First trip on Spirit - very impressed!
Apr 23, 2012, 10:20 am
#1
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Programs: United, Hilton
Posts: 691
First trip on Spirit - very impressed!
Hi,
I just took my first trip on Spirit Airlines and I must say I am very impressed. I wanted a quick last minute weekend trip to Chicago from Las Vegas to visit family. United was $700, AA was $700 and Southwest was over $1,000!! So much for "low cost"
Spirit was $59 each way. Amazing! Flight times were 1:30AM departure from Las Vegas which was not great but ok. Return from O'Hare was 11:30AM departure. Both flights non-stop and on time. The return flight left 15 minutes early and arrived early as well. What a refreshing change from sitting at the gate until departure time when everyone is already on the plane!
I purchased the Big Front Seat option and enjoyed near first class seating and leg room. With the cost for the carry on and all the taxes and fees, the total airfare was $300 round trip. For a near first class experience!
Flight attendants were professional and provided good service.
Overall an excellent experience and I will consider Spirit again for travel. Not at all what I expected from the comments of others here and from other travel sites.
For $300 round trip booking within a week of travel for Las Vegas to Chicago, Spirit is an outstanding value and well worth considering.
I just took my first trip on Spirit Airlines and I must say I am very impressed. I wanted a quick last minute weekend trip to Chicago from Las Vegas to visit family. United was $700, AA was $700 and Southwest was over $1,000!! So much for "low cost"
Spirit was $59 each way. Amazing! Flight times were 1:30AM departure from Las Vegas which was not great but ok. Return from O'Hare was 11:30AM departure. Both flights non-stop and on time. The return flight left 15 minutes early and arrived early as well. What a refreshing change from sitting at the gate until departure time when everyone is already on the plane!
I purchased the Big Front Seat option and enjoyed near first class seating and leg room. With the cost for the carry on and all the taxes and fees, the total airfare was $300 round trip. For a near first class experience!
Flight attendants were professional and provided good service.
Overall an excellent experience and I will consider Spirit again for travel. Not at all what I expected from the comments of others here and from other travel sites.
For $300 round trip booking within a week of travel for Las Vegas to Chicago, Spirit is an outstanding value and well worth considering.
Apr 23, 2012, 12:17 pm
#2
Original Member, Moderator: Hotel Deals and MilesBuzz
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 14,257
Hermes, the God of Travel was smiling on you.
The big issue with Spirit among FTers (besides the lack of a viable frequent flyer program) is that when the feces hits the fan, you are pretty much hosed.
The big issue with Spirit among FTers (besides the lack of a viable frequent flyer program) is that when the feces hits the fan, you are pretty much hosed.
Apr 23, 2012, 1:25 pm
#3
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Programs: United, Hilton
Posts: 691
I can understand that, but how is it any different from Southwest? I had a flight on Southwest last year from LA to Vegas that was cancelled and I was told it would be 2 days before they could guarantee me a seat! Of course, it is a 5 hour drive with very easy one way car rentals, but still the point is that Southwest is just as bad when a problem happens.
The worst that could have happened was that my flight home was cancelled and Spirit would have just refunded my money and said "so sad". OK, then I go to UA or AA or whatever and buy a one way ticket home. Since that did not happen, I just saved $400 from this one trip (and was much more comfortable in a Big Front Seat rather than a coach seat on UA, AA etc). Say I do this trip 5 times and have one cancellation. I saved $2,000 on the 5 trips but had to spend $500 on a one way home. Still an excellent value.
Of course, if I was travelling on business, it would be a different story. I know time is money in that case. But for leisure travel, there is no worries. If the trip is cancelled on the outbound, no problem at all. I just go another weekend. The only risk is the return and as I mention above it is no large risk at all.
My point is that the stories of cramped seating, dirty planes, poor flight attendants etc were not evident in my experience and I want readers to know that there is a balanced opinion.
Thanks.
Apr 23, 2012, 2:41 pm
#4
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: JFK/GDL
Programs: AA PLT, UA 1P
Posts: 415
Your experience sounds like many I have had on Spirit over the years. With a little information and managed expectations, Spirit can be a great value. I have flown with them many times over the years -- mostly international -- without serious incident. If the price is the same as AA, I usually choose AA. But for those trips where Spirit flights are significantly cheaper, I consistely choose Spirit.
On a recent trip back from STI, I purchased a big front seat for something like $15. I was one of the first off the plane and through immigration in FLL, which can get very congested. I had my small backpack and no luggage, thus no fees.
Having read Spirit "horror stories," it seems to me like most of the "victims" are inexperienced travellers, which is unfortunate. I have seen stories of missed cruises, hundreds of dollars in unanticipated luggage fees, and missed connections due to immigration backups in FLL. With a little planning, those scenarios can certainly be mitigated. I only use Spirit when they are extremely cheap, and never for time critical travel. It also helps to have a back-up plan, and I don't care about their FF plan. With this strategy, the savings on Spirit can be substantial, as you point out.
