Allegiant Airlines: My how they've grown!

Posted by George Hobica on Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Have you looked at the Allegiant Airlines route map lately? While other airlines are dropping routes, this scrappy low cost carrier is adding them. One of their latest cities is Grand Rapids, with nonstop service to Orlando/Sanford and St. Pete. With few exceptions, Allegiant connects smaller airports throughout the US to warm weather vacation and convention destinations, such as Las Vegas, Orlando, Mesa AZ (near Phoenix) and St. Petersburg.

Allegiant holds frequent "sneak" sales with fares as low as $15 each way, and constantly fiddles with its pricing, which certainly keeps us on our toes. Although they have many extra fees, most notably a $13.50 charge for booking online or $10 per segment by phone (no charge if you buy at the airport) their fares are consistently low, and the flights are almost all nonstops. Like Southwest, Airtran, and JetBlue, they also sell all their fares one way for half the round-trip price. And unusually, for $50 you can change the passenger name on a previously purchased ticket, so you can transfer the ticket if you can't use it.

Allegiant is also one of the few profitable airines in the US right now. They keep the bottom line healthy by selling vacation packages and ancillary services like shows (such as Blue Man Group), rental cars, and tours.

One thing to look out for when booking on their site: if you just want airfare and not a package, be sure to click the "Flight only" button on their booking engine. Enter your travel dates, and you'll automatically be shown a flexible date calendar showing which fares are available those months. Use the arrows to search subsequent months and you may find lower fares. We've found that they often launch their best sales on Saturdays.

Allegiant's fares do not appear on online travel agencies or fare aggregators, and are only sold on their own site or over their reservations line at 702-505-8888 (yep, it's not toll free). Airfarewatchdog researches and reports on their fares route by route seven days a week, 365 days a year.

Currently, Allegiant is accepting reservations through July 31, 2009. Sign up for their emails, since they sometimes send out promo codes that will clip a few dollars off of their regular fares.

And in case you were wondering, Airfarewatchdog has no monetary relationship with Allegiant. They don't advertise with us or pay us commissions. Heck, they probably don't even know we exist.

Categories: Airline Industry News

Is allegient going out of business?? I have 2 vouchers worth over $600 and they are NOT honoring them they will expire in JUNE!! also reservations cant be made on line to or from MAINE/FLORIDA nor have there been. I've looked everyday since feb 2011

by gem on Tuesday, May 10, 2011

I have flown Allegiant before and felt I got good service and customer care. What has happened to their "care" for their customers? The fact that there is no longer a toll-free number to call should have given me a hint that they are only interested in getting flights booked (on line) and then you will be ignored. Last night I "jumped" on a promotion as you have suggested and among other complaints, I feel I was duped into believing their offer of "buy one airfare/hotel package and your companion flies free". At no time during the booking process was I given a total price for our trip using the "promotion". Checking via another open computer window, I saw the "regular" price for two RTs and hotel. Since there was a notice (highlighted in red during the booking process) that I had received the promotional savings, I hit "SEND". Guess what? No savings! The one statement I recall was that they repeated: there are NO refunds so I felt I had been duped but didn't know how to fix my situation. My fault? My problem? Live and learn - for me and for anyone reading this! I decided to cut my losses and called long distance twice within two hours of booking because I wanted to drop the "TRIP FLEX" ($60) which was included without my approval to my total credit card payment. For those of us so uninformed, Allegiantair's TRIP FLEX merely allows one to change the name of a passenger if they contact Allegiantair at least 24 hours before a flight is scheduled to depart. In the small print in the FAQ section of their website, it is stated that TRIP FLEX charges may be reversed if they are contacted within 24 hours. Within one hour of booking I called and was told that due to "traffic" on their phones, my call would not be taken and it was suggested I call back later. A recorded message of course. Remember, they have no toll-free number. When I called back later (approximately 10 minutes before their office was to close) I was told my (long distance!) call would be handled in just less than 20 minutes. I then emailed my concerns and was surprised that I received a response this morning, about 7 hours later, only to be told that my issue could only be handled via telephone. Calling immediately after I received that response, I was again told they were too busy to handle my call, by a recorded message, of course. I have already filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau (even though Allegiant is not a member). Wish me luck but at this time I wish I had never heard of Allegiantair.

by wileyk on Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Hi tlhanger,

What do you mean by "kept locking me out"?

