Flight dilemma...not! About This Page:

[joelsmom]

For our May 2017 trip, both DS Joel and I agree that it would be lovely to fly. We always drive to WDW, but the trip back home is pretty gloomy, and that 11 hour drive is, well, long on the back end of the trip. Oddly, it never seems so bad going down .

Anyway, we want to fly. We don't live in any airline's hub, so our flights are just more expensive. I've priced three times since we returned from our MNSSHP trip. Joel really wants to experience DME. So far, the very lowest price I've seen for any of the major airlines is $985 dollars round trip. On the other hand, we have Allegiant in our city, which will fly us round trip for around $265. So, I showed Joel all this information a couple of nights ago and said, "Do you realize that we could make three flights on Allegiant for less than the price of one of the other airlines?" Of course, Allegiant doesn't fly into MCO, only Sanford, but for $700 difference, I think I can manage.

These Allegiant figures are an estimate, because they still haven't released dates quite to our trip date, but even if they go up significantly, I still save significantly, even after adding in a shuttle to the hotel. I told Joel this is a no-brainier. Why in the world would we spend so much more money just to use DME? The beauty is that he and his dad did this same flight when they went to Universal Orlando a couple of years ago, and he said their shuttle did drop-offs at WDW. He said, "I see what you mean. Let's do it."

The only potential issue I see is flight time. On their current schedule, Allegiant only offers one flight a day out of our city, and sometimes it's evening, putting us to WDW very late. I'd like to be there by sometime in the afternoon. I know! These are first-world issues, but darn it, I want the evening at WDW that first day! Maybe when they extend the flight schedule, something good will pop up for me. Fingers crossed!!

[GingerJ]

DH and I flew Allegiant in March, and it was okay. The seats weren't terribly comfortable; however, it was a non-stop flight and only lasted two hours.

Just don't forget to factor in the cost of checking your luggage! You even have to pay for carry-on bags.

That said, I booked DS21 on an Allegiant flight for Thanksgiving--I think the cheap price is worth it when other options are more expensive or less convenient (i.e., involve long drives).

[Pris]

That sounds great! Have you looked at SW flying out of surrounding cities, perhaps Nashville? Cam and Luke flew Allegiant on their last trip into Sanford. I don't know anything about the shuttle costs from Sanford, but you might look into a car rental as well.

[elbodans]

we flew allegiant on our last trip (last week) for the same reason--we could go out of our little local airport, fly direct, and it was less than half the cost, even when paying for seat selections and bags. having done this so recently, here are some tips:

-if there really is only one flight per day and it is at night, can you fly out the night before your trip begins? assuming your work schedule allows it. sanford is a good hour from WDW, so you could get a cheap hotel somewhere in between (there are HUNDREDS of options--i'd estimate the cost for this would be around $65.)

-if you are doing the above (and because you can't use DME), consider renting a car. we did for our last trip. we were there for 10 days and paid $250 total for the car. a taxi to and from sanford would have been around $210. add in the savings we made by being able to stop at a grocery store, and i'd say that we broke even. we booked through priceline.

-pay for your seat assignments and bags at the time of booking. the price just goes up from there.

-travel light if you can (we did one small carry on split between the two of us, and one personal item each. we paid $36 total for bags.)

-don't forget to print your boarding pass before leaving home. or download the mobile app to use a mobile boarding pass. they won't email you a mobile boarding pass like a regular airline, and it costs something like $15 to print the boarding pass at the airport. we did the app because we weren't sure how or where to print our passes in WDW for our return trip (it's not like disney hotels have business centers.)

-this may go without saying but: be on time at the airport. i fly for a living, and i'm kind of lax about getting to the gate an hour before takeoff because all major carriers board less than 30 minutes before takeoff and at most major airports, your departure time is a lie--you'll always take off a good half hour later than is posted. not so with smaller airports and allegiant. we boarded an entire hour before takeoff on both ends and literally were wheels up at the exact time posted as takeoff.

a few other things--you will pay for anything you want on board--sodas, pretzels etc.--so if you need an in flight snack (i don't on a 2 hour flight) take something with you. the seats are not uncomfortable, nor are they super comfortable. i didn't find them worse than coach seats on any other major carrier, though they don't recline. oh and be aware that at sanford, there's zero to do once you pass through security (and the wifi does not work) so for your return trip, bring something to read or do.

