Spirit Airlines & Seats...question

[VanessasMom]

OK, I was able to get a last minute flight on Spirit to Ft. Lauderdale for my dd and myself for a total of $78. That's a great deal! Also, my parents are currently in florida so we will be staying with them and driving up to Universal Studios for a few days. Our flights are Feb 1st and 6th. Never flown Spirit before. I checked the seat assignment option and opted out of purchasing an assignment. All the seats on the plane are available except about 5 or 6. So, I didn't think it would be too difficult to get seats together upon 24 hour check-in. I don't know if it is because people just don't pre-purchase their seat assignements or because the flight is not very full. Has anyone had luck doing this? My dd is 4 years old, so I would like to sit with her. TIA!!

 

[homedad]

if u check in early u should be ok...just be prepared for delays

 

[SuzyQue]

I took this off the Spirit site...

Purchasing seat assignments in advance on www.spiritair.com is recommended to guarantee a preferred location onboard the aircraft, and ensure that traveling companions are seated together.

Spirit Airlines’ customers can purchase seats online in advance for a nominal fee only via www.spiritair.com when making their reservation during the booking process, or by retrieving the reservation at a later date. Customers may select seats within 90 days of flight time and up to one hour prior to flight departure.

Within 24 hours and no less than one hour prior to flight departure, customers can check in online and either purchase assigned seats, or allow the system to generate a random seat at no charge with the seat number displayed on the printed boarding pass. Seats cannot be changed once a boarding pass is printed.

So if you plan on doing the 24-hour check in online, you'll still have to pay to "choose" your seats, otherwise the system will pick them randomly.

 

[cglaura]

I checked the site and it seems it will be around $19extra, if you get a middle & aisle or middle & window --- $7 + $12) . I'd just pay it. I'm sure they'd do all they can to try to seat you together or at least near, but I wouldn't want worst case you on one end and dd on the other end of the plane.

"The following new charges will apply beginning November 4, 2008. Middle/Center will increase from $5.00 to $7.00, Window/Aisle $10.00 to $12.00 and Exit Row $15.00 to $20.00."

 

[jenseib]

I think legally they have to sit a mionor with an adult though, but don;t quote me on that. But I was told in the past, that if we didn;t pick our seats, that our DD would be with at least one of us. I still don't ever want to chance it and always pay for the seat choice.

 

[bavaria]

No, they do not. Most airlines in America allow UM's to fly from age five.

If people want to ensure that they sit together, they need to take responsibility for themselves and either pay for seat assignments, or fly a carrier like SW with unassigned seats. This is particularly true on flights to/from MCO.

 

[crashbb]

I think legally they have to sit a mionor with an adult though, but don;t quote me on that. But I was told in the past, that if we didn;t pick our seats, that our DD would be with at least one of us. I still don't ever want to chance it and always pay for the seat choice.

Nope there is definitely no law that says they must sit a minor with an adult. As Bavaria points out, a child can fly by themselves at the age of five. Moreover, the computer has no way of knowing who is a child as who isn't (unless you have a very rare child fare). Whoever told you that your DD would be with at least one of you was mistaken.

When the computer "chooses" seats, it will always try to put groups together (with no priority for children - since it doesn't know who is one), but if there are not seats together, it isn't going to move people nor does it "reserve" pairings to give to parents - it is first-come-first-served.

 

[scheddj]

We flew Spirit last August and did on line check in at 24 hours. Our seats that were assigned, not chosen, were all four right in a row. My kids were 11 & 13 and had flown several times before so it wouldn't have been an issue to be split.

My DSD's family paid for the seat selection but later she said some one at the airline told her that she wouldn't have been split from her kids because of their ages 1 & 3. I'm not sure if she saw it in writing anywhere though.

 

[jenseib]

I never saw it in writing, but that is what I was told by others who flew with young ones. And every airline I have flown has asked the age of kids (if you put them in as a child) so they have known her age. I just booked Allegiant this morning and it ask for her age and even had it next to her name on the reservation.
But again I would never take that chance and always chose our seats anyways. I don't even like sitting away from DH.

 

[crashbb]

I just tried booking tickets on Spirit, AirTran, Allegiant, and United. Of the four, only Allegiant asked about child/adult (and only did so when giving passenger names - it was an option in the Mr/Miss/Ms/etc drop down menu). I gave them an age of 2 years.

