Level with me about how bad Spirit Airlines is

[Anonymous]

We've always flown Southwest or a large carrier like United or Delta.
I hear all the horror stories about Spirit and I'm trying to avoid it but it's thousands cheaper to fly my family of 5 from BWI to Cancun on Spirit vs Southwest (plus Southwest will have baggage fees now too)

I guess I don't understand how the luggage thing works and I see all the horror stories of people saying their small bags were rejected as carry ons. Don't you pay for carry ons too?

It's not a crazy long flight but I am more worried about reliability and issues with baggage.

[Anonymous]

When it works, it works. When it doesn’t, prepare for insane delays, zero information, possible rebooking days later, missing bags for weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When it works, it works. When it doesn’t, prepare for insane delays, zero information, possible rebooking days later, missing bags for weeks.

Pretty much this. I flew them last year when I had to fly suddenly and a ticket with them was hundreds of dollars cheaper. Figured it would be fine because it was just me. Flight there, no issue. Checked a bag and just had my personal item. Flight home ...a mess. Delays for unknown reasons and couldn't get information. It would be delayed for an hour, and then as time would get closer be pushed out another hour. No one could give any information. 6 hrs later finally took off. Arrived and no bag. Again took forever to find out where my bag was and apparently when I checked in they put it on an earlier flight to my destination so it had already arrived. Maybe it's changed but I like the other airlines where you can track your luggage through the app. These issues could happen on any airline but trying to get any info from Spirit was like pulling teeth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When it works, it works. When it doesn’t, prepare for insane delays, zero information, possible rebooking days later, missing bags for weeks.

+1. If your flight is fine, its fine. When its not, its a big mess. But usually, its fine. Figure out the baggage fees in advance, make sure your bags are the right size, brings your own snacks and entertainment and you won't have any surprises. If your flight gets delayed or cancelled, then it will just be a mess.

[Anonymous]

Flight cancellations and delays aside, just know that on Spirit you have to pay for everything besides the air you breath. You pay to use a bin, drink their water/soda or eat their snacks, and watch in flight entertainment. Also there are bag fees. If your carryon is rejected as such, they charge you to gate check the item.

I have always LOVED Southwest (boo hiss on the bag policy). Spirit is a new level of hell.

[Anonymous]

I only fly private.

[Anonymous]

I avoid Spirit at all costs. Saving a few thousand dollars is very compelling but the stress, frustration, and other costs would be too much when things go wrong, and things will go wrong with Spirit. It’s not worth it to me.

[Anonymous]

Southwest does not have baggage fees yet, as long as you book before 5/28/25. You don't have to fly by then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Flight cancellations and delays aside, just know that on Spirit you have to pay for everything besides the air you breath. You pay to use a bin, drink their water/soda or eat their snacks, and watch in flight entertainment. Also there are bag fees. If your carryon is rejected as such, they charge you to gate check the item.

I have always LOVED Southwest (boo hiss on the bag policy). Spirit is a new level of hell.

They charge you to throw away trash?!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Flight cancellations and delays aside, just know that on Spirit you have to pay for everything besides the air you breath. You pay to use a bin, drink their water/soda or eat their snacks, and watch in flight entertainment. Also there are bag fees. If your carryon is rejected as such, they charge you to gate check the item.

I have always LOVED Southwest (boo hiss on the bag policy). Spirit is a new level of hell.

They charge you to throw away trash?!

Lol...are you from UK? I think that means "overhead suitcase holding compartment". Those are "overhead bins".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When it works, it works. When it doesn’t, prepare for insane delays, zero information, possible rebooking days later, missing bags for weeks.

+1. If your flight is fine, its fine. When its not, its a big mess. But usually, its fine. Figure out the baggage fees in advance, make sure your bags are the right size, brings your own snacks and entertainment and you won't have any surprises. If your flight gets delayed or cancelled, then it will just be a mess.

+2 It was not a pleasant experience to fly Spirit and the BWI staff I encountered were extremely rude and yelling at several the customers waiting in line for no apparent reason, but weigh your suitcases carefully if you're checking bags ahead of time, and try to do everything online and hope that your biggest problem is a flight delay of an hour (which is what we had). Comparable United flights were 3x as much, so if you have a family of 4, flying Spirit can save some serious cash.

[Anonymous]

It's cheap and uncomfortable, much like Frontier. I thought they were merging. Maybe that got blocked? I can't keep up with airline politics.

Research personal item size and you should be fine, bring your own snacks. It's absolutely the cheapest way to go to Puerto Rico, and the price difference is worth the hassle.

[Anonymous]

Just know spirit does NOT rebook you if your flight gets cancelled. Like PPs said it either works or it doesn't.

Because it's cheaper to check than carry on the baggage drop line is chaos. I have seen people miss flights because of it. If you can do all personal items and buy what you need at destination it can work out well. I would not do anything but nonstop with spirit, frontier or allegiant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When it works, it works. When it doesn’t, prepare for insane delays, zero information, possible rebooking days later, missing bags for weeks.

+1. If your flight is fine, its fine. When its not, its a big mess. But usually, its fine. Figure out the baggage fees in advance, make sure your bags are the right size, brings your own snacks and entertainment and you won't have any surprises. If your flight gets delayed or cancelled, then it will just be a mess.

+2 It was not a pleasant experience to fly Spirit and the BWI staff I encountered were extremely rude and yelling at several the customers waiting in line for no apparent reason, but weigh your suitcases carefully if you're checking bags ahead of time, and try to do everything online and hope that your biggest problem is a flight delay of an hour (which is what we had). Comparable United flights were 3x as much, so if you have a family of 4, flying Spirit can save some serious cash.

I get it, if you have to save money, Spirit is significantly cheaper. There’s a reason for that. When things go awry, it’s going to cost you more in time, money, and frustration. This is a classic case of you get what you pay for.

[Anonymous]

I posted about this before - the customer service is beyond rude, to the point where it's clear that they're baiting you so they can say you decline their service and be rid of any responsibility to get you home if things go sideways. And when they go sideways, they go completely off the rails. I was stranded for three days trying to get home from a trip, and the dumb thing was the flight wasn't cheap at all. I swore off Spirit and will never fly them again after that experience. And that's in addition to all the nickel and diming they do. You pay extra for literally everything - checked bag. Fee. Carry on. Fee. Boarding pass. Fee. Seat. Fee. Water. Fee. Add about $150-$200 to your ticket and you might get close to what the actual cost is. But if something goes wrong, god help you.