Another view on Spirit Airlines "Pre-Reclined" Seats

[mickey2000]

By Chris Morran on April 21, 2010 1:00 PM
While everyone's been raising a hoot and a holler about Spirit Airlines' recent decision to begin charging for carry-on bags, the budget carrier has quietly been rolling out planes with "pre-reclined" seats. At least you don't have to worry about being chided by a flight attendant to sit up while the plane prepares to land.

In the last month, Spirit has put two Airbus 320 planes into service featuring the fixed seat backs. Both planes fly to Ft. Lauderdale; one from Washington, D.C. and the other from LaGuardia Airport in NYC.

A company rep says two more Airbus 320s will be added this summer and both will have the pre-reclined seating, which isn't exactly winning rave reviews.

"I hate sitting upright," said one passenger. "It felt cheap and uncomfortable."

Of course, the rationale behind the fixed seats is cost. These seats weigh less (meaning fuel savings) and have fewer moving parts (meaning maintenance savings).
Is this a reasonable compromise for lower fares? Or is this a dealbreaker?

 

[Orange&BlueMonorail]

Reasonable compromise, I don't know. That is a decision you will have to make by either buying the airline ticket or not. In the grand scheme of things if enough people do not buy Spirit's tickets, then they go out of business and their low-cost model didn't work.

But, we all know that this will not happen. Take for example the leader in low-cost RyanAir. If you haven't heard of them, take a minute to Google them. They make Spirit look more like British Airways than the low cost carrier that they are. RyanAir has gone to great lengths to shave costs off flights. Many examples include: making customers pay for wheelchairs to transfer them from gate to tarmac, sell advertising on the outside of their planes, and most recently are strongly looking at putting pay toilets on all of their planes. RyanAir has been doing things like this for years now, gaining customers in droves as they go. Why, because people need to get from here to there and they want to do it on the least amount of money as possible...sometimes at the cost of stepping outside of their real or perceived comfort zone.

Sorry to go on, but I guess yoru answer lies in, how much money do you want to spend in the parks versus getting to the parks. You can fly Spirit and stay at the Contemporary or you can fly United and stay at Port Orleans or Pop Century. Me personally, I don't care which plane I fly, just as long as it gets to where it says on the ticket.

 

[NotUrsula]

Huge difference really. RyanAir routinely sell tickets on European short hops for under $20 one way. That's over the English or Irish channel; a route you cannot drive, unless you also want to pay for a car ferry. Most of the time, if you buy in advance, the taxes cost more than the flight.

While Spirit may be cheap, it's not THAT cheap. It's one thing to nickel and dime this way when your prices really are rock-bottom, but something else again when your price is only 20% or so less than your full-service (or nearly so) competitors.

 

[Brian Noble]

Is this a reasonable compromise for lower fares? Or is this a dealbreaker?

It depends on your circumstances. For me, the problem isn't so much the "pre-reclined" bit, it's the 28 inch seat pitch. That's quite a bit more closely spaced than most other airlines.

 

[seashoreCM]

The seat back itself is thinner so the legroom is not reduced that much (or at all) given the lesser seat pitch.

A few folks don't realize that they have more legroom if they get their fannies all the way back on the seat cushion. In other words, not slouching.

Disney hints: http://www.cockam.com/disney.htm

An aside, I would not fly Spirit because of their unreliability. There have been a few "outages" mentioned from time to time on these boards where folks have been left with no transportation and having to scramble for walk up (read: high priced) tickets on another airline, or cancelling their trip.

 

[TheWog]

Spirit has recently announced though, that for a fee, you can get a key and it will unlock the pre-recline feature and allow you to recline or sit upright. You can pay online ahead of time or pay a FA while in the air.

 

[Lewisc]

Already being discussed.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2449339

 

[Inkmahm]

The seat back itself is thinner so the legroom is not reduced that much (or at all) given the lesser seat pitch.

It doesn't matter how thick or thin the seat back is. A measurement of 28 inches is still 28 inches.