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Spirit airline and Las Vegas Super Shuttle

Discussion in 'Getting There & Getting Around' started by WHITEJACKET73, Oct 17, 2015.

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  1. WHITEJACKET73

    WHITEJACKET73 VIP Whale

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    Just got back from Las Vegas, flying out of Minneapolis. I know there are a lot of people out there that hate this airline with a passion, but I thought I would post my experience in the "spirit" of fair play. This is my third time flying with Spirit and have not encountered any real problems with them; neither has my son who has flown with them a couple of times. This last trip to Vegas, I was able to fly round trip for just $74.18; that was their base fare and I do not belong to their $9 fare club. Now ladies and gentlemen, that is one hell of a cheap fare. Granted I have done my homework and have avoided the added fees. I purchased an American Tourister tote that qualifies as a 'personal' item. It has wheels and a retractable handle. My son and I have used this tote and never had a problem with the Spirit people. It fits under the seat in front of you. This past trip I put two pairs of slacks, a long sleeve shirt, 4 short sleeve shirts, a pair of sneakers, 4 pairs of socks, pajamas, dress belt, 2 changes of underwear, one t-shirt, my shaving kit, a wallet containing all of my players cards(I have over 20 of them) and my sunglasses in their case. I still had room for more stuff if I needed. I printed out my boarding pass the night before my flight and received an aisle seat when I did the online check in.

    The flight out of MSP was 30 minutes late, which is not unusual for a late night flight for any other airline. There were no other delays and the flight went without a hitch. The flight was half full so I was able to grab a row completely by myself. The return flight was on time and only 2/3 full so I sat in an aisle seat. The flight attendants were courteous both ways. I have to agree with others about the lack of leg room on the Spirit airplanes, but with such a low fare I can put up with a little discomfort. Maybe I have been just lucky, but when I can fly to Vegas for under a 100 bucks...I'm going to take a good long look at it.

    Getting from the airport to the hotel has several options. Most of the time I rent a car; not this trip. Since I was staying downtown, I didn't want to go through the hassle and expense of using a taxi. The last several times I have had to really force my will on the cabbie in order from getting overcharged. I am sick and tired of dealing with these con artists. The regular shuttles take forever...seems like I am one of the last ones to be dropped off. I used the super shuttle that charged me just $11 for a one way fare to my downtown hotel. The van left just 5 minutes after I boarded, made two stops before mine and took 30 minutes to get to my hotel. The cost was $2 more than what Bell Trans charges on their regular shuttle. I anticipated that my flight would arrive too late to take the WAX bus to downtown and I would have missed the bus by 10 minutes(the last one of the day). I was able to prepay for my shuttle fare on-line and received an e-mail from them when I landed giving me instructions on where to meet the shuttle van and confirm that I had landed. I went directly from the plane to the shuttle. It would have cost me at least $30 for a taxi and I avoided having to choke the shit out of him to keep from ripping me off. I was very pleased with my super shuttle experience and will be using them again when I don't rent a car.

    I bought a 3 day bus pass for $20 and used the Deuce and SDX to get me to the Strip and back. I used the WAX to get to the airport at the end of my trip. I think I spent almost as much on tips and dining than I spent on airfare and Vegas transportation. Your mileage with Spirit may vary from my experiences, but so far I have no real beefs with them.
     
  2. warmsun

    warmsun Low-Roller

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    That's me! i don't pack light, I have long legs and an intolerance for their BS extra fees. I would gladly pay an extra $50-100 just to avoid that "airline"...
     
  3. Richard Alpert

    Richard Alpert LOST

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    Thanks for your observations!
    I chuckle about them a lot, but we've had pretty good luck with Spirit so far. We actually missed them when we encountered a handful of snafus upon going with Delta a few trips ago!
    My bride and I are considering booking a town car/limo for the next trip. We were long-hauled both of the last two times and even though I didn't pay more than what the fare "should've" been--and I included tips to keep things civil--having to defend myself from the rants of the drivers was not the most pleasant experience!
    -Richard
     
  4. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Count me as a fan of Spirit, I'm 4 for 4 after a flight two weeks ago, Philly to LAS, nonstop for $191. The itinerary was good and my fare included $25 exit row seats each way and checked luggage. On my return flight I was told that my exit row seat was broken and given a refund of $25 and reseated in row 2 which had great legroom. That brought my RT fare to $166. Similar flights on SWA or AA were over $400. Both flight segments were on time and probably 90% full. Your mileage may vary.

