Thanks for your sensible message! I'm about to fly Spirit for the first time and I've been running around for a week pricing wheeled luggage that might fit, trying to maximize the dimensions, etc, for like $50-$100, which kind of defeats the point of using Spirit, just this once. After reading your post, I went into my closet and found a Chaps bag I somehow ended up with (I think it was free with fragrance purchase). Measures 14x11x11 empty, so even if I stuff it, I'll be good.
Originally Posted by
FallenPlat
I think that all of this is more than a bit over-thought.
Any cheap gym-bag type thing that you can throw under a seat works fine and won't be challenged. And even if it is, it should squish into the sizer if not overstuffed. Other internet resources report more-or-less the same thing.
We use gym/duffle bags that are about 18 inches long, i.e., technically 2 inches over the limit, and a lot of the other bags that we've seen on board have looked to be about in the same general size range. Of course the other two dimensions are significantly under the limits.
The keys are soft sides and no wheels. And, with all due respect, the notion that wheels somehow add indispensable value and convenience to a bag that small is absurd anyway. Unless you're carrying gold ingots, of course. Pure gold is really, really, really heavy!
I've only traveled on Spirit once. On the way out, we saw a woman getting caught with a truly full-sized carryon. She tried the "but it was ok on the way here" line, but to no avail. On the way back, we saw a flight attendant escorting a guy with, again, a truly full-sized rolling carryon off the plane. Now that was quite the scene since boarding was in full swing and they had to do the salmon swimming upstream routine.