Spirit airlines.

We have booked flights with spirit in February. Did my research, pre paid my bags, will pack snacks, measured my bags. I have only heard mostly the bad reviews about spirit, but the price was unbeatable. Anyone on tug have good experience with Spirit?

I flew Spirit recently from Houston to San Diego. It was generally a good experience.

The flight out had many children, so both the gate area and the plane were pretty noisy. (Maybe this is a way for families to be able to afford trips.)

I bought the $50 front row seat on the way out, and the $25 exit row seat on the way back. The $25 upgrade is definitely the sweet spot if you're going to pay for an upgrade. There was more leg room than the front row seat, though the seat wasn't as wide.

Spirit doesn't participate in TSA Precheck, which was a slight nuisance.

I would fly them again, but only if the price is way less than Southwest, my preferred carrier.

My husband and I have flown Spirit several times. We are average size people and never had a problem with seat size. I refuse to pay the crazy prices they charge for a seat. We will take whatever we get. However, we only use them for short flights ~ 2 or 2 1/2 hour flights at the most. I can deal with that. But for a longer trip I'll stick with Southwest as my go to airline.

This time around on Spirit we had to pay $37.00 for one bag each way. That is ridiculous!! Oh well, tickets are cheap but they can make up for it by charging you for everything else ~ even water.

Most important to remember: Bags can only be 40# not the common weight of 50# as on other airlines.

Thanks for the replies. Our flight will be around 3 hours. Noise is okay and my daughter and I are small folk, my husband tall but average size otherwise. For the price we paid I can deal with some inconviences. We did pay for checked bags because I want to do some shopping on our cruise. Thank you for advice on the 40 pounds. Good to know.

I don't find Spirit really that much cheaper comparatively. When you add up the checked and carry on fees each way and any other fees they charge like seat fees, they can come in more expensive than other airlines.

I would rather hitch hike than fly Spirit. Good luck if you fly them, especially if something goes wrong.

I love Spirit. I have their credit card and am able to rack up 2 points for every $1 spent on the card. We travel to Florida multiple few times a year becauseo f all the points, and have yet to pay for airfare or luggage (we know how to pack enough that it is free to put under the seat in front of you - all of our T/S have a W/D), as well as free seats when we check-in 24 hours before.

I just booked a trip for January 2017 (MLK weekend) and February 2017 (weekend before Valentines Day) - FREE.

BocaBoy said:

I would rather hitch hike than fly Spirit. Good luck if you fly them, especially if something goes wrong.

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Agree but they are better than Allegiant whose maintenance and flight operation procedures are atrocious. I'm surprised Allegiant hasn't been permanently grounded by the FAA.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...s-it-s-bolstering-safety-after-flight-mishaps

Cheers

You Are Now Free To Fly Around The Country.

gnipgnop said:

I'll stick with Southwest as my go to airline.

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We're taking a chance on a non-Southwest carrier for our Florida vacation next month, going via Frontier Airlines for the 1st time.

Being unwilling to pay extra for checked bags & specially for carry-ons, we are planning to make do with only 1 "personal item" each that we can jam under the seats in front of us -- limited to 14 x 18 x 8 inches, according to the airline's web site.

The idea is that instead of packing for a week, we'll just take enough clothing for 2-3 days, then make frequent use of the in-unit timeshare washer-dryer.

If we need anything else, we'll go get it at Wal-Mart.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

Spirit has the newest planes, or so they say.

Spirit is awesome, but it does take a change in behavior.

You can take as many clothes as you like, as long as you are wearing them (yes, I know, some people have a problem with wearing 3 pair of pants simultaneously).

If you get this $18 cooler from Walmart, you can pack as heavy as you'd like:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ozark-Trail-36-Can-Cooler-with-Removable-Hardliner/20637067

The liner of that cooler is made to support 36 cans of juice/soda. Whatever clothes you are bringing, they're probably not going to be as heavy as those 36 cans. If the cooler zips, you will be under the dimensions allowed by Spirit.

If you are flexible with your flights, you can buy tickets that regularly go for $200 for $100.

No wonder the planes are full of kids. At that price, sending 4 or 5 kids to see grandma doesn't break the bank.

dominidude said:

No wonder the planes are full of kids. At that price, sending 4 or 5 kids to see grandma doesn't break the bank.

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Yep. And small kids are the only ones who fit comfortably in the seats on their planes.

Kurt

PigsDad said:

Yep. And small kids are the only ones who fit comfortably in the seats on their planes.

Kurt

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Spirit is not for everyone, but I dot not think their seat size is a deal breaker for most people.

