What the heck?! Spirit Airlines...

[chevitz5]

What the heck is going on with Spirit Airlines? We are trying to book a flight from Chicago to Orlando for January and every single flight in 2006 from Chicago to Orlando is over $500!! What is the troubles? We have called the customer service many times and they just keep telling us that there is no problem - that this is the pricing offered. I have never heard of such rates from Spirit! We have used them for our last 3 trips and have never paid over $150 round trip! Anyone know why?

 

[CarolA]

I don't think I would bother calling customer service.....

Are you going over a holiday weekend? (MLK?) In that case the cheap fares may be sold out.

 

[owtrbnks]

We flew Spirit . . . once.
Have you checked Southwest?
IMHO They are #1.

 

[DrTomorrow]

I've seen several articles - both in Phoenix papers and national news sites - saying that the bargain fares of the past 2-3 years are going the way of the dodo. Airlines are dropping flights to save money while airline travel is increasing; supply goes down while demand goes up = higher prices. Factor in the fact that everyone (except Southwest) is paying a LOT more for jet fuel and prepare to pay more....

 

[disneydiz]

Spirit will keep their fares quite high and then lower them if they don't have a lot of takers. Or, it would be that the flights have a lot of takers and there are only a few seats left. Keep checking the website -- especially on a Tuesday thru Thursday. Those are usually the days that they might lower the fares-- and sometimes only for one day. Easter week from Detroit to Orlando on Spirit is at $410 -- but for quite a few months it was $600+.

 

[whiterice5]

consider flying out of Rockford. It is about 1 hour west of Ohare. Parking is free. Allegiant Air just started flying out of here and was offering 59 each way to Orlando- Sanford. they may still be offering those rates. Of course that does mean getting a rental car at the other end...but we planned to do that anyway. We will be flying thru RFD for the first time in Jan thanks to the $59 rates...couldn't pass it up!
Chris

 

[macraven]

i have flown spirit out of chicago for the last 7 trips to orlando.

whenever a ticket is purchased, the price goes up. wait 30 minutes before checking the prices again after that. prices do go down 30 minutes after an online purchase.

you should sign up for their email specials.
i received one this past week and it was a great price. under $100 rt.

they do have many 24 hour sales thru the web. if you are signed up for it, you will get the better deals.

 

[Goofy22]

We just flew Southwest out of Phila! We normally fly spirit! I was so disappointed not being able to fly spirit! I never flew another airline but my pocket couldn't afford the airfare! I looked in March for October and the prices were near $700 per person roundtrip ACY to MCO! A friend looked a week sooner and got lucky she got $88 each way $176 or so roundtrip still on the high side for spirit! I called and the lady was very nice! She told me either the flight only had a few seats remaining or they have only released a few seats so far! So I gave her my dates she put them in and said they have only released so many seats at this time keep checking daily and check sales etc... They had a $45 dollar each way sale amonth or so later and of course I missed it ! I was away for the weekend and missed it! Keep checking is all I can say! If not Southweest offers some really great fares! We flew 5 of us $684 roundtrip! Also friends of mine flew Airtran and also recieved really good deals! So keep checking make it a ritual! Sign up for SPIRITS SYBER SPECIALS too! Sign up for Southwest Ding Fares! It maybe worth you're wild to fly them if it's an option! We had to Drive 11/2hrs to PHL to fly them! But it was worth it! Very nice flight!

 

[Chicago526]

Try United. They have fares for about $196 round-trip with tax if you're flexable with your dates and times. That's from O'Hare to Orlando, the dates I checed where Jan. 14 at 1:15 PM outbound and Jan. 21 at 2:00 PM for the return. Plenty of seats for that price (right now anyway!).

 

[macraven]

use united???..............whoa, don't get me started....


i used united from chgo to DC last week for a 6 day trip and vowed never to give them my money again.......


the united attendants were useless and limited at ohare last week.
at 6:35 in the morning on a wednesday, two attendants (one of them was in training) and a line of 37 people..............i was #35....

attendants on the flight were rude and very unhelpful.
i asked a question on when we would arrive,
the answer: when we get there......

 

[Chicago526]

really? I fly them 2 to 4 times a year for the last 10 years and have never had a problem Maybe I'm just lucky!

 

[Dopey Sharon]

This is an email I received today from Spirit. It will answer your question...

Subject Line: Your Travel Plans have been cancelled

Reservation date: 13Jan2005

Spirit Airlines regrets to announce that we are discontinuing service between Chicago and Orlando effective January 9, 2006. Record high fuel prices have substantially impacted Spirit's ability to operate on this route profitably.

Spirit must take this action as part of its plan to continue to offer low cost flights throughout North America and the Caribbean during these difficult times for the airline industry.

We truly apologize for this inconvenience. We invite you to make changes to your travel plans. You may change your destination without paying a change fee or difference in fare if you travel on the same or within a day of your original travel dates. Outside of those dates fare difference will apply. If you are not sure of your plans, you may place your reservation on hold for future travel to be booked and completed by one year from the original date of purchase or you may contact us to receive a refund.

For assistance you may contact the Spirit Airlines Reservation Center by calling toll free 800-772-7117 or en Espanol al 800-756-7117.

We are flying with them, next month, out of Atlantic City. After my initial panic, from reading the first line, I continued reading. I called Spirit and was told they made a mistake sending me this email, duh, and our flights are fine.

 

[macraven]

holy cow.................spirit pulling out of the mother land !!!

 

[chevitz5]

Dopey Sharon - THANKS for the post! We finally have an answer to this!! It has been driving us nuts!

So now we can go on our way to figuring out a different airlines. It looks like right now we might consider Midwest Airlines out of Milwaukee. Midway is not an option for us - it is too crazy busy of an area to travel to and too long of a drive. O'Hare and Milwaukee are the only options so here's to hoping we can book something lower than $200 round trip!!!

 

[macraven]

i have used mitchell field (milwaukee) before and love it.

also used midwest express before and had a fantastic flight with them.
great cookies !!!

only problem, midwest does run higher than some other airlines unless you catch a quick sale with them.

midway is too far for me also.
it is about the same distance to ohare or mitchell for where i live.
i prefer mitchell but have not caught discount prices there in some years.

 

[trirae]

It is frustrating. I'm in the same boat as most of you, except that I had already booked for January on Spirit. So, now I'm back to the drawing board. I would prefer to fly out of MKE, but Midwest is really high right now for the times/dates I need (travel plans were already made around the other flights). I'm tempted to do Southwest, but Midway is more of a haul for us. Good luck to anyone else who got messed up in the Spirit issues!

 

[macraven]

i have used spirit ever since they started up in terminal 5/international.

this totally bums me out for my fall trip.


i did check out usa3000.com that started up. they took over at the terminal 5.


i will check them out this feb when i am ready to buy my tickets.
depending on the time schedule will determine which company i will use.

but crossing my fingers spirit comes back to the ord/mco trips.

 

[macraven]

i just pulled up usa3000 and found a range of info.

i guess it depends on what day of the week you travel on to determine the cost of the flight.

i plugged in dates of march to get an idea of schedule and costs. the sept dates i put in were not available.

from ord to mco: leave ohare 4:55pm/$74..........leave 4:45pm/$69

mco to ord: leave 8:30pm.....prices ranged from $59 to 98 depending on day of week.

i need to play around with this on all the days of the week to better plan my orlando stay.