How bad is Spirit airlines?

[Dtw002]

I usually fly AA for work and SW with my family to Disney. Unfortunately SW flight times are terrible so looking at Spirit as the cost is less and the times better. Are they terrible though? Or just the same as all other airlines? I’m ok with bag fees too as it would still be cheaper. Thanks!

 

[NickBCV]

I seriously looked at Spirit as well given the cost was so much lower even when you add bags and pick a seat. The problem I have heard others mention is they often have delays or cancellations which push back ability to fly out a day so that was a deal breaker for us given that was not something we wanted to risk.

 

[Amanda999]

LOL I literally just came to this forum to post this EXACT question! Our school vacation week in April has Spirit tix about 1/2 the cost of any other - including Southwest.

DH travels a ton for work and said the downside is they will cancel/combine flights if not full, far more delays, and far less leg room. But its all hearsay - I'd love to hear from actual Spirit travelers.

 

[FCDub]

There is a recent thread here: https://www.disboards.com/threads/spirit-airlines.3663618/#post-58808900

 

[robinb]

I flew Spirt once and it was fine. You have to go in with the right expectations. It’s basically a city bus that flies ... but with less leg room. You just want to get from point A to point B with no frills ... it’ll do that. I’ve heard horror stories about cancellations and flight changes but I did not experience that. I also flew Frontier, another flying bus, and had positive experiences. I would definitely fly either one again if it meant that I would save a lot of money.

 

[Dtw002]

My main cocker is if they frequently cancel flights and then you are stuck (since they don’t have 1000s of planes like SW). I’m not sure if that is irrational though. Thanks for the help!

 

[Dtw002]

Main concern....oh boy....

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

Main concern....oh boy....

 

[montrealdisneylovers]

 

[WDW Traveler]

We've flow Spirit once for the same reason you are looking at. Price of school vacation flights. With bags and seat selection we ended up getting flights for about $200+ less per person. It was a no brainer to fly with them. After we booked, I then read all the horror stories and was a bit panicked. But, we had no issues at all. Flight was pretty much on time, maybe 10 minutes late/early each way. Definitely not much leg room, but I'm 5', no issues for me! lol Definitely no frills, but we knew that going in. If I can save that much money in the future, I would fly them again.

 

[writerguyfl]

Spirit Airlines tends to operate a thin and infrequent network of flight. By "thin" I mean they only have one option to get you from point A to point B. For example, if you want to go from Richmond, VA to Orlando, there is only one non-stop flight in each direction. There are no other options to connect in another city.

The "infrequent" part means there typically is only one flight between city pairs each day. And for some city pairs, Spirit only operates 1 or 2 flights per week.

If everything goes according to plan, the only thing you have to worry about is cramped seating. When things go awry, your entire trip can get ruined. According to their Contract of Carriage, if Spirit cancels your flight, their only obligation is to 1) refund your money, or 2) put you on the next available flight. If you try for a refund, you'll be stuck buying a last-minute ticket on another airlines. Doing that will certainly cost a lot of money.

Option 2 isn't much better because Spirit's thin and infrequent network means you have almost no options. They will only put you on the next "available" flight. That may not be for several days.

Now, let's contrast the options available with Southwest in our example city of Richmond. If you happen to be on the first flight out and it gets canceled, Southwest published 5 other itineraries that will get you to Orlando on that same day. All those options means your trip probably won't be a bust just because your flight is canceled.

Personally, I won't fly Spirit...even though they are based here in Fort Lauderdale. My one attempt resulted in a travel headache. I view them a bit like gambling. They are fine until you have a problem. Typically, fixing that problem will cost you a lot of money (unless you completely abandon your trip). It only takes one problem to negate any savings you may have created.

(Hopefully, I explained that clearly.)

 

[Pmlocke]

I have flown many airlines in my 64 years on this planet. At this time in my life, as long as I am not inconvienenced, my plane takes off and lands with no problems, the staff is pleasant and I can save a few bucks-I'm OK. I discovered Spirit in 2010. I have stayed with Spirit ever since. Now, what I am about to tell you is my personnal experiance with Spirit. Not everyone will have the same experiance which is why I always tell people, this is my opinion. I have never had a flight leave late except for the trip in 2016 and that was due to a fire in the lower level of the airport and they had to move boarding gates around. Not Spirits fault. I check prices and Spirit is always lower. (Again-my experiance). I always opt for the front seat which does cost 20 dollars more but I am worth it. My wife and I travel light so we check one bag and both have carryon luggage that fits the size of the free carry on. All in all, lowest cost, great seat, always on time. And they have never lost my luggage. I can't say that about American or Delta. I'll be boarding Spirit again in 10 days for another trip to the Happiest Place on Earth.

