Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines 2.85 out of 5 Stars

For the purposes of this review, seven domestic flights on Spirit Airlines in the past twelve months were considered.

Who they are:

Spirit Airlines advertises their service as “the leading Ultra Low Cost Carrier in the United States, the Caribbean, the Bahamas and Latin America. Serving 39+ destinations” and says that they “liberate you from paying high fares with completely customizable flights so you to pay only for what you need.”

Preflight convenience: **** out of *****

Spirit’s company website is crisp, clean, and user-friendly. A simple search for your date, travel points, and the number of adults and children flying brings up a bold, easy-to-read result screen.

That screen then allows you to sort the results by departure time, arrival time, the number of stops, whether paid seat upgrades are available, or the total price.

A nice feature for those travelers with a flexible schedule is the ticker over the top of the results that shows whether a lower price can be found by altering the travel dates.

Flight check-in/boarding pass printing is available within 24 hours of your scheduled departure time and can be done at no additional cost on your computer, cell phone, or at the self-service kiosks in the airport. If you have a counter agent check you in and print your boarding pass, there is an additional cost of $10.00.

Timeliness ***out of *****

Of seven domestic flights, none began boarding at the scheduled time, and none departed at their scheduled time, but, with one exception, all of the delays were minor (5 of less than fifteen minutes and one of 26 minutes). In that one exception, the flight was repeatedly delayed due to weather conditions in the destination city and finally departed over two hours late.

Cleanliness **out of *****

One area where Spirit continuously receives poor ratings is cleanliness. Of the seven flights we evaluated, only one would have been rated acceptable. The others rated from poor to disgusting, with the photos above being a fairly standard representation of the amount of garbage in the seatback pocket after the flight crew had supposedly cleaned for the next flight.

Service:

Spirit’s customer service varies greatly from one airport to another, but there is a fairly consistent variation from the ground to the sky.

Terminal Customer Service ****out of *****

The counter agents that we encountered tended to be polite and helpful. One significant variation was on a flight from Denver to Fort Lauderdale that included a counter agent charging us over-weight fees on our checked baggage without advising us that we were over our weight or telling us that a fee would be charged. We didn’t realize it had been done until we saw the charge on our bank statement which, of course, left us with no opportunity to dispute the fee.

Alternatively, on a different flight where we knew our bags were over-weight, the counter agent explained the situation and then went above and beyond to factor in the two carry-on bags we had paid for but didn’t have and reduced our checked baggage fee accordingly.

If you check luggage, it is a good idea to verify verbally that the bag is within the standard to avoid unpleasant surprises.

Customer Service in Air **out of *****

As seems to be the case with many airlines recently, in-air customer service is less impressive. The crews that we encountered tended to be cranky and less than professional. Many had personal conversations in earshot of the passengers, some of which included complaints about being over worked and under-appreciated by the company.

Food service typically begins shortly into the flight. The snack and alcohol options are fairly impressive for a budget carrier and reasonably priced. It is best to avoid refrigerated options as the food handling can be subpar and the crews aren’t likely to refund your money if you aren’t satisfied.

The prepackaged snacks – muffins, crackers, chips, and so on – have all been fine, but on two different flights I was served a cheese plate that was well above room temperature and, based on the rubbery cheese that was separating into greasy lumps, hadn’t been refrigerated in a number of hours. (For comparison – have you ever found a string cheese stick in your diaper bag or kid’s lunch box a day or two after it left the fridge? It was like that…)

Price & Fees ****out of *****

Many of the complaints that I’ve heard from other passengers center on money. Specifically, they didn’t read the pricing information before they purchased their tickets and found out after the fact that there were additional charges for services that they requested.

Spirit is clear in their advertising that they are a no-frills or bare-bones airline. Your ticket entitles you to bring a coat and one personal item no bigger than 16 x 14 x 12 inches including wheels or handle – think a laptop bag, small backpack, or purse – and nothing else. Your personal item must fit under the seat in front of you.

We found that multi-pocket backpacks had more than enough room, still fit easily under the seat, and can be purchased for under $30.

You can add an 18 x 14 x 8 inch carry-on bag for $45 (January 2018) or check a bag (costs vary).

Warning: if you try to sneak through with an extra personal item (such as a purse and a backpack) or without paying for your carry-on, they will remove you from the boarding line and refuse to allow you to board until you have paid the difference. Additionally, if you try to bring an over-size carry-on, they will require you to check it and charge both the checked baggage fee and a fee for checking it at the gate.

There are going to be additional fees for you to have priority boarding (excepting disabled people, people with small children, and service members in uniform), to upgrade to larger seats, and, of course, to bring additional baggage.

The clincher here is that they do exactly what they advertise, so if you read through the terms and conditions to be sure that you know what you’re getting and what they’re going to charge you extra for, you should end up satisfied with the pricing.

Comfort *out of *****

There isn’t much I can say here. The seats are so tiny that my skinny twelve-year-old barely fits in them, they don’t recline, and the leg room is almost non-existent. There is a small reprieve if you are able to get a seat in the exit row (an extra fee and be sure you check the requirements because they will move you) or are willing to pay for the “big seat” upgrade (prices vary), but there are only a handful per flight and, nope, they still don’t recline.

 

In mom’s opinion? I rate Spirit an overall 2.85 stars out of five available. There is no getting around the fact that Spirit is exactly what they advertise themselves as – a no-frills airline, but for people who are willing to be moderately uncomfortable for a few hours, Spirit Airlines can help stretch the travel budget. I don’t love them, but we will fly them again because it frees up more money for the fun parts of our trips!