What's the buzz on Spirit?
 

Normally I fly Delta. But I see I can get Spirit nonstop to BDL for a much lower fare.

Is Spirit okay?

(I flew once on Allegiant, which went okay but I doubt I would do it again...due to their safety record)

ETA: how bad can a 3 hour nonstop be? ;- )

thanks

Spirit will generally get you there. The seat pitch is a little tight and there are fees for a lot of "extras". If you know what you're getting into you can save some money The most serious drawback in my opinion is that is things go wrong you can get stuck and Spirit has relatively low frequency,

i just started flying again after 20 years and spirit is great for my needs. i'm one who researches before doing things. phl to dfw can be had for as little as 60 bucks. what is great about spirit is the big comfy seat. its 40 to 54 bucks depending on holiday flight or not and is virtually the same space as american and thats $700 + (only airline that i researched). my 1st flight on spirit was in an emergency row and us bigger guys still need a bit more width so the big comfy seat is great. also people complain about nothing free on spirit. so you can go on the other airlines and spend 100 more for the free snacks and drinks if thats your thing. the free personal item is great and i can pack 5 nites in my duffel bag for free. you should buy the carryons when you book and they were around 37 last time i checked but it gets you first boarding zone 1.

the worst thing about spirit is theres virtually no backup plane if you have an issue. but my gf has only run into this once since she's been flying and had to wait a day and my only delay was 3 hours but i think all flights out of phl were delayed because of fog that day.

i flew american once this year in the emergency row and still found it killer cramped for my needs. if you are small you dont have to worry of course. still it was nice to get free candy and a drink. i snagged a 89 dollar flight and paid about 30 for the seat. but to get room no airline can provide a big seat like spirit for that price.

spirit has spoiled me buy flying me at virtually 1st class space at a bargain price and ill never get to do 1st class so they will always have my business.

oh regarding their mileage program. dont even bother worrying about it. unless you have their mastercard you get half the miles as a 'somebody' and there are fees to redeem miles based on the number of days before your flight that you book. but you arent here for miles. you are here for dirt cheap rides to your destination! also you have to fly every 3 months or do surveys to keep active.

i'm a big spirit fan and for a frequent traveler with not a lot of green they are really great for my needs.

I like Spirit for the cheap fares and the Big Seat. I got around paying for a carry on by buying it one way and leaving my items at my friends house. This allows me to travel even more for less. If I need an extra outfit I can just throw it in my purse. No more carry on fee. ^

Spirit is good if you know what you're doing and you calculate the price out carefully, because sometimes the majors can be less money when you calculate out all of the fees. I just flew them for Thanksgiving for example because even with the fees it was a whole lot less than everyone else.

Yep. We had to cancel a trip two years ago because Spirit only had two flights a day to our destination and they canceled so many successive flights due to weather, we had to cancel the trip altogether (and this was on a route where United and American have hourly flights).

As others have said, ULCCs are fine as long as EVERYTHING goes the way it should (which was our experience with Frontier in 2015). Once things go slightly off-course, the entire flight can fall to pieces very quickly

Have you compared Delta's Basic Economy fare to Spirit's fare?

Despite their bad reputation from when they first went ULCC, they really are a solid and reliable airline. Just be very aware of the fees, although you can avoid them all depending on trip length, your expectation of personal comfort, etc.

If you are bringing several business suits or lots of "nice" clothes, the free personal item will not work for you. But for casual clothes for a 3,4, or maybe 5 day trip, the personal item will suffice normally. Can you wear a pair of jeans or pants for 2 days? Can you travel with just one pair of shoes (the ones on your feet, I mean)? Can the jacket you wear onto the plane suffice for warmth/outerwear at your destination, instead of packing sweatshirts or sweaters? And so on.

As far as the seat fees, it is better to be fat than tall on Spirit flights. I would know, because that describes me. If you are really tall, say more than 6 feet tall, Exit Row and Big Front Seats are your friends, but these cost money. Of course, it is a short flight, maybe you can tolerate it if you are tall by getting up in the aisle a couple of times just to stretch out. I think the seat pitch has improved with the new slimmer seats, but by no means it is roomy.

As for no free food and drinks on the plane? Bring a bag of snacks from home. Fill an empty water bottle post TSA screening for free, or buy a drink at a store before boarding (one with a lid! No spillage during turbulence). Or just pay $3 for a Coke or water onboard, and chalk it up to being a consequence for flying so cheap. Which is the case, by the way.

The airport experience has improved pre-flight. The new Bag Drop self help kiosks have been busy when I've walked by. I never use them because I don't check bags, but it seems to be a net positive since implementation.

Lastly, don't forget that buying your tickets at the airport can save you about $40 round trip from the regular online price (not $9 Fare Club prices, or in conjunction with coupon codes). If buying for more than one person, these savings can really add up.