On a recent trip back from STI, I purchased a big front seat for something like $15. I was one of the first off the plane and through immigration in FLL, which can get very congested. I had my small backpack and no luggage, thus no fees.
Having read Spirit "horror stories," it seems to me like most of the "victims" are inexperienced travellers, which is unfortunate. I have seen stories of missed cruises, hundreds of dollars in unanticipated luggage fees, and missed connections due to immigration backups in FLL. With a little planning, those scenarios can certainly be mitigated. I only use Spirit when they are extremely cheap, and never for time critical travel. It also helps to have a back-up plan, and I don't care about their FF plan. With this strategy, the savings on Spirit can be substantial, as you point out.
Apr 23, 2012, 9:15 pm
#5
Join Date: Mar 2011
Posts: 2,813
Glad you enjoyed the flight. I certainly would not have spend $400 more just to experience the luxury of AA/UA Y.
Although I suspect your flight would have been much worse on their A320 with 28'' of pitch. My knees hurt just thinking about it.
Although I suspect your flight would have been much worse on their A320 with 28'' of pitch. My knees hurt just thinking about it.
Apr 24, 2012, 7:41 am
#6
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Programs: United, Hilton
Posts: 691
I actually was on a 320 for one of the flights. The Big Front Seat had plenty of legroom and was the same as the 319. I did not look at the regular seating except to see that row 2 had more legroom than normal due to the Big Front Seat ahead in row 1 needing room to recline. I would say that if the Big Front Seat is not available, row 2 on the 320 is not a bad choice.
Thanks
May 2, 2012, 1:37 pm
#7
Join Date: May 2003
Location: USA
Posts: 380
What Miguel0881 and rxziebel have described is exactly what happened in Europe 10 years ago. People were used to pay high fares on BA, KL, AF, IB, TP, LH, etc to travel between countries in Europe until the low cost carriers started offering cheap one way fares with no frills. People realized they can be saving a lot of money if the plan accordingly (do the math) and decided to use low cost carriers for leisure travel (buying vacation places in other countries thanks to the LCC's opening new routes).
In my case, I fly Spirit to commute and I end up saving a lot of money compared to what other airlines would charge. For business travel I still fly the major carriers because my employer pays for the tickets and if there are "Irrops", I can easily change my ticket or get a new one and refund the other. If Spirit cancels my flight, I always carry US$800 in vouchers on UA and AA that can buy me a one-way ticket walk in fare. So far, I haven't used them.
NK will be more successful if Legacy carriers keep merging. With less competition, NK will be able to expand to new city pairs that only have 1 airline offering a cheap alternative. They have done it in DFW by entering markets that only AA served non-stop (SAN, TPA, PDX, MCO, etc) and most of the legacies do not react to NK...
In my case, I fly Spirit to commute and I end up saving a lot of money compared to what other airlines would charge. For business travel I still fly the major carriers because my employer pays for the tickets and if there are "Irrops", I can easily change my ticket or get a new one and refund the other. If Spirit cancels my flight, I always carry US$800 in vouchers on UA and AA that can buy me a one-way ticket walk in fare. So far, I haven't used them.
NK will be more successful if Legacy carriers keep merging. With less competition, NK will be able to expand to new city pairs that only have 1 airline offering a cheap alternative. They have done it in DFW by entering markets that only AA served non-stop (SAN, TPA, PDX, MCO, etc) and most of the legacies do not react to NK...
May 2, 2012, 4:57 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere I need to be.
Programs: OW Emerald, *A Gold, NEXUS, GE, ABTC/APEC, South Korea SES, eIACS, PP, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 16,046
What Miguel0881 and rxziebel have described is exactly what happened in Europe 10 years ago. People were used to pay high fares on BA, KL, AF, IB, TP, LH, etc to travel between countries in Europe until the low cost carriers started offering cheap one way fares with no frills. People realized they can be saving a lot of money if the plan accordingly (do the math) and decided to use low cost carriers for leisure travel (buying vacation places in other countries thanks to the LCC's opening new routes).
In my case, I fly Spirit to commute and I end up saving a lot of money compared to what other airlines would charge. For business travel I still fly the major carriers because my employer pays for the tickets and if there are "Irrops", I can easily change my ticket or get a new one and refund the other. If Spirit cancels my flight, I always carry US$800 in vouchers on UA and AA that can buy me a one-way ticket walk in fare. So far, I haven't used them.
NK will be more successful if Legacy carriers keep merging. With less competition, NK will be able to expand to new city pairs that only have 1 airline offering a cheap alternative. They have done it in DFW by entering markets that only AA served non-stop (SAN, TPA, PDX, MCO, etc) and most of the legacies do not react to NK...
In my case, I fly Spirit to commute and I end up saving a lot of money compared to what other airlines would charge. For business travel I still fly the major carriers because my employer pays for the tickets and if there are "Irrops", I can easily change my ticket or get a new one and refund the other. If Spirit cancels my flight, I always carry US$800 in vouchers on UA and AA that can buy me a one-way ticket walk in fare. So far, I haven't used them.
