It can come as quite a shock…
You’re doing a fast trip out of town – get a good ticket price on a discount airline – no checked luggage – just a carry-on.
You head straight for the gate—only to be welcomed by, “Sorry sir, that carry-on intended for the overhead bin space will be an additional $$$.”
What do you do?
Well, for starters you should have read the fine print—i.e. the restrictions.
There are currently three so-called Ultra Low Cost Carriers serving KCI. And you better know the rules of their game before you fly them.
They are Spirit, Allegiant and Frontier.
All they really promise is that the price of your discount ticket will get you from point A to point B. Everything else costs extra.
These ULCC carriers have been chipping away at the sales of legacy airlines enough to force them to compete more actively in the low cost arena.
To that end both Delta and United Airlines have recently introduced their own versions of no frills flying.
And finally American joined in earlier this week as well.
AA calls it basic economy which will be their lowest fare in the main cabin.
Restrictions though will apply!
And you’ll of course still be paying for any checked luggage.
However in addition the following rules will apply to these new low fares that go on sale in late February:
* No advance assigned seating. Seats will be assigned at check-in.
* You will board the aircraft in the last group.
* Fees will be charged to choose a specific seat.
* Flight changes will not be permitted.
* No refunds will be allowed.
* You will not be eligible for upgrades.
* One carry-on will be allowed—BUT it must be able to fit UNDER THE SEAT IN FRONT OF YOU.
* You will not have access to overhead bins.
If I missed any of the new Basic Economy restrictions I apologize.
The good news is that the use of the on-board toilets is still free.
Bottom line:
You get what you pay for.
So be sure to read the fine print associated with flying the ultra low cost carriers—and now the also available basic economy fares with our legacy carriers.
My wife and I split time between St. Pete, FL and KC and go back and forth frequently. No luggage, just us. Allegiant gets us there for less than $50 each way – nonstop. I hope they keep it up.
And if you needed fresh clothes that didn’t involve a bunch of corporate dress, you could easily pack (not throw in) a few days (possibly more) worth of clothing in a large duffel bag and shove it under your seat. While millions of people might not want to or can’t work with these restrictions, millions more can work with these restrictions quite well.
What happens though if the ULCC carrier’s flight is delayed or CANCELLED and there is no backup equipment? You’re going back home and try again the next day. Or you have to buy a last minute high-dollar ticket on another carrier since they usually don’t have any ‘working agreements’ with other airlines.
I’ll stick with Southwest Airlines for as much of my personal travel as possible. The bags fly free alone makes it worth it. For business, we’re able to book economy fares and not have to deal with all the restrictions of the “basic economy”. Plus, if I have to check any bags, the company covers the expense. Shoot, since I have a Delta Skymiles credit card, my first bag is free anyway.
Yeah, THAT’ the ticket 🙂
I felt Spirit air lines were a bit over the top with their Penis Inspection checks at the gate. While I appreciated the check-plus for girth and cleanliness, the check-minus for lack of manscaping was particularly unfair since the guidelines were not clearly posted on the back of my ticket.
🙂 🙂 🙂
After a three hour flight next to a three year old child who cried the entire flight, we decided that there had to be some rules, and, of course we went overboard:
1 Children under the age of four (the ones that ride for free in Mom’s lap) need to be checked or at least stowed in the overhead bins.
2 Mothers with children are not allowed to carry more luggage (bottles, diapers, child snacks, and cleaning materials) than the mother actually weighs.
3 The aircraft which is the only aircraft on the tarmac at 6 AM in the morning is first in line for takeoff, and the pilot’s proclamation of such is nothing more than redundancy.