gkbiiii

Read through the Spirit fee page and you will be surprised!



http://www.spirit.com/OptionalFees.aspx

jamesteroh

THose fees are crazy!!! $25 extra if your bag weighs between 41 and 50 lbs???

And what drink could cost $15?????

I am surprised they don't charge for a lap infant.

I rarely check a bag, but did a few weeks ago on my DL to ORD flight and I figured out the "optional fees" on NK would have been more than my $85 RT ticket was on DL. Just to have checked the bag coming back and the screwdriver and snack basket selection would have cost me more on Spirit than what I paid for everything on DL

30 lb check bag going-$28
bag weighed 58 lbs returning-I had a lot of stuff to bring back so that is why I check a bag-$28 plus the $50 overweight fee-$70
I SDC'd onto an earlier flight going to ORD-$25 (which would be $50 if you aren't elite on a lot of airlines).
I had three screwdrivers going and one coming back-I am assuming they would be the $15 drinks so that is $60 there.
I had a bottled water each way and a coke zero coming back-Assuming those are the cheapest drinks that is $3
Had a couple selections from the snack basket each way which would have probably been another $5.

Right there is over $190 in fees alone. Even if WN didn't charge me any airfare, I am looking at almost double what my airfare was on DL for just "optional fees" on NK.

If they charge those fees to everyone I am sure they have no business frequent flyers.

frugal_flyer

I mean no ill will, but I resent being called a "fool" because I fly this airline.

I avoid every single fee with the airline and fly for a hell of a lot cheaper than the majority of passengers. I just flew DTW-ACY for $40, and I would not have brought more clothes/other items even if I could have without incurring extra fees. While I agree that most people would like to bring more clothes and such for longer stays, the fact is is that Spirit is an incredible value for the "right trip" for the "right people".

While Spirit may not exactly coddle their passengers, they must be doing something right. They are making oodles of money, something that other airlines --American comes to mind-- would *love* to be doing.

I agree with many that their fees are getting excessive, but the fact remains that most, if not all, can be avoided by people if they plan ahead and don't act like prima donnas!

Just so people don't think I am some shill for the airline, I was one of the many who were stranded when the Spirit pilots went on strike. I was not happy about the abandonment by Spirit towards its passengers, but frankly I was not surprised. When one can fly everywhere with Spirit for less than $100 on the supercheap sale tickets, this is the chance one takes with them.

So one bad experience, and all of the rest cheap hasslefree roundtrips; I guess I am such a "fool".

jamesteroh

I don't think anyone said you were a fool if you can avoid the fees.

I don't know of anyone travelling for business that can manage to get everything in a bag that fits under their seat.

I used to fly DTW/LGA a lot and would take them over NW before they eliminated business class.

For someone that can do a day trip or one night and doesn't fly a lot, NK can be a good choice if they can get a cheap fare. As someone that flies for both work and pleasure and uses DTW (a delta hub) and can earn enough miles to be platnium on DL, NK is not a good choice for me.

N830MH

I think I agree as well. NK is very worse airlines and those passengers are complaining about charging checked bag & carryon bag fee. This is unacceptable for the behavior. I just don't care about charging checked & carryon bag fee. This is insane! This is madness!! It's time to revoke the certificate. They have a several warning for a many times.

aubreyfromwheaton

People for the most part are bad at math, and don't do their homework.

So they get angry when they get charged $45 for a carryon.

Caveat emptor.

aubreyfromwheaton

Watch your flight times closely. Spirit makes frequent schedule changes, which are also opportunities for refunds.

