Spirit Airlines

Has anyone ever flown with them? Flying from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas looks to be around $350 but I can book Spirit out of Latrobe for about half that price. Does anyone have any experience with this airline and if so, what can you tell me? Thanks.

 

I haven't personally flown them but I have some buddies that flew them into vegas our last trip. Watch the fees when pricing comparison flights. Spirit will charge you for everything from printing a boarding pass, to carry on bags, to checked bags, to a beverage on the flight. Seats are limited space wise but if you can get over those items sometimes it makes an awesome deal.

 

They nickle and dime you to death but you do get to your destination..Have you added up the baggage fees,seat fees and whatever else they are charging nowadays?
I've never taken them to LV but many many times to AC... Kinda funny story (Now,not then) a few years ago our plane to AC switched gates 30 minutes or so before departure.There was also another Spirit flight headed to Detroit about the same time..Our bags were loaded to Detroit and Visa-versa I assume.We land and no bags for the entire plane..
2 poor gate attendants had to handle all the claims..I got my bag delivered next afternoon to the hotel...

Stayed in the same clothes and blew $200 on a toothbrush in the casino cause I stopped at a table along the way.

I sent an email to Spirit about the mess-up and complimented the coolness of the staff dealing with some very pissed off people and they sent me a voucher for $100.

 

Will be trying them for the first time in a couple weeks. I opted for a Big Front Seat© which basically doubled my flight cost, but I assume it will be worth it based on reviews. I am 6' 6" and would probably hate their standard seats.

 

I often fly them to Las Vegas. They have a late night flight from DFW to LAS, which is usually the cheapest, and happens to work great for me. They definitely nickel-and-dime, but you can avoid that:

1) Avoid baggage fees: You are allowed to bring ONE "personal" item for free, which must fit under the seat in front of you. I bring a backpack (not overstuffed!), and this works perfectly for me - I tend to make shorter, more frequent trips to Vegas. Also, I've twice stuck it in an overhead bin after everyone boarded. There was room and no one said anything to me.

2) Avoid fees for printing boarding passes: Obviously, you could check-in and print the boarding pass before arriving to the airport, but I usually don't bother with that on my return flights. I check in online and then print a boarding pass from the kiosk at the airport. It assumes you want to change your seats (i.e., pay for seat selection), but you can cancel that and it will just print the boarding pass. For free. I've never been charged for this. In fact, I once arrived too late to print the pass and a gate agent printed it for me free of charge.

3) Avoid fees for seat selection: I never select a seat. Once, I got randomly assigned to one of the "Big Seats" in the front row. Otherwise, I just cram myself into the regular seats and give thanks that I only paid 50 bucks or so for the pleasure.

4) Avoid paying for beverages: Just remember that they charge for EVERYTHING - including water. I did overhear a flight attendant say she could give passengers a cup of ice for free. She gave one to a lady in the seat in front of me, who did not buy anything.

If you are particularly tall or need to pack heavier, other airlines may be more affordable or of better value after you add in baggage fees. Good luck!

(Oh, I should mention that EVERY time I have flown their late night flight (last flight of the night), it has been delayed. You get what you pay for, I guess...)

 

" You are allowed to bring ONE "personal" item for free which must fit under the seat in front of you"

The free personal size limit is 16"x14"x12"
My last trip from MSP to Las was $44.20 Round Trip including taxes (ticket purchased at the airport a few days before the flight and saves $18 each Way)

 

I have used Spirit out of MSP for flights to Las Vegas for 3 trips. I saved a ton on airfare for those excursions; my cheapest flight was $59.80 RT. That being said, there are several things to watch for with this airline.

1. Several people have commented on their poor customer service when they have missed a connecting flight..sounds like you are on your own in re-booking another flight. Because of this I would hesitate to fly them unless I had a direct flight.

2. Baggage fees. They charge more for a carry-on bag than for a checked bag. Your best prices will be if you pay when you book your flight. If you wait to pay until you are at the airport, you will pay more...if you don't pay for your carry-on you very well may be charged $100 at the gate. I bought an American Tourister Atmosphere tote for my carry-on bag. It meets their requirements as a personal item and will fit under the seat. It is amazing how much stuff you can pack in that sucker; perfect for a 3-4 day trip...couple of pairs of slacks, 3 or 4 shirts, socks, underwear, shaving kit and an extra pair of shoes..no problem. You can buy one for $40 at Walmart. Their weight limit for a bag is 40 pounds which is less than the 50 pounds most other airlines allow...so pack light!

3. They have the most uncomfortable seats of any airline that I have flown on. Most of the time the seats do not recline. If you are over 5'10" your knees will be touching the seat in front of you. It's a 3 hour flight from MSP to LAS and I am barely over 5' 5" on a good day, but I wouldn't enjoy sitting in their seats on a longer flight.

4. Use their website when you book your flight instead of using a travel site like Travelocity and Expedia..you'll get a much better deal. sign up for their e-mails...they will send you several a week, but they regularly have special deals which can save you a bundle...could have flown to Vegas for less than $70 RT for my December trip if I had waited a couple of weeks instead of booking on another airline.

5. Check out their website; they do spell out all of their extra fees (and there are many), so take the time to become familiar with them in order to avoid as many as possible.

I'm a pretty low maintenance guy and can put up with quite a lot, especially when I can save a buck or two...I consider myself thrifty (others may call be cheap...screw them). I consider myself fortunate in that all of the Spirit personnel that I have encountered the the MSP airport have been great when I have flown them. I plan to go into semi-retirement next year, so my travel plans will be a lot more flexible. I should be able to take advantage of Spirit's last minute deals and probably will be flying with them more in the future.

