Recent Spirit Airlines Experience

[Buzz's Buddy]

Just thought I'd share our experience with Spirit. We flew from ACY to MCO from 8/4 to 8/12.

First off, ACY is a great little airport. I think it took about 20 minutes from the time we pulled into our parking space in the parking garage until we were in our seats in the terminal. Check-in was quick and painless, as was security.

The flights both arrived sligthly early and were uneventful. Boarding seemed to go very smoothly, no doubt because of the new charges for carry-on items. The overhead bins were almost completely empty! Don't let that scare you off though. You can still bring a bag that fits under the seat in front of you for free and much to our surprise, you can put a good size backpack under there. Spirit gives you a small bag of pretzels for free but they charge for drinks ($3 for a can of soda) and other snacks so make sure you grab a drink before you get on the plane.

The only other negative is the seat pitch. We flew on an A-320. There's not much distance between you and seat in front of you, 28 inches according to seatguru.com, and they don't recline.

While I certainly prefer the roomier seats (and TV's) on JetBlue, neither JB nor any other airline could touch what I paid on Spirit. Including the 2 bags I checked in each direction, our total for 5 roundtrip tickets was less than $560!

 

[Luv4Disney]

I know, we just booked for September...DH and I got airfare for $27.38/per person/per way. Can't beat that. Even with checking one bag each way, we couldn't beat it.

 

[buzzmom3]

Yep, I usually fly Spirit out of ACY and have a good trip. I like thier flight times, we get in early on arrival day and leave late coming home, more Disney time for me!

 

[Suzyq9241]

my dh and I LOVE spirit out of ACY... we also stay the night before at one of the casinos for free ... you can too with the total reward card... but anyway it is a 10 minute drive from the casino to the airport...

 

[doc hog]

Glad you had experience with Spirit. My family will be using Spirit on our next trip, again you can't beat the price!

 

[ibcnu]

my dh and I LOVE spirit out of ACY... we also stay the night before at one of the casinos for free ... you can too with the total reward card... but anyway it is a 10 minute drive from the casino to the airport...

We do that sometimes, too, even though we are only 45 minutes away from ACY.

I love ACY, my daughter goes to college in Orlando so she flies frequently back and forth. Then Spirit left her stranded one night in Fort Lauderdale and we were quite upset and switched to Airtrain, who also flew non-stop. Recently, Airtran changed their non-stop direct flights between MCO and ACY to ATL, not happy with a 5 hour flight which should only take 2.

So, we're back at Spirit (never thought I'd ever say it). I signed my daughter up to the $9 club and she's flying home next month for the weekend for less than $100. Can't beat that. I'm checking flights every month now with those cheap fares. I told her to pack an overnight bag and put it under the seat, no way will I have her pay luggage fees, that's what first bothered me about Spirit when they first announced it, but you can't turn away from those low fares.

 

[JenC025]

Thanks for the great review. We fly out from there next week. Did you arrive 3 hours before your flight? I couldn't believe you had to be there that early- good thing we have an afternoon flight my sleepyheads wouldn't be able to do early morning.
Glad to hear about the book bag we are using them as our 'carry on' just a small kids size back pack with playing cards a change of clothes, swim suit goggles.
I hear the airport is small how much are drinks? I was wondering how bad the price gauging was.
THANKS AGAIN

 

[buzzmom3]

Thanks for the great review. We fly out from there next week. Did you arrive 3 hours before your flight? I couldn't believe you had to be there that early- good thing we have an afternoon flight my sleepyheads wouldn't be able to do early morning.
Glad to hear about the book bag we are using them as our 'carry on' just a small kids size back pack with playing cards a change of clothes, swim suit goggles.
I hear the airport is small how much are drinks? I was wondering how bad the price gauging was.
THANKS AGAIN

No, we never arrive 3 hours before the flight but we also take the early am flight, so 3 hours puts us there between 3-4am! I would arrive between 1 1/2 to 2 hours before the flight just to be cautious. The airport is small, they have a resturant, a small food counter and a small shop that sells drinks. Don't remember exactly how much everything was but it was expensive.

