Flying Spirit vs driving

[squirrel4569]

Looking at dates for November and we could get a pretty decent rate on Spirit that would pretty much cancel out the cost of driving. I've heard some nasty stories about flying Spirit though, especially when it comes to fees. Looking at their site it looks like you can pre-pay your bag at booking for $21/bag, but how many people know how many bags they will bring when they book? Also heard that customer service is very much the opposite of Disney.

So is a bad flight on Spirit better or worse than a 1200 mile one-way drive when you are going to Disney?

 

[Greysword]

I would consider Spirit Airlines more like a bus than the airlines of yore. Basically, it is transportation from point A to point B, with frills available at a fee.

That said if it meant riding Spirit or no Disney, I would take Spirit. In your case, the difference is the cost of time. That said, I would rather fly Spirit than drive, mainly due to the time I would get back in the faster travel.

You can see the total cost of the price, with baggage, by pricing the flight to the near end on their website.

As for terrible, they are not terrible. They provide a basic service for a lower fee than their competitors. If this is what you are looking for in travel to Orlando (or anywhere), Spirit is a safe way to travel. However for me, travel is part of the fun of the trip, and I prefer to get a few amenities when I fly.

Spirit has the smallest seat pitch (from back of one seat to the front of seat behind it), which is fine for a relatively short flight, but coming from Oregon, I like to have a little more. Even though I bring my own snacks and beverages onboard, I like the option to have free soft drinks and water. I also enjoy the network and relationships larger airlines have to help get me to the destination during irregular operations.

As such, please take the comments made for/against Spirit, especially by me, in the context made. Spirit is a fine airline for transportation, depending on a person's needs and abilities. Again, I would fly Spirit instead of driving if it meant saving a day for travel.

Hope this helps.

 

[mikehn]

I recently flew Spirit. It is a little more chaotic than the other airlines, but I did not think it was too bad. I would definitely fly them again, so long as the total cost was right. I think if you have a nonstop flight of no more than a couple hours then it shouldnt be too bad. However, I can see the risks skyrocketing if you have stops/plane changes in the mix.

 

[kyomagi]

flew spirit last year, and it compelled me to do so again this year. They were on time and a little late going back home. Got free big seats for our trip from Detroit to orlando. Saved over $150 this year per person with bag fees. They let you bring drinks on the flight so you should take advantage of that.

my trip is next week and i'll let you know how it goes.

 

[debster812]

My caveat to folks looking into flying Spirit is this: If everything goes as planned, and there are no irregular ops, delays, weather, etc, you will be fine. Spirit is what it is, and low-cost airline who will charge you for every extra (snacks, drinks, checked bags, carry on bags, seat assignments, etc).

However.....when things go wrong, that is when it goes south in a hurry. Their customer service is virtually non-existent. The one and only time I have flown them, we had delays on both legs of our trip. The complete disdain that was shown from every Spirit employee is what has put me off them. Our flight crew 'called in sick' for our outbound flight, and we waited for nearly 8 hours for our rebooked flight. Coming home, there was major fog up and down the east coast, and our flight was delayed, delayed, and then delayed again. There was NO ONE in the gate area to update us, and no one could get through to a person on Spirits phone lines.

 

[amcnj]

As others have said, it can be one of the lowest cost flights available, just make sure you are looking at the true total cost with all the add-on fees included. And as said previously, there is little margin for error, i.e. flights come in and go back out so if a plane has any mechanical issues or is delayed earlier in the day elsewhere due to weather, there is a ripple effect. Also knew somone whose flight was overbooked and some members of their party (a youth team thing) were bumped. Due to the low number of scheduled flights each day, Spirit could get them on another plane that day, so the affected people had to find another flight themselves asap. It was a morning flight and they had an event later that day so had to reach their destination that day.

 

[kyomagi]

As others have said, it can be one of the lowest cost flights available, just make sure you are looking at the true total cost with all the add-on fees included. And as said previously, there is little margin for error, i.e. flights come in and go back out so if a plane has any mechanical issues or is delayed earlier in the day elsewhere due to weather, there is a ripple effect. Also knew somone whose flight was overbooked and some members of their party (a youth team thing) were bumped. Due to the low number of scheduled flights each day, Spirit could get them on another plane that day, so the affected people had to find another flight themselves asap. It was a morning flight and they had an event later that day so had to reach their destination that day.

they key is to buy your seats asap. If you buy seats you are almost for sure getting on.