Spirit does have problems with their web site, they recently updated it to help prevent these problems from occurring by timing out a session. Also, inventory goes very fast, so as soon as you get an e-mail, get on their web site ASAP. In fact, I have Spirit's sale link as one of my home page tabs, just because sometimes the e-mail comes in slow. For example, check the time the e-mail came in vs. the time the sale started, if it's been hours since the sale started, then inventory may already be gone, especially for the prime dates like weekends.

@Matthew

by matthewsoft on Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I was a member of the 9 dollar fare club with Spirit. I could never book the flt, kept locking me out. They are not easy to reach in customer service either

by tlhanger on Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Hi George,

I'm sorry to hear about the problems with people not reading, as it's quite a simple thing to do, it's not like your web site is a novel, lol. I have noticed a few times that you guys link the wrong URL for Spirit's sale, so that could cause confusion as well. Most non-member RT fares are $40 more, which is the cost of the membership. However, I've seen non-member fares as low as $18 more, it varies.

Now if this person you're referring to was seeing the non-member discounted fares for $20-9 more each-way, then she could have easily booked the slightly more expensive fare or purchased the membership since inventory was obviously available. That said, if the regular airfare was showing, then I believe the $9 fare club fare is also gone. Although I haven't checked many times, I have logged in, seen $9 fares, logged out, and then seen the same fares for $9-20 more. According to Spirit, $9 fare club members have a better chance of getting the cheap seats, but I just think that's just to lure people to sign up. I signed up because the non-member fares were $40 more and I was buying 4 RT tickets at the time [now a total of 15 RT tickets].

So regardless of the airline, inventory disappears all the time and if that woman can't find it, too bad, she was just too late, and it's a dog eat world out there in case she's new, lol.

by matthewsoft on Wednesday, February 18, 2009

@Pondra

Sorry to hear about your problems, in the future I would book your tickets online as soon as you see them go on sale, most airlines' web sites don't have a booking fee [except Allegiant] and if you want to go with a travel agent, Priceline doesn't have a booking fee.

Even though you would save almost $30, when you consider the time/gas/etc expenses you would incur going to the airport, it's probably worth it just to buy online, especially since then your ticket price would be locked in.

Good luck next time!

@Matthew

by matthewsoft on Wednesday, February 18, 2009

@Revo

This web site isn't affiliated with Allegiant Airlines Corp, so they can't do anything to offer you a frequent flier program. Most airlines have a program like that, but not Allegiant. My advice to you is write to the company, as they probably take a look at the demand for that and may deploy such a program in the future if people like you ask for it.

Good luck!

@Matthew

by matthewsoft on Wednesday, February 18, 2009

i fly to phoenix mesa 3/4 times a year first time flew from rockford and loved it someone told me cedar rapids was closer so have been flying from there ever since. I just booked again for $29 depart and return $89 there fares are always alot lower than rockford. I always take a friend with and we both love rockford AP for several reasons but CR being closer by 20 mins and fares always cheap we go that route your fares are always the same never fluctuate always $198 no matter how far in advance we book. We always fly allegiant non stop and love them for several reasons also. Oh plus we have to pay either 2 or3 tolls on the way to rockford. Is there any way we can come back to you by offering frequent flyer miles or rewards or something? We both are booked for $305.00 round trip for two taxes and everything included and one checked bag at $30.00. We leave on thurs april 30 and return tues may 5th. What can you do?

