Any feedback, good or bad? Looking at a flight from San Antonio to the Northeast this fall. Thank you!

I've flown it 3 times and my experience with it has been decent. That being said I don't believe it's save you enough money to warrant not using Southwest or another airline.

Spirit flies into SAT?

I've flown it a couple times. no problems. make sure you read up on their restrictions before you book and you should be fine.

Flown it a few times to Vegas. The first two trips were fine. The third the flight got so delayed and was so mis-managed I thought I was going to be driving back home from the airport. Finally left about 4 hours late, and really for no good reason. They just horribly mis-managed the situation and didn't really communicate it to the people in the terminal. Cops ended up having to be called because people were practically rioting.

You know what you sign up for...they make it very clear what the baggage requirements are. I brought a backpack full of clothes and didn't pay a dime more. The seats were fine they just don't recline. Other than that they felt like airplane seats?? It's fine for a domestic flight if you're getting a fairly cheaper price than any other airline for the same route.

If you actually take off then its generally an ok airline.

That being said.....delays and mismanagement are a serious issue. Booked a flight to Chicago and we were told our airplane was at the airport but had to taxi to our specific terminal. Reiterated that information multiple times. 6 hours later, sorry the flight has been cancelled.

There were zero help with trying to get us out of there and we ended up having to just cancel the whole trip.

So buyer beware.

BizAg13 said:

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If you actually take off then its generally an ok airline.

That being said.....delays and mismanagement are a serious issue. Booked a flight to Chicago and we were told our airplane was at the airport but had to taxi to our specific terminal. Reiterated that information multiple times. 6 hours later, sorry the flight has been cancelled.

There were zero help with trying to get us out of there and we ended up having to just cancel the whole trip.

So buyer beware.

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Very similar to what happened with me. Luckily flight wasn't canceled but almost.

How similar to Ryanair is it?

I flew from Houston to Minneapolis once for a hunting trip.
I was able to send my luggage and rifle ahead of me so all I had was a small back pack.
I was terrified of flying Spirit having heard all the horror stories, but the flight was fine and I arrived early.
The other passengers were definitely younger or lower income then the business class that you see on more expensive flights, but it wasn't a big deal.

an antelope ate it said:

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How similar to Ryanair is it?

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Certainly bears some similarities. Seat pitch is tiny and they upchage for everything. One notable difference is that most Ryanair and EasyJet flights are international, so they generally tend to screw around less with aircraft movements -- unlike what others in this thread have said about Spirit.

The best understanding that I have about Spirit is that its route fare system is basically designed to force any company that requires employees to take the lowest fare onto Spirit. Then when you tack on amenities like putting a roll aboard in the bin, checking a bag, or being treated like a human being (or at least more profitable livestock) it turns out to be a wash but you're trapped in a tiny seat on a crappy airline.

Long story short, if you can plan out all aspects of the flight (and pre-purchase amenities you'll be using) and don't mind a snug seat for a few hours, it might be worth it. Otherwise, just price compare Southwest and the legacy carriers.

Anytime I have walked by a line of people trying to board a Spirit plane at the airport, they always look like they are heading to their grandma's funeral. That should tell you something.

And I've heard enough horror stories to know that I would never fly them, even if they were my last option to get somewhere.

Yep, Sounds exactly like RyanAir.

I wonder if people are just not use to this type of business model or if it is actually bad?

I just flew family of 4 (one lap infant) Denver to Houston on spirit for $69, bottom line, non stop in early evening time slot. 3 'personal items' (backpacks and child suitcase 18"x12"x8") and a diaper bag, all were no charge.

Flight was on time, and no issues.

As with every airline, your experience may vary. You may, for instance, get forcefully dragged off a plane because they are overbooked.

This makes 4 spirit flights for me over 2 years or so. Only one was delayed, an hour and it was last flight of the day. All were significantly cheaper than my alternatives. (All in range of $25-$40).


Just be informed and know their fee schedule.

They interviewed the CEO of Spirit on the Freakonomics podcast a while back. He had some interesting points. He stated the difference between Spirit and the legacy carriers is that legacy carriers charge you for everything even if you don't use it. Storage over the seat, drinks and snacks, extra gate agents, and even good customer service aren't "free", they are "included" in your price on the other carriers. Spirit charges you the fee to get from a to b safely, and if you want anything else, you pay for it. (Good customer service does not appear to be an option. He went on to say that there are lots of surveys of how people pick an airline, and price is usually near the top of the list, along with customer service, routes, times etc. When people are tracked, they almost exclusively pick the cheapest option with almost no value given to the little things. He says they get ****ty reviews, people swear not to fly them again, but three months later, they show back up, ticket in hand.

Personally, Spirit doesn't fly near me, but I can get from my small airport to south Florida round trip for $150 including luggage, on a direct flight with Allegiant, versus having to connect through CLT, or ATL with everyone else. I call it the city bus of the sky, but it gets the job done.

