Last week I flew Allegiant Airlines Monterey to Las Vegas with a $74 all-in round trip ticket. There have been two flights each week from Monterey to Las Vegas on Monday and Friday. Flights from Las Vegas are scheduled on the same days for a quick turnaround run to Monterey and back to Las Vegas in less than 90 minutes flight time each way. Flying on Monday to Las Vegas is generally less than 50% of the ticket price to fly to Las Vegas on a Friday.
Flight service increases to Monday, Wednesday and Friday for summer with a wide range in flight times from early morning to late evening.
Allegiant is a no frills airline that charges $20 to even bring a carry-on bag aboard. With temperatures in the 80s and 90s in Las Vegas during the day and 60s at night, I packed 2 pairs of shorts and 4 days of t-shirts, socks, underwear and a pair of sandals with my computer in a 17-liter backpack for a free personal bag under the seat.
I skipped paying for a seat too.
At check-in 23.5 hours before the flight I received window seat 24F.
Seat prices ranged from $22.00 for an aisle seat in the front row of the plane to $4.00 for a middle seat in the back of the plane in the 3-3 seat configuration. My free assigned seat at check-in would have cost $7.00 to reserve. I ended up with three seats to myself in a row near the back of the plane after the woman in the aisle seat moved to an empty row in the back of the plane.
Allegiant Airlines Bag Fees
The secret to flying low Cost carriers is travel light and compact. Allegiant Airlines allows one free personal bag at 16in x 15in x 7in.
Allegiant charges $20 for one carry-on bag and $25 for one checked bag each way.
My total ticket price was $74 for Monterey to Las Vegas round trip with no paid bags or seats.
I must admit that the under seat space for my backpack was smaller than any aircraft I have flown in years. I usually can place my backpack sideways on most flights.
In the end, free seat roulette and a free personal bag turned out to be perfectly adequate for my trip. I even ended up with leg space for the 75 minute flight after the woman in the aisle seat relocated to a different row.
The price for a round trip ticket from Monterey to Las Vegas flying Friday July 12 to Wednesday July 17 is available for $79 all-in today.
But if you pay $7 each way for a window or aisle seat in the rear of the aircraft, one carry-on bag and one checked bag each way, then that $79 ticket price increases to $183 round trip.
The more restrictive bag rules are for a cheap flight, the less I tend to take for my trip. If I needed to fly with more stuff, then United Airlines becomes a better value for me out of Monterey.
In Europe, where I regularly fly low cost carriers, my preference is Norwegian, Ryanair and Wizz where it is inexpensive to bring a personal bag and a regular size carry-on on board the aircraft to avoid checked bag fees. I shy away from airline tickets on carriers like EasyJet and some of the legacy airlines (Czech) where only one bag is allowed in the cabin on cheap tickets.
