Allegiant Provides Great Airline Service And Value By JPnMO on Jun 08, 2009 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

Allegiant Airline came to my city a few years ago. When they offered a non-stop trip from Springfield, Missouri to Orlando, Florida for just $69 each way, my husband and I jumped at the opportunity. We couldn't have driven any cheaper.

Since the airline was new to us, we had no idea what to expect. To be honest, we expected very little in the way of comfort, but the flight would not be very long, so we decided it was worth trying.

We were on the very first flight that Allegiant made to Orlando from Springfield. The airport was making a big deal of the first flight and had refreshments and free gifts for all the passengers. What a nice way to start vacation! We were all given two different Allegiant t-shirts and a few other goodies to celebrate their first Orlando flight.

When we boarded, I was happily surprised to find a nice plane that was clean and comfortable. The flight crew couldn't have been any nicer or more helpful. In fact, they made the trip quite entertaining and the time just flew by, which was wonderful for me since I am not one who enjoys flying. Part of the fun was having several raffles during the flight. They gave each of us a numbered ticket stub and they drew for prizes. I won a RT ticket for another trip to Orlando, which I later traded for a Vegas ticket.

We looked at all the various ways to book this trip. Usually, we stay in a hotel, but we were going for 10 days and spending that much time in a hotel was not appealing. So, we checked into airfare, lodging and car rental packages and found a lot more options. We decided on a 2 bedroom condo in Kissimmee, not far from Disney. The condo was great. It slept 6 and there were just 2 of us, so we had lots of room. I loved being able to do laundry as needed and saving a little money by eating breakfast at the condo each day. The entire package was approximately $1200.00, which we felt was quite reasonable, especially since we were so much more comfortable in a condo.

Allegiant has added new destinations from Springfield, which we have yet to try, but hope to in the future. Their fares are extremely reasonable and always beat the competition by a mile.

There is a downside to Allegiant, which is their schedule. They only fly to each destinaton on certain days, so you don't have the flexibility to fly any day or time of day that you want. That problem affected our plans as we contemplated a trip to Las Vegas. The price was great, but we would have had to stay more days that we wanted. Hopefuly, they'll eventually add more daily flights.

One thing that surprised us is that Allegiant doesn't fly to the main airport in Orlando. It goes to Sanford, which is several miles away. It was a little inconvenient, but nothing worth getting upset over.

I will definitely fly Allegiant again. Between our experience with them and those of others we've heard about, this is a wonderful airline with great prices.