It’s all true - you pay out the wazoo for everything (carry-ons, water, seat assignments…) However, the cost of a ticket on Spirit versus the same flight on Delta was $200 - and that was with all the Spirit add-ons. I’ll fly in a smaller seat with a prepaid carry-on for a savings of $200.
Don’t look now, but other airlines are experimenting with the Spirit nickel-and-diming price structure model. Check out Delta’s new “Basic Economy” fare which is basically the Spirit model.
Is the tote the bag that fits under the seat?
The “personal item” that fits under the seat cannot be bigger than 12" x 14" x 16". This can be a tote or a purse or a briefcase. I purchased a bag that I think was considered a woman’s briefcase. It looks like a large camera bag. It holds a lot more than you would think. It does not have wheels, but since it is small, it is not very heavy.
My s flew them once. Terrible. Never again. They charged extra for EVERYTHING including his carryyon backpack!
spirit is cheap and they do not care about you or your comfort or complaints! and they make money because more people care about cheap than quality. (not that the other airlines are so awesome) but if you have a crazy crazy long line…to bad…flight cancelled…to bad…want a refund to bad…etc…and everything is a la carte…
Anyone fly Frontier airlines? Looking to book a ticket for D in a few weeks and they are really cheap - close to 70$ less than any other airline. Even if she did pay for a checked bag, they would still be cheaper…
I decided not to deal with Spirit and eat the expense. I just booked a flight on American. I paid $400 for an economy round trip from BOS to ORD–leaving on Thursday and back on Sunday. I realized that there might be an issue with Spirit when I called yesterday to see if I could rebook on an earlier flight on Sunday–I have to be at a memorial service in the mid-afternoon and when I called Spirit, they told me there was only one flight from BOS to ORD. Lesson learned–cheapest isn’t always best and I should have investigated more.
Don’t fly on Spirit!
I haven’t even read the other responses yet - I have no personal experience with them, but my stepdaughter and another couple we know used Spirit and had terrible experiences. I’m on travel forum and occasionally someone will post about their terrible experience with Spirit.
I have never heard a single good thing about Spirit.
My stepdaughter was nickled and dimed to death, and was not expecting it. She lives on a waitstaff wages, and ended up being short on cash during her trip home to see us. We had to lend her some cash to pay the fees so she could fly back home.
Son flew Spirit airlines and the fees changed his fare from cheap to not-so-cheap. He would never fly them again.
Here’s one good thing about Spirit: a $200 savings over Delta (and that’s with the fees added in) for the same flight (same time of day, same airports, etc.)
YMMV of course. Would I fly them all the time? Of course not, especially if my other choices were cheaper. But for that particular flight on that particular day, I could get almost two tickets on Spirit for the price of one Delta ticket.
All of Spirit’s fees are listed on their web site. In the process of booking the flights, it prompts you to pay for bags then instead of paying the higher fee at the gate. Since I only have two choices for carriers to my preferred destination, I have learned to get around the nickel and diming.
@scout59- I’m with you. I believe I saved almost $400 for 2 tickets on Spirit. The plane was clean and on time. They post all of their add-ons on their website so I was fully prepared and only used a bag that fit under my seat. My daughter has used them several times since with no problems. Other than the seating being a little tight I had no issues.
Nope. Kiosk printing is $2, Desk agent printing is $10. Look at the optional services under the “Other” tab.
I bought my Spirit Ticket through the
Kayak website–extra charges were not clearly spelled out there. It said “Baggage fees and optional services fees may apply.”
Kayak sends you to the airline–they do not sell tickets as does expedia, for example.
After they send you to the ticket you are looking at you should then do your own search at that airline, Spirit in this example.
You can then look at their policies and add ons and change fees and so on.
It sounds like Kayak sent you to Spirit’s page showing the flight you chose and you booked it rather than looking at Spirit’s overall site.
Kayak is only meant to be a search engine but the rest is up to the consumer.
^^^ I obviously didnt do that. You can book and pay for a ticket without going to the airline website. I realize now that I should have looked at site.
I’m one who swore to never fly them again, but I broke that vow on Saturday. Their fare was $170 round trip, direct, and nearest competitor was at $500, with a change of planes. Hubby and I decided we would drive, as a back-up plan, if they cancelled or significantly delayed the flight. You have to have a back-up plan, because as mentioned by someone earlier, they often only have one flight each day. We’ve been stranded by them in the past. This time it worked out well. The plane was over half empty, which we hadn’t seen in years. That tells you something.
@arisamp, I had a good experience flying Frontier last year and would fly them again. I wouldn’t fly Spirit again if I could avoid it. My husband booked it because of the flights, not because it was cheaper than other airlines(it wasn’t). Seats were uncomfortable, and I’m short. I guess we were lucky our flights weren’t canceled.
Spirit and JetBlue are the best airlines between me and Boston. I’ll travel to the farther airport to,go JetBlue, and spend more. If a last minute flight, then have to go spirit. We’ve been at airport, terminal 3, and find a sign saying flight moved to terminal 2. We drag our baggage backwards. All anxiety provoking.
How does Spirit stay in business??