[joelsmom]

Great points, all, and thanks for all the tips. I'll keep it all under consideration. While a rental isn't out of the question, I won't need one much. Once I'm in the bubble, I do not like to leave. So I sort of feel like a rental is a waste of money. If Allegiant fees get to be too much, I can always look at the majors again.

Oh, and I really do not like the idea of driving to Nashville. That's 3 hours from us, so I'm adding in gas, mileage, and parking while we're gone., and depending on the flight time, potentially another hotel night. Then, of course there's the 3 hour drive back home. Absolutely none of that appeals to me, and I wouldn't want to ask anybody to shuttle us back and forth to Nashville. Yes, I've thought about it, but I can't land on a good scenario there.

Still searching for the right situation...

[zettarooski]

The only other thing to think about when it comes to Allegiant or other discount airlines - they are often cheaper because they don't staff people to fix the planes if something goes wrong. This can cause significant delays or even cancellations.

My husband and I were at an airport and a Spirit flight had been delayed for over 12 hours because they were waiting for a mechanic to come and fix something. The people in the boarding area were at the bar talking to us about it. Some people even payed huge fees to switch to another airline just to get out. This is of course an extreme case, but from reviews I've read online not all that uncommon.

So those inexpensive airlines are great if everything goes right, but if something goes wrong they can be pretty terrible. If you're super tied to getting there on time and will be devastated if you are delayed it is something to think about or be prepared for.

[elbodans]

Originally Posted by zettarooski

The only other thing to think about when it comes to Allegiant or other discount airlines - they are often cheaper because they don't staff people to fix the planes if something goes wrong. This can cause significant delays or even cancellations.

My husband and I were at an airport and a Spirit flight had been delayed for over 12 hours because they were waiting for a mechanic to come and fix something. The people in the boarding area were at the bar talking to us about it. Some people even payed huge fees to switch to another airline just to get out. This is of course an extreme case, but from reviews I've read online not all that uncommon.

So those inexpensive airlines are great if everything goes right, but if something goes wrong they can be pretty terrible. If you're super tied to getting there on time and will be devastated if you are delayed it is something to think about or be prepared for.

also, when there's only one flight per day, if something happens to that flight, too bad. a major carrier WILL get you on another flight. i was definitely nervous flying allegiant for that reason.

[joelsmom]

Quick Update - I haven't come up with any good solution for good flight times that won't break the bank. The truth is that, where we are geographically, we can drive to Orlando, stopping to spend the night on the trip down, buy food on the road, and still be under $300 round trip. Even Allegiant flights won't be much cheaper than major airlines, as they have really hiked up the prices for May and beyond. Plus, the return flight time stinks. We'd have to be at the airport at 5:00 a.m. No thanks. We couldn't fly for less than $600, and I just cannot wrap my head around spending more than twice the money to fly.

All this is to say that I have decided we're better off driving again. When I win the lottery I'll just pay to fly first class and not worry about it. Until then, I think I'll drive and just make that part of the adventure.

[HiddenMickey]

That's our take on travel to Disney too. Plus it's great having a car there just in case.

[lovewdw2]

Susan, how far do you have to drive to get to Disney?

I was just curious....

[joelsmom]

Originally Posted by lovewdw2

Susan, how far do you have to drive to get to Disney?

I was just curious....

slightly less than 700 miles

[lovewdw2]

700 I guess doesn't seem too far... and I live in PA!

I was checking out to see what the prices would be for me... I priced if I was going in August and PRICEY!!! so then I did 5 months out- June and better prices but some flights were sold out.

I guess I will be checking out flights after February 23rd once Southwest releases the flights for September! Yay and cannot wait! (NOT)