[PHXFlyer]

Originally Posted by Butch Cassidy Slept Here

If one takes the cynical view that the OP is a perfect example of people who can't take personal responsibility, rather than someone who travels infrequently, and is not used to the airlines' shell games, then a refundable fare is ideal, albeit expensive, for this type of person. Yes, one of the rules requires check-in by a certain time. The OP didn't follow this rule and he got nailed for it. Was the airline acting within the law? Absolutely. Did the airline even offer one of those worthless vouchers they like to hand-out? No. Did they cancel his return reservation? Almost certainly. So was this man treated fairly under the circumstances? I think a lot of non-airline people would answer no?

I think you may have missed this in the original post...

Originally Posted by DNM95377

Let me preface this by stating that I have flown on Allegiant Air out of Stockton two other times prior to this flight (May 28, 2009 @ 2:45pm). Both times were uneventful...however...it seems like Allegiant is trying to "tighten the screws" as time goes on.

It sounds to me like this was more of an error of complacency. The OP also stated he thought the recommendation to arrive at the airport 2 hours early was ridiculous. Perhaps the first time he indeed arrived with 2 hours to spare and ended up waiting around at the gate. So perhaps the second time he only arrived an hour early and was still ok. This time it seems he cut it too close and it bit him in the butt. Lesson learned. But he still seems to want to blame the airline when he made a choice to arrive at the check-in counter with only 30 minutes to spare. There was no mention of a flat tire or traffic jam so this was a situation that was entirely within his control.