We just returned from what we thought would be an great trip to the Orlando area including Disney World with our 8 year old son. He was so excited about the whole thing and we thought we had found a good affordable deal with Allegiant Air's package deals. We did a lot of research and decided to give them a try.

We booked a package with a 4 night hotel stay, tickets to Disney World and shuttle service between the hotel and Sanford airport (a 45 minute one-way trip), and shuttle service from the hotel to the theme parks.

We arrived on-time for a departure flight, checked in and waited since the flight was delayed. This was to be expected since the weather was not favorable around Orlando. We boarded quickly and took the almost two hour flight and arrived at the Sanford airport shortly before 9PM.

We headed over to the Allegiant Air counter and found out that they only set us up with one shuttle service pass (for one passenger). No big deal normally, but the agent there had no clue how to get it resolved, and found even his supervisor could not help. We were stranded. Allegiant Air offered no help what so ever, luckily the shuttle service driver felt bad for us and was able to arrange transportation to the hotel.

While en-route, we found that others on the shuttle had the same problem, they found that like us, Allegiant under-booked their shuttle transportation. The shuttle service that Allegiant Air uses at Sanford is shared by several other hotels, and the 45 minute trip turned out to be 90 minutes. So, for a flight that was to arrive at 8:30 PM, we finally got to the hotel around midnight and checked in. No time to relax or get dinner, straight to bed for a busy day ahead.

We found out the next morning that the so-called free shuttle service to the theme parks was also a shared service, and that this time a two mile journey took an additional 90 minutes one way! The shuttle only made one trip out and back each day, again stranding us at the theme parks.

We decided to get a rental car for the remainder of the trip and the return to the airport.

After a great week at the Disney theme parks with our son with the exception of a rainy day Tuesday from the the Alberto storm, we returned to the airport in plenty of time to check-in and go through security (2 hours early). We walked to the Allegiant Air counter and the agent directed us to the check-in line at the far end of the Airport.

We waited in the Allegiant Air check-in line for about 30 minutes, only to find out that they wanted us to return to the Allegiant counter before we could get boarding passes. I had my wife and son sit and wait while I made a second trip to the counter (we had just been there). The agent informed me that I needed to clear up a payment issue with the Shuttle service and that I would have to walk out across the parking lot to the Shuttle service's building. I asked why he could not call them on his phone, for there must be some mix up. So finally he managed to come up with a phone and call the Shuttle manager (another company altogether). She was laughing and said that they had several of these situations from Allegiant Air recently, and since I had only two single passenger passes (not the 6 required) and had only used the shuttle once for the three of us, that we owed them $21.00!!!

Allegiant refused to allow us boarding passes (which were already paid as part of this package deal) until we paid the shuttle service directly. The agent also informed me that he could not accept a credit card (which they gladly accepted for the package deal) and wanted cash. I gave him the $21.00 and headed back to check-in. The agent there seemed flustered and gave us our boarding passes as we hurried to get to the security check point as our flight was leaving in 15 minutes. We waited again in line only to find that Allegiant Air had given us two duplicate boarding passes (two for my wife, one for my son, none for me) and the security agent told me to go back to the Allegiant Air counter to get the right ones.

I hurried to the counter, had another agent correct the boarding passes and got back to the security check point only to find that the agent (Richard) at the original counter had tagged us for additional security screening (an airline's choice). The security personnel were very courteous and took us through the long process of bag searches and personal body searches while my son stood and watched not knowing what was happening (he held it in for awhile, but cried, scare to death thinking they would take us away). They reassured us that since Allegiant Air initiated the search, that the plane would just have to wait, even as the Allegiant Air personnel kept bugging the already swamped security people about our status (as if we were responsible for delaying their flight).

We were cleared by security and then an Allegiant Air wanted us to run to the gate (again at the far end) to which we replied "we've done enough running today because of you" and walked at a normal pace. All this, the embarrassment to my wife and son and the stares from other passengers (to which we gave details to the reasons of our delay), and then they tell us we were ones that were late!!! It seems to me that a 40 minute delay of their flight would cost them much more than $21.00. I will be forwarding this to customer service at Allegiant Air and all local news services if I do not get a reasonable response.

People should know what to expect and the fact that none of the Allegiant Air people offered any help in any of the situations, shows a total lack of professionalism.