People who dont buy seats and the flight that is overbooked will get bumped first.

 

[squirrel4569]

they key is to buy your seats asap. If you buy seats you are almost for sure getting on.

People who dont buy seats and the flight that is overbooked will get bumped first.

When you say buy your seats, do you mean to get a seat assignment in advance that they charge you for?

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

I won't go if Spirit is my only option so I would drive!

Remember that if anything goes wrong, Spirit does NOT care. They are not going to do anything besides put you on the next available fights. Last Christmas I read reports of people being told "it's over a week until we have a seat for you"

Good Luck!

 

[squirrel4569]

I won't go if Spirit is my only option so I would drive!

Remember that if anything goes wrong, Spirit does NOT care. They are not going to do anything besides put you on the next available fights. Last Christmas I read reports of people being told "it's over a week until we have a seat for you"

Good Luck!

I suppose if the flight got cancelled or delayed and it was going to be more than a day before I got to fly out I could just load up the car and go. Much bigger issue if we're in Florida and can't get back though.

 

[njmom47]

I just flew to Ft Myers last Sunday on Spirit.
However, Spirit is the only airline that flies out of Atlantic City airport (other than a few United flights here and there) so that may be why we are super happy with Spirit.
I am def a Pooh size woman (plus I'm 5'9) and the seat was perfectly fine. We arrived early. I slept and no one bothered me. I stuffed everything in to a backpack so I did not pay baggage fees. You could ship your stuff if you don't want to pay luggage fees, but obviously it would still cost you.
We usually fly them to Florida because a 2 1/2 hr flight is no biggie.

I am in the process of driving home from Florida (22 hours) and I will tell you, it gets REALLY tiring driving. Maybe if you had 2 drivers.....

 

[kyomagi]

When you say buy your seats, do you mean to get a seat assignment in advance that they charge you for?

right. Not everyone buys seat assignments. So if there are 200 seats on a flight, 150 buy seats, it shows 50 seats left. Prob is it does not show tickets sold v seats remaining. So you get 50 seats left, but 65 people buy tickets. thats 15 over and priority goes to those who paid for their seats

 

[mieuxmew]

We are flying Spirit in 3 weeks - same reason as you. Memorial Day weekend flights were very $$$, so we were going to drive from NJ with our 2 kids. Checked Spirit months ago and found round trip airfare for 4 for $550 (includes $10 seats for everyone each way and $60 for $9 fare club). We have an Owners Locker so luggage will be minimal. Cost is close enough to cost of driving to make it not worth fighting the traffic on I95.

Spirit is not my fave but we are willing to suck it up to go to Disney!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I suppose if the flight got cancelled or delayed and it was going to be more than a day before I got to fly out I could just load up the car and go. Much bigger issue if we're in Florida and can't get back though.

You could always book a one way car rental home and cancel it last minute once you see things are going according to plan. At least you'd feel like you're not trapped in FL.

 

[Dean1953]

I'm planning on a 3week Disney world trip with family of 6 (December 20-January 10), going Kansas City to Orlando. Some family members won't be able to stay the whole 3 weeks (I'm driving the 21 hour trip), so I may buy them one way tickets, either to fly back after a week or fly down with about a week left. I had forgot that Spirit just started flying out of Kansas City, so I just checked flights for December and January. There are no flights to MCO from KC in December. January is spotty. It looks like all flights go from KC to Detroit, with a 2.5 hour lay over, and on to MCO. The cheapest fare that I saw was $109, which wasn't available. I did see a fare of $239 in January. I think that I'll go with my original plan of waiting until the Southwest airline December-January fares come out. I know that I can get a one way ticket for $200 or less and probably get a non stop flight.

 

[DisneyDiana]

I have flown Spirit many, many times over the years. I only had one terrible experience where we were delayed for hours waiting for them to get another plane for us when the one we were supposed to be on was struck by lightning. I have also been delayed for hours with other airlines. I rarely pay for seats so if you check in at exactly 24 hours you will most likely get seats. Even with the fees they are usually $100 pp cheaper than Southwest so I don't complain.