Spirit Airlines New First Class FLL-MCO-FLL (Pics)




The first Spirit Airlines Big Front Seat Trip Report on ANET!

Spirit Airlines (NK) is a company of quite an interesting array of marketing stunts, questionable employment practices, pilot strikes, nickel and diming for almost virtually anything, and even FAA regulation violations. From introducing a flash game where the objective was to find and assassinate the pilot union leader ("Hunt for Hoffa to find lower fares!"), to being fined by the FAA in the amount of $375,000 for violating the agency's consumer protection regulations, including not compensating bumped passengers, violating various rules regarding delayed baggage compensation, and not including fees in advertised fares, and everything in between, NK is certainly in the hotbed of the airline industry. Most people would liken Spirit Airlines to be "The RyanAir of America".

Unbeknownst to most however, Spirit does offer a premium cabin, Big Front Seat. BFS was at one point known as Spirit Plus, a J Business class service with the same hard product, a free alcoholic beverage, and free snacks before being phased out permanently on June 20, 2010. This also came about with the complete discontinuation of NK's McDonell Douglas MD fleet, which included ten DC-9s, one MD-81, eight MD-82s, and five MD-83s.

I had always wanted to try out Spirit's Big Front Seat product, because the concept of a ULCC "Ultra Low-Cost Carrier" premium hard product was definitely intriguing. Besides being headquartered in my home city of Fort Lauderdale, the airline has 39 daily scheduled flights to various cities in America, the Caribbean, and Latin America, with four seasonal flights, making for a total of 43 routings. I had previously flown with Spirit on an A319 in March 2011 in nearly the back of the 'bus, and had seen the rows of BFS when deplaning, with an advertisement in the in-flight magazine that upgrades could be purchased for as little as $35 each way. Ever since then I desired to try it.

With over 39 flights departing from FLL daily, riding on Spirit would be of no problem. I wanted to go to a state with an off-the-beaten-path type of city. However, over half the flights went to the Caribbean, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica, or Panama, so that cut my options halfway down. I couldn't afford to fly internationally (fees) and I didn't have the time as I would have to be at work at 5:00 PM that evening. MYR (Myrtle Beach, South Carolina) immediately looked appealing, as I didn't want something too far away from FLL, such as ORD or LGA. But the fares for that route were about $200 each way without Big Front Seating upgrades, so that was a bust as well. I considered Tampa, but there was no flights that could be had on the same day. Finally, I stumbled across President's Day fare sales to Orlando International Airport (MCO) for only $92 in First Class for each way. With both flights, the total came to $197. Certainly a neat deal considering I would get two short hops in Domestic First for only $200 with no frills.

At first, I was confused when booking my ticket as there was no option to change my fare class to Big Front Seat. Worried that all the Big Front Seats had sold out, I telephoned the Spirit Airlines customer support agent, who actually spoke clear English (thank goodness). He informed me that I was doing nothing out of the ordinary and I could choose the Big Front Seats on the last page before checkout.

After inputting your desired routing, NK shows you a calender in order to get the cheapest fare possible, with the individual days showing +/- fare differences ($23 more, $37 less, etc.). Having no interest in changing my flight, I chose a 6:15 AM departure that would arrive in Orlando at about 8:00 and depart back to Fort Lauderdale at 8:39, landing at 9:45 AM. The next screen shows a "vacation bundle" interface that allows you to save money on a rental car and hotel by factoring them into your ticket price. Then, the next screen had an option for an "activity"-it was showing me Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, SeaWorld Orlando Resort, and Universal Studios Orlando, which I skipped as I had no time for any of those. Finally, I got to the seat selection screen.


That is definitely not a Nissan Maxima.

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The seat booking screen.

Now here is where the nickel and diming began....and stopped. Yes, this was the only time Spirit charged me for something other airlines would do for free, which was surprising. NK charges you to select any seat in the aircraft. Of course, I had already assumed that I had to pay extra for Big Front Seating, so that came as no surprise.

I totally lucked out on the seating, as Spirit's A320s and A321s only have a single row of First Class seating, with four seats in the very first row (the A319s have 10 Big Front Seats for whatever reason). With FLL's high load factors during the winter with snowbirds coming and going, this was hardly ideal. Luckily, I had arrived just in the nick of time with one BFS window seat left on both legs, 1A and 1F. I purchased my tickets, and I was all set to experience Spirit Airline's Big Front Seat-and write the first trip report for it on ANET.

One common concern about Spirit Airlines A/C is that they are supposedly the most packed "sardine tins" of any US carrier. To find this out, I had to compare Spirits config with the other players in the US A320 market, so I drew up a little diagram in MS Paint with the help of SeatGuru maps. All seat maps are copyright SeatGuru.


Unfortunately, you'd be right. NK's A320s are the most highly seat-concentrated AC of this type in America, next to Allegiant.


