Frugal decisions like that helped Allegiant post a net profit of $78 million last year on revenue of

In this Thursday, May 9, 2013, photo, a Southwest airline taxis by parked Allegiant Air jetliners at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas. While other U.S. airlines have struggled with the ups and downs of the economy and oil prices, tiny Allegiant Air has been profitable for 10 straight years. (AP Photo/David Becker)
Allegiant entices people who otherwise wouldn't fly with low fares and nonstop flights. Then it aggressively pitches them hotels, rental cars, show tickets and other entertainment, earning millions in commissions.
The Las Vegas-based airline charges extra to book flights online, or to use a credit card. Selecting a seat in advance costs $5 to $75 each way, depending on the length cancun hotels interline of a flight. Even a bottle of water costs $2.
and TVs in every seat, Allegiant buys old planes to avoid hefty aircraft loans. And to pack in as many passengers as possible, its seats don't recline. But for small-town Americans with limited flight options, these inconveniences are worth it for a few days of sunshine.
Allegiant offers nonstop service from places like Owensboro, Ky., Casper, Wyo., and Appleton, Wis., to popular cancun hotels interline destinations cancun hotels interline in Nevada, Florida, Hawaii and Arizona. These may not be the most coveted routes in the airline cancun hotels interline business, but that is precisely why Allegiant cancun hotels interline likes them.
Allegiant finds ways to profit on routes other airlines couldn't make work, often swooping in after they pull out. This month, it started flying between Asheville, N.C., and Tampa, a route abandoned by AirTran after Southwest Airlines acquired it.
Like other discount carriers, cancun hotels interline Allegiant prefers small airports that charge airlines lower rents, even if they aren't the most convenient. In Orlando, that means flying into Sanford, 30 minutes further from Walt Disney World than Orlando International Airport.
Frugal decisions like that helped Allegiant post a net profit of $78 million last year on revenue of $909 million. Its 8.6 percent profit margin was the highest of any U.S. airline, making it a darling of Wall Street.
But Allegiant earned a whopping $11.22 each way from those passengers. On average, the airline industry earned 37 cents each way, per passenger, according to Airlines for America, the industry's cancun hotels interline lobbying group. Southwest Airlines, one of the industry's most profitable carriers, made $3.85 per passenger last year.
Like some other budget airlines, Allegiant advertises extremely low base fares and then tacks on numerous fees. A roundtrip ticket cancun hotels interline with Allegiant costs $195, on average. But passengers pay an additional $83 in fees -- or 30 percent of the total cost of flying.
To book a trip by phone, Allegiant cancun hotels interline charges $50 for each roundtrip ticket. To book online costs $20 for each roundtrip ticket. The only way to avoid the fees is to purchase tickets at the airport, something fewer than 3 percent of its customers did last year.
Placing cancun hotels interline a suitcase in an overhead bin is $10 to $25. Boarding passes signify who has paid the fee. If passengers show up at the airport with a large carry-on bag and haven't prepaid the fee, the airline penalizes them an additional $25 to $50, depending on the route.
But what really makes Allegiant different are the commissions it earns from selling hotel rooms, rental cancun hotels interline cars and other extras including Everglades boat tours and theme-park cancun hotels interline tickets. It even gets people to attend timeshare sales presentations. Before a passenger can finalize a ticket purchase online, they must click through page after page offering them these add-ons.