by Revo on Tuesday, February 17, 2009

I wanted to let you know that I read and agree with your article about Allegiant Air. I have experienced a recent event in which they can change a fare in a matter of hours within the day. I am disappointed with the telephone customer service that I have received. I waited for weeks, almost a month for a fare to go down so that I can book it for my daugther and I. As I began to book the flight, they had several charges to encounter. One of the charges is that you have to pay to reserve your seat or you may be left outside at the airport. I did not want to risk not having a seat since my young daughter will travel with me. As the fare continued to increase, I tried to think of a way to decrease some of the cost in order to help with our vacation. I called the number listed on the web to inquire about the fees. I spoke to two reps at different times just to see if the same thing would be expressed. One thing that I found out is that I could go to the ticket counter and save almost 30.00. I thought this would be a way to help a single mom such as myself save some money. I wrote down the days and times that they told me the ticket counter for my city would be open to make purchases. I live about 20 min. from the airport and I had to go into work later that morning. I arrived at the airport only to find that Allegiant Air ticket counter was not open the days and times that were specified by their reps. As a matter of fact, they only seem to open when they have departure flights. I had someone from a neighboring airline ticket counter to help me. Needless to say that person was relaying a message to the supervisor of the airport ticket counters for my city. The sad part is the lady would not come from behind the door to talk to me. She had given the gentleman a card with Allegiant Air"s name and number for me to call. I had expressed to him that I had tried that number and that is where I received the ticket counter information. I left there a little baffled about what I had experienced and I thought well okay I will just book on line and be done with it. That morning, my computer was acting strange so I thought I would just wait until I got home to complete everything plus I had to travel on to work. When I arrived home, not only did the price of the ticket jumped back up, the price for the return flight went up also. I could not complete my process at work because of our internet policy and I truly need my job. So as you can see I need a service such as yours to alert me about the fare changes. I need for my fare to go back down below 150.00 RT as it was from Allegiant. I had been checking daily morning and evening for quite a while and just that one day the moment I needed was gone and I missed my opportunity by listening to reps from a company in which the right hand does not know what the left hand is doing. No the schedule for the ticket counter may not be their fault but with the economic woes it seems to me that the company could keep better tabs on what their airline hubs are doing. The price seemed to stay the same for weeks from my area. Other options that I had considered was to travel 3 hours away to catch a cheaper departing flight from Allegiant but car renting is not a good option for my plans because you cannot go one way and leave the car at the airport. I even tried using two different airlines for departing and returning but that became tedious. Well, I hope this is helpful information.

by Pondra on Sunday, January 25, 2009

Klaka, We love Southwest and Spirit too, and maybe we'll do a profile of them in the future.

by on Friday, January 23, 2009

Whoops, obviously I meant Airbus 319, not 391.
@Matthew

by matthewsoft on Friday, January 23, 2009

Matthew, you wouldn't believe the number of calls and emails with get with frustrated people complaining about not finding those 1 cent or $9 Spirit fares. (Of course, you're an expert fare finder so I'm sure you know how to play the game... shop early and shop widely).

I'm half thinking of not posting them anymore, because people just don't read. I got a call the other day from a woman who said we were "advertising" "fake" fares... she wasn't a member of the $9 Club but she was trying to book a $9 Club fare!! I said, "Madam... Madam... please... would you please listen... Madam... You HAVE to sign up for the $9 Club to get that fare...." "Where does it say that? It doesn't.... oh, must be a member of...." and her voice trails off. Anyway, I digress.

Another thing I like about Allegiant, however, is that I think they have a better chance of survival in a downturn than some other airlines. Not sure what their Q4 results were, but even Southwest lost money in the last quarter.

by on Friday, January 23, 2009

What about Southwest?

by klaka on Thursday, January 22, 2009

And Spirit Airlines?

by klaka on Thursday, January 22, 2009

@Sam79: You should really check out Southwest, their fees are few and far between, plus if the price goes down you can get the difference and use it on a future itinerary easily up to a year after booking.

I agree with Klaka about Spirit as well, they are amazing, they actually fly to the big airports [ORD, DCA, BOS, LGA, DTW], and have great $9 fare sales. Plus they fly all new Airbus 391 or 321 aircraft, which doesn't have the dreaded engines mounted on the tail like the MD-80 series Allegiant flies. I love Spirit, I've flown more than 9,182 miles with them, but only paid $112 in airfare [excluding taxes]. Pus that doesn't include two more $9 trips I have booked in February to FLL and then to STT. I love when I'm able to book $9 tickets to FLL, and then onto one of their many other destinations. FLL is a nice layover/stopover airport!

@Matthew

by matthewsoft on Friday, January 23, 2009

I fly Allegiant often to visit clients. They are a good airline in the most part. There are a few drawbacks. Fees are one but all airlines have fees of one kind or another. Also they usually have one flight a day going and coming. So if that flight is canceled your out of luck. All in all tho its the fares that count most to me since I am in business for myself and pay my own way. And i like the nonstops.

by Sam79 on Thursday, January 22, 2009

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