Do have a backup plan if necessary, though. Previous posters are right that IRROPS can be a headache with Spirit, since most destinations only have one nonstop flight a day. Even if connecting flights are available, often times these are brutally long and inconvenient.

1st question of the day is does anyone know if the a320 has emergency row armrests that are movable?

now some comments:

speaking of the connecting flights you should be warned that if you pay for a seat you have to pay for each segment. that being said, i still dont get how they can do a 2 segment flight with 2x the flight time in the air, for the same or less than a direct flight. very puzzling. (at least on phl to dfw this is the case as i check flights very regularly on this route)

also regarding the 3 dollar coke comment. theres no reason to ever complain about the cost of food and drinks on spirit. the amount of money i paid for my 'free' soda and snack on american was much more than 10 bucks extra vs the spirit flight. i even paid 35 extra for a seat on AA that was nowhere even close to as comfy as the 15 dollars extra on spirit (50 total) for the big seat. if you compare to AA, delta, jetblue etc, even with the food costs you are still making a killing. the only way i think you may make out on southwest is if you have checked bags, but i never have taken any and fighting for a seat on SW doesnt seem fun to me.

regarding buying tix at the airport why is it 20 bucks cheaper? id think buying in person would be more. they always say online doing things with a live person costs more

The direct flight is more attractive to most people than connections; so sometimes that is why the nonstop is priced higher. On Spirit, though, sometimes the individual segments of a connection are priced super cheap, so that the total price really does reflect what you'd pay if you simply booked the segments separately.

I agree with you that the "free" soda and snacks on all of the legacies (you, too, Southwest) are more than paid for by the customer with higher fares. Same with bags. The two "free" bags are free because everybody pays for them, whether they need them or not.

In fairness, nobody has to "fight" for seats on Southwest; everyone just has to line up in their assigned boarding position. The only problem I've had with seating on Southwest is with the dreaded "seat savers".

The reason it's cheaper at the airport with Spirit (and Frontier) instead of the other way around? They both charge bogus fees because they can; sort of like a Ticketmaster convenience fee. However, to stay within the law, they have to allow you to avoid the fee, which is why going to the airport saves you money. Never mind the cost of the airline having a paid employee using their time to sell the tickets.

Most people just want to buy their tickets online, and even more are unaware of the savings to be had by going to the airport. The relative paucity of people actually going to the airport to purchase tickets is merely a blip on the radar.

It's basically a tax avoidance scheme for Spirit. There's a 7.5% excise tax on the airfare portion of a ticket; however, fees aren't subject to that restriction. However, in order for something to be a fee there has to be a way to avoid that fee. Thus, Spirit charges that fee when booking online or via phone, but not when the ticket is purchased in person. Spirit is basically betting that so few people will go to the airport and buy the ticket that even with the additional labor cost, enough people will pay that $20 fee that the tax savings are worth it to not have it rolled into the base price.

Management of Spirit deserves A LOT of credit for the turnaround. I fly them twice a month and actually prefer them over United/Southwest in most cases. Cabin crew/flight crew quality and professionalism has soared over the past few years and I find them to be at or above the level of any other carrier in terms of in-the-air service. Translation: I feel very safe on them as they are extremely consistent in terms of processes and procedures and take the things that need to be take seriously, seriously. They are currently the number 1 on time airline in the USA and I've never suffered a major delay despite literally dozens of flights. Ground crew still need work but are also improving. Planes are much newer than the clunkers United likes to fly, generally quite clean, and the seating is no tighter than standard economy on United despite the low pitch (yes, the basic seats are thin and rather hard). The Big Front Seat is an awesome value and we buy it regularly. Despite that, we almost never pay for seat assignments and are always seated together.

The ONLY disadvantage I see is a greater possibility of being stranded for a day in the case of extreme operational issues... in that case I'll burn miles or spend money to buy a ticket on United/Southwest at the last minute and still come out WAY ahead....

Just play by their rules and don't try to sneak anything onboard without paying, or otherwise avoid the fees.... as long as you do that you'll probably have a great experience.

Had to cancel a flight I had on AA (award) and rebook for the next day, due to being last minute, flights from LAS > FLL/MIA.. the full services carriers were all charging $400+ for the one way ticket. With extras to make me comfy (isle, Big Seat and a carry on) on NK I came in at $184. Can't beat that ! :)

(a) It could very well be longer than a day
(b) It doesn't require "extreme" operational issues; really, any operational issue will do
(c) It's a pretty big disadvantage if your daily routine has any structure to it at all

And yet, about 50 flights in w/them over the past three years and it has NEVER HAPPENED.... Number 1 on-time is a strong indication of the quality of operation they are running now. You see the professionalism when you fly them (especially flight crew staff..) I guess when/if it happens I'll figure I'm due.