# Spirit Air



## edwford (Jan 8, 2015)

Great low prices ... How are they to fly with?


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## Jimster (Jan 8, 2015)

*spirit*

You get what you pay for.


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## x3 skier (Jan 8, 2015)

Jimster said:


> You get what you pay for.



Or less. 

Cheers


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## memereDoris (Jan 8, 2015)

I have had much better luck with Spirit than some other small companies.  Only one time our flight was very late and we missed our connections.  When we landed and were given tickets for an alternate flight and all arrangements had been made for us, including room and food vouchers.  

When one leg of our United flight was cancelled (Silver Airways), arrangements weren't made for us till the next day when I called finally got through on the phone.  We had to pay for our extra night at the resort.  No offer to reimburse our extra expenses was made.  We hadn't received notification that the flight was cancelled till we tried to check in.

We are flying with Spirit again in February.  I just know not to expect first class but we have always been treated well.


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## Talent312 (Jan 9, 2015)

Some extol their virtues; others have a litany of complaints.
They have extra charges for everything.
They'd charge a fee for the cushion on your seat, if they could.

Me: I prefer the majors over LCC's, even if they cost a bit more.
.


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## schoolmarm (Jan 9, 2015)

If you can travel in a tote bag OR a small backpack, Spirit can be really cheap.  I've taken them to NYC and Florida one way and back on something else because they have limited times. 

Bring your own snacks.


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## thinze3 (Jan 9, 2015)

We just researched multiple flights to FLL for spring break for a group of 8 college kids. On acceptable flights, Spirit was $239 pp and United was next at $420 pp.  Southwest was over $500 pp.

Hard to justify $180 difference when you still have to pay for your luggage. Spirit it is.


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## Jimster (Jan 10, 2015)

*spirit*



thinze3 said:


> We just researched multiple flights to FLL for spring break for a group of 8 college kids. On acceptable flights, Spirit was $239 pp and United was next at $420 pp.  Southwest was over $500 pp.
> 
> Hard to justify $180 difference when you still have to pay for your luggage. Spirit it is.



Actually it is not hard to justify the difference in prices.  First, because you won't pay just $239 by the time Spirit gets done with them.  Second, I have always found that the best reason to fly is to get from point A to point B.  I  have confidence that will occur with the legacy carriers.  I am not convinced that will happen with Spirit but maybe I am just cynical or maybe it is just the horror stories I have heard from my friends.


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## Talent312 (Jan 10, 2015)

With a significant difference in prices, even I might tempt fate and cross my fingers.
If it's a non-stop flight, you'll prolly arrive sometime, but if it's connecting... no way.
.


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## famy27 (Jan 10, 2015)

We fly Spirit all the time.  It's totally worth it to us to save the extra cash.  We pretty much always have a checked bag, so unless we're flying Southwest, we are looking at the same baggage fee, whether we're flying United or Spirit.  And I can buy a soda at McDonald's before I get on the plane.

Spirit Cons:
1) You get pretty much nothing included, but your seat and access to the toilet
2) The on-time rate is pretty sketchy.  If I were looking at a tight connection, I'd avoid Spirit.  We always fly them on non-stops, so we don't have issues.  I will say we've never had a huge delay, but they are consistently 20-40 minutes late when we fly.

Pros:
1) The price.  Right now, I could fly to New Orleans from Chicago for $110 RT on Spirit.  You can't beat that with a stick.
2) The customer service.  We've actually had amazing luck with their CS.  My dad was hospitalized and had to change a flight, and they were super-nice and said that of course, they'd give him full credit to use for a future trip.  Last year, my DH made a giant mistake and booked our tickets for the wrong date.  We didn't notice it until a few weeks before the trip.  We called Spirit in a panic.  Not only did they not charge us the huge fare difference to rebook for the correct dates, but they didn't even charge us the rebooking fee of $150 per ticket.  They saved us probably $1500 that they had every right to charge us.  If the customer service rep had been in my house, I probably would have kissed him.  
3) I like their ads and sense of humor.  They don't lie about what they do and don't offer.  Their "Hate on Spirit" ad campaign cracked me up.

We'll be headed to Miami on spring break, and chances are, we'll be flying Spirit.


