I booked five tickets through Allegiant Airlines six months in advance to attend a family reunion in Chicago with my family. At the time when I purchased the tickets, I told the ticket agent (I purchased these tickets with an actual person and not via web) the date of birth of all of the passengers. I even made him aware of the fact that my youngest son was two years old. He said that my son would be considered a lap child and I would not have to pay for his ticket. Now, fast forward to seven days prior to our trip, I called to get information about our flight and their airline since this is the first time my family is flying with their airline, and was told that they made a mistake six months ago and now I needed to pay for my two year old son's ticket or he could not fly. I explained to the ticket agent that we do not have the money right now to make such a large purchase and that it was their fault they made the mistake in the first place. I also explained that my two year old has a disability and will not be able to sit alone and that is when the ticket agent told me "we don't care about disabilities." My husband and I have called several times to speak with a manager and they will not allow us to do so and we also asked if they could reserve a seat for our two year old for two days until we get the money to pay for his ticket and they told us they can't do it. I asked how many seats are available so that I know whether or not I will even be able to purchase his ticket and they said they are not allowed to give out that information. They were rude, not accountable for their mistake and DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMERS AT ALL!!!

Two really bad experiences. 1. Flying from Phoenix-Mesa to Fort Collins/Loveland airport. Arrived at airport one hour and ten minutes before flight to stand in line to get boarding pass. The line was long and there seemed to be a lot of confusion. During this time they called boarding. Several passengers in line for the same flight. I finally get up to the counter and was told "too late" - this was 28 min before the flight was supposed to leave. They said it was a busy weekend due to a Nascar race. Everyone else in line was told the same thing. The agent argued with me and was extremely rude. I finally go outside and there are several taxis waiting. During the taxi ride to Sky Harbor I was told it happens all the time and the taxi driver just sits and waits for the victims. Got to Sky Harbor and was treated like a king by Southwest but of course Allegiant did not care that I did not get my ticket refunded and had to pay for a taxi and additional flight - their response was "you should be at the airport two hours before your flight." I fly frequently and due to connections and flight delays have been late to flights - the two I can think of are United and Southwest - both of them let me on the flight after boarding with smiles and only 15 - 20 min before the flight. I took responsibility for this as I assumed an hour before a flight at such a small airport should be more than adequate. Ok until number 2 below.

Bad experience number 2. This morning I started calling at 7:04 a.m. to book a flight with my small dog per Allegiant's policy that you must call when booking with a pet. I tried several times to be told the call volume was high and I must try back later. I live in Fort Collins, CO and was trying to book a flight to Phoenix/Mesa. I can't get through so I try the online chat which came back "unable to service your request, call xxx" - so I call a few more times to finally get through. During all this time trying to reach someone the return segment price increased $20 (from 39.99 to 59.99 not incl exhorbitant fees). I tell the agent that I began the process of trying to get through to book my flight when the return segment was $20 less and she said, "sorry, we have a high call volume and we can't do anything about fare increases." So, I say forget it I will fly Southwest on the return but unfortunately had to book my outbound with Allegiant. We do this and when I went to pay was told I cannot use American Express. Ok. Finally book the flight (One way $185.68 for me and my dog). I then get an email with my flight itinerary number that reads, "your email is set for Text viewing, either change it to HTML or click the link below. I confirmed my email is set for HTML but clicked the link. The link took me to my account login which I did only to see the message "no open itineraries" which is where it stands right now because I can't get through to an agent because of high call volume "call back later."

Unbelievable.

Beware consumer with this deceptive website. They advertise tickets at cheap prices but by the time they hit you with add on's your total ticket cost will at least double. If you don't watch out for all their add on's, you're screwed and by the time you see all the add on's it is only after you've paid for the ticket and by then you can do nothing about it. They also rip y0u off with the additional services they offer i.e. car rentals, show tickets etc. I paid $378.45 for 3 tickets to see Terry Fator at the Mirage/Las Vegas. When I picked these up at will call at the Mirage they advised me that had I bought the tickets directly through the Mirage my cost would have been around $320 including all fees.

