Spirit Airlines?

[aubriee]

I'm flying to Orlando next Saturday. I got good airfare on Spirit. I've read all the reviews on Spirit, but went with them anyway, because even with all their fees, their $148.00 r/t fares easily beat everyone else's over $400.00 fares. I have two questions though:

1. I was going to try to do personal item only and just do laundry down there, but I just finished packing and couldn't quite do it. Even though my personal item meets their size requirements empty, after it was packed it measured about 1"-1 1/2" too long (17"-17 1/2"). Here it is: http://www.ebags.com/product/revo/bolt-16-tote/223439?lastterm=revo bolt 16 tote. Do you think it'd make it as a personal item? Would it fit under the seat? If there is a chance I'm going to have pay $30.00 to carry it on, I decided I might as well go ahead and pay the fee ahead of time and carry on my regular Heys rolling carry on and carry everything I want (plus wouldn't have to do laundry).

2. Is it worth it to pay the $50.00 to upgrade to those 'Big Front Seats'? Are the regular seats really that uncomfortable? Even paying the $100.00 round trip to do so, the airfare would still be alot less than if I had booked American, Southwest, Delta, or Continental.

Paying for a carry on or purchasing those Big Front seats would guarantee me Boarding Zone 1. Correct? I know checking a bag would be a couple of bucks cheaper than doing carry on, but I would prefer not to check a bag.

 

[CleveRocks]

Both times I've flown Spirit since their baggage fees went into effect, I haven't seen them measure or question a single carried on bag. This annoyed me, as I paid for a carry-on and I'll bet a lot of other folks didn't. So at least on my flights, they didn't even check to see if you paid for a carry-on, let alone measuring to see if the bag qualifies as a personal item or carry-on.

Of course, we both know that the next time I fly and don't pay the fee, they'll be measuring my personal item to make sure I'm not sneaking on with a free carry-on-sized bag.

I like the Big Front Seats. I always try to get them when available. It's not that the regular seats are so bad, it's just that I like bigger seats and I like sitting as close to the front as possible.