Experiences with flying into Sanford on Allegiant?

[mom2alix]

Now that Disney no longer offers the Magic Express, family members that are traveling with us is looking at flying Allegiant direct into Sanford.

Does anyone have any recent experiences to share? Recommendations for transportation to WDW from Sanford airport?

[babysimba]

Hi,

We flew into Sanford years ago, so take with a grain of salt. We were staying at Shades of Green and I believe we used Mears back and forth to SOG. Back then, Sanford was much smaller and much easier than MCO to get in and out of. I believe it took about an hour to get to SOG from the airport. Now that "complimentary" ME is no longer a thing... we plan to fly into Sanford more. We just flew Allegiant into PIE last month. No problems and for a budget airline, we didn't have any complaints. In NH, Allegiant flies out of Portsmouth and that airport is so easy, I will take budget anytime over that convenience! Again, it was many years ago, but we found Sanford to be very easy.

[Eeyorelover22]

Our nightmare experience was the hotel shuttle to the airport which really didn’t exist because it didn’t start until after we needed to be at the airport for check in. I am not sure with Uber/Lyft now if it would be easier to find someone. We did find someone who did come to pick us up for the very early trip to Sanford from the hotel. I don’t remember what time out flight was, but we left Disney and stayed over night in Sanford for the flight. It was probably a 6 am flight.

To and from Sanford we used Tiffany Town Car. I don’t know if they are even around anymore. They were always great.

Sanford and Tampa/St. Pete are easy airports.

The bag limit on Allegiant is 40 pounds and that loss of 10 pounds can be an issue.

It’s not a bad trip up to Sanford. I believe that trip is easier than Tampa/St. Pete. I’ve never made that one to get to Disney, but there was another thread about the traffic to the Tampa airport. From my home now, both are about the same distance for me so sometimes if I don’t like the flight times at one or the other, I’ll book one ways to get a better time at the other one.

The aisle seats don’t allow for as big of a “free carry on” either. I book the middle seat now for that reason.

We did start renting cars after the “no hotel shuttle incident” for a few years and I always worried with a late flight that the car rental would close, but they never did. Flying out in a blizzard and arriving at 2 am rather than 11 pm was a good test and the car rental was still open and it was the last car, but there was a car for us.

Edit: I’ve flown with them 4 times since we moved here to journey back to Iowa and to visit my step mom in Traverse City, Michigan. DH and I flew with them twice in 2020/21 to visit Disney and then to close on our house. DH will fly with them again in July after helping DD move.

[helenabear]

Originally Posted by Eeyorelover22

Our nightmare experience was the hotel shuttle to the airport which really didn’t exist because it didn’t start until after we needed to be at the airport for check in. I am not sure with Uber/Lyft now if it would be easier to find someone. We did find someone who did come to pick us up for the very early trip to Sanford from the hotel. I don’t remember what time out flight was, but we left Disney and stayed over night in Sanford for the flight. It was probably a 6 am flight.

To and from Sanford we used Tiffany Town Car. I don’t know if they are even around anymore. They were always great.

Sanford and Tampa/St. Pete are easy airports.

The bag limit on Allegiant is 40 pounds and that loss of 10 pounds can be an issue.

It’s not a bad trip up to Sanford. I believe that trip is easier than Tampa/St. Pete. I’ve never made that one to get to Disney, but there was another thread about the traffic to the Tampa airport. From my home now, both are about the same distance for me so sometimes if I don’t like the flight times at one or the other, I’ll book one ways to get a better time at the other one.

The aisle seats don’t allow for as big of a “free carry on” either. I book the middle seat now for that reason.

We did start renting cars after the “no hotel shuttle incident” for a few years and I always worried with a late flight that the car rental would close, but they never did. Flying out in a blizzard and arriving at 2 am rather than 11 pm was a good test and the car rental was still open and it was the last car, but there was a car for us.

Edit: I’ve flown with them 4 times since we moved here to journey back to Iowa and to visit my step mom in Traverse City, Michigan. DH and I flew with them twice in 2020/21 to visit Disney and then to close on our house. DH will fly with them again in July after helping DD move.

They are still around. Used them on a trip last year. Still great!

[Eeyorelover22]

I should clarify too. There are no free carry ons. It’s a free personal item. Bag fees are much higher at the airport too if you don’t prepay for them.

[Adelard of Bath]

It's been a couple years but my mom used to regularly fly Allegiant from our regional small airport to some small airport in Arizona, she loved it. I suspect as far as she was concerned, a flight is a flight as long as nothing goes wrong. She loved the small airports.

Reason for no longer using Allegiant: they pulled out of our local airport.

[Brian5581]

I live about 5-10 minutes from Sanford Airport. It’s a cute little airport, really no complaints except lack of flight options and restaurants there have very limited hours.

[Doug Disney]

I have flown into Sanford almost exclusively for the past 10 years. This includes over 20 total trips and twice in the last year.

Going from our local airport to Sanford is much easier, and both airports are small so getting to the airport only an hour early has Been no problem for us.

For the most part have had no problems at all. The only problem we had once was in the winter where weather canceled our flight. The next flight out was booked and it wasn’t until the next day, so we had to drive to an airport about one hour and 20 minutes away to fly Allegiant out the next day. Most of their routes only have one or maybe two flights a day, so if you have a problem it can become a big problem. Being a budget airline they don’t have any reciprocal deals as far as I know with other airlines.

We usually rent a car or get a car service from Sanford to Disney. If you don’t need car seats then rideshare services are usually easy to get from Sanford to WDW.

As others have said it’s a budget airline so you have to pay for any food and snacks, as well as baggage including a carry-on.

A pro tip is if you are close to the airport that allegiant flies out, you can save $18 per leg per person by looking at the airport. That’s $36 round-trip per person. I live about 15 minutes from our Airport and always buy the tickets in person saving $150 for my family of four. The hours to buy tickets vary from airport airport At the ticket counter so you will need to find out when the ticket counter is open.

[Buzz Lightyear Towers]

Flew Alligiant into Sanford both December and February. I took an Uber to the resort both times at a cost of < $50.

[mom2alix]

Originally Posted by Doug Disney

A pro tip is if you are close to the airport that allegiant flies out, you can save $18 per leg per person by looking at the airport. That’s $36 round-trip per person. I live about 15 minutes from our Airport and always buy the tickets in person saving $150 for my family of four. The hours to buy tickets vary from airport airport At the ticket counter so you will need to find out when the ticket counter is open.

That is a great tip! I will let them know about this. They’ll have 4 adults plus paying for a toddler in a car seat so quite a savings there!