 

[2greatkids]

Hi all!
We are flying spirit out of acy in october and was wondering if they actually measure your carry on to determine what fits under the seat for free and what gets charged to go in the overhead bin. We have the small childrens suitcase (it measure about an inch over the size max for free carry on) which fits fine under the seat on airtran but I heard spirit was smaller (it's been a while since we flew spirit). Thanks!

 

[Buzz's Buddy]

We arrived a little less than 1 1/2 hours before our flight and had no problem. Keep in mind that Spirit lists the boarding time on your boarding pass about 30 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time.

3 hours is absolutely not necessary for ACY. I would shoot for no less than 1 1/2 hours prior to your flight time.

As for the sizing, there are bins at the check-in counter and at the gate to check the size for carry-on items. For our flight, I did not see any Spirit employees asking to check the sizes of check-in bags. Of course that's not to say that there won't be on other flights.

As for room under the seat, we were conservative and kept our backpacks under-filled to ensure that they would fit and we didn't have any problem. In fact, there seemed to be plenty of room under the seat. There's not much room in between seats, but the room under the seat seemed to be the same as other airlines.

 

[JerseyGirl53]

Can you have a carry-on that fits under the seat (It is within their posted measurements) AND a medium-size pocketbook? Thanks...haven't flown since they started the new policy.

 

[Vickis3js]

Yeah no need to get there 3 hours early. We learned the hard way LOL. We had the first flight out in the am and got there 3 hours early due to DH's meds and syringes, first time we have flown since all the added security and didn't want to take chances. Well their securtiy didn't open until after 4am. Our flight was to leave a little after 6am so we got to stand around for awhile before. But we were through security in like 10 minutes.

I am watching their prices now for March. We live 25 min from ACY I would hate to have to drive to PHL but right now SW is killing them in fares.

 

[pr surfer]

The only other negative is the seat pitch. We flew on an A-320. There's not much distance between you and seat in front of you, 28 inches according to seatguru.com, and they don't recline.

While I certainly prefer the roomier seats (and TV's) on JetBlue,

The same A320's comprise the majority of Jetblue's fleet It's not type of plane, it's the sardine can seating that Spirit installed in it.

 

[ibcnu]

We usually arrive an hour before the plane leaves and still have time to kill before the flight. sometimes stopping at the Wawa at the circle to pick up a hot breakfast sandwich to take on the plane. We live within 45 minutes of the airport and can check our GPS for traffic, but most of our flights are usually at 6:30-7:00am so it's also just a straight shot to ACY with no problems. One time we left earlier than 1 hour, it was during the blizzard this past winter and we had to shovel the car out but luckily the GS Parkway was clear, just some black ice. I was glad the flight left, the previous 2 days the airport was closed and flights cancelled. We were the first flight out that morning.

We don't check luggage and already have our seats assigned and boarding passes in hand, printed from home. We don't need to stop at the front counter so once we arrive, park, we go through security and are done.

We've flown Spirit in and our of ACY so many times we have it down to a science. H drops us off with our carry-ons at the door, we wait for him, and he parks the car. Only once did he not find parking in the garage and had to park in "long term parking" and took the shuttle. Seriously, he could have jogged back to the terminal from "long term parking" but he made it back with plenty of time on the shuttle.

Another time while we were waiting in the security line someone mentioned that their flight leaves in a 1/2 hour and they were worried they were going to miss it (obviously, this person didn't realize that once you pass security, you're at the gate practically). They told him not to worry because if they couldn't find him at the gate, they would come down to the security line, call out your name, and move you to the front of the line. I love ACY, love the small airport.

 

[judypriv]

We almost always use Spirit. We live about 20 minutes from the airport and there is a van service that costs about $ 40.00 with tip from our door to the airport. So easy and relaxing. We got our tickets for this upcoming trip for
$ 490.00 for 5 of us and our January trip was $ 420.00 for us 5.

