Allegiant Air is an airline that’s experienced a
massive turnaround in recent years. A few years back, Allegiant was infamous for operating old
aircraft that seemingly every other day would suffer from maintenance issues. Now, the airline
has transitioned to a modern all-Airbus fleet and has improved in various ways. In this video, I
take my first Allegiant flight in almost eight years, doing a quick roundtrip from Peoria,
Illinois to Denver and back. It’s also my first time flying from Peoria so there’s a lot
to look forward to today as we travel onboard one of America’s most popular leisure airlines.
Now I understand what the title says but stick around till the end to find out what I mean.
It’s 7:30 in the morning and after an easy drive over from Champaign, I’ve arrived at Peoria’s
General Wayne A. Downing International Airport, also known as PIA. One of the most attractive
perks of flying from PIA is that parking is totally free. To my surprise, the parking lot was
quite full today so I only managed to find a spot a fair distance away from the terminal. It’s worth
noting that there is a free parking shuttle that runs regularly but I ended up walking. Peoria’s
current passenger terminal opened in 2011, replacing the old terminal that had been active
for over 70 years. Much of the old terminal was demolished in 2011, however, a small portion of
it, specifically that which houses the control tower, remains in operation to this day.
Despite opening 13 years ago, the current terminal still looks good as new. This is actually
my fourth time at PIA, as I previously visited the airport in 2011 and 2015 to pick up or drop off my
grandparents. I’ve been wanting to fly out of the airport for a while now so when I found a solid
ticket on Allegiant, I knew I couldn’t pass it up. As is good practice when flying low-cost airlines,
I had checked in online and thus proceeded straight to TSA but not before briefly pausing and
checking on the status of my flight. This morning, we’ll be onboard Allegiant flight 1946 to Denver
departing just after 9 am. PreCheck was a breeze and within two minutes, I was airside. Peoria is
the fourth-busiest airport in Illinois, following Moline/Quad Cities, Chicago Midway, and of course
Chicago O’Hare. The airport served over 480,000 passengers in 2021 and that number continues to
grow. It goes without saying that the new terminal is modern and easily the best in Central Illinois.
There’s plenty of seating and various amenities along with free WiFi. But perhaps the one part I
was most excited to check out was the new terminal extension that opened in 2021. The extension
is accessible via a newly added skybridge that provides great views of the ramp, particularly
Gate 10 where we’re departing from this morning. This extension saw two more gates added to the
terminal along with a dedicated U.S. Customs and Immigration Facility, thus officially
granting Peoria Airport its international status. Of course, PIA doesn’t receive scheduled
international service however these new gates have hallways that would ideally funnel arriving
international passengers to the customs hall. PIA is also home to the Peoria Air National
Guard Base, housing the 182d Airlift Wing of the Illinois Air National Guard. As such, various
C-130H3 aircraft are based here and can frequently be seen flying in and out. Peoria also serves a
handful of cargo traffic from UPS Airlines who fly 757s and 767s from Louisville, Rockford,
and at one point, Miami. I soon shifted my attention to catch our A320’s arrival from
Nashville. Both Nashville and Denver are seasonal destinations from Peoria and both routes
are serviced by the same aircraft. Basically, the aircraft flies first from Nashville to Peoria,
then flies to Denver, and comes back to Peoria, before operating the leg back to Nashville. The
last time I flew Allegiant was in 2016 flying from Indianapolis to Myrtle Beach and back on the
McDonnell Douglas MD-83. Back then, Allegiant was a completely different airline with a large fleet
of MD-80s and 757s along with the Airbus aircraft. Maintenance issues were aplenty with the MD-80s
and 757s and ultimately prompted their retirement. Allegiant is the largest airline in Peoria,
controlling around 51% of the market share and serving 300,000 passengers from April 2022 to
March 2023. The carrier serves ten destinations from Peoria, four of those seasonally. Allegiant’s
Denver service is a new addition to Peoria. United Express previously operated this route
before ending it a number of years back. Now being an ultra-low-cost budget airline,
Allegiant places restrictions on the luggage you can bring onboard. The only free bags you get
are one personal item per person whose dimensions must not exceed 8x14x18 inches. When you
book your flight on Allegiant’s website, you have the option to add bundles that include
bags and seat selection among other perks. Because I was traveling lightly and didn’t really care, I
opted not to purchase anything extra. If you are planning to bring bags, you must buy these during
online booking for the cheapest price otherwise they’ll get more expensive later on. You can
add priority boarding, flexible ticket options, and even an option to pay for your pet if
that’s coming along. Boarding soon started on time and Allegiant boards their aircraft in
zones. Today I’m boarding in Zone 6 and I don’t know how they determine zones since I’m seated
towards the front of the plane while on the return flight I was in the very back but still
boarded in Zone 3. Seat selection on Allegiant varies based on where on the aircraft you want
to sit. Typically, seats in the front and in the exit row are more expensive than those all the
way in the back. If you don’t pre-book seats, you’ll get assigned one automatically at
check-in. I opted not to select seats in advance so I was assigned the aisle for both flights.
