pwd847

I sent my friend to ORD the other day to purchase a Spirit ticket. Normally the "Passenger Usage Fee" is waived (for a total of $19 per OW ticket) for in-person ticket purchases. His ticket should have cost $16. Turns out it was $31.

He gave me his receipt and I compared it with the cost breakdown of purchasing a ticket from Spirit.com.

His fare was $0.01, and there were all the normal Gov't fees: Facility fee, etc...

He had a Regulatory "Compliance Charge" of $6.51 and a "Fuel Charge" of $9.30

On Spirit.com:

Fare was around $8, and again had all the Gov't fees

No Fuel Charge or Compliance Charge, but there was a Passenger Usage Fee.


Instead of saving $19 he only saved $7. When the hell did this happen? Not happy about this at all. It almost isn't even worth it to go to the airport to buy the tickets anymore.

ballin44

Hi, just bought a ticket at the counter today and still got the full discount. Not sure why it didn't work for your friend, sorry to hear.

dburns

I also just bought a ticket at the airport and received the full discount.

On a side note, I know I will have a carry-on bag, and did not attempt to pre-pay for one at the ticket counter. Is that even an option? I see that a carry-on costs $10 more when purchasing at or before check-in versus initial booking on spirit.com. I guess my question is if I had asked, would I have been able to pre-pay for my carry-on and get the additional $10 discount at ticketing at the airport? Anyone know?

Thanks,

-db

Often1

The time to ask is at the counter. Better informed consumers mean better results.

frugal_flyer

I just bought my first ever connecting flight at the airport for Spirit. One way DFW to CLE, connect in MCO. Was $103 online, so I figured it would be $83 at the airport. Turns out that it came to $63. In other words, I saved the PFC fee on both segments of the the flight.

Dburns.... unless it has changed recently, it has always been cheaper to pay for bags online, not at the airport, even if that is the initial ticket purchase point.

HMPS

Anyone can give me more info on Big Upfront seat ? Legroom, seat size ? Worth $ 45 one way ?

Thanks.

beyondhere

No. There is no discount buying bags with the ticket at the counter. Typically, the counter agents will advise you to book bags online. You basically get one discount or the other. Save $19 for the ticket buy buying at the airport, but lose out the $10 discount (for bags) which is only available if you buy through spirit.com. Basically, if you know you will need to check a bag or carry on a bag, you save money with $9 Fare Club membership, and buying with the ticket at spirit.com.

beyondhere

As far if it's worth it, this is more a preference thing. I'm 6foot tall as a reference. I have booked a Big Front Seat and been disappointed actually that I was still uncomfortable. Seat didn't recline. I flew the evening PHL-LAS flight a couple of times as an example. It leaves PHL at 7:45pm and arrives Vegas at 10:38pm west coast time. The last trip I did felt painful but it's just a long flight going east to west, and the flight leaves at night but, it's way past midnight from when I originated. The last time I went there was a dust storm in Vegas so the plane diverted to PHX and then flew back to LAS when that cleared. Even before that happened, I was restless over halfway through waiting for the flight to land.

At least for me, my body is better suited doing a long west coast flight earlier in the day, preferably in the morning. I can sit on a regular Frontier or Spirit seat and feel much more comfortable than taking a late night flight even with a big front seat.

pwd847

Well it's good to hear that nothing has changed from you guys. I'll have to keep testing to see what the problem was.

ATLflyer2017

I just booked at the airport today. I walked up to the ticket counter and they informed me that I was unable to purchase a ticket until 8 am (it was 6:45 am). They then told me to go to the baggage services office and I thought for sure they would send me away. However, the agent was very friendly and even made a joke when I paid with my Delta AMEX. Spirit is becoming more and more attractive to me (for short and close by trips). I saved about $100 in those pesky fees by booking it at the airport.

Middle_Seat

I'm thinking of taking my first Spirit flight, from Chicago to Austin. Southwest is my preferred carrier, but in this upcoming trip departing from ORD would be a lot more convenient than departing from MDW.

How tight is Spirit about the size of personal carry-on item? I have a small roll-aboard that meets the width and thickness rules, but is about 3 inches too tall.

Thank you.

returnoftheyeti

FB_

There is a report on Reddit that they were able to save some fees but other fees were recently added.

We often travel as a family of 7 so it's often worth if for us to stop by the airport to pickup tickets and save 14 passenger usage fees.

I noticed today on Spirit.com that they are no longer breaking down the price of a ticket.


This appears to be an update on their site which no longer breaks down the fees.

tatterdema

If you go all the way through to the payment page it breaks it down. I bought tickets at the airport Tuesday and saved about $20 each way. I did not see any new fees.

tatterdema

I bought a few more tickets at the airport today, and I had estimated it would be around $130. It ended up being $140. Being curious, when I got home I went in and dissected each ticket, and found that one of the flights had a $14.99 "Passenger usage" fee instead of the $19.99 that I normally see. 2 tickets with that smaller discount made up the $10 difference. What is really strange, is I booked the exact same flight a month later, and it had the $19.99 fee. I guess it probably will pay to double check the fee before going all the way to the airport in the future.