Allegiant Air..r They Kidding Me!!!!

[irish]

okay, i thought i had seen it all but the experience i just had booking with ALLEGIANT AIR gives new meaning to the word INSANITY.
i booked a flight for my son, dil, and 2 grand kids for our march vacation.so i'm on the site checking prices and i THINK i am getting a good deal UNTIL i get to the screen where i pick the seats. then i find out i have to pay an XTRA CHARGE TO ACTUALLY HAVE A SEAT ON THE PLANE!!! what the h*ll was the original price quote for?? so i could sit on the floor in the aisle so i pick the cheapest seats and that's $11.00 PER SEAT, PER PERSON x 4=$44.00 EACH WAY. then i get to the next screen and they want to know HOW MANY BAGS WILL BE CHECKED. sooo for 1 bag PER PERSON another $30.00 x4=$120.00.
with all the EXTRA charges(seats, bags, federal taxes, segment fees, 911 security fees, PFC(WHAT THE HECK IS THAT) my cheap fare of $960.00 now comes to $1374.00!!!! ARE THEY KIDDING ME!!! can't wait to see what the charge is IF THEY ACTUALLY WANT TO BREATH THE AIR ON THE PLANE WHILE FLYING TO FLORIDA. TOTALLY UNBELIEVABLE

[PigsDad]

Those charges are just for pre-assigned seats. You can always show up at the airport and get your seats assigned when you check in for free, but there is no guarantee that you will be seated together.

As w/ any airline reservation, you really have to compare all of the "extra" charges. Allegiant is not the only airline that "hides" those charges until you get further in the reservation process, but they are one of the worst.

Bottom line: Was the total cost of $1374 better than you could do w/ other airlines?

Kurt

[Dave M]

Also, that charge for bags is common on many U.S. airlines now, with only a few exceptions (such as Southwest). Most airlines don't assess the baggage fee until you get to the airport, which can really be disconcerting if you aren't prepared for it!

Welcome to the new world ("insanity") of flying on U.S. airlines!

[mqlet]

Fly Southwest!

[Dori]

I second SW or,since you are in NY, Jetblue flies out of JFK. They are also a very good airline.

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by PigsDad

Those charges are just for pre-assigned seats. You can always show up at the airport and get your seats assigned when you check in for free, but there is no guarantee that you will be seated together.

As w/ any airline reservation, you really have to compare all of the "extra" charges. Allegiant is not the only airline that "hides" those charges until you get further in the reservation process, but they are one of the worst.

Bottom line: Was the total cost of $1374 better than you could do w/ other airlines?

Kurt

Originally Posted by Dave M

Also, that charge for bags is common on many U.S. airlines now, with only a few exceptions (such as Southwest). Most airlines don't assess the baggage fee until you get to the airport, which can really be disconcerting if you aren't prepared for it!

Welcome to the new world ("insanity") of flying on U.S. airlines!

With Allgiant, ALL seats are now pre-assigned and you are charged the extra fee. You don't have a choice anymore. If you don't want to select a seat, they'll select it for you and charge you the fee. In our case, going to Vegas that fee is $14 each way.

Allgiant also use to give you priorty boarding if you wanted to select and pay for you seat. Now, since they charge everyone for their seat, you have to pay an additional $7.50 each way for priorty boarding.

All bags are now $15 each way or $30 round trip, which has become standard for pretty much all the major airlines.

Allgiant has become so expensive to fly with all their "extra" required charges that they're not much of an option for us anymore. Couple the fact that they're as expensive as most of the majors with the fact that they're a charter airline, which can drop the route at anytime and only have to give you a refund, leaving you to scramble to replace that flight, and they're not worth the risk.

While I've enjoyed flying with Allgiant, I'm afraid I'm done with them. I'll take one stop over the risk of having the airline bail on our city leaving me to buy last minute tickets at last minute pricing. I'm especially nervous now that they're as expensive, if not more expensive, than other alternatives from our airport.