    With that said, I recently read where Spirit will miss it's 4th quarter revenue estimates and the stock was pummeled.
     
  5. BlueBellThunder

    BlueBellThunder VIP Whale

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    I'm 3 for 3 with Spirit. I've flown them from PHL to LAS got the big front seat plus checked in 2 bags and was still cheaper then the legacy carriers. For the people that say they nickel & dime you that's very true but if you do the math its almost always the cheapest airline. And the big front seat is similar to first class on must domestic airlines minus the service and meal.
     
  6. TriggerMN

    TriggerMN The Norwegian Hammer

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    I took Spirit last month from Mpls as well for $84 round trip. Be aware that their "personal item" size allowances are changing soon.
     
  7. srudude87

    srudude87 Low-Roller

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    I've flown them 6 RTs and had just one non-weather delay. That was a losing trip anyway so they saved me about $200. I always do luck of the draw on seats, it's part of my gambling in Vegas. Even drew big front row a couple times. I tell people if you know how they make their money and how to work around it, you'll be ok with them. If you show up with a couple suitcases, expecting an aisle seat and free drinks, you'll hate it. I pack light, play downtown (use that boarding pass for matchplay at the D), and like to devote my money to gambling. So it works for me.
     
  8. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    I forgot to mention that, the Spirit $50 match play promotion at The D is two $25 match play chips. I tried to put one on black and one on red for a single spin but drew a hairy eyeball from the pit critter, just one match play per spin.
     
  9. dhlamar

    dhlamar Low-Roller

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    Let's try and keep the Big Front seat a secret because I hate when I go to book and find out my seats are already gone!

    I've used my American Tourist bag plenty of times on Spirit and mad that next year I'm gonna have to find something else.

    Didn't you have put $25 of your own money on each 1 also?
     
  10. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Yes, I bought in for $50 and put one green chip with a match play chip on Black, winner. Next spin, did the same on Red, winner.
     
  11. saintpauljeff

    saintpauljeff VIP Whale

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    WhiteJacket, what were the days/times of your flights? Just curious. Usually when I've looked at using Spirit, 100% of the time I cannot fit my itinerary into their lowest cost flights so it makes 0 sense to fly them for me.
     
  12. mona

    mona Low-Roller

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    I never seem to catch that cheap of flights. What time frame are you seeing them....dates booked to dates of trip? I have flown Spirit the past few years to get out there and never have a problem. Even with paying for a bag it's always cheaper than the other airlines and their flight times are better.
     
    Flamingo with the sibs!!!
    5 nights NYNY!!!
  13. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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    I agree White Jacket. I am a big Spirit fan and will be on them again in a week.

    So you booked the Super Shuttle from home?
    Is it like Showtime, Bell Trans etc where you could just grab them at the McCarran shuttle area?
     
  14. Blonde_4_ever

    Blonde_4_ever LasVegas4ever.com

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  15. pphold

    pphold pp Park Place Degenerate

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    I flew Spirit a lot last year. Airfare was so cheap it cost me more to park my car at the airport then fly to Vegas. It was cheaper to fly to Vegas then the Gas to Drive to Shreveport from Dallas.

    I didn't have a problem with them except they was always late coming back but that was not a real issue with me as I get to gamble in Vegas more. I was able to catch an earlier flight on stand by if it was available, but if you ever missed your flight you had to buy a new ticket. They would not get you on stand by for another flight.


    I racked up so many frequent flyer miles with Spirit that I'm VIP with them, but found no Benefit with their flier program.


    Spirit has great cheap fares but so does American Airlines and Southwest out of Dallas to Vegas. I think I'll pay a little more and fly AA or SWA. I still took a Spirit flight but preferred not to now.

    Leslie Chow, Packer and broncofn give crap about flying spirit. Just like when I don't take the Limos.


    Spirit is fine if you have a direct flight and get the big seats up front or you are not tall and do not have check or big luggage.
     
  16. amanty

    amanty Low-Roller

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    I flew from Minneapolis to Las Vegas for SEMA (first week of November) last year for $44 round trip and used an American Tourist bag under seat for free luggage.