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## BocaBoy (Jan 11, 2015)

thinze3 said:


> We just researched multiple flights to FLL for spring break for a group of 8 college kids. On acceptable flights, Spirit was $239 pp and United was next at $420 pp.  Southwest was over $500 pp.
> 
> Hard to justify $180 difference when you still have to pay for your luggage. Spirit it is.



With that price difference, I would pick *United WITHOUT HESITATION*.  It would take a lot more than a $181 price difference (which as Jimster has said will actually in the end be less than that) to make me choose Spirit.  And despite what was posted above by someone else, everyone I know who has dealt with Spirit's customer service has said they are awful.


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## famy27 (Jan 11, 2015)

Jimster said:


> Actually it is not hard to justify the difference in prices.  First, because you won't pay just $239 by the time Spirit gets done with them.  Second, I have always found that the best reason to fly is to get from point A to point B.  I  have confidence that will occur with the legacy carriers.  I am not convinced that will happen with Spirit but maybe I am just cynical or maybe it is just the horror stories I have heard from my friends.



I see that we're neighbors, so I'm guessing you fly out of ORD as well.  You must have much better luck with the legacy carriers than I do.  In the past few years, I've been stuck at O'Hare for over 12 hours on three separate occasions, and the airlines in question were American and Delta.  Delta was particularly worthless, but AA put up a good fight in poor service.

In the current market, I just don't see much of a difference between the low-cost and legacy carriers.  Coach in United has less legroom than pretty much anything else, and I am too short to justify paying for Economy Plus.  I have to pay for bags everywhere but Southwest, but then I have to fly out of Midway, which is no fun from the northwest suburbs.

I have pretty much zero confidence that any airline is going to get me where I need to go on time.  They will all get me there eventually, so I pocket the cash and book whoever is cheapest.  We don't fly Spirit exclusively, but if they are more than $100 cheaper per person, I save the $400.  YMMV.


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## Jimster (Jan 12, 2015)

*flying*

Despite flying almost a million miles in the last 10 years, I have never had a serious problem flying out of Ord.  Maybe I am just lucky but I haven't had any problems.  One thing that helps I am sure is that I usually take the earliest flight out.  Even if the flight were to be cancelled, I could easily get a later flight.  I fly primarily American and United but have flown on about 20 different airlines worldwide.  I refuse to fly Delta because their ff program is worthless.  Even when you earn miles, it is difficult to spend sky pesos.  I now also refuse to fly United since the new regime has taken over and made life more difficult.  If I have an option I try to fly foreign carriers.  To me it is the same problem the American auto industry encountered a few years ago- namely the foreigners have a better product.

I also refuse to fly out of MDW since it can be a 2 hour drive to get there and I am not fond of the airport anyway.  Since I fly internationally often, I am not excited about earning Rapid Rewards so Southwest is not an option anyway.
As for Spirit, I am inherently opposed for paying for every little thing.  I can get a free checked bag with AA and that's all I need.  I think the previous posters make a good point that Spirit is not as bad if you get a direct flight as opposed to a connecting fight.  Now that I am no longer a 1K, the adjustment has been very difficult. I used to get up graded all the time- now I don't but I can still work the system fairly well.


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## truth1ness (Jan 13, 2015)

BocaBoy said:


> With that price difference, I would pick *United WITHOUT HESITATION*.  It would take a lot more than a $181 price difference (which as Jimster has said will actually in the end be less than that) to make me choose Spirit.  And despite what was posted above by someone else, everyone I know who has dealt with Spirit's customer service has said they are awful.





I'm having trouble understanding what makes Spirit so bad and what extra fees you are getting hit with. 

When I travel I check one bag, which almost every airline charges for now, and stick one under the seat which is free last time I checked. I buy a water bottle and snack in the airport. I'm having trouble understanding what else could make Spirit not worth it even with a $180 price advantage short of there being spikes on the seats, though comments like this do make me hesitant about trying them.


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## gnipgnop (Jan 13, 2015)

I, for one, have the advantage of flying on Spirit Airlines to several non stop destinations.  We live in Western PA and can fly out of Arnold Palmer Airport.  It is unbelievably easy and cheap.  Low cost air fare (non stop to Orlando, Myrtle Beach, Las Vegas, and Ft. Lauderdale) and free parking right at the airport.  And yes, all of the above is true regarding no extras but like the above poster wrote, we buy our snacks and water at the airport and the flight is only 2 hrs and 12 min. to Orlando.  Don't even need to use the bathroom for that amount of time   If we have to make connections or fly longer distance then our choice is usually Southwest.


