As a little bit of an odd trip, Val and I are flying to St Pete on Allegiant Air in their A320. I kinda like low cost carriers. There’s something oddly comforting about how direct they are about everything. Allegiant charges for all ancillaries and the rules are very strict. If you know this ahead of time, it’s not too hard to deal with or calculate if the cost savings are worth the effort. At the end of the day, for us, this Allegiant flight was a bargain. For less than $100 we got two tickets on a direct flight. I did purchase these Allegiant Air tickets in person to save the online booking charge. I really just wanted to know, is Allegiant worth flying on? Yes, I think so.
Allegiant feels a lot like easyJet, cheap tickets with fees for everything else. I wouldn’t call Allegiant amazing, but it was cheap and got us where we needed to be. I didn’t know what to expect from Allegiant as I’ve never ridden with them before so this is very much a learning experience for me. Anyway, let’s get into this Allegiant Air review.
Bottom Line: Our Allegiant flight was perfectly on time and while not fancy, was comfortable enough for a short flight. I wouldn’t want to ride on the Allegiant A320 for more than a few hours, but on a short flight, it’s serviceable.
AVL Airport
We arrived at the AVL airport about an hour before our departure. Parking at AVL is very crowded these days. They are using the cell phone lot for daily parking, you enter the long term lot, tell the attendant how long you’ll be staying, you then pre-pay and receive a ticket. You can then park overnight in the cell phone lot and walk to the terminal.
The walk from the cell phone lot is about 5 minutes to the terminal at AVL. This process was longer than just parking at the long term lot, we’re not exactly early, but I think it’s going to be ok.
We walked into the terminal about 40 minutes before our scheduled departure time. I would not recommend this. We already had our boarding passes on the Allegiant App and TSA Pre-check.
The good news is that there was no line for TSA Precheck here at AVL so we made it through security and to the gate before boarding started.
Allegiant Air A320 Boarding Process
The boarding process for Allegiant is pretty hectic. It doesn’t help that there are very few seats in the gate area here at AVL so everyone is already standing. Allegiant had boarding zones on our boarding passes but seemed to completely dissregard them. They started boarding with pre-boarding for people needing more time. Then boarded the exit rows and the first 3 rows of the plane. Allegiant then boarded the plane starting at the rear with rows 22 and higher.
After rows 22 and higher, they called everyone to board. I was kinda surprised they didn’t just use the boarding zones but at the end of the day it just turned into a free for all. Here at AVL the boarding gates funnel into a hallway, you’re then directed towards the plane.
Allegiant boarding is done by ramp here at AVL. I love boarding outside, I’m always amazed at the scale of airplanes. Even smaller planes like the Allegiant A320 are really huge in scale.
Up the ramp and into the Allegiant A320. This particular Airbus A320 was previously an Avianca airplane. Allegiant operates a lot of second hand aircraft.
Nice and sunny day here in AVL. We’re departing just around 1pm.
One last look down the Allegiant A320 before boarding.
Allegiant A320 Cabin Review
The Allegiant A320 has 3-3 seating in the entire plane. Allegiant has one cabin on their A320 with either 177 or 186 seats. They are pretty much all the same seats except for the exit rows and bulk heads.
We’re seated on the right hand side of the Allegiant A320. We didn’t choose seats as that costs extra with Allegiant, fortunately when we checked in we got seats next to each other. This is not guaranteed but we’re willing to take that risk for the money savings.
Allegiant A320 Seating Comfort Review
In the seats on the Allegiant A320 I was expecting it to be tighter. It was not amazing, but I thought it would be so much worse. I stowed my bag under the seat as we had not paid for a full sized overhead carry-on bag.
Don’t expect much out of the Allegiant seats. There’s no in seat entertainment or in seat power. Bring something to entertain yourself and keep your devices charged.
At least there are very good overhead vents. With the lack of a jet bridge, the plane is a little warm.
Across the aisle you can see some of the oddities about the Allegiant A320 seats. The seat bottoms are very small, this allows you to have more seats on the plane with the distance between the seats infront. There’s also very small arm rests, everything they can do to save weight reduces cost. The seats also do not recline.
There are also tiny tray tables, much like the ones you’d see on Hawaiian’s inter-island 717s. Again, saves weight and thus fuel.
Allegiant A320 Departure
Boarding went somewhat quickly and within about 25 minutes we were all on board and ready to go. The cabin seems to be about 80-90% full, so not completely slammed but also not too many empty seats. Oddly the aisle is really wide. Probably wider than even most dual aisle aircraft.
The people on board are very talkative, lots of stories about where people have been or will be vacationing. This certainly isn’t a business traveler heavy flight, I’m assuming it’s almost all vacationers.
The pilot and flight attendants gave their welcome. They informed us that the flight would be about 90 minutes once we’re in the air. We were given the safety briefing just before we pushed back from the gate. The pilot told us we’re number 3 for departure and asked the flight attendants to take their seats.
We’re taking off towards the north today. Asheville is in the mountains so it’s a little bumpy in departure, but that’s to be expected. The view for the window seats is probably pretty nice, I’m too cheap to buy a seat so nothing great for me.
As we climbed we made our turn south to the right.
Our Allegiant A320 passed through the clouds and it became a very nice smooth flight. Still really loud, people on this flight just want to talk. I’ve really never seen or heard anything like it.
Allegiant In Flight Service
Allegiant has a pretty extensive buy on board program, not as good as easyJet, but still very solid. The menu is in the in flight magazine and what really surprised me was the prices, everything was really expensive. Allegiant is also a credit card only airline, no cash is accepted.
Allegiant air in flight beverage options. The flight attendants were selling credit cards pretty hard, they were pointing out that you get a free beverage if you carry the Allegiant credit card.
Allegiant air snacks and drinks.
Allegiant Air snacks.
Allegiant Air drink selection.
Allegiant air drinks menu.
Allegiant air drinks menu.
I had brought some snacks from home. I also travel with a water bottle that I filled in the terminal after security but before boarding the plane.
Allegiant Air A320 Bathroom
The lavatories at the rear of the Allegiant A320 isn’t anything amazing. It’s pretty tight actually.
Allegiant Air A320 In Flight Review
There’s really not too much to report about a 90 minute Allegiant flight between North Carolina and Florida. Mostly just people yelling to each other and the flight attendants selling credit cards.
Outside it was a very pleasant day for flying. Nice and smooth with pretty blue sky. With just about 20 minutes left in the pilots came on, thanked us for flying with Allegiant, and asked for the cabin to prepare for landing.
Allegiant A320 Landing and Arrival
Outside we got a glimpse of Southern Central Florida along with a little bit of the coast line. I’m sure the window seat passengers enjoyed it more than I got to.
And on the ground at the gate here in PIE. Right on time at the gate, what more could you want.
Lucky for us, we got to use a ramp to deplane.
One more look back at the Allegiant A320 here on the ground at St. Pete.
Allegiant A320 Final Thoughts
I’m struggling to find anything wrong with Allegiant. Yes, they are a low cost carrier. Of course they charge for everything. They are unashamed that they charge money for a drink of water on the plane. All of this is very upfront and known. Really, I would gladly ride with Allegiant again. There A320 is dense, there are no great seats, all are pretty tight, but it’s so damn cheap. They don’t have a ton of routes, but if Allegiant flies a route you need to travel, it’s a good option.
Bottom line, I think Allegiant is a decent airline. Just understand they are a low cost carrier and you’ll be just fine.