Allow me to stick it to Man Jack for just a minute….
You know, KCC’s resident movie, travel and sex-for-hire expert.
That’s because I had the pleasure of flying Spirit Airlines to Chicago last week and in spite of the gentle German’s warnings about how I would be nickel and dimed, then fleeced by Spirit, nothing could be further from the truth.
It was a last minute flight to see Italian pop singer Laura Pausini at the Chicago Theatre – an amazing show, albeit fairly tame by comparison to the alt rock acts I usually see live.
Then a last minute snafu nearly forced me to buy one way tickets on Southwest in order to leave at a later time that would have set me back $250 per ticket. One way fares from KCI to O’Hare in Chicago on Spirit is only $62.
Now allow me to quote the Jackster:
“Crammed, tight seats and the long list of passenger fees are probably big reasons why Spirit is rated dead last in customer satisfaction, critics say.”
Fees that Jack says range from suitcases (including carry ons), printing advance boarding passes, advance seating assignments – even water (three buckos, he wrote).
All of which are mostly true but sorely lacking in context.
“We add more seats to our planes because when we fly with more people, the cost per person goes down,” Spirit says. “Our seats are simple: they don’t recline, so you don’t wind up with someone’s head in your lap.”
I’ll definitely second that.
The savings are huge and I’m 6’3″ and didn’t have a problem trading a couple inches of leg room for not having the seatback in front of me crashing down on my legs and lap.
Score one for Spirit, significant savings, lesser leg issues.
The single large suitcase my wife and I shared – to and from Chicago – ran $30 each way, which is still a bargain when factored into the overall ticket price.
We both had carry on bags that we were allowed to stow in the overhead compartments or in front of our seats at no additional cost.
Jack said he didn’t think Spirit had a toll free number.
A simple Google solved that problem, so jot this down in your day planner, Jürgen,, 801 401-2220.
Jack thought three bucks for s “drink of water,” was an outrage.
But I ask you, when’s the last time you purchased a bottle of Spring Water at a restaurant or event? Based on my experience, prices of from $1 to $3 are common.
There were no charges btw for printing our boarding passes in advance online but Spirit does have a small uncharge for selecting your seats in advance; in our case it was $5 per seat or $20 roundtrip.
The bottom line: According to my wife Kimberly who fast tracked our trip with less than two week’s notice:
“I checked with all the airlines, including Southwest, and Spirit was practically half the price of the others,” she says. “It was the best deal by far.”
As for the overall experience and whether she’d go with Spirit again,”It was no different from any other carrier – it was perfect,” Kimberly says. “Would I do it again? Of course, duh – half the price – of course I’d do it again.”
Our total cost for two to Chicago and back on Spirit: $210.
“Jack says he didn’t think Spirit had a toll free number.
A simple Google search proved that wrong, so jott this down in your day planner, Jürgen,, 801 401-2220.”
Since when did calling area code “801” become a toll-free number…That is a toll call to a call center in Utah.
Let me get this straight Tony…
Your cell phone plan charges you long distance charges? Or do you not have a cell and have to find and use a land line payphone?
It’s a free call on every carrier and phone plan I’ve been on for, oh, the last 10 or so years.
Hearne, there are folks in the world (not me) who still use landlines at home with basic services, such as AT&T, and those who don’t have cable, so it is a toll call.
Dear Ma:
My suggestion is that you take a bus to your nearest library, find a nice young man there and ask him to help you with the Internet and do a Google search.
Whereupon you will also find these toll free numbers for Spirit that you can write down and use on your trusty landline when you return home.
Or, God forbid, on a pay phone, should you be away from home. Good luck finding one of those babies, btw.
Here you go:
800-772-7117 (English) or 800-756-7117 (Spanish).
Oh yeah, de nada!
