RustyC

Well, for those of u who thought the ability to pick a seat via the kiosk on the day of travel was somehow pampering the pax a little bit too much, you get your "wish": the new kiosk programming doesn't allow it, at least not at no charge. Just in time for Thanksgiving, too. Happy holidays from Spirit Airlines! ("Fly the Surly Skies")!

For an individual traveler, it means you're getting a middle seat! For my segment the cheapest "seat fees" were $14. Randomly on something like an A320 you'd expect 1-in-3 odds for a middle if one person, but you'd be amazed how you can "beat" those odds.

The real potential impact, though, is for couples and especially families. I dunno if they have safeguards in place to keep, say, a family of 3 or 4 together even if they don't pop for the seat fee and get "randomized."

But - aside from a major safety incident - the worst thing I could think of P.R.-wise would be widespread complaints getting into the media about families broken apart to middle seats because of the fee and not paying $40, or $56, or more each direction just to sit together. Do it enough times and there's a great chance someone gets assigned next to a registered sex offender or something story-ready like that.

It would not be pretty. The BEST they could hope for would be people like Clark Howard shining a light on it to forewarn people of the possibility. If a spokesperson gave some pat answer like, "We believe people should only pay for things they use and that's how we got to be the first ultra-low-cost-carrier in the Americas" they'd get mauled, as it's hard to say that kind of fee has such an underlying cost basis or even that it's not akin to a form of extortion. But the fear of the same thing happening to you/your family is the real hook.

Spirit will say they're different, but what they want customers to think is something along the lines of, "Well, I'll get nickel and dimed some with them, but the total should still be less than what this other carrier is charging." Yet if some problem or quirk is enough of an irritant and gets enough coverage it becomes a dealbreaker and changes the thinking to "I won't fly Spirit even though they're the cheapest because...." They don't want that.

lewisc

Spirit's business model is displaying a low price, making their money on "optional" fees. Too many passengers were "cheating" Spirit out of one checked bag fee per passenger so Spirit lowered the allowance to 40lbs. Too many passengers were "cheating" Spirit out of checked bag fees by using a bin bag. Spirit now charges for bin bags. Too many passengers, who want to sit next to family members. were "cheating" Spirit out of fees for assigned seats by checking in as close to T24 as possible. Sounds like Spirit solved that problem.

I think this change is consistent with the way Spirit does business. Pay for an assigned seat or you'll probably wind up with a middle seat. JMO but this is just as reasonable (or unreasonable) as many of Spirit's policies.

RustyC

Well, yeah, and a TV exec was quoted a few years ago saying that viewers who were zapping commercials or going to the bathroom during them were "stealing"

I guess to a hammer everything starts to look like a nail (i.e. if your frame of reference is concern first for what generates the most revenue regardless of passenger experience), the rest follows. Yet they were doing fine even before this. One person's cheating is another's legitimate fee avoidance.

The 40 lb. move, BTW, is a cynical attempt to break what had been an industry standard, to where someone on a multi-airline itin with a legacy carrier would get charged on Spirit for the same bag that was within the other airline's allowance. (Air Asia did the same thing).

This latest move is disappointing but not surprising...it's like banks and their "no stone unturned" approach. But they do run a real risk of going too far, and that's what I was getting at by pointing out possible bad PR consequences or of customers mentally differentiating Spirit in unintended ways.

Ajohnson

I would suggest not ever using spirit airlines ever again. I have used them on a couple of occasions and had no problems until now. Their customer service is horrible. I spoke with 3 different people...the first person hung up on me. This infuriated me. The second person Rosette, after telling her that I had been hung up on and then explaining what happened she told me that I was going to be charged with either a 125.00 fee or a 115.00 fee. Unacceptable for a 68.00 flight really! Your company failed me and you want me to pay you. Ok then she transferred me to Ian Reyes who was supposedly a supervisor. I truly doubt it. He proceeded to basically tell me I was a liar and to tell me what their "policy" is! Really....your website failed me...you charged me for a flight that I couldn't use don't send me a confirmation and you don't want to refund my money really!!! Lesson learned....you get what you pay for. Cheap flight doesn't equal great customer service....I will never ever ever fly spirit again. If you choose to do so fine...but be warned if you have an issue and need customer service...Good Luck!

lewisc

Spirit wants to offer rock bottom fares. That policy precludes spending $$$ on customer service. That said I don't know what issue the PP had. People who make a mistake in booking, not even an error, have 24 hours to cancel. The change fee is often high enough to wipe out the fare making your ticket throw away.

Do we know if Spirit is literally assigning random seats. Assume there are a reasonable number of seats together. Is Spirit putting passengers on the same reservation together or are they intentionally assigning seats apart? Not that new. A lot of passengers want to sit together but don't want to pay for seats. There are always passengers who can't get seats together at, or around, T24.

RustyC

If you're late to get a seat assignment and they have only middles, your family will likely be split up. Though that's the same with legacy carriers. OTOH, I don't know whether you'll get split if you've reserved it well in advance and have, say, 3 or 4 people on the same reservation? Will they keep those people together in the computer even if they don't pop for the (substantial) seat fees to stay together in specified seats?

