Allegiant Air moving out of Mesa Gateway?

[K-Train]

Do you have a link to an article about this?

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by bgray9

Allegiant isn't for everybody, but if you can work around their schedule of flying some places once or twice a week and you don't need a lot of their add-ons, they can be a good deal. We flew back for a funeral in MN awhile back on Allegiant and paid a small fraction of what we would have paid any other airline. Again, if person can work with the parameters they set up, they can be an attractive alternative, especially for going into some towns where few if any other airlines fly.

My friends are travelling from Des Moines to Las Vegas next month. For the heck of it I did a side by side comparison of them vs. booking on Orbitz. The result? Allegiant was $374 MORE for basically the same trip (had to adjust days of travel slightly since Allegiant doesn't have flights for the days they are actually travelling.) The basic flight was more on its own, then once I added a carryon (they only allow one personal item for free, anything else is more) for each traveler and chose their seats (picking the cheapest ones available), it came out to be nearly double the cost with just the basics.

[bgray9]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

My friends are travelling from Des Moines to Las Vegas next month. For the heck of it I did a side by side comparison of them vs. booking on Orbitz. The result? Allegiant was $374 MORE for basically the same trip (had to adjust days of travel slightly since Allegiant doesn't have flights for the days they are actually travelling.) The basic flight was more on its own, then once I added a carryon (they only allow one personal item for free, anything else is more) for each traveler and chose their seats (picking the cheapest ones available), it came out to be nearly double the cost with just the basics.

Sounds like that's a situation where it obviously doesn't make sense to fly Allegiant. Other situations, as my experience showed, it makes sense. I think part of it is you have to hit them at the right times. Their fares vary a lot, with them sometimes being quite expensive, but other times being inexpensive. Taking a quick glance, I could fly roundtrip to Grand Forks, ND (where we've flown before) for about $250, leaving around the end of July and returning a couple weeks later.

[sargeant79]

Allegiant is usually a little cheaper than what I can find flights on other airlines for, but they aren't worth it to me. Their flights have been delayed about 75% of the time I've flown them, and not just by 30-45 minutes. Almost every delay was 4-5 hours or more. Between that and the fact that their schedule is so limited, I swore them off a year and a half ago. I'll never fly them again.

[Montanama]

I can fly non-stop on Allegiant MT (MONTANA!! lol) to Mesa or make a stop in SLC on Delta. I compare the rates every time I come down (which is often) and always opt for Delta through PHX. By the time I rent my car on that end, schedule around their schedule, pay extra for bags, my seat, or god forbid having them print out my ticket at the airport, I'm not saving anything but but the time of the layover.

I like Sky Harbor just fine--taking the shuttle to the car rental center is probably the biggest downside in my view, but everything seems to run very smoothly and quickly in and out. I don't find it difficult nor unpleasant airport to navigate (though I've only ever used the Delta concourse).

A love of friends use Allegiant for that non-stop flight. If you're in the east valley it's a little more appealing. But all the folks I know who do use it complain about the nickel and diming. All of them. Just tell me the price, and don't make me spend an extra hour figuring out what it's going to cost me by the time I select my seat, etc. But the worst part of it is scheduling my trip around their limited schedule. Still, it's a great option to have for those of us up here in the land of extremely limited sky travel choices. I will continue to consider them, I suppose, and I'd be more likely to use them if they flew into Sky Harbor.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by K-Train

Do you have a link to an article about this?

Allegiant spat: Mesa airport OKs incentives for Elite, adds San Diego flights, tables Salt Lake City