[Travelandtourism] Allegiant Swoops in to Fill AirTran Void

[Reese]

HMMM, wonder if this airline will start taking over routes that the 
Government  will stop subsidizing?

AirTran out, Allegiant in. That's a quick summary of a change in air service 
to Central Illinois Regional Airport, also known as Bloomington-Normal.

AirTran formerly flew between Bloomington and Florida, and after AirTran 
announced it would stop serving Bloomington, Allegiant quickly moved to fill 
the void. Starting May 16, the small-market leisure specialist will fly two 
weekly round-trips between Bloomington and Orlando/Sanford, with 
introductory fares starting at $74.99 each way.

Allegiant's business model has improved air service to lots of places around 
the country: Fly less-than-daily service linking small cities with such key 
visitor destinations as Orlando, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. These routes 
don't have enough traffic to support daily big-airline flights, but 
Allegiant finds that much of the leisure market is quite happy with two or 
three nonstops a week.

But I have a big problem with the way Allegiant presents its fares. You can't 
buy a ticket online without paying a supposedly "optional" convenience fee. 
The only way to avoid the fee is to schlep to your local airport and buy it 
at an Allegiant counter after a flight has just departed (while the desk is 
staffed but not busy checking people in). And, because Allegiant knows that 
most people would find the time and cost of schlepping to an airport much 
higher than the fee, it knows that almost everybody will pay. To me, calling 
that fee "optional" is a scam.

Still, taking the bad with the good, the residents of central Illinois will 
probably welcome Allegiant.

Have you flown Allegiant? What was good and what was bad about the 
experience?

Reese

Peachtree Travel
Independent Travel Consultant

(phone) 770-280-5029

(website: http://www.peachtreetravel.net.

Affiliated as an Independent Contractor with Montrose Travel CST-1018299-10
_______________________________________________