Originally Posted by
rxziebel
Hi,
The carry-on bag fee is not $100, unless you try to board at the gate with a bag that is too big. The regular carry-on fee is much less.
The issue with carry-on bag fee is silly unless you look at the total fare paid. If Spirit is $290 from Las Vegas to Chicago INCLUDING all bag fees, booking fees, seating fees etc, and the other airlines are $300 or more then Spirit is a good choice.
Really, this focus on bag fees and such is silly. Look at the total charge and make the best decision. Don't spend more for another airline just so you can say you got a "free" carry-on.
Of course, Spirit likes its potential customers to live under the fictitious premise that the scenario you described is the norm. Yes, there are definitely times when it's cheaper to fly Spirit even after all the fees. But the reality is that unless you take great pains to avoid ALL fees then you frequently end up paying the same price.
A simple dummy booking of a LAS-ORD itinerary in August confirms this. Spirit offers $128. Legacies (or SWA to MDW) offer $168. Both prices include taxes but not optional fees. (Spirit makes it hard to figure out which fees will actually apply since you have to register on their website to get a final cost.)
But let's say you simply want to carry on a bag. It will cost you an additional $35 on Spirit, bringing their fare to $163. Of course, if you want to check a bag (it's more expensive on Spirit than on the legacies) the price is now even. (And if you choose SWA in this scenario, you're well ahead of Spirit by this point.)
So yeah, it would be cheaper on Spirit for a quickie weekend trip with a small purse (or whatever men use on Spirit) but for a real-world traveler it's generally no bargain.