SeatGuru info for my seat. Will it recline?, that is the question.

KFLL-KMCO (Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to Orlando International Airport)

• Airline: Spirit Airlines
• Airline IATA Code: IATA Code # NK
• Airline IACO Code: IACO Code # NKS
• Airline Callsign: Radio Callsign SPIRIT WINGS
• Airline Flight Number # : Spirit Airlines Flight # NKS 198
• Aircraft / Equipment Used for Flight : Airbus A320-232
• Aircraft / Equipment Registration: N612NK (United States) Ship 612
• Aircraft / Equipment Nationality of Registration: United States - FAA - Registered A/C / Equipment
• Aircraft Manufacturer: Airbus Group (Airbus, Airbus Defence and Space, and Airbus Helicopters), formerly EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, reorganized into Airbus Group effective January 1st, 2014)
• Aircraft Sub - Manufacturer: Airbus
• Aircraft's First Flight Date: Ferbruary 2nd, 2012
• Aircraft Test Registration: Test Registration # F-WWBN (France)
• Aircraft Config: C4Y174
• Total Number of Passenger Seats: 188 Passenger Seats
• Aircraft Construction Number (MSN) : MSN # 5029
• Aircraft Delivery Date: February 29th, 2012 (Leap Year of 2012)
• Aircraft Powerplant (s) : 2x IAE V2527-A5
• Aircraft Owned by / Leased from: Leased from GECAS (General Electric Capital Aviation Services)
• Cabin: First Class "Big Front Seat"
• Seat Assignment: Seat # 1A - Window and Bulkhead Seat
• Row Assignment: Row # 1, Bulkhead Row
• Airline Flight Date: February 17th, 2014
• Boarding Call Time: 6:15 AM EST
• Boarding Zone: Boarding Zone # 2
• Departure Time: 7:00 AM EST
• Arrival Time: 7:46 AM EST
• Time Aloft: 0 hours 46 Minutes (46 Minutes)
• Filed Speed: 380 KIAS
• Filed Cruising Altitude: 17,000 feet
• Flight Distance: Direct: 178 SM | Planned: 246 SM | Flown: 187 SM
• Routing Waypoint (s) : ARKES2 ARKES BAIRN BAIRN
• Average Fare: $89.50 USD (for Y Economy Class fare)

FLIGHT DATA SOURCE (S) :

1. PlaneSpotter.Net Aircraft Data

2. FlightAware Live Flight Tracking Data

Time Aloft: 0 hours 46 Minutes (46 Minutes)


FlightAware page for this flight.

At around 4AM EST, my phone alarm went off, and I hopped out of bed with my pre-packed backpack, dressed myself, and ran outside of my abode in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida. I called Yellow Cab and used their automated booking service to request a cab. Twenty minutes later, and no cab arrived, so I called Intercity Cab and requested a taxi from their company. Another twenty minutes, and still no cab. I was pretty stressed at this point, but two minutes later a yellow-striped Crown Victoria with "954-777-7777" painted in bold black font down the side of the car pulled around. I stepped in, heaving a heavy sigh of relief as the driver inquired, "Where to, Colby?" I told him FLL, and we were on our way down Federal Highway to the airport.


Phew, the cab company didn't forget about me.


Downtown Fort Lauderdale.

Arriving at FLL, I asked the driver if he had seen the Norwegian 787 as he had mentioned that he only does cab routes to FLL. He stated that while he had seen it previously, he had not been able to view it in awhile. I thanked him, and paid him the fare+a generous tip for his excellent service.

I had a few minutes before departure, so I decided to do a little impromptu spotting. FLL cops have no problem with people spotting from the dropoff ramp walkways, in fact the airport was designed so it could be spotter-friendly. The entire four terminals have a single walkway with viewing spaces between the buildings to get a good vantange point. Stepping out onto one of the viewing spaces, I noticed thousands of blinking red lights on both the taxiways and terminal. Oh yeah, they're constructing the new international terminal and extending runway 10R/27L, construction barriers, I thought. I'm not really good at remembering things when I'm tired.


Matrix red blinking lights and JetBlue (B6) in the background. B6 operates a small hub here in FLL.


B6's A320-232 N536JB, built in 2002 and delivered to Jet Blue in the same year. This A/C was involved in a major landing gear incident on September 21, 2005, while flying JetBlue Flight # 232. Enroute KBUR-KJFK the pilots were unable to retract the landing gear and the front nosewheels were jammed in a 90-degree position perpendicular to the two mains under the wing. The pilots dumped most of the fuel and successfully diverted to LAX, which B6 had no routes to at the time, with no fatalities. Here she is, repainted in a new livery with new tail art, nearly eight years later and happy as could be as she is prepared for JetBlue flight # 541 to Medellin, Columbia at 6:40 PM.