Even on Allegiant, however, when the computer gave me a seat selection, it put my second child (I entered the adults as passengers 1 and 2 and the children as passengers 3 and 4) in a row all by itself. The computer put the four of us as close together as possible, but paid no attention to which passengers where children (it simply went in the order that I entered them). It did not ensure that each child was with an adult.

PLEASE - if you are a parent and want to ensure that you are sitting beside your child, do not assume that the airline will ensure that this will happen or that there is some law saying that it will happen. There isn't. The airlines do their best to ensure that all groups sit together/near each other and, at the airport, a check-in agent and/or gate agent may go out of their way if a child is involved but there are no promises, rules, or laws.

 

[jenseib]

I think I had hit a link last year to get to be able to put DD's age in on Spirit. I know it's that way with Northwest too.

 

[crashbb]

Add JetBlue to an airline that asks for age. But, like Allegiant, it ignores it. It was perfectly happy to put two 2 year olds in the emergency row seats (a pop up lists the requirements - including a minimum age of 15, but even though I had told them that I had 2 year olds, it accepted it when I chose the seats).

So, asking for age when you make your reservation does not mean that the computer seating system takes it into account - it didn't for either JetBlue or Allegiant.

 

[SuzyQue]

We flew Spirit last August and did on line check in at 24 hours. Our seats that were assigned, not chosen, were all four right in a row.

In order to do this they needed 4 "empty" seats in a row, something that may not be available on an overbooked flight, so you're taking a chance.~~

 

[VanessasMom]

I did put her age into her Free Spirit account and it is linked to her reservation. It is just the two of us, so I'm thinking it won't be that hard to get seats together if I do the 24hour check-in. You are allowed to pre-purchase seat assignments up to 1 hour before the flight leaves. So, I think I'll try the random assignment and if that doesn't work out, then I can always purchase them at that point. Crossing my fingers for a good random seating! Thanks for all the input.

 

[crashbb]

Unless Spirit is different from any of the other airlines I've ever dealt with, you plan won't work.

At the 24 hour mark all available seats (i.e. seats that no one has already chosen) become available to everyone checking in. The computer automatically picks the two (in your case) seats closest to each other. If the randoniser doesn't put you together, it is because there are not two seats together, so there will be nothing for you to buy at that point.

 

[VanessasMom]

Oh. In that case I better check out the seats before 24 hours. Thanks for the info.

 

[VanessasMom]

UPDATE: Got back on Friday. Everything went well. I kept an eye on the seats for purchase seating chart and it was 75% available up until we went to the airport. So, I just went for it. We checked in 2-3 hours ahead of time and were seated next to each other on both flights. No problems. It was great! Can't beat $39 round trip each person. Nice trip.

 

[kristenrice]

UPDATE: Got back on Friday. Everything went well. I kept an eye on the seats for purchase seating chart and it was 75% available up until we went to the airport. So, I just went for it. We checked in 2-3 hours ahead of time and were seated next to each other on both flights. No problems. It was great! Can't beat $39 round trip each person. Nice trip.

Glad to hear you had a good flight. We are flying Spirit from Detroit to Orlando in June. I prefer AirTran, but I was able to get Spirit for $50 each (one-way) so I jumped on that. Where were you able to finding the seating charts? I always prepurchase our seats but I am curious about how the full the plane may get. It's still a long ways off, but I wouldn't mind watching it.

 

[VanessasMom]

Just log into your free spirit account on their website and click "View" next to your reservation. It will have a button for purchasing seat assignments. You can see what is taken there and then either buy or click on "Do not assign seats at this time". Enjoy your trip!!!

 

[jenseib]

UPDATE: Got back on Friday. Everything went well. I kept an eye on the seats for purchase seating chart and it was 75% available up until we went to the airport. So, I just went for it. We checked in 2-3 hours ahead of time and were seated next to each other on both flights. No problems. It was great! Can't beat $39 round trip each person. Nice trip.

Glad it went well.

Glad to hear you had a good flight. We are flying Spirit from Detroit to Orlando in June. I prefer AirTran, but I was able to get Spirit for $50 each (one-way) so I jumped on that. Where were you able to finding the seating charts? I always prepurchase our seats but I am curious about how the full the plane may get. It's still a long ways off, but I wouldn't mind watching it.

We flew this same flight last year for that price and it went pretty well. We live near Toledo, but it was much cheaper to go out of Detroit. This year we couldn;t find a good deal, so we are flying out of Toledo and going to have to rent a car from Sanford.