Looks like Christopher Hearne gets it. Most people who claim to “hate” Spirit have never flown the airline. They’ve heard second hand about how another passenger didn’t do their homework and were surprised that Spirit charges extra for non-essential elements of air travel (bags, snacks, seat assignments, etc.) Here’s the secret that seasoned travelers understand: All airlines charge for those things, but they include them in the all-inclusive ticket price…therefore you are FORCED to pay for those things even if you don’t use them. That’s right…even if you don’t drink a soda, coffee, water on most airlines you pay for it. If you don’t check a bag on Southwest Airlines…you still pay for two. If the legacy airlines disclosed exactly how much we’re being charged for those things, there would be a revolt. Spirit takes the position that their customers shouldn’t be charged for those things…unless the customer wants it. I think that’s a much more transparent way to fly. And when people claim they’ll never fly Spirit – I have two reactions: 1) Right…if you’re paying for your own ticket you’ll pay the lowest price 90% of the time. 2) Liar! Because if everyone who says they hate Spirit didn’t fly them, they would be out of business. But the fact of the matter is their planes are always full, and they are extremely profitable…all while delivering the lowest prices to customers. Looks like they’ve figured out how to be profitable, and make customers happy with lower prices.
After hearing about these articles and hearny’s experience I will have to look pretty hard at them the next time we are forced to take a plane. I still would rather take a train or visit Dr. Jellyfinger than get on a damn plane again. My last Seattle trip was truly horrible.
BTW, I neglected to mention that the Spirit plane we flew on was like brand new looking.
Excellent condition and very professionally run.
And half off with like 10 days notice made having to pay for pretzels no big deal
Here’s what I’ve found to often be the case, purist…
And I see this on product reviews on Amazon as well: the people who complain as often as not are people who didn’t understand fully the deal when they made their purchases.
If you somehow expected to get an unbelievable deal with no changes from a full price airline, then yes, you’d be disappointed.
Both flights were quite full and everybody on board seemed to understand the deal and were more than satisfied with the experience. Even the giant football player-looking dude who appeared quite anxious to get up from his aisle seat as soon as the seatbelt sign turned off.
I’m glad things went well for you.
Since you speak of Chicago I have a client flying to the Windy City on 11/13 returning on the 14th.
He wanted a morning flight out. No such luck with Spirit. They’ve only got one flight a day to ORD in late afternoon. Same situation on the single flight return. If there’s a problem there’s no agreement with other carriers. Of course Southwest doesn’t have agreements with other carriers either. But they run eight flights a day in each direction. So they’d put you on the next one.
Try that with Spirit……
He paid $ 212.20 for the Southwest roundtrip with no checked bag fees plus free coffee, pop and peanuts.
Happy landings…..
Dear Jürgen
There’s no doubt that you get more if you’re willing to pay double the money and fly on Southwest.
That’s not what Spirit is about.
And on a 57 minute flight, getting a free coffee wasn’t what Kimberly and I were about. We were about planning our departure time – which was no big deal – and paying for a cocktail on the flight to get the party rolling.
And frankly, we could have gone with free carry ons had we wanted to but even with the $30 bag fee (divided by two since we were sharing a bag) it was a HUGE savings.
BTW, there are no rules against BYO peanuts, water, etc on Spirit, so if paying double to get a buck or three worth of low end junk food is what rings your bell, there are options.
The main point here being, Spirit is an excellent addition to the marketplace and a worthy contender and option, especially for private parties like me who lneed to leave sometimes on short notice…
And whose employers are not picking up the tab.
Ooops, today’s only Spirit flight from ORD to MCI was cancelled. Also only MCI-ORD cancelled.
Be glad you weren’t on either one. You would’ve had ? backup?
I fly southwest. Got stuck between 2 400 pound twins.
not a good sight.
Jackiie…whats the rule on overweight passengers. At southwest gate
in phoenix they said if someone can’t fit in a sit with the seat belt
fastened they have to buy another ticket to fly on southwest.
Just curious. whats the real facts? thanks.
Harley
You’re correct, Harley. But the final decision seems to still be made by the gate agent and/or a flight attendant if fattie passes the agent.
It can be a real ticklish problem—especially on a full aircraft.
So eventhough their are rules, human nature still prevails.
p.s. I’m Southwest tomorrow. But i think the belt still fits 🙂