life without EVER paying full price.
yep – Allegiant is awesome – they fly to Orlando from Greenville SC for $100 round trip – fun way to get to Disney World cheap!
My Mom lives in Florida and Allegiant Air use to fly to Sanford, now we use Orlando. A few things about the airline. Yes, they are cheap… BUT they do charge for bags. You get the first bag free and your carry on is no charge. Also, car seats are no charge.
They also will charge you to choose your seats! The worst thing about this airline is that they do not allow people with strollers/car seats to board first. That’s considered priority boarding, which is an extra fee. So after allowing most people to board, I had to get through the isles with my baby, my 6 year old, a car seat and all our bags. The people in the first 12 rows were not happy with us at all.
I am traveling this airline again (not by choice, going with family) here are some of the fees I paid:
Round trip Allentown to Orlando $109.98
Seat selection roundtrip $27.98
Priority Boarding $19.98
All other fees, total roundtrip for 1 seat was $210.31
Yes but you have to be very extremely careful because they want to charge you for absolutely everything! Including the right to have reserved seats! You have to uncheck a box on the reservation form, I forget what it is, to keep from automatically paying extra.
I clicked the red URL provided to see what it cost to go to Vegas. Vegas wasn’t even listed, yet Aimee mentioned it. ????
My boss flies it from LA to Montana a lot says it is great but I believe you have two days a week to fly but the price us good.
I used Allegiant last year to fly from Eugene, OR, to Las Vegas. Yes, reasonable fares can be found. However, if you buy online you are charged extra. But you can only buy from the ticket counter for one hour after a departing flight. The charge extra for everything. No free beverage service, either.
Doesn’t quite sound worth it. I’m all for saving money, but this sounds like more hassle than anything else.
I like the airline. I use it to go to the Orlando area. I don’t pay for priority boarding, carry on bag, or a preassigned seats. So the only extra fee is a service fee of about $7.50 for the tickets. In my area, a possible short coming of the airline is that it has just one flight each day to a destination and it only has service to that site about three days a week. Other than that, the prices are real.
Diane, I would guess that they have to have a flight FROM your city to Las Vegas otherwise it won’t show. If not, when you enter your departure city, they will only show you where the flights go to from there. They don’t even fly out of Charlotte NC so I can’t use them at all.
Allegiant was a god-send for my family. i live in orlando but my family lives in east tenn where there is a very small airport. allegiant flies directly there about 3x a week. when my dad got sick with cancer, i started flying up with my baby as often as i could. now that he’s passed i still visit my mom and family frequently. my daughter is 3 now and she’s been on more than 15 round trip flights! all of them were on allegiant except for 2 on southwest. allegiant does nickel and dime you but it’s still far cheaper than the alternative. our last flight ended up being $150ish for two of us with taxes and fees and one bag. another perk is that the planes are big. before allegiant we’d have to fly on practically a puddle jumper on delta and it was terrifying. allegiant’s planes are nice and big so you don’t feel the turbulence much at all. they’re almost always on time too!
I love the airlines. Disappointed when it stopped flying from Topeka. Just saw that it flies to Phoenix!!!!
I would rather be nickeled and dimed than pay “luxury” of a “real airline experience”. I got over the “newcomer haze” quickly when I only spent $100 to see my family instead of the $350 normal round trip.
A lot of people seem to agree that Allegiant can be a great deal -especially if you avoid the extra fees. Thanks for all this feedback.
Yes, it CAN be a great deal. Depending on how far you want to drive to your nearest Allegiant Air Carrier to get a direct flight. For my brother’s wedding in Vegas it was a great deal. Book a flight and you got 2 night stay free in Vegas. These deals aren’t advertised unless you are in the television viewing area of the carrier. Also you have to make sure you know to click returning flight because prices are advertised as one-ways. Also fees do add up due to luggage charges and a few other charges listed in fine print.
Allegiant Air is such a fantastic way to get to Florida mostly. I have only ever had great things to say about them. Yes you have to pay for your luggage if you take it, and you get your seat assignment when you check in which can be bad if you are carrying on luggage as the people in the front of the plane board last and there’s not a lot of space to put luggage when pretty much everyone who flies Allegiant carries on one of the rolling suitcases. But if you want to shell out the extra 10 dollars you can pick your seat and do away with that worry. Other than that, I can’t complain about a direct flight from our smaller TN airports to several great FL destinations.