 

[Disneylovingmomof2]

I’d never fly them. Coming home from Orlando last weekend every AM Spirit flight was cancelled.

 

[fitmom3]

We flew Spirit out of Detroit for the Canadian March break (March 12-19) We loved using Spirit and will use them again. We arrived in Orlando 40 minutes early. My friend took a later flight and arrived early. I found all staff to be very friendly. We had no surprises. I read up on all the extra charges. To save money we checked 4 large suitcases for 6 people, all brought on a small backpack, put some small snacks in the backpacks and printed off boarding passes at home. The weight limit per suitcase is 40 pounds and I was shocked that my bag only came to 35 pounds The trip with extra fees per person worked out to be $123 USD one way or $161 CAD.

 

[amcnj]

I guess what would be most useful would be knowing the odds of a cancellation. I know there are horror stories out there about all airlines. You just wonder which ones you are most likely to run into certain problems on.

 

[Gary2T]

I booked a Spirit flight from Baltimore to Orlando (BWI-MCO) in August of last year for our trip in December. Great price on the nonstop flight at the time we wanted. Even ponied up for the "Big Front Seats".

Fast forward 2 weeks and I get a notice of a schedule change. My flight has been cancelled. Instead of a nonstop departing at 11am they scheduled me on a flight leaving at 12:30pm to Houston with a 1 hour layover before flying from Houston to Orlando and finally landing at 7:20pm.

One plus for Spirit... They did promptly issue me a refund when I called.

 

[3DisneyBuggs]

Dh flew Spirit once a few years ago. He handled the ticket and didnt read up so he had to pay a lot of money at the airport for his carryon. Totally his fault. I wont fly Spirit because their seats look very uncomfortabke and Ive become a Jetblue fan. So be sure you read the fine print!

 

[RysMomma]

Was considering Spirit too for our trip in August. Main reason why I decided to change was because I was afraid of them having a history of canceling flights out and flying during hurricane season makes me a little anxious. That's not to say that I wouldn't have the same issue with another company. We're doing SW down but United back. We shall see!

 

[mdelano4]

We fly Spirit for two reasons, cost and convenience. I calculate travel expense whenever we book trip to FL. It's usually cheaper to drive with family of 5. Last year it cost less than 100 more to fly. No brainer. Also Atlantic City airport is great to fly in/out of. I have had my ups and downs with Spirit. Charging for seat selection was bad enough. When they told me if my child panicked if he didn't get seated next to DW or I, he would be removed from the plane, I was not happy. Our golf trip got stranded in Myrtle Beach when pilots went on strike. "Don't worry, we have agreements with other airlines" was a lie. Then I read an interview with the Spirit president who said he didn't care what the passengers thought. I refused to fly them for several years, but eventually went back. As a PP said, as long as you don't have high expectations you should be fine. That said, I would never fly them for business. Not worth the risk of getting stuck somewhere.

 

[katriscari]

We have flown Spirit 4 times in the last year from CLE to MCO--we have yet to have an issue. We have arrived home late by 10 minutes one time, and we have arrived early to Orlando every time. We try to book the earliest nonstop flight out to Orlando for the day we are leaving in case something happens as far as a delay goes. We have only had a positive experience with them. We are a family of 4. We have a 9 year old and a toddler. The flight cost allows me to purchase a seat for our little guy even though he technically does not need one. We get our favorite snack at the airport as well as a drink if we need/want it for the 2 hour flight because they charge for those items (payable by credit card only). We check 2 bags (that we prepay for) ahead of time and do the 4 personal item bags (actually quite large) and gate check our stroller for a 10 night trip. For our shorter trips we just use the personal item bags and bypass the desk. We do not pay for our seats, and they have always been able to seat us together upon check in. They have even given us better seats at the ticket counter a couple of times when I did have my 10 month old as a lap child. The staff on the planes has always been friendly as well. We have no complaints. I have flown as cheap at $88.80 total for 4 people roundtrip. Right now, i am at $250.00 total roundtrip for 4 and need to purchase our bags for both legs of our trip (leaving in 32 days). So, that trip we will end up about $400 for 4 people total. Not too bad in my opinion. Our departing flight leaves CLE at 7am, so we shold be in Orlando by 9 and to a park or the pool by 11am