For our trip to Vegas last week we flew Allegiant for the first time. It is the only direct option out of our airport going to Las Vegas. They only have two flights a week, so we didn't have a lot of options. Most people go to Vegas for the weekend, so they have a Friday afternoon flight, and a Monday evening flight. We used those, but we did the opposite. We flew out on Monday, and came back on Friday.
I expected our flights to not be all they way full considering our odd schedule, but I was wrong. Both ways were packed. Boarding was a mess, and our plane was late in both instances. When I fly for work I usually am on American, and I've not experienced the lax scheduling. Allegiant's time seem more like a suggestion than anything else. We weren't on a tight schedule so it wasn't a problem, but it was frustrating.
As we waited to get on the plane there were a few people (a-holes) who gave us the "your baby is going to make my life horrible on this flight" look. For those people I almost wish Amelia would have screamed the entire way, but she was a perfect angel. She is a great traveler.
We made it out and back fine and so did all our bags. In the end that is all that matters. Even though the process of getting on the plane and getting in the air seemed sloppily managed, the overall experience was good. For Vegas it is by far the best option. I don't know about for anywhere else.
My wife was an amazing packer and got all three of our things in one bag. Which was awesome considering you have to pay by the bag. When we got back to Arkansas our bag almost didn't come home with us. We were waiting by baggage claim and the third bag down the conveyer looked a lot like ours. However, I was on the other side so it went past a lot of other people before me. I noticed an old man pick it up off the conveyer, pop down the handle, and wheel it towards the door. I figured it must be his by the confidence he grabbed it with.
As he wheeled it away I took another look and noticed the logo on it was exactly the same as our bag had. I decided I better check to make sure he hadn't taken the wrong one. I caught up with him and his wife just as he got to the door of the airport. I asked him to make sure the bag he was carrying was his. As soon as I said that his wife looked back at the bag and said, "Well that isn't ours at all."
I opened it up just to verify and sure enough our stuff was in there. I'm so glad I ran them down to check. I'm not sure they would have noticed until they got home to unpack. We definitely avoided a huge headache. We still had to wait for the car seat and stroller to come out so I watched the old guy as he queued back up at the conveyer. He took another bag... one that looked nothing like ours. It wasn't even totally the same color and the handle on his was totally different than ours. What the heck was he doing? I guess he was in a hurry to get home and took the first suitcase that remotely resembled the one he used. Anyway, crisis averted.