    This year I booked too early and ended up paying $64.02. For those interested my base fare each way was $14.66, which comes to just under $30. The remaining balance was taxes and security fees.

    My first tip to all you Spirit fans is to book your ticket at the airport and save yourself the "Passenger Usage Fee." Go check your tickets, if you booked online, you paid this fee. I understand that driving to the airport might not be convenient for some people but I have the benefit of driving past the airport exit each day I go into work.

    My second tip is for all airline travelers. Go to airfarewatchdog and setup an alert from your airport to wherever you would like to travel. Now you can sit back and wait for the deals to come in.

    Tip three (if applicable) set an email notifier to pop up on your computer, phone, or even both every time this email comes through. These so called "flash sales" do not last long and you need to be able to purchase quickly.

    Here is the most recent deal I came across. The online price was $74.18 with $35.98 in passenger usage fees. Quick math makes it $38.20 for a round trip ticket!

    I work smart, not hard. I hope this helped a few of you out there.

    Full disclose, Spirit is far from perfect. You take a gamble every time you fly with them. - My wife, child and mother in law got stranded in DC flying to MSP on mother's day. After 14 hours they canceled the flight and refunded their money, which they used to book another airline.

    I myself have only had a delay once out of the 3 trips/ 6 flight legs that I have taken with them. I even once got to fly in one of their brand new planes. I believe it was only 3 weeks old at the time.

    Kinda like Vegas its a gamble!



    spirit.jpg
     
  17. WHITEJACKET73

    WHITEJACKET73 VIP Whale

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    I signed up on their website for a frequent flyer number and gave them my e-mail address. I get about 2 alerts from them every week, advertising their "specials" some of which only have a 24 hour window. A couple of days ago they had a code of 24OFF which knocked off $24 on a one way fare on a lot of their flights. I flew late night flights, 9:30 pm to Vegas and a red eye flight at 12:05 AM on the return flight. These times work out for me, primarily since I work night shifts. I was able to get 7 hours of sleep last Monday after work before heading to the airport; arrived in Vegas around 11pm and gambled until around 5:30 AM. I got back to MSP on the return flight at 5 AM and was home by 7...unpacked and took a nap.

    I went on the McCarran airport website and looked up the shuttle options. I booked on line with a credit card and printed off my receipt. They asked me what flight I was on and my time of arrival, along with my phone # and e-mail address. They sent me an e-mail when I landed and gave me the shuttle van number to look for. They also gave me directions to help find their shuttle area. Terminal one, exit 11 from the bagage claim area and right on the shuttle...easy. Five minutes after boarding we were on our way. Last time I used Bell Trans on a late night shuttle ride I sat in the bus for 30 minutes until they had a nearly full shuttle, then took 45 minutes after that to get to my Strip hotel. This trip I was checking at the Gate within 30 minutes after getting on the van. If you are staying downtown and can't hit the WAX, the super shuttle is the way to go.
     
  18. Foos

    Foos High-Roller

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    Spirit has ruined me for other airlines, once you figure out how to beat Spirit at their own pricing game no other airline can come close to MSP-LAS for $28-$42 Round Trip. I just came back and I am about to take the train to the airport and buy another RT for about $34 this time, throw in 2 nights FREE at the Gold Coast and 3 nights in a Jr Suite at the ElCo Cabana and I end up going to Vegas for 6 days for about $110.....Sweet......
    Also the Two $25 Match Play chips you get from The D (by showing your spirit boarding pass to the players club within 24 hours of arrival) can easily pay for your ticket...I won on both of them my last trip.
     
    Last edited: Oct 19, 2015
  19. WHITEJACKET73

    WHITEJACKET73 VIP Whale

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    I did go over to the D's players club desk with my boarding pass and got my two $25 match play chips. I was going to use them at a black jack table, but I lost the 1st 5 hands in a row, pushed, then lost 3 in a row, pushed, lost 3 in a row and then finally won a hand. The other two players at the table didn't do much better than I. I colored up and left the table; I'll use the match play chips on my next trip in Dec.
     
  20. amanty

    amanty Low-Roller

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    Forgive my ignorance but do I have to put up $50 of my own cash for the "2-$25 match play chips?"
     
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