tofromord

For those who read the rules, Spirit can be an incredible deal. I have no problem traveling light and taking some reading material, snacks & a bottle of water (or two). I like the new planes and while at first I did not like the seats not reclining, it is nice to know (for the benefit of my knees and laptop) that I do not have to fear the sudden recline of the seat in front of me.

maksimfa

Here is the thing... if you know you are traveling ahead of time.... Fedex Ground. Ship your baggage or whatever you think you will need. Otherwise, fit anything else in a small backpack... or better yet, but the small crap.

jamesteroh

Can any spirit reward members who fly a lot and are HCV's (if such a thing exist on NK) get their bag fees waived like on a legacy?

Personally I would love to see Delta start charging the kettles for carryons (and letting them check a bag for free instead). It would mean not having to board early if I didn't get upgraded just to be assured bin space and would speed up boarding considerably since the majority of the people carrying on would be their frequent flyers that know how to pack and get things in the bins quickly.

aarif1

I guess it depends where you're flying, but I don't think this is economical in most circumstances. Also, you need a place to ship to, so it might work if you're visiting family but less likely to work if you're just a tourist.

For Boston to Dallas, a package would have to be 20 lbs to ship for under $28.

maksimfa

Absolutely right. I did use this twice.

Once going to Florida, the other, shipping stuff back from Vegas to NJ. Shipping back home was even better as I was not in a rush, and with Delta or the new Us Airways discounts, well worth it.

To me, not having to drag an extra bag through the airport, security and airplane.... priceless.

AA_EXP09

But shipping 100 lb of stuff it might be cheaper to actually fly there yourself.
Which I have done before.
(I also like how AC lets you have 3 pieces vs AA which only allows 2)

TH310

I will join the "Never fly Spirit again" club.

Personally I don't care about the fees. If more airlines charged for carry-on there would be the appropriate amount of overhead room for those of us that really care enough to pay for it. And, I think that we can expect more of this from other airlines in the future.

My issue with Spirit was that they cancelled a flight that 3 other co-workers and I were on from LGA to MYR. My flight was on a Friday. They told me that they would re-book us on a flight that left on Monday. Or we could have a refund. Are you kidding?

We ended up having to purchase F on Delta to get there in time.

wbl-mn-flyer

Enjoy your rapid death, Sprit Airlines.

It won't happen fast enough as far as I'm concerned. If we're going to have more players at MSP, how about somebody decent like Virgin, Jet Blue, etc... not this "Greyhound in the Sky" excuse for an airline.

javabytes

That's the $pirit...

iahphx

Well, I dislike flying Spirit -- and try to fly them as little as possible -- but it's certainly possible that not everyone shares our views. Time will tell. If people are truly "tricked" by Spirit's fees and refuse to fly them again, Spirit will soon run out of customers and go broke. I would be inclined to believe this is true, except for the fact that airfares on the other carriers are skyrocketing. If the choice is to fly Spirit or not go, you fly Spirit. So as long as they keep their costs in check, they probably have a niche.

Right now, I'm a happy camper because I've been able to get cheap airfare on other carriers from the Mid-Atlantic to Florida (the routes I typically fly Spirit on). For example, there continue to be roundtrip fares of about $115 on AirTran and American from BWI to FLL/MIA. I will never fly Spirit to Florida as long as those fares continue.

jamesteroh

Does Spirit have many regular business travellers anymore or is it mainly the kettles looking for the cheapest fare possible for the once or twice a year flight?


It appears that NK doesn't even waive the carryon bag fee for a PAX that would fly them 125K miles a year.

Even if I don't get upgraded, on DL I almost always get an aisle seat that is an exit row or economy comfort, a free drink or snac k box on every flight if I am not upgraded. And I can also use precheck which is a huge time saver.

iahphx

"Anymore"? Spirit has never had many business travellers (at least since it went ultra-low-cost a few years ago). It's a tough airline to fly on business. Personally, I would question the wisdom of my employer -- and perhaps look for another job -- if I were required to regularly fly Spirit.

jamesteroh

I used to prefer to fly Spirit for DTW/LGA until six or seven years ago (whenever they first did away with business class).

I could fly business class on NK for not much more than Coach was on NW on that route and would get all the benefits I would get in first on NW on that route with the exception of no alcohol for the PDB and no priority security screening lane access.

The snack they gave you on that short of a route was better than the snack you received on NW, and they were very generous with the booze. They used to give you a can of the mixer and two minis and had no problems giving you more minis.

But then they started to get cheap by elminating business class and replacing it with the "big leather chair" and charging for everything so my business on that route went back to NW.

AA_EXP09

I would probably do the latter first before the former.
Luckily they don't serve either of my bases.

Dunbar

I think Spirit should just start giving seats away for free and then make you spin the "wheel-of-fees" before boarding the plane to determine how much it's going to cost

I like flying WN and no matter what the WN haters say about them I can always come back with "at least it's not as bad as flying Spirit Airlines."