a tale of two airfares, or, is avoiding spirit worth $800?

[daisyx3]

Just priced two nonstop flights from Detroit to Orlando, leaving the Wednesday before Easter and coming home the Wednesday after.
Spirit is $428 for the two of us.
Delta is $1274. ($637 each).
Both have bag fees. I would have to pay for seat assignment on Spirit and not get a snack but every fee they have wouldn't add up to $800!
I am going to wait until the SW fares come out to make my decision. I know it won't be nonstop, though. Anyone know what the next release date is?
Daisyx3

 

[hildai]

As of today, SW is posting Aug 25th as their next release date for fares, but they're only releasing fares through April 6. You'll only be able to book/check half of your trip. We haven't flown Spirit in a long time due to all of their fares and usually stick with Delta out of DTW. Delta's fares have climbed up to outrageous heights especially over the holidays!!

I'm looking at similar dates for our cruise leaving April 6, but since my DH and I are both teachers, our dates are not that flexible. Spirit worries me to no end and Delta wants $1067 for our dates. I'm hoping that SW releases some feasible fares and times next month!

Good luck

 

[daisyx3]

I'm a teacher as well. I will be taking a personal day to leave in the middle of the week rather than leave on Good Friday. My only flexibility is do we leave Wednesday or Thursday. I prefer Wednesday this year, as my 16 year old son will not be with us (his break is a week before mine). He may actually be on a school trip to Spain and flying home Easter Sunday, if the school approves it with all the crap overseas, but my college daughter will be able to pick him up at the airport. I know, worst mom ever. But after last winter I don't want to stay in Ohio for spring break ever again.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Three times the price! ! ! I really dislike Spirit, but for that . . . suffer knees, suffer.

 

[mimomlile]

We fly Spirit A LOT. I know the fees add up, but I don't feel like they treat us any worse than any other major airline for a fraction of the price.

Just last week my daughter was flying back from Spain via AA and they left her stranded in JFK overnight. They blamed it on traffic control and weather so it supposedly wasn't their fault so they would do nothing for her. Then they admitted they couldn't fly out until the next morning because the new pilot needed more time between flights...what does them not having a pilot replacement available not make it their fault. No hotel, taxi, no other flights to anywhere (should have been to Chicago, then Flint, MI but they had nothing that evening to Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Toledo, no where that we could pick her up from!) no food vouchers, nothing. They also claimed that it wasn't "cancelling" her flights, but postponing them. She ended up freezing, trying to sleep on her suitcase after an international flight.

They are all terrible! Use the money you saved to buy good insurance because no airline is going to put you before their bottom line-then you have peace of mind not just for the flights, but for the whole trip.

 

[bianca]

Save the $800. We have no loyalty to any certain airline, and prefer Spirit over all of them ...... just because of cost. The dirtiest airplane I have traveled on recently belongs to Delta. The worst boarding procedure has been SW. While Spirit has its detractors, for the price I honestly don't find them to be any worse than their competitors. For my November trip to WDW, I am flying down on Spirit and back on SW ...... No loyalty. It's all about the money these days!

 

[MillauFr]

They are all terrible!

Not according to the customer satisfaction surveys that I have read. We usually fly Alaska and they are great. The planes are new, they have one of the highest percentages of flights that arrive on time even though the weather in Seattle, San Francisco, and Alaska is frequently bad, and the employees are awesome.

http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/2014-north-america-airline-satisfaction-study

 

[mimomlile]

Not according to the customer satisfaction surveys that I have read. We usually fly Alaska and they are great. The planes are new, they have one of the highest percentages of flights that arrive on time even though the weather in Seattle, San Francisco, and Alaska is frequently bad, and the employees are awesome.

http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/2014-north-america-airline-satisfaction-study

I don't think Alaska airlines makes a lot of trips between Detroit and Orlando, and even if they did; are they so great that they warrant paying $800 + more?

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

For me, NO! I have decided that if Spirit is my only option I won't go.

Others have a higher risk tolerance then I.

About once every few weeks over on Trip Advisor someone posts the "I AM NEVER FLYING SPIRIT AGAIN" rant... because when the plane breaks or the thunderstorm shuts down MCO you will get the "shrug" and things like "our next available flight is 4 days from now, take it or leave it"

Spirit fans all love them until something bad happens and then they discover why, in an industry not known for customer service, this is a bottom feeder!

 

[CluelessDisFan]

Agree with OrangeCountyCommuter. Spirit has two or three flights a day from DTW to MCO, with no back up planes. If anything throws off that schedule you're totally screwed! We always fly Delta for that reason, and the part of the reason there's a $800 difference in your flights right now, is because you are looking way to early. You need to wait until about 4-5 months out.
We just bought our tickets for December. Our typical Delta flight 830a out of DTW and return 620p flight tickets were way more expensive than Spirits. And for the first time I was contemplating flying Spirit. But last month the price dropped on our Delta flights, I was $100 under my total airline budget of $1200.
Basically figure out what is your bottom line for a flight, and wait till the price drops to your price range. Obviously you have to reasonable in your expectations. And set up a fare alert, I like kayak. Be aware our flights dropped on a Friday morning, not the typical Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[Mommee]

Southwest does fly non-stop out of Flint if that's not too far for you to drive.