The only issue I ever had with Spirit was flight changing. When we went last September, they changed our flight FOUR times before it was time to go. I kinda hate that they raised the prices so high for seats though. With 2 toddlers and a senior by pass patient, I like make sure we sit together and in the front by the bathroom (potty training!). The seat prices are too high for us now so we'll be taking our chances this trip.

Funnily, we flew US Airways to Vegas in April First Class no problem but hte flight back was a disaster. Rude check in, flight delayed and then we got bumped from first class seats! Then they charged for a suitcases when FC shouldn't be and we lost our extra miles. I called Dividend miles and they were horrible. The man even yelled at me to stop to complaining and be happy I can fly safely! I ended up sending out a long email and we did our extra miles and luggage fees back.

 

[buzzmom3]

We almost always use Spirit. We live about 20 minutes from the airport and there is a van service that costs about $ 40.00 with tip from our door to the airport. So easy and relaxing. We got our tickets for this upcoming trip for
$ 490.00 for 5 of us and our January trip was $ 420.00 for us 5.

The only issue I ever had with Spirit was flight changing. When we went last September, they changed our flight FOUR times before it was time to go. I kinda hate that they raised the prices so high for seats though. With 2 toddlers and a senior by pass patient, I like make sure we sit together and in the front by the bathroom (potty training!). The seat prices are too high for us now so we'll be taking our chances this trip.

Funnily, we flew US Airways to Vegas in April First Class no problem but hte flight back was a disaster. Rude check in, flight delayed and then we got bumped from first class seats! Then they charged for a suitcases when FC shouldn't be and we lost our extra miles. I called Dividend miles and they were horrible. The man even yelled at me to stop to complaining and be happy I can fly safely! I ended up sending out a long email and we did our extra miles and luggage fees back.

What van service do you use?

 

[judypriv]

Hi, Kelly,

Galloway Taxi or Galloway Airport something like that.

Judy

 

[princess81499]

My last experience with Spirit was a disaster! My DH flew down to Myrtle Beach to work for a couple of days. Flight down was fine. However, his flight home was cancelled. It ended up taking him 36 hours to get home (via Atlanta and Ft Lauderale). Spirit did not even offer any kind of food voucer. So much for a quick one hour flight that was not cheap!

 

[ibcnu]

My last experience with Spirit was a disaster! My DH flew down to Myrtle Beach to work for a couple of days. Flight down was fine. However, his flight home was cancelled. It ended up taking him 36 hours to get home (via Atlanta and Ft Lauderale). Spirit did not even offer any kind of food voucer. So much for a quick one hour flight that was not cheap!

We were stranded in Myrtle Beach in March. My daughter had a cheerleading competition. We flew down fine, no problems. Upon return, there were heavy thunderstorms over LaGuardia Airport so it delayed the plane coming from there (and to take us to Atlantic City). On top of that, there was a labor union of construction workers who were repaving the runways in Myrtle Beach "after hours" so the airport was closing at midnight. The airport wouldn't stay open to wait for the LaGuardia plane to land in Myrtle Beach to take us to Atlantic City because the Myrtle Beach Airport couldn't break the labor union contract and have them sitting around doing nothing.

So frustrating. We had to get our rental car back, go back to the hotel and spend another night, on our dime.

I have many horror stories about the last flight out, my daughter goes to school in Orlando so she travels to NJ alot, too and I cannot tell you how many times she has been stranded or delayed.

My best advice when flying Spirit, DON'T book the last flight of the night. There seems to be a pattern where the last flight is always delayed.

 

[judypriv]

My best advice when flying Spirit, DON'T book the last flight of the night. There seems to be a pattern where the last flight is always delayed.

Now that you mention it I do remember in January that we got stuck on the tarmac for almost an hour going and last September we got stuck for 40 minutes coming back.