Other North & South America Frequent Flyer Programs - Spirit Air – Increase in Passenger Usage Fee?

I had a long post typed about this but then it got deleted, sigh. But anyhow, I often play around with Spirit Air reservations and today I noticed the round trip tickets are substantially higher than in the past, even using the same coupon code. I’m not even talking about the base fares but all of the ‘extras’. I looked a little further and realized this increase was from a higher Passenger Usage Fee. Eventually I found this on Spirit Air website:

“Quoted fare includes the base fare, any fuel surcharges, a 7.5% U.S. excise tax and Passenger Usage Fee of $16.99 per one way travel per traveling customer applies to most reservations. A lower fee of $8.99 may apply to certain discount fares. No fee applies to bookings made at Spirit Airlines' airport locations.”

When I booked travel earlier this year, the Passenger Usage Fee was something like $16 or $17 round trip, and now it’s about that amount EACH WAY. This fee is of course, the one you can ‘avoid’ by booking at the airport, technically. But from what I’ve read, that is close to impossible to do without a headache and having to pay just as high fares or more in the end anyways. This is a huge stealth increase by spirit and I couldn’t find any sort of announcement or news about it. I also wonder when the lower $8.99 PUF is used and when the new higher one is used. I actually like the Spirit business model and had a pleasant experience on their airline, but don’t like all of the deception they use. A $34 dollar fee for booking online… good lord.

Here's a link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/spirit-airlines-nearly-doubles-fee-to-book-airfare-on-its-website/2011/11/14/gIQA8vfbLN_story.html


Allegiant also charges this kind of fee, BTW.

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Spirit deserves a big pushback on this one. It's the Ticketmaster business model (i.e. a "convenience fee" for not having to go to the airport), but, as with Ticketmaster, having a token option for buying fee-free at one location hardly makes it a truly "optional" fee like they'd try to couch it (Ticketmaster tries to argue it's not a monopoly on the basis that you can buy at the venue, even though the venue might have limited hours and a system run by...Ticketmaster.)

In ATL, for example, Spirit is utterly unprepared to handle very many ticket transactions at the airport. They either won't be there at the counter or will be struggling to handle a flight (always a crisis environment to get it all done in time in itself). Other "spokes" are probably similarly sparsely covered.

So basically they want $34 from you before you even spend your first dollar, and they've always counted on this fee being somewhat hidden and looking like some kind of tax. But I think they've taken it too far with this increase and will get more scrutiny like with the OP. Which is what they don't want.

On a route that used to show up with $9 fares like ATL-FLL, for example, it's now hard to get the total for a RT to come in under $100 before any baggage fees or the like. FL, DL and AA have occasionally dipped to sub-$150 RT a-i for MIA, FLL or PBI, so it becomes an exercise in trying to compare apples to apples. The price advantage Spirit had is eroding, even for people who can take rucksacks and avoid the other fees (especially with Spirit not having a particularly good FF program for non-cardholders).

I think a lot more people will notice with the new fees. As Bank of America showed, customers can rebel when something seems unfair, arbitrary, and too in-your-face. The LAST thing Spirit really wants is for people to buy tickets at the airport, especially if it competes for kiosk or agent time with people trying to make a flight. You're actually helping them operate more cheaply by buying online and are being charged a premium for it, which is backwards. It always has been an invented fee with no real cost basis and with deliberate attempts to make it as hidden as possible, but I think they've gotten too greedy.

so if i go to the airport to buy a ticket I can get the same rate and avoid the fee? Or are the ticket prices internet only and I will pay a higher price if i go to the airport?

I have asked two different counter agents at airport (ORD, BOS) about if purchase ticket at counter will not have Passenger Usage Fee. Both agents are clueless about this. It is too much hassle to do this. I actually was buying 5 tickets so there is significant differences but after waiting in line for a hour and dealing with an unknowledgeable agent, I gave up.:o

Too bad Spirit Airlines has to use this hidden fee to make their rate unbelievably low.

I did enjoyed the low fare while it lasted.