Level with me about how bad Spirit Airlines is

[Anonymous]

My dh just had to fly them a bunch for random business trips and weirdly enough they were fine and perfectly on time.

[Anonymous]

We do logistics and often buy employees flights last minute after dropping a truck/dispatching drivers.

We do a lot of wild stuff. But we don’t touch spirit or frontier unless our guys are literally demanding that particular route/time. Maybe 1 flight out of the last 30…

And this is for rougher/more resourceful than normal adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Avoid if you can.

[Anonymous]

After adding all the fees and dealing with the angry people who are upset about fees no thanks. Google spirit air fights

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

As opposed to most people on DCUM for whom the price of airline tickets is never an issue? Nobody is flying Spirit for pure enjoyment...probably not even the management who are paid to pretend they enjoy flying Spirit. The other issue is that they did file for bankruptcy and in principle they could suspend operations and you'll be left holding a worthless ticket.

But will the DMV area lose out if they go bankrupt? Yes, I believe so. Tickets with Spirit can be one-fourth the price of United tickets.

[Anonymous]

I fly with Spirit when they are significantly cheaper than the alternatives. I find that it’s fine if you are aware of the rules, follow them, and expect absolutely nothing but transportation from point A to B. This includes the peace of mind/“insurance” that you will be rebooked or taken care of if there’s a delay or travel snafu that is built into the price of flying with a full-service airline. If you’re willing to go without that (a gamble, basically), that is the main tradeoff for a cheap ticket.

I flew from Nashville to NYC recently. This involved a stopover in Detroit. The Nashville departure was delayed an hour and ultimately was scheduled to land 10 minutes after the connecting flight to LGA was supposed to take off. That was the last Spirit flight of the day from DTW to NYC. If I had missed it, Spirit would not have rebooked me on another airline because they don’t have reciprocal arrangements, and I am not confident that they would have covered my expenses to stay the night. They ended up holding the LGA flight because there were a lot of us in the same boat, so it ended well, but it could have not. I was OK with running that risk to save several hundred dollars on the ticket.

They do allow you to bring a personal item for free. Mine is pretty generously sized weekender bag and I have never had an issue bringing it with me.

Overall I have had pretty decent experiences with Spirit but I do think it sometimes comes down to luck. I would recommend them, as long as you are informed, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

After all the hidden fees kick in, Spirit will really be only slightly cheaper than a mainline carrier. Reliability is poor.

[Anonymous]

I'm a PP (and former employee) who identified serious safety concerns about Spirit Airlines and the lack of training/competency of employees responsible FOR YOUR SAFETY. Like knowing how to properly shut the aircraft door, or identifying hazardous materials.

I understand that people may not trust information from an "anonymous" poster but why not just do a bit of research yourself and realize that Spirit is a disaster waiting to happen!

You will soon find that safety should be your primary concern... not money, seats or carry-on baggage size.

Here is but one example, of many:

"The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $146,500 fine for Spirit Airlines, alleging that it violated the Department of Transportation Hazardous Materials Regulations. The fine is for a shipment completed in 2022.

The FAA states that Spirit’s employees offered five separate shipments of compressed oxygen cylinders to FedEx for air transportation from Detroit to New York in August and September 2022.

One of those shipments was rejected by FedEx employees in Detroit as the box containing the oxygen cylinder was damaged. The agency adds that the damaged package “did not adhere to the Flame Penetration Resistance Test requirements, and was not properly marked or labeled.”

It has also been revealed that Spirit’s employees who offered the shipment did not complete the required hazardous materials training in the use of the United States Department of Transportation Special Permit. From the day of receiving the FAA’s enforcement letter, Spirit has 30 days to respond to these allegations."

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Rules for transporting hazardous goods
According to the FAA, over 3 billion tons of regulated dangerous goods are transported in the US annually. Of this, more than 261,000 tons is carried by airplanes. As such, it is important to adhere to safety regulations regarding their transportation."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I took it recently and it was fine. But it was a direct flight so I didn’t have to worry about delays. They also have pretty affordable larger seats, their “business” class. Worth it to save thousands.

I'm the poster above who had delays on Spirit 10 years ago. It was the only nonstop flight available to our destination. Our logic was, if it's a nonstop, surely it won't be as bad as a connecting flight with wait times at the connecting airport. Wrong.

Outbound flight to San Diego: We arrived early morning and waited in the airport all day long, with multiple announcements flight was being delayed an hour or so. At around 8pm, they finally cancelled the flight. Locals were supposed to return home for the night and come early the next morning to be re-booked. Note this was a large metro area and even if you're local the trip to the airport can take an hour or more.

Arrived early next morning: Line for re-booking was long and slow. They offered no flight to San Diego that day and flew us to LA instead. Once in LA, no help for how we were supposed to get to San Diego. We took a shuttle to a car rental agency. It was packed; we waited for at least an hour. Decided it was not worth it; took shuttle back to airport. Booked a train to LA. Arrived LA early evening.

Return flight home: Arrived at airport early-ish morning. Waited several hours (more delays). Arrive home around midnight/1 am; several hours late.

TLDR: A direct or nonstop flight won't necessarily save you if things go bad.

[Anonymous]

How long until they charge a fee to use the bathroom

[Anonymous]

Google spirit air fights

[Anonymous]

Spirit has been just fine for me. It definitely feels like a cheapo airline...ugly cabin, no snacks...but who cares? Like you said, it's thousands cheaper. I don't really give a crap about flying in style, and I make seven figures. It's true that you pay extra for bags but even when you factor that in it's still cheaper than the major airlines. Spirit also has an excellent safety record which is all I really care about. Also, customer service has always been ok - certainly no worse than the major airlines.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spirit has been just fine for me. It definitely feels like a cheapo airline...ugly cabin, no snacks...but who cares? Like you said, it's thousands cheaper. I don't really give a crap about flying in style, and I make seven figures. It's true that you pay extra for bags but even when you factor that in it's still cheaper than the major airlines. Spirit also has an excellent safety record which is all I really care about. Also, customer service has always been ok - certainly no worse than the major airlines.

Until they don't. An airline is only as safe as the competency of the employees they hire. Many of Spirit's gate agents are barely literate. You can have the best pilots in the world but when that gate agent accepts baggage and doesn't label it, expect a big boom. Or doesn't properly close the door. Swoosh!