MileageAddict

Mission accomplished! I flew BWI-MYR this morning on N614NK. The plane was clean and was about 50% full. I wasn't paying a dime more than what I paid for the ticket so Spirit assigned me seat 26F.

Yeah, the seat pitch is brutal but for one of the shortest flights in the Spirit route system, I could deal with it. I now know I would never want to be on a Spirit A320 for any longer than 60 or 90 minutes. We left exactly on time and arrived 15 minutes early.

My original plan was to walk the 1.7 miles to the beach but yesterday, I found an Alamo rental car for $21 including taxes and locked in on that deal with a code giving me 150 Alaska Airlines miles for the 4.5 hour rental. I almost always rent mid-size or standard cars but in the spirit of being frugal for my one day adventure, I went with the sub-compact and got a Chevy Sonic. Actually, wasn't a bad little car and allowed me to venture a little farther away from the airport.

I spent about an hour on the beautiful beach and another three hours visiting two different resorts and discretely crashing the pool areas to enjoy their pools, whirlpools and lazy rivers.

Return flight was also on N614NK and this time I got 23F. Plane was about 75% full. Once again, flight left on time and arrive 20 minutes early. While boarding the flight, I did witness a kind act of goodwill/customer service. Ahead of me in line to board was a very large man - probably close to 400 pounds. The gate agent pulled him aside and issued him a new boarding pass. On board, I noticed he was sitting in one of the Big Seats in the first row.

I never witnessed anyone complaining about the baggage fees and while I am opposed to fees for carry on luggage, I must admit, I've never seen a plane of this size empty out so quickly as the overhead bins were hardly loaded with any baggage at all. I never realized until these flights how the retrieving of overhead luggage caused so much delay in deboarding.

Flight attendants weren't particularly friendly but they weren't rude or disrepsectful either. They sure do like pushing the credit card apps on everyone and mentioned it twice over the PA system on both flights.

As Spirit offers limited route options out of BWI, I think it may be a very long time until I fly them again - especially since I would only be interested in a short route.

Lastly, I spent $8 on some food and had a certificate for a free day of parking near BWI. So, adding in the fuel used to get to and from BWI from my home in Virginia, the total for my one day trip to the beaches and resorts of Myrtle Beach cost me $102. Terrific day, back home 13 hours after I left, I feel incredibly relaxed and all the sun has made me sleepy!