NK will be more successful if Legacy carriers keep merging. With less competition, NK will be able to expand to new city pairs that only have 1 airline offering a cheap alternative. They have done it in DFW by entering markets that only AA served non-stop (SAN, TPA, PDX, MCO, etc) and most of the legacies do not react to NK...
May 3, 2012, 8:28 am
#10
Original Member
Original Poster
Join Date: May 1998
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Programs: United, Hilton
Posts: 691
At least I was able to go home from work and have dinner and get a couple hours sleep. Made a big difference.
May 3, 2012, 9:10 am
#11
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Anywhere I need to be.
Programs: OW Emerald, *A Gold, NEXUS, GE, ABTC/APEC, South Korea SES, eIACS, PP, Hyatt Diamond
Posts: 16,046
After all, that's why PR/CX/BR/CI use them for their YVR-MNL/HKG/TPE TPAC flights.
May 4, 2012, 2:35 pm
#12
Join Date: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,152
Your experience sounds like many I have had on Spirit over the years. With a little information and managed expectations, Spirit can be a great value. I have flown with them many times over the years -- mostly international -- without serious incident. If the price is the same as AA, I usually choose AA. But for those trips where Spirit flights are significantly cheaper, I consistely choose Spirit.
On a recent trip back from STI, I purchased a big front seat for something like $15. I was one of the first off the plane and through immigration in FLL, which can get very congested. I had my small backpack and no luggage, thus no fees.
.
On a recent trip back from STI, I purchased a big front seat for something like $15. I was one of the first off the plane and through immigration in FLL, which can get very congested. I had my small backpack and no luggage, thus no fees.
.
Do they charge for seat assignment @ the gate if one wants to sit together with family? If so I'd rather get a big seat if I'm paying anway...
May 9, 2012, 2:15 pm
#13
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 193
Thanks OP for reminding everyone that Spirit is a good deal (if, of course, you read all the fees and conditions carefully beforehand). I've also had great experiences flying them several times. Looking forward to more now that they fly to MSP.
May 11, 2012, 3:59 pm
#14
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 14
I just came off my 16th Spirit flight in 2012, and so far, all 16 of 16 flights were 5 star service at 1 star pricing. ORD->LAS for under $80 r/t a/i? ORD-FLL for under $100 r/t a/i?
Half my flights are for business (paid by me, reimbursed with a per diem and estimated travel costs), the other half have been for trips to see friends or family. I can't complain.
I'm happy with their fees as I can decide later (pre-check-in) if I want to upgrade to an exit row or Big Front Seat, weeks after booking. $2 for unlimited coffee on the flight is fine with me. I had my own "personal item" bag made (16" x 14" x 12") and I can fit 3-4 days of clothes in there with no carry on costs.
I still flight top tier business class to Europe, but since Spirit out of ORD hits almost all my favorite cities (LAS, LAX, NYC, FLL, DEN, etc) and I can regularly find r/t a/i for under $150, it's an easy choice.
I've heard horror stories from some of my friends, but they're all travel newbies and I would expect similar grievances with any airline. They're also high maintenance at restaurants and bars, so their attitude is expected.
Even if I don't upgrade to an exit row, I'm only 5'8", and 3 hours of discomfort is worth being able to hit Vegas or Los Angeles for a fun weekend at almost no cost.
Half my flights are for business (paid by me, reimbursed with a per diem and estimated travel costs), the other half have been for trips to see friends or family. I can't complain.
I'm happy with their fees as I can decide later (pre-check-in) if I want to upgrade to an exit row or Big Front Seat, weeks after booking. $2 for unlimited coffee on the flight is fine with me. I had my own "personal item" bag made (16" x 14" x 12") and I can fit 3-4 days of clothes in there with no carry on costs.
I still flight top tier business class to Europe, but since Spirit out of ORD hits almost all my favorite cities (LAS, LAX, NYC, FLL, DEN, etc) and I can regularly find r/t a/i for under $150, it's an easy choice.
I've heard horror stories from some of my friends, but they're all travel newbies and I would expect similar grievances with any airline. They're also high maintenance at restaurants and bars, so their attitude is expected.
Even if I don't upgrade to an exit row, I'm only 5'8", and 3 hours of discomfort is worth being able to hit Vegas or Los Angeles for a fun weekend at almost no cost.
May 30, 2012, 5:34 am
#15
Join Date: Aug 2010
Programs: UA 1P, Hilton Silver, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 20
I just started the weekly commute from FLL to MYR four times a month and had a great experience. Working in Miami and living in NMB gave me no option. I purchased the big seat and it was just like biz without free drinks and food. The AC is new and the FA,s are nice.
As I sit in MYR the flight is delayed for the TS but everyone is. I just wish they had an early Saturday direct flight.
As I sit in MYR the flight is delayed for the TS but everyone is. I just wish they had an early Saturday direct flight.