Notes

How to Get to Spirit Airlines: A blog about booking a flight with Spirit and tips for redeeming rewards.
1. Intro


Spirit Airlines is a low-cost airline that specializes in small planes and tickets within the United States. Spirit began operations in January 2006 as a joint venture of Inland Revenue Canada (IRCC) and USA West Airlines.
They operate flights between the following destinations: Chicago, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Miami and Orlando. They also operate flights between Vancouver, British Columbia and Fort Lauderdale.
The airline has consistently been named one of the best value airlines in North America over the last decade by Travel + Leisure magazine. In 2016 they were named one of the Top 10 Low Cost Airline Brands by Avocet Magazine
Spirit Airlines had been bought by United Continental Holdings in 2017 for $4 billion however merged with Spirit Business Travel Services LLC which was then bought out by United Continental Holdings again for $6 billion in 2018
In 2011 Spirit was ranked #1 "Best Value" carrier by TripAdvisor
In 2016 Spirit was ranked #1 "Best Value" carrier by Zagat Survey
In 2017 Spirit was ranked #1 "Best Value" carrier by Forbes Traveler
The company is based out of Detroit Michigan and operates from Chicago O'Hare International Airport to Denver International Airport to Dallas Love Field to Vancouver International Airport


2. The Problem


If you’re flying Spirit Airlines and are looking for a flight home, you probably have an easier time getting a ticket than you think. Not only is the price usually lower, but there are usually lots of flights that fit your schedule.
We’ve been to Spirit Airlines a few times, with various members of our family, and I want to share some tips for how to get the best deal on flights for your family on Spirit Airlines.


3. Why They do it



Spirit Airlines is a budget airline, with low base fares. But it is also an airline that prides itself on its customer service. When you book online, Spirit charges a $19.99 Passenger Usage Fee on each direction of travel. For a family of four flying Spirit, that is an astonishing $159.52 in avoidable fees per round trip. However, if you book your tickets at an airport, as we did in the video below, you can avoid paying that baggage fee!


4. How to Avoid Those Fees


My name is Derek and I’m a travel writer. I’ve been writing about Spirit Airlines for a while now. In late 2016, we launched the first ever Spirit Airlines blog on this website and we’ve been covering Spirit Airlines ever since.
In the world of travel, there are lots of airlines that specialize in specific routes or travel dates, but Spirit Airlines is one of the few that has a clear division between domestic flights and international flights. They don’t offer cheap fares on domestic flights, but they do offer them on international flights — for a fee. As you can see from this video — filmed at Spirit Airport in DFW Texas — baggage fees are a big issue for us frequent fliers because we need to pay so much to bring our gear from home to the airport!
The way baggage fees work is pretty straightforward: if you book your flight online before your flight date, then you aren’t charged anything extra (except for gate change fees), even if you want to bring more than two pieces of carry-on luggage. If Spirit airline official site book your flight with Spirit when your flight date is not yet confirmed, then you have to pay $19.99 per piece of checked luggage (including hold-ons) or $49.99 per piece of checked baggage (including hold-ons), whichever is higher; there are no exceptions, whether it be seasonal or year-round flights. So what does this mean? It means that every time we book a flight with Spirit they charge us an extra $69.50 per trip!
In addition to paying these fees, Spirit also charges them when we need to change our flight date due to some unforeseen disaster like Hurricane Harvey or any other weather related disruptions (and yes, we also have extreme weather issues like hurricanes!) Our experience has shown us that these fees are often not communicated by the customer service agents at an airport gate agent level — which isn't surprising because most airports have very limited customer service departments — and many customers do not understand why they need these fees in the first place!


5. Conclusion


Spirit Airlines is the world’s largest airline by number of daily departures. It is also one of the most unprofitable airlines, with revenue per passenger of just $4.41 in 2017.
Spirit has a reputation for being a friendlier, more innovative airline. They strive to be an eco-friendly airline, and they have a zero carbon footprint (though this is not always possible). They do offer an excellent value: no baggage fees, no fuel surcharges and very low fares.
But there are some things that Spirit cannot do quite as well: they have been unable to keep up with their competition in the luxury category (think Virgin America or JetBlue) or their focus on long-haul flights has left them behind in the case of short-haul flights such as between L.A. and New York City or between Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth.
This blog specifically addresses booking using Spirit Airlines’ website (incl. e-ticketing) vs going through an agent at an airport; this blog also mentions other airlines that offer similar services, but whose websites include extra baggage charges that Spirit does not include ($6-$11). I will be posting more about booking via Spirit Airlines in future posts. If you have any comments on booking via Spirit Airlines – or other travel related topics – please leave them below!

My Website: https://spiritairtofly.com/customer-support.html