too late. just booked. flight is under 2 hours, i can handle it. do they charge you to stand up in flight? $75 round trip lol. Never heard of anything like it. This doesn't feel right. I feel cheap, and dirty.
Recently traveling on Frontier, which has a similar business model. Flew round-trip to Chicago from ATL for $30 total. Just flew to Philly for $29 one way. Have a round-trip to Denver scheduled that is $38 round trip. They do nickel and dime you, but the information is on their website. I'm absolutely loving it and plan to start flying a lot more because of it. I recommend not reserving your seats as long as you check-in 24 hours early.
What sort of freebies might I receive if I'm shorter than average (5'7")? Can I sit on someones lap? All of you need to check your privilege.
I think it is personally. I'm going to do it every time from here on out. Even when my friend had to get a boarding pass printed from the counter in Philly, he went up there bagless while I watched it for him and got one no questions asked. On both trips there was plenty of overhead cabin space too. Of course every flight will vary, but if I were you I'd run the risk. You may want to wait for juicy to chime in ohisSe experience though.
so, essentially, going up to the check-in counter before you go through security is the only place where they could add on the fee?
I fly Spirit semi-regularly. The fares simply can't beat beaten unless you're flying Frontier which is also a low cost carrier but they tend to fly to different destinations. As long as you know what you are doing, you can get great prices. I've found some awesome deals. For example, I flew non-stop from Minneapolis to Dallas for $24 roundtrip (really they were penny tickets and the 24 dollars were taxes and the TSA fee). I've also flown to Las Vegas from Minneapolis for $60 roundtrip and I can usually get round trips to Houston for $80-$100. I've also flown to New York for $90 roundtrip. 1. ALWAYS buy Spirit tickets at the airport. You are guaranteed at least $25 off at the airport on a roundtrip fare and many times you'll get even bigger discounts. Spirit adds a convenience fee of around $12 for each segment for buying online. You avoid that by going to the airport. Plus you'll get bigger discounts on tickets sometimes. 2. The baggage rules have been outlined but there are a few things to note. - They spot check bags at the gate. You can risk trying to sneak in an unpaid carryon but in Minneapolis they always check. Some cities dont have agents that care. It totally depends on where you are flying to and from. - Spirit has an unconventional weight limit for check in bags. Their weight limit is 40 pounds which tends to catch people who are expecting the usual 60 pounds. - Spirit has size dimensions on their check ins that are smaller than normal but honestly they're still fairly generous. I wouldn't worry about this one. - Backpacks almost never get stopped even if they are slightly oversized. Worst case, get a backpack that you can mash into their little stand that measures size and then you're fine. But I've had completely stuffed backpacks with no issue. 3. Some Spirit airports have absurd check in cutoffs. In Minneapolis, if you dont check in 45 minutes to departure, they wont let you. Ostensibly its because the security gate is pretty far away from the check in desk but I've seen countless people get tripped up by this. Print out your boarding pass ahead of time. 4. Know the cancellation risks. Spirit and Frontier WILL NOT book you onto another carrier if your flight is cancelled (except for certain exceptions). They'll either put you on the next Spirit flight or give you a refund. Sometimes the next open Spirit flight might not happen for days so you're either stuck waiting for several days or you get a refund of your absurdly cheap ticket and are then forced to shell out on some other airline for a last minute ticket. 5. Spirit v. Frontier - Frontier is a new low cost carrier that entered the market. Previously Frontier flew primarily as a Denver centric airline that catered to business travelers. They've totally rebuilt their business model. They operate more or less identically to Spirit with a few exceptions. - Frontier's planes tend to be more comfortable since they're using their old planes that were competing with legacy carriers. Spirit on the other hand has the crappiest airline seats in the industry. - Frontier does give free water - Frontier's discounted fares are largely tied to its discount den (the equivalent of $9 fare club) Since you can't get discounts at the airport like you can with Spirit, it makes sense to buy the discount den membership if you plan on flying Frontier a lot. - Baggage policy is identical to Spirit's. - Spirit tends to have slightly better prices and more destinations. Frontier is still diversifying its routes since historically they only flew in and out of Denver.
That is definitely not true. Like I said it depends on the airport. In Minneapolis, I'll count at least 1 person per flight that gets caught and gets stuck paying $100 for a carry on. Some gate agents dont check so yes you can get through. But its not a given. Given how strict the Spirit agents are here , I dont even try risking that.
thanks alot for the info guys. unfortunately i booked the ticket online, but i can't imagine i'd save a whole lot off of $75 anyway. sounds like the safest happy medium is to not worry about my backpack being too big/over-stuffing it. gives me 2 chances at avoiding the fee.
Backpacks are the one exception. They almost always let those slide. Other bags are far more likely to get checked. I've also seen people take clothes out of their backpack and put them on before they walk onto the plane. Then take them off and put them back into the backpack. I've never been stopped for my backpack so I suspect its just an unwritten rule that they let those slide. But other bags are more likely to checked.
I fly Spirit all the time, never had a bad experience (no jinx-o). Just cram all your ish in a backpack and you're good to go!
I've had a 5 hour delay (on a midnight flight no less) so we ended up leaving at 5AM. My parents had their flight cancelled and Spirit couldn't get them onto another Spirit flight for 2 days. They ended up having to take the refund from Spirit (a grand total of $40 per ticket) and buy one way tickets on another airline which cost them $300 each. Spirit and Frontier are a gamble sometimes because if the flight gets cancelled, the trip isn't saving you money anymore.
one more question: if you don't purchase a seat assignment, are you forced to go through check-in to get one? or do they just give you one at the gate?
spirit is fine if you don't have a lot of luggage and pay $40 for the big seat up front. their normal seats can make it a hell ride, regardless of what you saved. i would never sit in those seats and im not a big guy. and there is always the risk of cancellation so factor that in as well
They automatically assign you one at random. It will be one of the sardine-pack near-zero legroom ones behind the exit row. Flew Spirit this past weekend. Was overall a better experience than I thought it would be. Definitely make sure you pay for the $15 seats at least. Bring your grub on board. Just bear in mind, as others have pointed out, that flight times change frequently and may even be cancelled.
i fly southwest a lot. from what i'm looking at, the seats are actually wider on spirit, but the pitch is a little less. is it really that bad? did you pay for a carry-on?