Just flew Spirit airlines last weekend for a trip from Houston to Fort Lauderdale and back. I was hesitant because of all the bad reviews but I did my homework and knew what to expect. It was a short weekend trip so I only carried on a small personal size duffle bag. I made sure to print my boarding pass at home or at the kiosk at the airport. They charge $10 if you have agent print at airport. I didn't pay extra for seats and got random. On the way there the flight was half full and I had a middle seat in the back. Once we got in the air they allowed everyone to move seats. On the way back I got an aisle seat about mid-plane. The plane was really nice and didn't notice the legroom being a problem for a 3hr flight. That being said my only complaint was my flight was delayed 2 hours going there due to plane arriving late and 45min late coming back due to mechanical issues. Overall I would take Spirit Airlines domestically if I wasn't in a time crunch. They're definitely known for their delays.

Problem with Spirit or Frontier is they don't have a lot of planes on the routes. Your plane has an issue, you are done for the day. This backs up everything on the next route. etc. I have heard delayed stories from almost everyone I know who tried Spirit.

My nephew's junior baseball team booked Spirit. That was a big mistake if they wanted to make all their games in Florida.

aggiedata said:

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Problem with Spirit or Frontier is they don't have a lot of planes on the routes. Your plane has an issue, you are done for the day. This backs up everything on the next route. etc. I have heard delayed stories from almost everyone I know who tried Spirit.

My nephew's junior baseball team booked Spirit. That was a big mistake if they wanted to make all their games in Florida.

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exactly, they don't have any partnerships like the legacies so if you need to get somewhere you wind up paying a **** ton of money for a ticket on a respectable airline.

Jock 07 said:

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aggiedata said:

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Problem with Spirit or Frontier is they don't have a lot of planes on the routes. Your plane has an issue, you are done for the day. This backs up everything on the next route. etc. I have heard delayed stories from almost everyone I know who tried Spirit.

My nephew's junior baseball team booked Spirit. That was a big mistake if they wanted to make all their games in Florida.

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exactly, they don't have any partnerships like the legacies so if you need to get somewhere you wind up paying a **** ton of money for a ticket on a respectable airline.

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Not gonna argue this, as they definitely only have 1, maybe 2 flights per day to locations. (whereas SW can have like 5 or more non-stop to big markets, and united has em every hour it seems)

BUT, have a look at average fleet age: (http://www.airsafe.com/events/airlines/fleetage.htm)

United 14.1 years
AA 10.4 years
Delta 17 years
SW 11.8 years
Frontier 6 years
Jetblue 9 years
.
.
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Spirit 4.5 years


That reduces mechanical issues quite a bit. They proudly boast 'youngest fleet in the US' on their planes.

As said, if you have to be somewhere at a certain time on the day you travel (business meeting, event, etc) you have to accept the risk of a delayed/cancelled flight with no other flights that day. But if several hours or even a day delay is no more than reducing your vacation/drinking time, you can definitely save a lot of money. I'll reiterate, I paid $23 a person Den to Hou, on a thurs at 4pm, non stop.

I paid $50 for a last minute flight from Houston to Denver. We were 3 hours delayed from taking off. I had no schedule so it didn't matter much to me. And I got a $50 voucher to use.
If you are on a schedule, fly another airline that is more reliable.

I have flown them about 8-10 times - some solo and some with my wife and 2 yr old (with large car seat). Never had any issues with them, except for one delay of about an hour. All of my friends are very anti Spirit, I guess they had delays before and talk about the fees.

The fees with them are about as up front as any airline I have booked with. It walks you through everything you might need before you pay, so easy a 5th grader could probably understand the fees while booking. I think people probably just click through quickly while booking and don't read.

My only beef with them to this point has been the lousy mileage retention policy. I believe miles earned expire around 6 months if you don't earn any other miles/take any additional flights. The customer service via phone was awful, but I don't expect them to offer much more with their pricing. Service at the airport has always been more than adequate.

We will continue to fly them and Frontier over the majors and SW due to pricing/value. We rarely travel with a rigid schedule, so a delay here or there is something I can stomach, even though that has not been their track record with me personally to this point.

It's model is ideal for cheap business travel - i.e. up and back in a day with a briefcase. If you take luggage, you won't save any money over other budget carriers.

We have flown Spirit lots of times, both just my husband and me and also with our two boys. We have never had a problem, and I feel like I get flights CHEAP if I watch sales. We flew IAH to Vegas for about $150 total for two people. IAH to Orlando for about $300 for four. If you love a deal and are willing to watch prices, it's totally worth it.

I would also say to decide what your lowest price dream would be, and when it gets that low book it. The prices fluctuate daily, so you could miss out on a great price if you always wait for something lower.

Spirit is fine if you know what you are getting. The people that get so angry are the ones that don't realize what they charge for.

beefiedoubleoh said:

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If you take luggage, you won't save any money over other budget carriers.

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isnt southwest the only carrier with free bags? How does this statement make sense?

62strat said:

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beefiedoubleoh said:

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If you take luggage, you won't save any money over other budget carriers.

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isnt southwest the only carrier with free bags? How does this statement make sense?

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Because usually with other carriers you can carry on a roll-bag for free. Spirit it has to be a backpack or smaller - you have to pay for a carry-on if it's any bigger.

flew them 2 weeks ago. no problems. worth the cheap upgrade to first class

They don't fly to SAT. IAH or DFW are your only choices in TX.