- - - Updated - - -

I have used Spirit out of MSP for flights to Las Vegas for 3 trips. I saved a ton on airfare for those excursions; my cheapest flight was $59.80 RT. That being said, there are several things to watch for with this airline.

1. Several people have commented on their poor customer service when they have missed a connecting flight..sounds like you are on your own in re-booking another flight. Because of this I would hesitate to fly them unless I had a direct flight.

2. Baggage fees. They charge more for a carry-on bag than for a checked bag. Your best prices will be if you pay when you book your flight. If you wait to pay until you are at the airport, you will pay more...if you don't pay for your carry-on you very well may be charged $100 at the gate. I bought an American Tourister Atmosphere tote for my carry-on bag. It meets their requirements as a personal item and will fit under the seat. It is amazing how much stuff you can pack in that sucker; perfect for a 3-4 day trip...couple of pairs of slacks, 3 or 4 shirts, socks, underwear, shaving kit and an extra pair of shoes..no problem. You can buy one for $40 at Walmart. Their weight limit for a bag is 40 pounds which is less than the 50 pounds most other airlines allow...so pack light!

3. They have the most uncomfortable seats of any airline that I have flown on. Most of the time the seats do not recline. If you are over 5'10" your knees will be touching the seat in front of you. It's a 3 hour flight from MSP to LAS and I am barely over 5' 5" on a good day, but I wouldn't enjoy sitting in their seats on a longer flight.

4. Use their website when you book your flight instead of using a travel site like Travelocity and Expedia..you'll get a much better deal. sign up for their e-mails...they will send you several a week, but they regularly have special deals which can save you a bundle...could have flown to Vegas for less than $70 RT for my December trip if I had waited a couple of weeks instead of booking on another airline.

5. Check out their website; they do spell out all of their extra fees (and there are many), so take the time to become familiar with them in order to avoid as many as possible.

I'm a pretty low maintenance guy and can put up with quite a lot, especially when I can save a buck or two...I consider myself thrifty (others may call be cheap...screw them). I consider myself fortunate in that all of the Spirit personnel that I have encountered the the MSP airport have been great when I have flown them. I plan to go into semi-retirement next year, so my travel plans will be a lot more flexible. I should be able to take advantage of Spirit's last minute deals and probably will be flying with them more in the future.

 

Also, your free personal item can be put in the overhead and doesn't need to be under your seat because after you board they don't know who paid for their carry on and who didn't pay.
Bring your own EMPTY water bottle and send it thru security, after security you can fill it with anything you want to drink on your flight.

 

Thanks for all the info. We're still kicking around flight options but Spirit's flights into Vegas are all early-morning which might not work since we wouldn't be able to check in until 4PM.

 

Maybe you can factor the cost of early check in to your rate comparison. The last hour of a 5 hour flight was uncomfortable for me, I would see if you can pay for the Big seat or an aisle exit row seat. This way you can get up and stretch the gluteus maximus.

 

Uh-huh, sure have.

If any airline makes Southwest seem like a tier-1 full-service airline, Spirit does!

They are cheapest, cheapest, cheapest cheapest. Did I say cheapest?

They charge for everything, everything! If they could charge for the seat belt they would! If they could legally put a pay toilet meter on the restroom they would! (Do pay toilets even exist anymore?) The last time I flew Spirit, my seat *DID* recline, but I understand most of them do not anymore. Their live-action infomercial plugging their stupid credit card gets to be annoying. On my last Spirit flight the FAs were badmouthing Southwest - tres unprofessional!

They are the cheapest.

Like Allegiant, if they have to cancel your flight you are on your own, stranded, they will not re-book you with another airline at their expense like the majors to.

They will usually get you from point A to point B and often on time, and cheaper than anyone else. That's about it.

 

I think with $30 per checked bag, we'd still be coming out ahead in terms of fair. Just not too crazy about spending five hours on a cramped jet with no leg room. Gonna have to talk about this one.

 

I just book from the same situation. Was deciding between clev and latrobe to vegas non stop.
Even after paying for suitcases for 4 people and getting the big front seats to and from. Its still cheaper then southwest or frontier. So i did it. Saved her hundreds for the four if us

 

Does anyone know if your in front seat can u still bring a personel item since there is no seat in front of you

 

Overhead bins?

 

Do not forget if you are staying downtown and stop in the D casino within 24 hours of your arrival on Spirit the D will give 2 - $25 dollar match plays. I won both my bets but lost $15 trying to win the next one for the dealer.

 

We just returned from vegas....our flight was from LAS- PHL..for both of us it was 477.00. We prepaid for 2 checked bags and the front seats. We each had our free bag also that we put overhead. We watched the flight before us board and they did not check 1 bag in the bag checker to see if they fit. Lots of the bags people were carrying looked oversized so after reading all the negatives I was surprised. We did buy 3 beers for $15 but also brought empty water bottles through security and filled them. We bought pretzels at the airport, big mistake, $6. So stop and get snacks before you get to the airport. We had no problems with Spirit but do not think we would fly them if we could not get the front seats...

 

I'll be flying KCMO to LV in January for the first time. I'm just hoping theres no snow!

Otherwise, I think the round trip was about $110 including 1 checked bag!

 

Remember the episode of Seinfeld when Kramer and that guy were betting on arrivals and departures??? If they did that at a Spirit gate, it would get really interesting.

 

I flew them from ATL to HOU over Thanksgiving and it wasn't too bad, but that was only a 2 hour flight, I don't know if I would have made the full 4 hours.

One nice trick to save a little $. When I took the wife with me we had two bags to carry on. I only paid for one when I got the tickets. My wife was Zone 1 (she had the bag paid for) I was another Zone with the unpaid bag. We both got on the plane for Zone 1, the gate attendants didn't care at all since we were married. So I saved $56 and stuck both bags over head.