How to save a bundle by flying out of Bellingham on the little airline that could.

CHEAP FLIGHTS | “I’m not going to fly on any airline that sounds like it’s been named after a communi- cable disease,” I told my husband when he suggested we jet to Oakland, California, from Bellingham, Washington, on Allegiant Air. We had accepted a last minute offer to join friends in Palo Alto for a football game at Stanford University and needed a cheap flight to the Bay Area ASAP. Everything out of Vancouver was really pricey, but we could catch Allegiant Air’s nonstop from Bellingham to Oakland: two round trip tickets totalled $521.44 including luggage.

I’m a “label airline” person because I hate to fly, but with a single ticket from Vancouver to San Fran costing upwards of $500, I decided to revisit my initial hesitation with Allegiant by doing a safety record check. I looked for serious complaints online (there was grousing about delays and surly staff) and sought the opinion of two Air Canada employees I know who had flown Allegiant before: they said they would do so again. Read more