Irish is correct. Having to pay EXTRA for a seat is one of the dumbest things I've ever seen an airline do. It's stupid stuff like this that almost made the thread in the TUG Lounge about AA charging people who weren't flying with them fee's believable.

[BevL]

Originally Posted by dougp26364

With Allgiant, ALL seats are now pre-assigned and you are charged the extra fee. You don't have a choice anymore. If you don't want to select a seat, they'll select it for you and charge you the fee. In our case, going to Vegas that fee is $14 each way.

Allgiant also use to give you priorty boarding if you wanted to select and pay for you seat. Now, since they charge everyone for their seat, you have to pay an additional $7.50 each way for priorty boarding.

I think that while Allegiant doesn't make it obvious that you don't have to pay for seats, it is still optional. I just tried it and when you get to the seat selection page, if you click on the little tab/thingy that says "change", it will switch to remove. Click it again and the fee will disappear, along with the priority boarding charge.

I only use Allegiant for short hops to Vegas or Reno, a carry on is all I need. But as I think has been mentioned, many airlines are charging for any checked luggage.

[DeniseM]

I'll trade you - I just bought a ticket to London for my daughter. The airfare was about $250 and the other $600 was fees and taxes!

[Carolinian]

Originally Posted by DeniseM

I'll trade you - I just bought a ticket to London for my daughter. The airfare was about $250 and the other $600 was fees and taxes!

This is the fraudulent shell game being played by many European legacy airlines, with most of that being a ''fuel surcharge'' in spite of the huge drop in the price of oil. What is needed is consumer protection legislation to prohibit airlines from putting anything not charged by an official third party into the taxes and fees category.

Delta is getting into the fraud game as well, with a ''foreign origin surcharge'' hidden among the taxes, and all of which goes to Delta, on tickets originating in Europe. Of course, in recent years, Delta has become the king of junk fees among US-based legacy airlines.

To their credit, many of the European LCC's have either quit playing or never played the fuel surchage scam game.

[irish]

hi dori and mglet
yes i am from ny. long island to be more specific. i fly southwest AND jetblue and have no complaints with either. however, son and family are from grand rapids, michigan and larger airports are not an easy trip. chicago is at least 3 hours away and detroit is 2hours and 15 minutes. i checked both for southwest travel and they were not inexpensive or nonstop, and traveling with a 2 and 5 yr. old make stopovers pretty impossible.
my BIGGEST complaint with ALLEGIANT is the seat charge. i'm sorry, THAT'S JUST WRONG. JMO.

[davhu1]

Airtran also charges $8 and up to select a seat in advance per flight segment. If you have a flight connection, that is a minimum of $16 per person. For the shorter leg I did not care and let them assign. But for the longer leg I paid extra so that I do not get stuck in the middle seat.
Just have to include the cost when comparing airfare.

[dougp26364]

Originally Posted by BevL

I think that while Allegiant doesn't make it obvious that you don't have to pay for seats, it is still optional. I just tried it and when you get to the seat selection page, if you click on the little tab/thingy that says "change", it will switch to remove. Click it again and the fee will disappear, along with the priority boarding charge.

I only use Allegiant for short hops to Vegas or Reno, a carry on is all I need. But as I think has been mentioned, many airlines are charging for any checked luggage.

Nope, didn't see that.

I didn't like the fact that Allegiant automatically added transfer fee's (shuttle bus) into the mix but, that was easy enough to spot and remove. Since they're trying to be sneaky with this fee I believe I'm done with Allegiant completely.

It's one thing to come up with extra fee's to try to get me to pay more. It's a completely different thing when you try to trick me into paying extra fee's that I don't have to pay.

[EZ-ED]

Originally Posted by Dave M

Welcome to the new world ("insanity") of flying on U.S. airlines!

You only know half the insanity... as a retired Air Traffic Controller (or the other half of the insanity) I would rather drive than to ever step on another plane.