They're really walking into a potential publicity disaster if they don't, and if families start getting split up just bacuse of the seat fee. Either they get killed by word-of-mouth as people complain to the media or, worse, something happens like a 14-year-old girl put in a middle seat next to R. Kelly (not that Kelly would fly NK, but someone like that). Any media coverage would be very damaging, would not hesitate to name the brand and would steamroll any pat answer of believing in unbundling things and having people pay for only what they want. Hopefully they've got some safeguards EVEN IF PEOPLE DON'T PAY THE FEE. They want people to give them carrots, but if they're not good at anticipatory P.R. there are quite a few sticks out there.

lewisc

Go to any of the Disney forums. Families who don't pay the seat fee get split every day. AFAIK Spirit doesn't hold back seats for gate assignment. Many people who check in around T24 get seats together, others don't. Passengers who want to sit together, even families, need to pay the fee.

What would be "mean" would be to intentionally split up passengers on the same reservation, even if there is availability of putting the passengers in adjacent seats.

Spirit would like the media coverage. It would serve to emphasize the "importance" of paying for whatever "optional" services you want to avail yourself of.

RustyC

If memory serves they would hold back the last row of most flights, though I thought the rationale there was for FAs to sit down or for people to wait for the bathroom. Dunno if they still do.

I don't think Spirit wants the kind of media coverage where, say, Clark Howard would warn people that if they don't pay the seat fees on Spirit their family would get split up. For many people that would be such a dealbreaker as to totally disqualify Spirit. I don't think they want that. They want people to think that maybe they're different and maybe they'll get nickel-and-dimed more (though the seat fee goes beyond that), but that the total of what they'll pay will still be less than on the legacy carriers. If they feel nickel-and-dimed beyond what they would have otherwise paid on a legacy, then you run into the age-old word-of-mouth rule of thumb where they'll tell 10 people.

pinniped

Question: will two of us, traveling together next Wednesday afternoon flight that will probably be half-full, have the option of selecting two adjacent seats at T-24 hours, assuming two such seats exist? Or will the system force two middles unless we pay some sort of upfare?

The return trip is a Friday afternoon...I would guess that it may sell out, so we've already bought BFS. (I was surprised it was actually still available...) But that seems like overkill on a Wednesday flight that shouldn't have that many people on it...

Kevin AA

I've flown Spirit only once since the seat assignment fee came out, and when I checked in at T-4 hrs, I had a choice of paying $14 for an aisle, middle or window seat of one empty row along with a handful of other seats. I decided to save $14 and selected "give me a random seat", and I was surprised to get a random AISLE seat of that empty row. Weird!

When I boarded, the plane was full, and I don't know if the other two people in my row paid $14 or got those two seats at random, but clearly they checked in after me, and they weren't a couple.

Kevin AA

LOL, that makes absolutely no sense

It's okay to hate Spirit without foaming at the mouth and making totally illogical statements like that.

What would actually make sense is to say that it's more likely that you'll sit next to a registered sex offender on Spirit because it's a cheap airline (and in case it needs to be said, registered sex offenders generally have low income). It has nothing to do with seat assignments.

Big4Flyer

Yes, you will have the chance at check-in to select adjacent seats together, assuming they exist, but you'll have to pay the same fee for it. At check-in the prices to select seats are the exact same as the prices to select in advance IME so I wouldn't wait if you know you're going to want to get seats together. Also, don't be so sure that your Wednesday afternoon flight will be only half-full. Spirit does a great job at filling their places by lowering their costs until someone bites. I've had Wednesday night red-eyes that were completely packed. Maybe its worth checking out the average load factors on FlightAware, although sometimes I don't know how accurate they are.

pinniped

What happens if I decide I absolutely don't want to pay a fee? At what point are seats finally assigned to me? (At the gate?) Assume I'm willing to accept the IDB risk that this entails...

I may have been one of those passengers that bit: I booked the flight 2 days ago for $16 (total with all fees) per person per segment. The base fare was negative thanks to the junk fee madness...

FallenPlat

In my experience, seats are assigned at check-in, which I've done online 24 hours in advance.

Also in my experience, and according to others' as well, Spirit does NOT split up groups (if at all possible). So relax, really. You don't have to "pay up" in order to sit together.

That having been said, when I checked in maybe 19 hours in advance for my last flight -- I couldn't do it earlier -- my party of three was still together but in the last row. So my advice would be that if you don't want to pay to be together, you shouldn't have an issue if you check in as close to the 24-hour mark as you can.

None of the above is 100% guaranteed, but I've not seen anything anywhere that would lead me to any different conclusions.

Big4Flyer

Like FallenPlat said, you'll be assigned seats at check-in but at any point, even after check-in you can pay to move to new seats. I never pay for seat selection when I fly Spirit and I've always been able to sit with my traveling partners. IME they're much better than Allegiant who have split up my party about 75% of the time I've flown with them. I'm flying Frontier for the first time next month with my family so we'll see how they compare.