Spirit Airlines - Not So Bad! (Honest Review)
Spirit Arlines is that airline that everyone says, “Don’t fly Spirit, don’t do it! They rip you off! There’s so many “hidden” fees.”
But ladies, it’s so cheap and worth it if you do it right!
Spirit Airlines helps you save even more by telling you exactly how to save: Step-by-step in Spirit-101 You just have to play their game. They are not so bad for a budget airline!
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Just like anything else, you get what you pay for. So no, they don’t offer free drinks, food, or leg room without paying for it. But who cares if you plan accordingly!
For example, did you know that Spirit offers promo codes when you sign up for their email list? You may find a flight for $50, then add the 70% off promo code and boom, your flight cost is cut even more! Of course, there’s rules and restrictions in terms of which days you can fly but just plan accordingly. If you’re a frequent flyer, you can take advantage of their membership deals and fly for even cheaper. You got this!
Trust me, it’s worth the money you are saving if you follow these tips and fly Spirit correctly.
***DO EVERYTHING ONLINE!***
I think the thing everyone thinks is shady about about Spirit, is that they charge you for everything. They may offer you a $10 flight, (yes, you can get a flight super cheap!) but then they add a bunch of hidden fees to your ticket like you have to pay to choose your seat, pay to check your bag, pay to talk to an agent when you check in, etc. If you join their pay per membership program it significantly lowers the extra charges.
If you take care of everything online, then there won’t be any surprise charges at check in. It’s also a lot cheaper when you do everything online instead of at the airport.
***Spirit Charges For Both Carry-On and Checked Bags BOTH WAYS (They don’t charge for personal items like a backpack) – If you do it online it will be about $41 each way, but if you do it at the gate it goes up to about $65 each way.
***Spirit Charges For You To Pick Your Seat BOTH WAYS – This charge varies from around $1-50 depending how much leg room you want and how early you plan your trip. If you are OK with a middle seat, you don’t have to choose your seat. (However, keep in mind that once you are in the plane, you can always move around to an open aisle or window seat but not a more space seat.)
***Spirit Charges To Print Your Boarding Pass At The Agent Desk – They will charge you around $10 a boarding pass just to print it. Make sure you Check-In online and print your boarding pass at home or email yourself a mobile boarding pass (You can always reprint it at the kiosk for free.) I have NOT had them charge me to reprint my boarding pass out of a kiosk, BUT they are always changing so better to have it just in case they change their policy and start to charge.
There you go, now you know exactly how much your flight is going to cost. Is it worth it? I find, just generally looking for flights, that Spirit Airlines is usually at least $100-200 cheaper than flying most other airlines and is usually a direct flight. Again, that’s before taking advantage of their offers. (If you’re still confused from above, here’s a great article that breaks it down even more.)
To give you an example, I did a basic search before COVID-19 for the cheapest flights available (without using any promo codes or optimizations) and Spirit was charging $293 round trip from Cleveland to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the next cheapest was United Airlines that was charging $442. The Spirit flights were direct and were for about 4 and a half hours each way. The United flights had layovers and were around 8 hours of travel time each way.
With Spirit, I was saving $149 right off the bat. If I added a bag to that trip I’d still be saving $69 AND four hours of travel time each way. This is just with a basic trip. Imagine how much I can save once I’ve applied a promo code, looked for a ticket on the best day, and set up an email alert etc.
***BRING YOUR OWN SNACKS***
Spirit doesn’t give you any free snacks so make sure you pack some. I personally always like to be in control of when I get to eat and I like to have water with me so I don’t get dehydrated. Keep in mind that you can’t have beverages to go through security so you will have to buy it in the airport anyways. AND – if you look at Spirit’s menu, snacks are actually pretty similarly priced as the airports. It just depends what airport you’re at.
I also prefer to bring food onto the plane with me because I usually get hungry for a meal. I’m a sucker for Nathan’s Hot Dog stand whenever I see them in an airport. I can’t resist!
Spirit does not offer meals, they only have basic snacks. When I say snacks, they are small and gone-in-three-bites kinds of snacks.
That being said, I HAVE bought snacks on a Spirit flight before and it was a really easy process. They do not accept cash so keep your credit card handy. For all you coffee fiends, they do offer free refills on coffee which is only $2 but soda pop is charged by the can and water is charged by the bottle. (Just an FYI, I’ve been on two flights so far where they have run out of the cheese and crackers, so if that’s your snack of choice, I’d buy it in the airport because apparently it’s a hot commodity.) Here’s a link to their latest in flight menu if you want to check it out. No, they don’t offer Nathans lol.
***THERE'S JUST ENOUGH ROOM***
‘Nough said. There just isn’t much room. Trust me when I tell you, the seats fit as many people onto the plane as they can. They are definitely budget airline seats, but that being said, they are still pretty comfortable. If you do prefer more room, you can pay for a “more leg room” seat or you will be miserable. Spirit also has a lot of flights so try to go during an off time and you may get lucky enough to have the row to yourself to spread out a bit.
Don’t plan on doing much work on this flight because the 6 inch tray table is barely big enough to hold up your laptop. I did see people using it for their laptops but it’s basically in your lap which is great if you’re watching a movie, but not so much if you’re typing.
There is just a bungee string (no pocket) in the seat in front of you which is made to hold your magazine and maybe a water bottle if you can manage it.
***BRING YOUR OWN ENTERTAINMENT***
I think most people who travel often know this by now, but in case you don’t, airlines are cutting down more and more on costs which means less free entertainment for you. They also all want you to download their apps so that you can access all of their entertainment options. Spirit is one of those airlines that gives you the bare minimum so to do that, they don’t have any entertainment anywhere. There’s no monitor in the seat in front of you or drop screens posted anywhere.
Spirit is working on their app, but right now they don’t even have Wi-Fi access. Double check before you fly.
Think of this flight as your time to catch up on your reading or bring your phone or tablet to watch those netflix movies that you downloaded to watch. Again, Spirit Airlines does not have any entertainment and does not have Wi-Fi either (but you are only paying $50 sometimes!)
I hope you see what I see. Spirit Airlines is not so bad! The perks definitely outweigh the cons. I mean direct flight, multiple times, and a cheap price? Sounds pretty good to me!
While you are flying, remember how much more spending money you have for your trip because you saved so much choosing to fly on Spirit! They are called a “budget airline” for a reason! So, go into it with low expectations and you’ll be good to go with a smile on your face!
If you liked saving money flying Spirit, you may also like this article about how to work the system when your flight gets delayed.
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