Allegiant’s A320s seat 186 passengers in an all-economy configuration. The seats look pretty
awesome color-wise but overall are as bare-bones as you can get. For the first leg, I’m in 11D
and there’s not much other than this pathetic excuse for a tray table and then a small netted
seat pocket. Contents-wise, there’s surprisingly an inflight magazine along with the safety card.
At 5’11”, I found the legroom to be pretty tight but I was able to bear it somewhat. Still,
above each seat are the personal air vents, reading lights, and call buttons. Not a
big deal but shortly after being seated, I noticed a bunch of crumbs littering the floor
which seemed to just be an issue in this area of the plane. Our flight today was quite full and
soon, we pushed back for an early departure. Inflight entertainment on Allegiant is very
limited. There’s no WiFi and as a result, no way to stream entertainment so your best
bet to is to bring a book or pre-downloaded content. As expected, Allegiant charges for any
drinks or snacks but the buy-on-board selection is pretty vast and not very exorbitant either.
It’s also worth noting that Allegiant doesn’t solely exist as an airline. It’s actually part of
a larger travel company called “Allegiant Travel Company” and so it specializes in connecting
smaller communities to big-time vacation destinations. That’s particularly why its route
map is so random with respect to the cities the airline serves. It’s really cool though if
you ask me and one of my favorite parts of the airline. Aside from studying and reading the
magazine, there wasn’t much to do on this flight until we began our descent. This was my first
time back in Denver in three years but I never thought I’d ever be flying Allegiant here. Our
approach brought us in from the northeast before flying past the airport on downwind, making
a 180, and then coming in to land on RWY 35R. After docking at Gate A39, it was time to get off
the aircraft for just 40 minutes before getting right back on for the return flight to Peoria. As
of 2023, Denver was the sixth-busiest airport in the world and third-busiest in the United States
serving just under 47 million passengers. Denver continues to grow massively, so much so that
United Airlines is considering relocating its headquarters here from Chicago. United itself is
the largest airline at the airport and growing rapidly, followed closely by Southwest. After
grabbing some lunch, I made my way right back to the gate where I sat nearby and enjoyed some Panda
Express until it was time to board. Ironically, despite being all the way back in seat 27D,
I boarded earlier this time in Zone 3. Soon, I was wedged back in my seat for the
90-minute trek east back to Illinois. We picked up a slight delay since there seemed
to be a discrepancy with the passenger count. It was soon resolved and we were on our way.
On this flight, I gave in and decided to go for one of the buy-on-board options. I went with
the Wingz box which cost me $10.99. Based on the contents, I think this was pretty good value for
money. The Wingz box includes a bag of popcorn, granola bar, graham crackers, applesauce,
and the main reason why I bought this: Allegiant wings. Aside from that, not much else to
report on until we landed back in Peoria. Because we were flying eastward, this flight was slightly
shorter than the way out to Denver. Our approach brought us past the airport on downwind, turning
base over Peoria Heights before coming in past the city for a landing on RWY 22. And there we go,
around five hours after leaving Peoria we’re back walking through the same exact gate we departed
from. So what did I think of Allegiant? Well, they were exactly as I expected, a traditional
budget airline but the flights were on time and the crew especially was great. Now here’s the
part about not making the mistake I made when flying Allegiant. Initially, I booked my ticket
for January 7th for $98 roundtrip. A steal for sure. Plans changed and I ended up having to
go to New York that day so a few days earlier, I had to reschedule these flights and
the date I chose was February 23rd. Now, if it’s past 24 hours from when you booked
your ticket, Allegiant will charge you the difference in fare to change your flights. In my
case, it was an extra $107 to change the dates, bringing my total to $205 roundtrip.
But would I fly Allegiant again? Well, I wouldn’t go out of my way to fly them
but yes I would fly them again for sure.
