THE ULTIMATE BUDGET TIP!

[elaine amj]

I think the limited routes and times are definitely something to consider. And of course, that entirely depends on your personal circumstances.

When we first started going to Disney, vacation days were precious. And I happily ponied up the extra money to fly nonstop on Delta (worked as they were often cheap then too!)

Then our schedule loosened up. And we got the Southwest Companion Pass and a boatload of free flights. Suddenly not a big deal to spend 4-5 hrs to fly to Orlando on connecting flights. But flight availability was still a concern. I avoiding booking the last flight of the night coming home. I wanted to jump on a Frontier deal but ended up not doing it because they only fly once a day here and it was too risky.

Now neither of us are working. I don't care much if my plane is delayed either way. And I can get hotel rooms cheap on points so possibilities and options are opening up. On flights home I am the one wishing and hoping to get bumped from a flight for extra points/cash lol (no offers yet boo).

That said, I hated Spirit's seats. It would have to be a decent savings for me to consider flying with them again. I bet I would think the same of Allegiant. But if it saves me a bundle, I might be fine putting up with it.

 

[PsycProfPlum]

I think having that kind of flexibility really changes the equation when factoring in the risk of going with the lowest priced carriers. Sounds like your colleague has a situation where flying those carriers makes sense.

For me, I might be willing to try Spirit, but not Frontier. Why? Because Spirit has at least one flight per day from my nearest airport, sometimes two. If a flight is cancelled, they will probably be able to get me to my destination within a day or so. Frontier, on the other hand, just started flying in my market, and only has one flight every two days. If something happens to my flight on Frontier, I'm kind of screwed. But it would also depend on how long my trip is, what I have planned during that time, how much I need to get back on my departure date, etc. If I'm just flying with DD, there's a much better chance we can both make it onto the next flight than if I'm with my whole family of 5, so that's a factor, too.

This happened to me last year with Frontier. We were literally loading the car to go to the airport for our WDW vacation when my wife noticed Frontier had cancelled, not delayed, cancelled our flight. They didn't notify us, we had to spot this on our own and then call the airline. They told us they could get us on a plane a week (!!!) later as though we could just push our vacations and all of our Disney stuff back by a week.

Fortunately we had booked a Delta return flight so we ended up spending Disney Day 1 in a rental car driving to Orlando from NC. A CM was very kind to let us out of our Day 1 Hoop-Dee-Doo so we didn't lose a few hundred there as well.

 

[Ecomommy09]

We flew on allegiant to the beach and we plan to fly them to Sanford. If we die, at least we will all die together!

That said, our flight was fine. Many people fly from our airport to Sanford for WDW and I asked everyone I know and they had no problems. I always leave extra time to get home, because I worry about the kids getting sick, etc.
And they may nickle and dime you, but it's still SO much cheaper than flying Delta or another airline. And finally, it's a direct flight! OMG! I can't imagine trying to get my autistic ODD to switch planes.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I'm noticing Delta matching or coming close to the price on Allegiant/Frontier flights-all are nonstop. For my family of 4 later this year, Delta is $832 RT. Allegiant is $780. If each of us take a bag, there is another $200 in fees(we have a Delta CC, bags are free). Delta has 3 times of day we can choose each way at that price, Allegiant has 1 and it leaves Sanford crazy early. We've found car rentals at Sanford to be significantly more expensive than MCO. Figure another $100 at least if no rental and no ME. Suddenly we are $250 higher on Allegiant before seating and even a drink on the plane are figured in. No thanks. Just make sure you figure in all costs before making the decision.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

When their own pilots say they won't let family members fly Alliegent you know its not good

 

[Darcy03231]

The challenge with the budget carriers is definitely limited routes and times. We’ve used Allegiant in past and been just fine. I personally prefer Sanford, we have a toll tag so renting a car and driving is easy.
I will say out of all the airlines and miles I’ve flown the past five years (Allegiant, frontier, Southwest, delta and American) Frontier is the only one I’ve not experienced a delay or change. Delta and American have been terrible lately, but I just cashed in reward miles with Delta to go down for HHN in September, so for “free” flights I’ll deal with it
I will also say it seems frontier has made a concerted effort to upgrade their planes to improve their record, or at least it seems that way out of St Louis.

If it's been really recently, it's because of the grounding of the MAX8 planes. We fly both Delta and AA a lot and had very few issues with them over the years, but since the grounding I've noticed a lot of canceled/changed flights.