I have had the experience of flying Allegiant Airlines on a number of occasions. I have found that Allegiant has one of the poorest customer service attitudes of any company I have worked with. Caveat emptor! I have had times when I have to re-enter their website 4-6 times because it times out or something. They state a "lower" price, but have an incredible number of upsells they sneak into their website. (Convenience fees ($30.00), segment fees (PFC - $15.00), 911 fees ($10.00), Trip-flex fee ($32.00). They, of course, check the box for the upsell and require that the user is intelligent enough to uncheck it or it will be added to the bill. $16.00 to select a seat or $32.00 one-way for 2 people is nutty. Then there is some kind of earlier boarding charge ($10.00) which suggests that if you don't buy, there will be no place for carry-ons and they will check for you add a huge luggage fee. Granted, their charges can be a bit more reasonable than some other airlines and they service some airports not serviced by other airlines, but they do everything they can to jack their fees by hiding them. The final charges have very little to do with stated airfare.

It is a very unpleasant experience to give business to, or fly with a to-hell-with-the-customer company. I believe this reflects the basic dishonest and scheming nature of the management team who puts a few dollars profit above customer satisfaction. Basically, I hate them and conversations with other travelers agree with my impressions. It speaks very poorly of their attitude and concern for the public. I only hope their maintenance crews are treated better than their customers.

I scheduled a trip to Blaine Washington from Palm Springs for my wife to spend her birthday with our grand children. I booked the flight 3 weeks ahead of time, and surprised her with the planned trip the morning of her departure.

On April 1st, 2010 arriving at the check in counter of Allegiant Air in Palm Springs at 10:37am for a flight scheduled for departure at 11:20am (43 minutes before departure) we were informed by the agent assisting a family of 4 (the father was wrapping his Coleman cooler with duct tape) just ahead of us that the counter was now closed, that we were considered a "NO SHOW" and we would not be allowed to check in and that we had forfeited our air fare. At first, I thought this was just a bad April fool’s joke. To my AMAZEMENT, it was not. As we argued our importance of boarding this flight, another passenger scheduled for this flight, a young mother, with an infant daughter, whose husband was based out of the local 29 Palms Marine Base and was serving duty in Iraq, joined us in line to check in. This young girl was traveling to Blaine Washington to be with her mother who was in the hospital and was scheduled for stage 4 cancer surgery the following day. She explained her situation to the agent, asked for reconsideration to her boarding this flight, as she could not afford to forfeit her fare, and could not afford the additional $258.00 fare for the flight departing the following evening. Keep in mind, Palm Springs Airport, even though it is considered an International Airport, is neither a very busy airport, it is also designed as a rather small, easy to maneuver airport. I have flown out of the facility numerous times because of its convenience, and ability to move thru quickly. I am certain we could have been at the boarding gate with time to spare to board this plane.

On witnessing this poor display of customer service, 2 couples, waiting to check in at the competitor airline (WestJet) next to the Allegiant Air counter came over and purchased the ticket necessary for this young girl to travel to see her mother the following evening. A TRUE ACT OF HUMAN KINDNESS!! Much unlike the way the agent from Allegiant Air had treated us. I truly feel this agent got pleasure out of denying my wife and this young mother boarding, as she had a bit of a smirk on her face during the entire episode. Her only rebuttal was that we obviously had not read the Terms and Conditions of Allegiant when we purchased our tickets.

I will admit I did not know the airline REQUIRED a 2 hour check in time prior to departure…which seems rather extreme considering this particular airport. I think it necessary they find a way, besides the fine print in their T’s & C’s to inform their customers of such an unusual requirement. I also feel, if a passenger does not arrive with the RERQUIRED check in time, they at LEAST be given the opportunity to move through the security screening and attempt to get to the gate prior to departure. If at that point, we fail to catch the plane, shame on us for missing the flight.

Don’t take my word for it…check out the reviews of this airline on www.rateitall.com. You will see ALL airlines rated, and Allegiant has the most reviews to date (153) with the worst rating (2.35 of 5 stars) of all the airlines.
Needles to say, this is by far the worst display of customer service on the part of ANY company I have ever experienced!