Allegiant Carry-On Bag Experiences?

Anybody have any personal experiences with Allegiant regarding carry-on bags that had not been paid to bring onboard? I'm curious as to their procedure for monitoring bags that are being carried on as paid vs. non-paid ones. I would think that there would possibly be some sort of tag or sticker issued indicating that the bag had actually been paid for at some point. But, The couple of times that I have flown Allegiant, I don't recall ever seeing tags or getting one myself. So, would it be taking a big risk to confidently just proceed onto the plane with a bag, in addition to the free "personal item"? Or, would the baggage police detain you and extract your credit card from your wallet and/or deny you entry onto the flight if you refuse to pay to either check the bag or carry it onboard?

 

When you get your ticket scanned right before you enter the Jetway, a picture will pop up on the screen with a visual of a person carrying either a personal item, a carry on, or both. So an attentive gate agent will notice what you have and might say something. I have had friends who snuck by this without being caught before though..

 

The deal with Allegiant is, never say the phrase, "carry on," because you have to pay for those. You are allowed one "personal item" free of charge. So just tell them you have one "personal item" per flyer.

 

I just posted a short review of a bag I purchased with a Groupon. It is in the section called Getting There and Getting around. Might be of some help to you.

 

Leaving Vegas Allegiant seems to be really attentive about carry on and personal item. My wife had to stuff her purse in her personal item otherwise they were going to charge us a carry on. When we leave our home airport they could care less

 

In the last 5 years I have brought a carryon every time (sometimes an actual suitcase, sometimes a backpack) and I've never paid for it. No one has ever questioned me when it clearly says "No Carryon" on the boarding pass.

 

Would they literally stop you from boarding and take the time to go through the process of having you pay for the bag and then you would go back past the check in kiosk? That seems like a very inefficient waste of precious turnaround time for a flight. What if there were multiple passengers who were having to go through this comedy?

 

I thought I’d heard of every way to “stretch” a dollar to or in Vegas... I was wrong.

 

Yeah...well, to me it's more about the principle of paying to bring your crap on the plane with you. So, if there is a way to avoid that, I'm sure going to try.

 

IIRC, the last time I flew with them they tied some kind of a marker on your bag if it was a paid-for carry-on. (Or was that Spirit?)

 

Not really related to the thread ... but, if you're a golfer, they open golf travel bags to see what's inside. We're used to packing two sets of clubs in one travel bag (Alaska, Westjet allow this) .... but they will make you buy/use two separate travel bags.

GG

 

From my experience in flying with Allegiant four times, I can tell you that they know whether you "should" or "should not" have a carry-on bag based on your boarding zone. That is, if you are in boarding zone X, they know that anybody in that zone has not paid for an extra bag in the cabin (and as such they'll be looking much more closely)... whereas if you are in boarding zone Y, they know you have paid and will likely be paying less attention.

It seems they're pretty strict about it. I even read one story about Allegiant where a passenger was told they needed to check their jacket if they won't be wearing it, the passenger said "uhh, ok, I'll just wear it on the plane and then take it off", and apparently the whole flight crew was told to ensure he wore the jacket the whole time during the flight. Personally I'd have just laughed in their faces if they told me to put my jacket on... but that should tell you what kind of an airline they are.

 

You're joking, right?

 

I've never known Allegiant to be to worried about turnaround time, as long as they get you there with in 3 or 4 days of the original ticket, they seem to be doing good. Now it has been a long time since I've flown them, but I know several people who do fly them here locally and have heard stories about being delayed 4 or 5 hours, up to 24 hours.

Now when I did fly them, the gate agents here were very agressive about your original question. They measured every bag in their size box before letting you on the plane.

 

We've flown them several times, and our home airport is very relaxed and the Allegaint staff are mostly great. And, their price is usually like 60% of any other airline option we have. No brainer.

 

I use this backpack that is actually a luggage. It has worked every single time. Friends have bought it

 

The past seven years I have flown allegiant I have never had to pay for my carry on..... until this lat year- once I got to the gate the agent said you don't have an orange tag on your carry-on? I said no, I thought i was allowed one- she said no, you can either pay , with credit card only right here at the desk or go back downstairs and pay with cash if thats all you have- she wouldn't let me board until otherwise.. and yes, several people tried- we had a long line upstairs waiting to pay her and it Did make the plane delayed.... so i don't chance it anymore- i think they have cracked down...once we paid- the tied the bag with an orange allegiant ribbon

 

NOTE*Keep that orange ribbon for next time! (Unless they change colors from time to time).

 

True on the lack of caring about "on time performance" like other airlines! I bet they go through the seats on the plane and in the gate areas looking for change that people might have dropped out of their pockets!

 

I actually just busted my ass trying to find this thread (it was on TripAdvisor or FlyerTalk if I remember correctly), and couldn't find it. But I'm telling you 100% that I read this less than six months ago, and 100% it was for Allegiant.

It's the only story of its kind I've ever heard, so chances are good it's just a one-off. If I ever find this thread in the future, I'll either post it in this thread or DM it to you.