Allegiant Air is known for a few things, most of them are not positive. As an ultra-low cost carrier they have some rules and fees that are widely seen as punitive. One oddity when booking an Allegiant flight is that Allegiant charges a $22 Carrier Usage Charge. You can save money on any Allegiant flight by booking in person at the airport.
There is a Carrier Usage Charge is a fee for any Allegiant flight that is booked online or over the phone. Due to the unique rules about airline “Fees” in the US, this airline imposed $22 fee can be avoided by booking Allegiant flights in person, at the ticket counter. It’s very rare for a “save money using this one trick” actually works, but in this case, it’s actually true. It’s a pain, but does work.
Allegiant does not make buying tickets in person easy. Here are the Allegiant ticket purchase hours and locations. The published times change frequently and at my home airport, tickets are available for purchase for 1 hour per week.
While the Allegiant website states “In most cities, airport ticket purchase will be available for one hour following each scheduled departure.” I have found that Allegiant will not sell tickets at these times. I have asked the DOT and Allegiant for comment on this procedure as to if 1 hour per week is valid.
I recently purchased tickets for an Allegiant flight in person, here is how the process works.
Finding Allegiant Flights
Searching for Allegiant Flights is the exact same as any other airline. You can go directly to the Allegiant website or you can search tools like google flights or ITA Matrix.
Once you’ve found the Allegiant flight you want to purchase, you can see the price that includes the airline Carrier Usage Charge of $22. This $22 is the fee you can avoid by booking the flight in person.
Prepare for Booking Allegiant Flight In-person
I’ve booked flights in person before. Those are usually day of departure and not in advance. When booking Allegiant in person I wrote down all of the flight information including the flight number, departure dates, and passenger information. When booking at the airport, I didn’t want there to be any confusion on what exact flights I was booking.
Allegiant Flight In-person Paperwork
At the airport, after waiting for 45 minutes for someone to show up at the counter, I was handed an Allegiant Ticket Sales form. I completed the form by transferring all the information from my paperwork. This included the flight information, passenger information, baggage selection, and optional seat requests.
Allegiant Booking In Process
The booking process was pretty smooth. I handed in my completed form and a few minutes later I was asked for a credit card. I was then given a receipt and my booking reference number. I was also told that I should receive an email with the booking information in the next few minutes and I did.
Once I was able to talk to an Allegiant Agent, booking only took about 5 minutes. Because this flight was for 2 people, a quick trip to the airport saved me $44. Sure, that’s not a lot of money, but I don’t mind spending a few minutes to keep that money in my pocket.
Allegiant Booking In Person Final Thoughts
There are very few times in booking an airline ticket that a simple trick can save you $22. But with Allegiant it’s actually true, you can save $22/person on any ticket by booking in person at the airport. If you have to drive for 2 hours round trip and pay $10 for parking it’s probably not worth the effort. But if you’re only a few minutes away from the airport and you can park for a short time for free, it can really be worth the effort. Especially if the booking is for more than one person.
In my case, booking in person took me about 30 minutes and cost me nothing as GSP has free 30 minute parking. In turn I saved $44 over 2 tickets. I think that’s worth the effort.