I would say that charging for water, charging to choose any seat, and charging for carry-on luggage are worse offenses (in that order).

dominidude said:

Spirit is not for everyone, but I dot not think their seat size is a deal breaker for most people.

I would say that charging for water, charging to choose any seat, and charging for carry-on luggage are worse offenses (in that order).

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I could have flown right into acy with a change in fll but instead prefer a stopover and fly into ewr. Bus, friend walk or rent a car to acy is preferred.

dominidude said:

Spirit is not for everyone, but I dot not think their seat size is a deal breaker for most people.

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Probably correct, but anyone over 6' would be wise to seriously consider a different airline, IMO. Their seat pitch is the smallest of any airline I have flown.

I realize those of us over 6' are a minority of travelers, but we are a significant group. I flew them once. Never again.

Kurt

PigsDad said:

Probably correct, but anyone over 6' would be wise to seriously consider a different airline, IMO. Their seat pitch is the smallest of any airline I have flown.

I realize those of us over 6' are a minority of travelers, but we are a significant group. I flew them once. Never again.

Kurt

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Did you buy an upgraded seat? I have flown Spirit many times where the price was far less than 1/2 the price of Southwest including upgraded seats and baggage fees. Southwest 400+. Spirit 180.

I have never flown Spirit, but my MIL and SIL did, and both have had issues. The fight was fine going out to their destination, but coming back, each experienced a flight cancellation, theoretically due to weather. Because flights now are generally full, Spirit runs relatively few flights, and they don't have any agreements with other airlines to place you an someone else's flight, they delay in each case was 3 days. Not worth it, unless you have toms of time and don't mind paying for extra hotel cost!

x3 skier said:

Agree but they are better than Allegiant whose maintenance and flight operation procedures are atrocious. I'm surprised Allegiant hasn't been permanently grounded by the FAA.

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I am not about to fly Allegiant either.

I am hoping that DTW to Fort Lauderdale in February will not have any cancellation for flight not being full. Size wise my DD and I will be fine, my 6'3 DH, well think of the final destination! Thanks for all the responses.

The comments that Spirit is not for everyone is accurate. Spirit is not for me anymore.

I booked a group trip for 12 Boy Scouts & Leaders to go from DEN to FLL in June of 2013 to attend BSA Florida Sea Base. Our flight was a connection (first mistake) through LAS. We were to arrive at FLL at 9 AM and head directly to Sea Base to take off on our high adventure at 1 PM (second mistake). All of this was to keep cost down for the Scouts.

Well we got on our first flight with no issue. The boys all had water bottles and snacks so we did not have to pay for anything on board. I did check a "crew" bag that held all of the sunscreen, first aid kit, etc that we needed for the high adventure. We landed in LAS and my phone went nuts. Our flight from LAS to FLL was cancelled... while we were in the air. I called a few people and delegated the checked bag retrieval to another adult and ran to the Spirit desk as soon as I go off the plane. It was packed. There were 100+ people there trying to rebook the various (several) cancelled flights that night.

I waited close to 2 hours before finally getting to the front of the line. Meanwhile my wife was doing everything she could to find us another flight from LAS that would get us to Florida (anywhere in South Florida) in time to get to Sea Base. We had a sailing adventure that would not wait for us so we *had* to get there.

My wife found availability on an American Airlines flight to Miami that we could just make and told them to be on the lookout for me. I finally got to the front of the line and explained the situation to the agent. She said we could go out on Sunday. Too late, we would miss the boat. We talked for probably 15 minutes before the agent finally agreed to try to book us on the American flight. She told me that there were EXACTLY 12 seats left on that flight. As said above, they do not have agreements with other airlines so they had to cough up $500+ for each of us to get that flight.

The agent walked me down to the American desk just as another guy who overheard rushed ahead and tried to buy the seats from American before me but the American agent was holding them for us.

We ran to the flight, got to Miami and got to our adventure, which was awesome.

Our flight home was delayed by several hours but it did go home and we had no other issues.

John

jpc763 said:

...As said above, they do not have agreements with other airlines so they had to cough up $500+ for each of us to get that flight.

The agent walked me down to the American desk just as another guy who overheard rushed ahead and tried to buy the seats from American before me but the American agent was holding them for us....

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Actually, I found this story remarkably positive.
Prolly the result of having boy scouts in tow.

OTOH, I've heard too many horror stories to take my chances.
... especially if I had non-refundable plans at my destination.
.
.

We are flying out of Detroit approx 36 hours before our cruise. Our backup plan will be to drive! We have done several 20 hour drives but prefer not to do this. My last 2 flights on Delta were not good and caused more problems then if we had just driven! I will update in February how it goes!