They won't call it a schedule change, you just get a confirmation email as if you asked for one to be sent to you, except you didn't, and it just randomly appears...

jamesteroh

I personally like red eyes flying into DTW on Delta. It means I can spend the entire day in Vegas or LA or SF. A couple times I have been in SF for events that happened on a sunday afternoon. I have the hotel store my bags and enjoy SF (or whatever city I am in), retrieve my bags (and a lot of hotels have showers in their fitness center the HGVC in vegas has a shower lobby level you just ask for a keycard for) and I can shower and head to the airport. Or if I didn't get all sweaty I just catch a couple hours sleep and sometimes will shower at the airport (I know you can't do that on NK since they don't have clubs) and head to the office. Means not taking another da off work and saving a night on the hotel. And while I always get upgraded on a LAS/DTW redeye there have been times where I have been in the double digits on the upgrade list as a platnium on Delta for SFO/DTW on a redeye so obvoiusly frequent flyers take them.

As a business traveller a redeye can be nice if you want to be home the next day instead of spending it flying. A lot of times if I am on business i will have dinner or go out for drinks with a client after. With a redeye I can have time to do that and be home the next morning instead of spending the next day in the air.

If a business traveller is going from the west coast to a place like DTW, NYC or ORD, it means they can spend more time at home and be to the city they arte treavelling to at 7 a.m. the next morning.

rxziebel

PLEASE! Stop with the drama. There is no reason to revoke their cert. The fees are spelled out and if someone does not take the time to figure out the total cost for their specific needs then too bad for them. There is no need to trash the entire airline because some think charging for a carry on is bad. Fly whomever you wish, but stop the madness of thinking that YOUR thoughts on a subject require all others to agree. I for one think Spirit has an excellent model and when the fare AND FEES in total are lower than other carriers fares AND FEES in total I will have no hesitation in using them.

biztraveler2007

The $30 bag fee is not a big deal, IF Priceline, Travelocity and the other travel agencies start including these ridiculous fees when comparing airline tickets. AA and Southwest need to encourage the travel sites to insure the consumer is aware of these "hidden fees."
Frankly, I blame my travel site/agent for not telling me about a very slimy business practice. After all isnt this why we use a priceline, travelocity, etc ?

HRDiva

What is slimey?

When I go to book my flight on Spirit, it asks me if I want to save money now and book my bags. OK, I'm going for the weekend and can stuff my clothes in an approved bag. When I print my itinerary, it lists all the add on costs for future reference should I want to add things on.

Then, a day before the flight, I get an email welcoming me to the flight and informing me of the opportunity to click "here" to book my bags.

Then on day of flight I go to check in. I am immediately asked to check in and given a full list of flight cost add on's that are available. I decline and check in. Immediately the check in page is displayed but greyed out. Again a pop up displays that gives a final chance to buy a bag. Only then can one print a boarding pass.

On the top of the boarding pass it says in big BOLD letters that to avoid fees at the airport you need to print it. Kiosks that print paper cost money to maintain. So to charge to print at the kiosk is not outrageous. I was at LAS at the US Airways area and most of the kiosks were out of paper, toner or had other issues. That comes at a cost to them. So, it is reasonable to charge a small sum ($1 or $2) to have the special priviledge to print boarding passes at the airport.

frugal_flyer

HRDIVA... For all the complaints about Spirit's "gotcha" fees, the bottom line is that the airline's web site is upfront about these fees. I still maintain that most of the people that complain about them are just looking for things to complain about, so as to denigrate the airline mercilessly.

I think that the relatively recent changes to the Spirit web site have made it more user friendly than in the past.

It *would* be nice if the opaque and third party sites could do a better job of including "all" airline fees in their listings.

iahphx

Spirit's website does tell you about their fees -- but it's not exactly "upfront." Indeed, the site seems designed to confuse you about what your airfare is. Have you booked anything on it recently? It's annoying. I can't understand why you would organize the purchasing in this way unless you were trying to hide stuff (and bundle other things).

And if you are booking Spirit flights on other websites, the odds are that you won't understand Spirit's fees.

AA_EXP09

They aren't even a member of Amadeus, so I can't see them on the GDS.
I thiNk that is a blessing.

HRDiva

Yes, I booked two weeks ago and flew just this weekend. Both the booking and the flights were easy, flawless and pleasant.