Spirit says "Lower fares generally available at the airport."
 

I have seen this sentence on many pages on Spirit's website:

"Lower fares generally available at the airport" (sometimes followed by: "and are subject to availability")

I see it all over, like in the fine print on sale pages and also at the bottom of the checkout pages. I've googled and can't find anything on this. Could it actually be true that you could show up at the airport (presumably for a flight that appears to have plenty of availability) and get a lower fare at the ticket counter than you would online? Somehow that doesn't seem right, but they put that sentence all over their website.

Has anyone ever tried this?

I could be off base here, but I believe Spirit charges a fee to book online. The only way to avoid that fee is to buy at the airport. Could this be what they are referring to?

Hmm, maybe. When I go through checkout there is no online booking fee, but I guess it could be built in to the price. It still seems strange to me, since it costs them more for a ticket counter agent to make my reservation at an airport than for me to do it myself online. But I guess stranger things have happened.

The spirit booking fee is charged as a passanger usage fee. Its included in the taxes and fee line. Hit expand and you will see it.

A strange way to increase utility of airport agents already on the payroll.

Spirit's Reply
 

I wrote to Spirit with the question, and here is their reply:


Dear Mr......

Thank you for contacting Spirit Airlines.

Fares purchased at the airport are not assessed the Passenger Usage Fee. As a result, it is possible the total fare may be less at the airport.

Please note, however, that our agents do not have access to web-based or $9 Fare Club fares.

Please feel free to contact me with any further questions or concerns.

Sincerely,

Mark 62605
Corporate Consumer Relations
Spirit Airlines, Inc.

Purchased two tickets today at the airport. It's on my way home from work, and has free parking for 20minutes. They were indeed cheaper even a little less than I had figured based off of what I believed it would be, from what I saw on the intrawebs. It was easy. well worth it to save $75

I also live near MYR and have gone to airport many times to purchase "lower fare @ airport". Great to have 20 min.parking free. It's also good to see others who read entire website on Spirit to get the best bang for your buck. Many times going to the airport has been cheaper than utilizing $9 fare club on line.

Welcome to FT!

Last fall I purchased 3 Spirit tickets at the TPA counter to avoid the usage fee and saved the money for each ticket. So it can be cheaper when you save the fee plus at TPA you get a free hour of parking. The agent said she was surprised the fare was the same at the airport vs what was available online.

She told me generally they try to price the fare higher at the airport to make up the usage fee difference that you would pay online. That wasn't my experience however as I got the lower price, but I'm curious if more try this if that's the case for you.

Here is my experience with booking online vs. at the airport. This was yesterday 2/19/12.

http://flic.kr/p/bwA6Yg

(Is there no image embedding on this forum?)

One can save money at the airport when compared to purchasing the "normal" non-sale fare $9 Club fares. But there's no way that purchasing a ticket on Tuesday, after the deeply discounted sale fares are posted, would be cheaper on the same route on the same days.

I live 21/2 hours from Latrobe, and 3 hours from Detroit, so I pay whatever passenger usage fees I have to! :)

So foreign to think about going to the airport to buy tickets... hell or even see the ticketing counter since printing at home is so common-place.

I checked today (Tuesday) and the flight was $2 cheaper.

Online Price: $268.88 (Sunday)
Airport Price: $228.90

Saved: $39.98

My airport is easily accessed and on my way to work. I can usually get to the counter and back before my free 15 minutes of parking expire. So, that's a factor.

You guys seriously would go to the airport, and maybe have to stand in line, for the possibility of saving $40 (since there are no guarantees)? I can sort of see checking the fare at the counter on the way out of the airport if there was no line.