Nonstop Spirit vs. 1-stop Southwest

[nervous1sttimer]

We are looking to fly our family of 4 to Disneyland in late August. Southwest flights are all stop-overs with travel time of ~ 7 hours. Price for the 4 of us would be $1600. Spirit is direct for $1370 and although I realize they charge extra for luggage, carry-ons, etc, I still wonder if it is worth it to just fly direct?

Delta is also direct but almost $1900 for all of us. We are going DTW to LAX. Which would you choose?

 

[Princess Disney Mom]

Yes go direct.

 

[bianca]

Spirit direct ...... Every time!

 

[mickey2000]

Don't forget about the 40 pound bags !
NO Spirit for me

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

I think you're using terms to mean different things than they actually mean.

"Nonstop" means a single flight segment from origin to destination.

"Direct" means no change of planes, but can (and often does) involve one or more intermediate airport stops.

"Connection" means a change of planes at an intermediate airport.

"Stopover" normally means interrupting your trip (such as a 2-day stopover in New York City when flying from Kansas City to Paris).

I would gladly pay more for Southwest than for Spirit, even if Spirit is a nonstop and Southwest involves either a stop or a connection at an intermediate airport.

Southwest provides more leg room/knee room, flexibility to change you flight without a change fee, 2 free checked bags per passenger, and a far better reputation for handling problems, such as flight delays.

Do some Google searches and read up on Spirit Airlines.

By the time you add Spirit's many fees (they even charge for water), the prices should be quite close.

By the way, if your destination is Disneyland, I would strongly recommend Orange County Airport (aka Santa Ana, aka SNA, aka John Wayne Airport) instead of LAX. It's much closer to Disneyland and it's a very nice airport. You don't even have to take a bus to get your rental car.

 

[Betty Rohrer]

I second the John Wayne Airport over LAX. but if going the LAX route what time is your plane arriving at LAX? will you be trying to get to Disneyland at rush hour? the drive from LAX to Disney could take a very very long time at rush hour esp if not used to LA traffic and freeway system

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Nope, nothing is worth entrusting my trip to Spirit! Because when something goes wrong you may very well be stuck for days

And if there is ANY way possible try to go into John Wayne/Orange County airport. MUCH MUCH MUCH closer to DL, much easier to deal with, just all around a much better experience!

 

[mybatmobile87]

Have you looked around on Kayak for your dates? I plugged in some random ones for the end of August, and I see there really isn't much in the way of non-stop flights. United flies into SNA for a little more but it also has a stop.

I would also recommend you flying into Santa Ana, rather than LAX if it is possible, but that would certainly mean a layover somewhere. You could decide whether it would be better to wait in the airport for the transfer or drive in the (95% certain) LA traffic.

I, personally, decided not to fly Southwest with a plane change again. It has never turned out well for me.

SNA to Disneyland is less than 20 minutes. LAX to Disneyland is 40 minutes in no traffic--there will be traffic.

If you pick the SNA route, I would recommend one of the United flights. The random days I picked for two adults and two "youth" are a bit under $1700. I know it's kind of a jump, so I'm not sure if that is reasonable for you or not.

 

[MillauFr]

Delta doesn't fly non-stop from Detroit to John Wayne. I would choose to fly to LAX non-stop. Spirit will have some hidden fees that will eat into the price difference.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

Remember if you run into mechanical issues with your plane or weather problems, on SWA flight you will have more chances to get on another flight. Where as Spirit only has a hand full of flights each day which mean few options to rebook you on another flight.


SWA if your flight price goes down you can get a refund in the form of travel funds you can use for another trip that must be used within 1 year from your original purchase date.

SWA if you need to change your ticket you don't have to pay a change fee

SWA 2 checked bags for free per person, carry on bags are free. Drinks and snacks are free.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

Delta Air Lines has 5 nonstop flights per day from DTW to LAX, but they tend to be expensive.

Spirit Airlines has 1 nonstop flight per day from DTW to LAX, but it's Spirit. According to Consumer Reports, "Spirit Airlines received one of the lowest overall scores for any company we’ve ever rated." Although schedules can change, the Spirit flight is an evening flight for the date that I looked at. Leaving DTW at 8:45 PM and arriving at LAX at 10:30 PM (which will feel like 1:30 AM because of the time difference) does not seem like a good way to begin a vacation. LAX is a huge airport, and getting a rental car there takes a while.

