Spirit Airlines

[kyomagi]

Hello all! Roughly 240 days until my wife and our two friends head back to disney for the 3rd time in 6 years. We have flown airtran and delta before, but due to the current prices of airfare, we decided to try spirit. I know they charge for every little thing on their flights, but even with that, they would be $150 cheaper than delta and airtran this time around.

Who has flown this airline? Is it really as bad as reviews say they are with cancellations and delays?

 

[thruthelookinglass19]

Hello all! Roughly 240 days until my wife and our two friends head back to disney for the 3rd time in 6 years. We have flown airtran and delta before, but due to the current prices of airfare, we decided to try spirit. I know they charge for every little thing on their flights, but even with that, they would be $150 cheaper than delta and airtran this time around.

Who has flown this airline? Is it really as bad as reviews say they are with cancellations and delays?

It seems that every other year on our way to Disney, we end up flying Delta. . . and on those off years, we fly Spirit! I honestly have never had a problem with Spirit. . . in the terms of cancellations and delays, never had an issue at all. I'd say that was probably six flights or so in the past six years. Some of the planes even seem nicer and newer than the Delta planes. I guess we've been fortunate!

 

[ctl]

This is what my kids nicknamed spirit airlines , as they both said flying on a wooden plank would have been more comfortable, and if you wanted wings on your plane you of course would have to pay extra! It is unfortunately what it is. We are having to fly wood-plank airways again this year because that is all we can afford. They have already changed our flight times twice since I booked. You just have to suck it up and lower your expectations considerably. If you realize that your seat will be very cramped, dirty and uncomfortable, and you will probably have your flight times changed at least 3 times going and coming back, then you won't get as irritated. Think to yourself, I will suffer anything to get to WDW. (I keep swearing I will never fly them again, but I am stuck until other airlines drop their prices.) Good Luck.

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

This is what my kids nicknamed spirit airlines , as they both said flying on a wooden plank would have been more comfortable, and if you wanted wings on your plane you of course would have to pay extra! It is unfortunately what it is. We are having to fly wood-plank airways again this year because that is all we can afford. They have already changed our flight times twice since I booked. You just have to suck it up and lower your expectations considerably. If you realize that your seat will be very cramped, dirty and uncomfortable, and you will probably have your flight times changed at least 3 times going and coming back, then you won't get as irritated. Think to yourself, I will suffer anything to get to WDW. (I keep swearing I will never fly them again, but I am stuck until other airlines drop their prices.) Good Luck.

You have a higher pain threshold then I do. If Spirit was my only option,I would skip the trip.

 

[MinnieFan4ever]

This is so funny. My girlfriend just last weekend told me of a horrible trip on Spirit. Now this was on their return trip out of Vegas last month heading to Chicago.

 

[smile750]

Hello all! Roughly 240 days until my wife and our two friends head back to disney for the 3rd time in 6 years. We have flown airtran and delta before, but due to the current prices of airfare, we decided to try spirit. I know they charge for every little thing on their flights, but even with that, they would be $150 cheaper than delta and airtran this time around.

Who has flown this airline? Is it really as bad as reviews say they are with cancellations and delays?

I had no problems whatsoever flying from Atlantic City, NJ to Orlando. In fact it was quite pleasant. I fly mostly out of Newark,NJ but prices were way to high around Easter this past April so I drove to AC and it was great. I would do it again in a heartbeat if the price were right. Newark is just closer to my house.

 

[aubriee]

I flew Spirit for the first time this past May. Plane was very clean, FAs very friendly, and the plane even got me to Orlando a little early. Now I did purchase the flight way back last Jan and they did change the times for both my outgoing and incoming flight once, so I round up losing about 8 hours of my vacation. That I was not happy about, but all airlines (with the exception of Southwest maybe) have flight changes. I did purchase the 'Big Front Seats' and they were very comfortable. Even with all the fees they charge, they were alot cheaper than any of the other airlines for that time period---$148.00 (plus seat and luggage fees) compared to over $400.00 for the other airlines (and most of them charge seat and luggage fees also).

At the same time I bought those tickest for the May trip, I also purchased tickets for my Sept trip for the same price, but decided to try the regular coach seats, instead of the 'Big Front Seats'. So far my departing flight has stayed the same, but my returning flight has moved up one hour.

 

[kyomagi]

Thanks for the replies! We booked our flight to leave detroit metro at 8:00am, so if its moved back or up ect its not a big deal, we were going to go to Epcot on day 0 (flight day) Even if we get there at 3-4 pm we can still enjoy that park.

 

[lmbcdb]

I flew Spirit for the first time this past May. Plane was very clean, FAs very friendly, and the plane even got me to Orlando a little early. Now I did purchase the flight way back last Jan and they did change the times for both my outgoing and incoming flight once, so I round up losing about 8 hours of my vacation. That I was not happy about, but all airlines (with the exception of Southwest maybe) have flight changes. I did purchase the 'Big Front Seats' and they were very comfortable. Even with all the fees they charge, they were alot cheaper than any of the other airlines for that time period---$148.00 (plus seat and luggage fees) compared to over $400.00 for the other airlines (and most of them charge seat and luggage fees also).

At the same time I bought those tickest for the May trip, I also purchased tickets for my Sept trip for the same price, but decided to try the regular coach seats, instead of the 'Big Front Seats'. So far my departing flight has stayed the same, but my returning flight has moved up one hour.

That's good to hear about your May trip.

I have a flight in September that also got moved up an hour from DFW. I checked other days, and it looks like ALL those flights got moved back. Guess that late time wasn't working for them!

Hopefully they don't move it again - I have a full park day planned!

 

[Puget Peach]

We booked Sprit's new Chicago to Tampa route for $148 RT including all their additional fees, ONLY after reading through all the fees and charges, doing a trial pack in backpacks (personal item), and booking a rental car with Advantage for $177 TOTAL for 12 days. Our alternative was a two day drive each way. Ours is the first flight of the day and all of the flights to TPA are direct, nonstop, which eliminates the possibility of missed connections and improves our chances of getting onto another flight if canceled, etc. We agreed that 2 1/2 hours of uncomfortable flying beat out four days of driving during a season where bad weather might be a factor. Wish us pixie dust on this endeavor. There are only two of us (adults). Spirit has an EXCELLENT safety record, by the way.

 

[kyomagi]

geeze, i forgot about this thread!

My exp.

Detroit to Orlando.

Fast, early take off, early arrival. great FA's

Orlando to Detroit

20 min delay, smaller seats are ok, but oh well. Same, FA's were good.

decided to fly spirit again in may 2014 to orlando

 

[CarolMN]

If everything goes as planned, SPIRIT is just fine**. We found their planes to be clean, the FAs friendly & professional and the price reasonable, even after we paid the fees we chose to pay. However, if anything goes wrong, you must be willing to accept that you will be totally ON YOUR OWN. Their customer service is virtually non-existent and what there is, is COMPLETELY WORTHLESS!

**We won't fly them again no matter what the price. The seats are so uncomfortable that both my DH & I ended up with a backache (both ways) when we flew them to Las Vegas. We are not tall people and the leg room was just barely OK for us. We have no other complaints about the planes they used and none at all about the on board service

 

[kyomagi]

ya, smaller seats kinda suck, but i dealt with it.

knock on wood, but it seems that spirit from detroit to orlando seem to be ok