ok, thanks
It appears you have to rebook vs being able to cancel outright and receive a refund - if i'm reading your post correctly. It's my understanding that most airlines (even discount ones) will refund your original purchase price if they change flight time. Used to be able to switch things/cancel with Airtran often.
On Spirit air, if the change in flight schedule is more than a specified period of time (don't quote me but I think its an hour but maybe less) then they will refund your money. This happened to me in the fall and they gave me a full refund. That being said, their customer service is among the worst I've ever dealt with, frustrating to say the least. They barely speak English and put you on hold often and sometimes you need to escalate things to a supervisor to get something done), Thank god I very rarely need to deal with their customer service over the phone.
I'm getting nervous to fly Spirit Airlines, would love to hear your stories. I booked Spirit because it was the cheapest for our family of 4, roughtly saving $600 over the cost of Delta at the time of booking and $300ish over the cost that we pay on average for a delta flight.
However, I am 53 days from travel and already this weekend they threw me a curve ball. When I woke up on Saturday I saw an email that said they 'changed the times of our flights' They changed drastically from arriving at MCO at 1pm to arriving at 7pm and from departing MCO at 7pm to departing at 8am, basically ruining some of our reservations/plans. Luckily I was able to make a 1 time change to our schedule because of the change and I got more similar flight times. But what if that happens again??
Please tell me good stories about flying Spirit?? or if you had a bad experience did they do anything to resolve it??
We use Spirit all the time. We have 4 children and honestly, spirit has been what has allowed us to go on vacation several times a year. People can't understand how I could possibly afford to go away so often, but great deals on Spirit (plus being a DVC member) is my answer. We fly out of Atlantic City and Philadelphia and have used them to Orlando, Fort Myers, Ft Lauderdale, Atlanta and Las Vegas. The only airport where I had a real issue is Ft Lauderdale (forgot to print boarding passes and had to pay $ to print at the counter. Probably my fault but man were they rude).
Yes, the seats are a bit smaller and closer together than other airlines, but not so small that my 6 foot 250 pound husband minds. As long as you know their rules and what things cost up front, you will be fine.
We never pay for a seat assignment and of the maybe 30 times we have flown with them the computer has always generated seat assignments on check in for us to sit together. I despise Southwest for their seating policy but will use them too when their price is right. lol.
When checking in a bag, they add the total weight of all the bags instead of 40 pounds per bag. (so if you check 2 bags, you get 80 pounds total...if one bag is 35 and the other is 45, you don't have to switch it over from one bag to the other). We are careful on this though and weigh the bags at home before departing for the airport and try not to add too many things when returning home if the weight was close on the way down.
Buying a couple bottles of water on the flight doesn't seem much different in price then buying them in the airport. Not a whole lot of snack options available for purchase though, so if this is important to you I would suggest bringing them with you. ( I think they sell m&m's, pringles, muffins, soup and maybe some kinda sandwich). They only take credit cards for snack purchases. For us, the flight is only usually 2 1/2- 3 hours so how much do we really need to eat/snack? Better to save my calories for all the yummy meals I have booked in WDW. I would rather pay a lot less for the flight then get a "free" bag of peanuts/pretzels and a soda. lol.
We don't pay for a carry on as it is more expensive than checked luggage. We take advantage of the free personal item, and everyone carries a backpack that fits under the seat. Since I have 4 kids, we often come home with lots of extra souvenirs. They have never said anything when we carry a backpack and a bag of souvenirs on with us. One time, my daughter purchased that super duper, giant Stitch stuffed animal and I wondered how we would get him home. She carried it on along with her backpack and they said nothing (we were somehow able to stuff him under the seat). I have, however, seen them stop people trying to carry on a suitcase that is too big and then they really get you for checking in luggage at the gate. Like I said, know their rules and you will be fine. If someone is trying to carry on a suitcase that does not comply with their rules, its their own fault. If you are unsure, pay to check it in ahead of time and save yourself some grief.
Often times (but not always) the late night flight home from Orlando is delayed. Sometimes by 20 minutes, other times by an hour. We don't mind, the longer in Orlando the better
, we just check ahead of time to see if it is delayed and plan accordingly.
Most importantly, they have a good safety record and I dont feel like I am compromising the safety of my family just because I am getting a bargain.
. I had to push him myself. Not a big deal since I just had a backpack but I was amused. I wonder if the Spirit Airlines people are cheap tippers and the pushers don't bother to help. We boarded first with priority boarding which was nice. There was a wheelchair with a pusher available when we landed in Chicago.
