Eating my words and enjoying it! Spirit Air. . .

[Tess]

We traveled to WDW on 6/10/05 and returned on 6/22/05. My husband and I had flown Spirit Air in the past (DTW to MCO) and had a nightmare experience on the outbound and inbound flights. There wasn't one positive thing about the experience and I made sure to vent about it every chance I got! Despite our prior bad experience, Spirit Air had the best rates ($156) of any other airline and a direct flight for our trip with perfect flight times. We threw caution to the wind and booked it with fingers crossed that Spirit Air would redeem itself. Frankly, after last year's trip and our Northworst experience, we figured Spirit Air had to be a better option.

Well, I am happy to report our most recent experience was nothing but positive! Our outbound flight was on time, the staff was extremely courteous and the planes were immaculate and appeared brand spankin' new! The Smith terminal at Detroit Metro leaves a lot to be desired, but I understand the airport will be building a new, up to date terminal for the smaller airlines. That will be a welcome change because the Smith terminal is really feeling its age.

The return flight was delayed by one hour. This was totally due to weather conditions between Puerto Rico (the originating city) and MCO. You can't hold an airline responsible for weather. The staff was quick to inform the passengers of the delay, made continual updated announcements, redirected us when a gate change was necessary, and totally pleasant and professional. I firmly believe that passengers handle the situation better if they are informed and Spirit did it's best to keep everyone updated.

Baggage claim in both Orlando and Detroit was very quick and painless. We were out of MCO and Detroit in less than half an hour after wheels down!

After this experience, I would happily recommend Spirit and would look forward to flying with them again provided the rates are good!

 

[Tinkerbell58]

Glad you had a positive experience with Spirit. I use Spirit when flying to MCO and have never had a problem.

 

[Disneyjosh229]

We have had a similar experience with Spirit on a flight from (DTW-MCO) a few years ago. Both flights were absolutly TERRIBLE! But we tried them again last winter for our ski trip to Pennsylvania (DTW-Atlantic City;cant think of code right now!) and they were excellent. Recently did a flight on "Northworst" from (FNT-MCO) and they were OK. On the outbound flight from DTW-FNT, we were delayed for about a 1/2 hr due to maintanace, and were credited 1,000 world perks miles for our delay.

 

[Pinnie]

I am done with SPIRIT. They have been talking about replacing that SMITH terminal at DTW for years. I will believe it when I see it. It is filthy (esp the bathrooms and floors) and outdated. I recently read that NWA cut a nice deal with the county to NOT build new gates when they built the new terminal for themselves. So we will see.

I had another bad experience this past weekend on SPIRIT. Last year when we were flying them home from Denver (they no longer fly there) they would not allow any roller bags to be used as carryons. On Friday, same thing happened at DTW. We got one of the older MD-80s and the bin space is too small to hold a roller, so I had to gate check it.

Also, they begin boarding way too early and don't Air Condition the plane while at the gate to save fuel costs. It was way too hot in both DTW and MCO to sit for 40 minutes on a steaming plane!

pinnie

 

[Disneyjosh229]

The Smith terminal is the WORST terminal in The United States. Celing tiles missing, unclean bathrooms, lack of food and shopping, bad security setup. I find this amazing, if you walk to the end of the Smith terminal, Concourse C (Only Spirit Uses C), they still have video monitors from Northwest Airlines!! They moved from Smith Terminal 5 years ago!! I perfer MacNamera Terminal much better (SkyTeam Members Only)!!

 

[Pinnie]

The Smith terminal is the WORST terminal in The United States. Celing tiles missing, unclean bathrooms, lack of food and shopping, bad security setup. I find this amazing, if you walk to the end of the Smith terminal, Concourse C (Only Spirit Uses C), they still have video monitors from Northwest Airlines!! They moved from Smith Terminal 5 years ago!! I perfer MacNamera Terminal much better (SkyTeam Members Only)!!

I walked to the end of the C concourse on Friday and SPIRIT did not have ANY working monitors for the gate assignment. I printed out my boarding pass at home, went through security and couldn't believe there wasn't a monitor in the concourse for departing flights. Instead they had one of those black signs with white letters for gate assignments. Only problem was MY flight wasn't on the list so I had to walk around and figure out what gate was mine.

It's hideous and an embarrassment. Give me the new NWA terminal any day. Even if it is a mile long, there is a tram and decent food and shopping alternatives instead of surly newstand people at Smith!

pinnie

 

[the kabuki]

did one flight on Spirit and we vowed never to use it again!
I'll stick to NWA, for what it's worth.

 

[Katerbug]

Wow, you guys are really scaring me!!! My DH, myself, DD and DS have never flown before and we have a flight on Spirit in December. I am worried enough about getting around Metro. I have only picked people up there before and that was before 9/11. I hope everything goes good.

 

[Pinnie]

Wow, you guys are really scaring me!!! My DH, myself, DD and DS have never flown before and we have a flight on Spirit in December. I am worried enough about getting around Metro. I have only picked people up there before and that was before 9/11. I hope everything goes good.

It will be very easy to navigate SMITH terminal. When you enter, the SPIRIT counter is toward the right on the back wall. You can print your boarding passes at home but they will not have a gate assignment on them. Check the monitors there before going through security because there are none after that point. Security for the SPIRIT gates are to the right.

Eat before you get to the airport or bring snacks from home. There are very slim pickings at SMITH and SPIRIT does not serve snacks on the flight unless you are willing to pay for them. Also, bring a credit card, SPIRIT flies a cashless flight.

pinnie

 

[Brian Noble]

The terminal Spirit uses at DTW is definitely not pretty, but it is functional. It is also small, making it pretty easy to navigate. There is little food beyond security in Spirit's arm, so if you want something to eat, think about grabbing it before security. I would expect that everything will be fine.

The place does look worse than threadbare, though. My dissertation advisor grew up in India before coming to the states for graduate school. When he came to visit Michigan, he flew USAir (this was back when Pittsburgh was still a hub). This must have been before 9/11, because I picked him up at the gate. Upon disembarking, he said "You know, Brian, we have better airports in India." I'm sure he's right.

 

[Disneyjosh229]

I walked to the end of the C concourse on Friday and SPIRIT did not have ANY working monitors for the gate assignment. I printed out my boarding pass at home, went through security and couldn't believe there wasn't a monitor in the concourse for departing flights. Instead they had one of those black signs with white letters for gate assignments. Only problem was MY flight wasn't on the list so I had to walk around and figure out what gate was mine.

It's hideous and an embarrassment. Give me the new NWA terminal any day. Even if it is a mile long, there is a tram and decent food and shopping alternatives instead of surly newstand people at Smith!

pinnie

Those monitors are not functual, but they are still hanging with the NWA, KLM logo's on them.

 

[Disneyjosh229]

Wow, you guys are really scaring me!!! My DH, myself, DD and DS have never flown before and we have a flight on Spirit in December. I am worried enough about getting around Metro. I have only picked people up there before and that was before 9/11. I hope everything goes good.

Beleve me, youll have no problems navagating the Smith Terminal. All you michiganders, great news, they've begun building a new terminal at DTW. Heres the link...

http://www.metroairport.com/project/