[trip style = budget conscious]
Flying discount carriers like Allegiant Air can be a good thing when you pay the advertised rate. However, if you're not savvy when purchasing your seat, there are multiple hidden fees that creep up unless you know how to navigate the booking process.
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I can't tell you the amount of people who told me they got a good rate with Allegiant, but ended up feeling duped because they got charged for extras. If you even select a few of the extras, the price can skyrocket into the realm of legacy carriers or higher! If you're trying to keep the price of your trip in-check, the extras aren't necessary, and here's how to avoid them:
Allegiant's Main Extras
- checked bag ($14.99 - $35 per bag and per segment)
- seat pre-selection ($11-14 per segment)
- priority boarding (Approx. $7 per segment... Only available if you've pre-selected your seat)
Keep the Price Low With Allegiant, purchasing your flight is a multi-step process--one that can be simplified and made more efficient if you know when to say NO to extras. After you select your flight's destination and dates...
- Hotel: you'll be asked if you want to book a hotel. Say no, there's a small "no thanks" link at the bottom of the page.
- Car: same deal, say no to rental car with the small "no thanks" link at the bottom of the page.
- Scooter: who asks about a scooter rental? Same instructions as above.
- Passenger Info: fill in the required fields to move forward.
- Confirmation: this page is multi-function showing total trip cost, flight confirmation details and seat selection. Don't bother pre-selecting your seat, you can do that at the airport. Use the small link "remove all seat selections and priority boarding." When you click on this link, there will be a sneaky pop-up window encouraging you not to remove seat selection, but clicking it will ensure any priority boarding and seat selection is removed and you can advance for the same price.
- Payment details: now you get to pay.
Other Tips
- Carry-ons are free with no weight limit and you're allowed two (ie - bag + personal item)
- If you want to ensure there's enough space for your carry-on on the plane, sit in row 15 or higher. Planes are boarded from the back, forward. Because of the price of checked bags and Allegiant's mostly short-haul flights, most people bring carry-ons so overhead bins fill up fast.
- Fill up a water bottle after security or buy a bev on the plane. Everything on board, including water, is for purchase.
- Most allegiant planes board at small airports in the open air, so if it's raining you may want an umbrella to protect yourself from a soggy ride.
- If you really want to pay for priority boarding (which is not worth it) then you can check-in online, otherwise, you'll line-up and check-in at the airport. (Pre-selected seating is required to purchase priority boarding)
- The seats on Allegiant's planes don't recline. It is likely they will on the planes that will go to Hawaii.
[photo by cliff1066]