If you're willing to consider a connection on Southwest (or another airline), then SNA becomes an option. You can pick travel times that meet your needs. Try for a connection that involves 60 minutes or more at the intermediate airport, and you reduce the risk of missing your second segment if the first segment is moderately delayed.

Flights to SNA can cost a little more that to LAX, but you'll save time, aggravation, and gasoline. It's worth it to pay a premium for SNA.

I agree with the points that "Shelly F - Ohio" made about Southwest.

 

[Buzz's Buddy]

Even if Spirit's fees brought the total to be the same as Southwest, I personally would choose the non-stop flight.

Spirit has notoriously bad customer service; however, in my experience, the employees I have encountered have always been very pleasant.

 

[supergoofy]

Just booked flights and am in the midst f issues I didn't think about

1) Flight time- This I looked at. What time out do the flights leave/land in both ways.

2) Luggage fees. This one I overlooked. I now need new bags or pay fees as the 2 bags I thought would work will not. One is an inch to wide and the other is 2 inches to tall. So its either $50 to check or $40 to buy.

3) All other fees. Do they charge for carry on? Drinks? Food? Which ones will you need?

4) Reliability. They should have an on time rating.


Never flown Spirit but have done some many on Southwest and never had an issue. Best part I liked about Southwest from Sacramento to LAX or Burbank was the fact there was a flight out every hour or so. So if there was an issue and they overbooked and you had to take another flight there was one very soon.

 

[pghdrumr]

Every Spirit trip for us has been terrific. Follow their policies closely, and you will be fine. The worst that happened to us was a slight delay leaving. We were still in Orlando within 45 minutes of scheduled arrival.

TIP - Don't pay for assigned seating. Our family has always been seating together when we checkin 24 hours prior to flight.

 

[Horace Horsecollar]

4) Reliability. They should have an on time rating.

An on-time rating is less important than what an airline can do if a flight is cancelled or substantially delayed.

Airlines with no interline agreements with other airlines offering once-daily or twice-weekly flights on a given route are not in a position to re-accommodate passengers reliably on other flights.

Southwest does not have interline agreements with other airlines either, but it has a massive route structure and flight schedule. For example, if connection through Phoenix becomes a problem, then Southwest can re-accommodate passengers through Denver or Chicago or whatever works.

Best part I liked about Southwest from Sacramento to LAX or Burbank was the fact there was a flight out every hour or so. So if there was an issue and they overbooked and you had to take another flight there was one very soon.

Bingo.

Although hourly service is rare, Southwest has frequent service throughout its network and many connecting airports.

It's not just overbooking. Actually, involuntary denied boarding is rare, despite the publicity it gets. Cancellations due to weather (including weather in other parts of the country where the aircraft is coming from) and mechanical issues should be of much more concern, regardless of the airline.

I don't doubt that passengers with the right expectations about Spirit (very limited legroom/kneeroom, lots of fees, basic transportation only) are satisfied when they get a low fare and their flight operates as scheduled. But how satisfied are Spirit passengers when things don't go right?

 

[Brian Noble]

I wouldn't fly Spirit on a bet, for two reasons.

1: They have the least comfortable planes in the sky. DTW-LAX is a good 5 hours in that seat. I would pay extra not to do that.

2: As Horace mentions, if your flight is cancelled, you could be delayed for quite some time (as in days), because they *will not* send you on another carrier. Instead, all of those passengers have to get rebooked onto some other Spirit flight, there aren't very many of them, and they tend to fly full.

Our most recent trip from DTW to Disneyland was via Delta, on the non-stop. We flew Saturday to Saturday, and even though we landed at LAX about 5:30 local time, there really wasn't much traffic to deal with getting to Anaheim. We thought about connecting flights to SNA, but even with the longer drive, etc. the total time "in transit" door-to-door was less via LAX than it would have been connecting somewhere. The tickets were more expensive, but I used miles for some of them and those were more than fair, IIRC.

 

[nervous1sttimer]

Thanks for all the input. I am officially scared off from Spirit and equally committed to a nonstop flight. Looks like Delta for us!