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## Bunk (Jan 13, 2015)

We flew Spirit many years ago from NYC to St Thomas.  We had no problems on the flight but were a little concerned at the time when we realized we could not get anyone to answer any questions by phone.

Unless that has changed, that would be a concern to me.  By way of example, about a year ago, we had gotten a ticket for my daughter to fly on Jet Blue to Charleston.  Because of the extreme cold in the Northeast, Jet Blue imploded and cancelled all flights.  So we booked her on Delta.  That flight was cancelled at the gate but we were able to book her on another Delta flight from NY to Atlanta to Charleston.  The engine on that airplane started to smoke and so the plane made an emergency landing in Charlotte.  I was able to speak to a Delta rep on their 800 number and find out what was happening and what Delta was going to do and at what time the Delta replacement plane was expected to arrive from Atlanta.  More important, I was able to tell the Delta rep. that my daughter would be getting a ride from Charlotte to Charleston and to make arrangements for them to ship her luggage to Charleston, so she could pick it up the next day.  

I wonder whether we would have been able to even speak to someone at Spirit about these kinds of problems.  I shudder to think what Spirit would have done with her luggage.


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## thinze3 (Jan 13, 2015)

Jimster said:


> Actually it is not hard to justify the difference in prices.  First, because you won't pay just $239 by the time Spirit gets done with them. ...



Actually, I prepaid for the single bag, and $30 is the same price as United.  There will be no carry on bag.  There is no charge for purses.  The flight is non-stop to FLL, meaning little risk for a huge delay.  Flight being a little over 2 hours in length, there is no need for food or drinks.  

Do they charge for using the restroom?

There are eight 19 to 21 year olds going together. That's a savings of $1,440.


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## b2bailey (Jan 13, 2015)

Terry, I had one very bad experience with Spirit out of Atlanta. Due to an error on my part -- we missed our flight. (Can't blame them for that.) However, when I called their customer service phone number to explore our options, I was told I HAD to speak with a live representative. I rushed down to the Spirit ticket counter and there was a sign posted that there were no agents available -- please call customer service phone number. I called the customer service number <again> and explained the situation. I was told that their ticket counter was 'supposed' to be open, so sorry. We ended up having to pay full fare on Delta in order to make our next day connection out of Tampa.

The moral of the story -- (1) don't book the last Spirit flight out of an airport and (2) even in an airport as large as ATL the ticket people may disappear after the last flight leaves so there will not be anyone to talk to if you need help.

I would have to be in a very adventurous mood to try flying Spirit again. Not saying that I won't ever...but I'd have to know there was a Plan "B" available to me.


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## Talent312 (Jan 16, 2015)

thinze3 said:


> Do they charge for using the restroom?



No, not yet... But there is a charge for the seat cushion. 
Recently ranked one of the five worst airlines.
.


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## thinze3 (Jan 16, 2015)

Two thoughts:
So these kids should give up there spending allowances to upgrade airlines?  Some of them wanted to drive to save the airfare.

For you naysayers: If you are willing to pay $1440 for a few hours of better quality while flying, why not pay $1400 each year (in MF's) to upgrade your entire stay by owning Four Seasons or Westin timeshares.  That would seem like money better spent.   :ignore:

Qualify:  I do not own Four Seasons or Westin


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## DavidnRobin (Jan 16, 2015)

I got stranded in the USVI due to a Spirit Airline strike that occurred during our stay.  Spirit also would not reimburse me because they ended the strike on the day of our departure, but the 1st flight out of STT (STT-FLL) by Spirit would not allow connection to our Virgin flight home (FLL-SFO).  Virgin did refund our flight cost.
Cost me close to additional $1500 to get us home (1-way via Delta, STT-ATL-SFO). Never again will a split up carriers when traveling because one airline has no responsibility for the action of another airline, and therefore no responsibility to the affected passenger.


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## Sandy VDH (Jan 16, 2015)

They charge for everything.  Checked bag, Carry on bag.  I think you get away with one small personal item.  Beverages and snacks costs $$. 

But if we are talking teens and young adults.  Just stick them on and tell them to pay whatever fees they incur.


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