zcat18

It's no secret that Spirit follows the "pay for the extras" model, so one hopefully knows what he or she is getting into when one books a ticket with this airline. Prior to this weekend's trip to LAS (my dad lives there), it had been almost a decade since I'd flown Spirit. I'm not the type to say "never again" to airlines, but suffice to say that I will think long and hard before booking another ticket on Spirit. I should note that this trip was booked for me, so I had no choice in the matter this time around.

Fees are one thing, and I understand the model. It's not a bad one on paper. However, traveling with one small bag (one that I would ordinarily carry on,but in this case checked since it would have been two dollars MORE--$40--to carry the bag onto the plane than it was to check it) cost me a whopping $120 in fees when all was said and done. $120! Sure, I could have saved on some things (for instance, I could have saved myself the online seat selection fee on the outbound leg and could have shaved a few dollars off of the outbound bag check by purchasing the honor of checking my bag online, but I digress...). If the ticket had been unbeatably cheap, the fees might be reasonable, but at $350 for the airfare alone--almost $100 more than United was asking, incidentally--this takes nickel and diming to a whole new dimension. In fact, I am actually impressed. No matter how hard you try to scrimp and save on Spirit, you will ultimately end up paying the piper. Big time.

While I found the FAs to be some of the friendliest I've ever encountered on a U.S. airline, those on the outbound leg overserved the couple behind me to the point that, by the end of the flight, they could barely speak or walk. Last evening's inbound flight LAS-ORD featured a one-hour, fifteen minute wait on the apron after landingwhile two other Spirit flights respectively blocked in, offloaded/boarded, and pushed back from our gate.

Spirit Airlines, I salute you on managing to provide what might be the worst dollar-for-dollar value of any service provider in the history travel industry. Well done!

[/RANT]

coolcoil

FWIW - I have found that every time I have priced a Spirit itinerary and then added the fees that I would have to pay (I often have 2 or 3 checked bags), the total price has always been at least equal, if not higher, than legacy airlines.

That said, if I was travelling light, Spirit might save me $100 on my DCA-MDE trips.

zcat18

There was another Spirit thread where the OP mentioned that the airline is ideal for short-haul day trips, and it's really true. Unless I was in the Big Front Seats, I'm not sure I'd want to fly Spirit to MDE, or worse, LIM.

grt2106

While I think the fees are a bit absurd for some things, like the given example, as to why carry on costs MORE than checked baggage.

I'm a flyer who rarely... 1 time out of 25 actually checks a bag- and I don't mind the savings when it's on me.