For me, it depends on the situation. I've flown them dozens of times with no issues, being aware of their bag limits and paying to choose seats. I've had one case where a flight was cancelled, and the next plane was 2 days later. I booked a flight on a different airline, and the whole trip ended up still costing less than had I booked with Delta. While that seems bad, I also recently missed a connection on Delta due to a delay, and they attempted to put me on a flight 2 days later. So no airline is guaranteed.
Agree with the above and if the flight is cancelled Spirit CAN...and has...put you on another airline. My last Spirit flight was overbooked and they were asking passengers to give up seats and they were offering cash/points and would put them on a direct SWA flight out that same day. Now in all my times flying Spirit, that was the first time I'd seen that happen.
I have used Spirit once and NEVER again.
1. The employees are super rude, most of them do not care about customer service or being nice.
2. A lot of rude, entitled passengers. Every airline has their share of stupid *****s flyers, but Spirit was way way worse.
Not sure I'd agree with this...I have had some very pleasant Spirit employees and some super rude employees and passengers on SWA as well.
SO I'm going to once again post my support FOR Spirit airlines, but it does depend on your location for sure. While my local airport is a hub for SWA, there are also at least 3 or 4 direct Spirit flights a day from my airport to MCO...so my risk is low but I can tell you I've flown them over a dozen times as well and I've only had one flight cancelled...a late flight the week between Christmas and New Years...from MCO to BWI. Here is what happened on that one:
- Spirit notified me by email a few hours before that the flight was cancelled and provided me a link to rebook the flight (we got one the next day...it was a 10:30pm flight we had back to BWI from MCO)
- Sent me information on local hotels I could book, I had a few options in the Orlando area...I picked one...it was a VERY nice resort hotel that was over $250 a night normally (probably more for that week) and they just booked it...we showed up and the front desk had us all confirmed and even asked what floor we wanted
- Sent me a voucher for transportation to/from the airport/hotel (I didn't need it since I had a rental car)
- Sent me a voucher for food (which we used at the airport the next day)
It was honestly one of the best "flight cancelled" experiences...during a very busy time when airports and airlines were insane. It was about two years ago.
Since we have many Spirit flight options, and we even go to the airport and buy tickets directly if we want to save about 30% off the online prices, we book them often. I LOVE not having to play the cow herding game and jockeying for seats on SWA...we'll see how that works when it changes. Does Spirit charge fees for bags and seats...YES but you don't have to pay for seats as they will still be assigned to you at checkin and if you have multiple people on one reservation you are likely going to be seated together...we always have been. We know the Spirit bag limits and for quick FL trips (it is a 2+ hour flight for us) we make that bags work for us. Check them at the airport before you board the plane so you know for sure if you are worried. We have also done carry-on and checked bags with no issues. Even paying for those, when my flight is only $50 or $60 round trip sometimes, and I pay $50 for my bag each way, I'm up to less than most of the SWA flights for RT costs. I actually also enjoy that I can buy FOOD on my Spirit flight...I don't need the SWA free snack mix and part of a soda in a cup when I can buy drinks and food on Spirit, or just get food at the airport and take it with me. Our Spirit flights have been nice and some of the best landings ever. Our last few SWA flights have been more runway bounces, but don't know if that is the plane or the pilot. The Spirit in flight personnel have been very nice.
We just flew SWA to California last month. Our 6am flight pulled back from the gate and then soon after the captain came one to let us know there was a "small" engine fire when he started the engine...so the fire department came and checked out the engine...while we were on the plane! Then given the green light by them, next was maintenance to check on the engine...um YEAH...and since this delay meant we were definitely going to miss our connection, we got pulled off the flight and booked on another flight. It was leaving about 3.5 hours later, connecting in a different place, and we had to arrive at a different airport just to make a flight that day for the 4 of us. The landing on at least one of those flights was rough. The passengers jockeying for seats and overhead space...such chaos. We thankfully booked a direct flight home from our new CA airport but a day later to make up for our travel delay. I was happy to not be on that plane. I hear more issues with SWA planes in the news lately...and yet I'm flying them next week to Orlando again...but coming back on Spirit.
So it really does depend on the schedules, your flexibility (but cancellations can happen with any airline) and your ability to adapt and know the rules ahead of time. I used to think the way of others here, no WAY would I do Spirit, but now that we and many of our friends have flown them many times, we don't hesitate to continue to use them.
I wish you the best of luck and safe travels!
Okay, I get it. Horrible layovers it is.
