Spirit Airlines Experiences

[Cshel85]

Trying to find reasonable flights in April from PhL to MCO. Husband wants to drive have never done that king of a trip. Airlines right now scare me with cancellations etc.

any experiences with spirit? Have mainly flown frontier in The past

 

[StarSeven7]

If you’re used to Frontier, spirit is similar. We almost always fly DTW-MCO with spirit and have never had any issues. You do have to pay extra to select seats and for baggage so be sure to factor that in to your price. For us it still comes out much cheaper than other airlines even after adding those costs in.

 

[_19disnA]

Never flown on Spirit and always avoid them. Where I used to live, Spirit was constantly on the local news with irate passengers stranded somewhere when they had mechanical issues. Low budget airlines typically only have a few airplanes and fly many destinations only a couple of times per week. If they have an issue, people could be stuck for days until another plane becomes available.

Have flown Frontier several times and never had an issue. They always seemed well organized and worked out well for me.

 

[TikiRob]

I've had good experiences with Spirit. I think most US domestic airlines have had issues in the last few years. We've had flights seriously delayed and canceled with Frontier, seen US Airlines cancel a thousands of flights over Memorial Day weekend, and, of course, Southwest has had a terrible string of events. No flight is guaranteed. It is good to have a backup plan. We have a cruise in March and fly down 3 days before so if we have to drive, we still have the time to change our travel plans.

 

[Jimsig]

As a lot of people have said about Spirit. if things go well great but when things go wrong they always seem to go way wrong. Issue is they don't have a lot of planes so if they have a lot of cancellations they tend to back up and it can be days before they can find you a seat. Like all Ultra Low Cost Carriers they don't have an inter-line agreement with any other airline so they can't get you a seat on another airline.

We have a family friend who scheduled to fly back to BOS from MCO on Spirit and his flight got cancelled due to storms. They told him the earliest they could get him back was in 7 days but he was more then welcome to come back every day for standby. The cost of a last min ticket was so high on other airlines he and another guy rented a car and drove back home.

 

[WEDcryoHEAD]

Spirit beats Frontier without question. Planes are a little small if you are a little above average size.

 

[Lewisc]

Spirit beats Frontier without question. Planes are a little small if you are a little above average size.

In what way?

 

[WEDcryoHEAD]

The seats are small for larger people

 

[paults]

Used spirit last Oct from PHL to Mco and back with no issues. This was my first time on Spirit. I don't consider a weather cancellation a reason not to use them.

 

[Jimsig]

Used spirit last Oct from PHL to Mco and back with no issues. This was my first time on Spirit. I don't consider a weather cancellation a reason not to use them.

Of course weather cancellations can hit any airline and be a big mess but one thing to consider with ULLC's like Spirit or Frontier is with less planes and less flights it is harder to get where you are going when bad weather hits. A one flight cancellation is not as big of a deal but when they have to cancel multiple flights to the same location it becomes a lot harder to get evey one rebooked in a timely manner. SW and JB which are LLC's have the benefit of more planes and routes so they can recover quicker then the ULLC's.

 

[mikehn]

Ive never had any negative experiences with Spirit. But then again, I've never had any bad experience with any airline. So take it with a grain of salt.

 

[Kim&Chris]

Flew Spirit once, from MCO to PHL. A very rowdy bunch of people were on the plane, yelling from the back of the plane to the people in the front of the plane, and vice versa. Lots of drinking and people going up and down the aisle to talk to friends. Definitely a Sky Party. No fights, thank God, but the flight crew finally gave up asking them to remain in their seats. I was thankful to de-board that flight.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

Spirit is fine if the flight is on time. Their Big Front Seat is also imo one of the better deals...especially for those that need a few more inches. But as others have mentioned, if the flight is cancelled it could be days til they can get you to your destination.

The two times we flew MCO-ORD on Spirit we had backup Southwest flights booked with points or had a now defunct trip insurance that booked you on any airline if your flight cancelled. The trip with insurance the spirit flight did cancel with 2 days later being the soonest flight home. Luckily the insurance rebooked us on a delta flight thru Atlanta for that night.

I think more than any other airline, Spirit and Frontier travellers need to have some sort of plan B if possible

 

[Lewisc]

I think more than any other airline, Spirit and Frontier travellers need to have some sort of plan B if possible

I used to think that way. SWs recent melt down changed my opinion.

 

[chicagodisneyguy]

I used to think that way. SWs recent melt down changed my opinion.

Very true. It can happen on any flight. No sooner do I comment on this thread but my flight home from Puerto Vallarta yesterday was delayed 22 hours. Luckily we were put up in a nice all inclusive with transportation both ways. But sometimes the travel gods just aren't with you.

 

[Upatnoon]

When you travel, issues can arise no matter how you are going.

I have flown on both Spirit and Frontier and the experience was fine. Saved a ton of money.

The bargain airlines get extra complaints because they attract many infrequent flyers who don't know about the extra fees, don't think about the limited service, don't know how packed airports and all flights are, don't know how to adjust when things go wrong, don't know how to pick flights that may help them avoid issues.

For example, if you book the last flight of the day on any airline, the chances of an issue are much greater than if you book the first flight. And if you book the first flight, you have all day to recover.

This can all apply to any airline, but it is especially true for the ultra-low-cost carriers.

 

[GoingSince1990]

Haven't flown them much but they've always got me there. Just don't get too excited when you first see their fare because I remember a ton of add-ons for things like choosing a seat, and even bringing on a carry-on.

 

[EACarlson]

When you travel, issues can arise no matter how you are going.

I have flown on both Spirit and Frontier and the experience was fine. Saved a ton of money.

The bargain airlines get extra complaints because they attract many infrequent flyers who don't know about the extra fees, don't think about the limited service, don't know how packed airports and all flights are, don't know how to adjust when things go wrong, don't know how to pick flights that may help them avoid issues.

For example, if you book the last flight of the day on any airline, the chances of an issue are much greater than if you book the first flight. And if you book the first flight, you have all day to recover.

This can all apply to any airline, but it is especially true for the ultra-low-cost carriers.

I agree with about half of it. If you only fly somewhere twice a week and a plane mechanicals, you're passengers are stuck until at least the next flight three days later, if that flights full, then what? The ULCCs aren't set up to recover with staged flying. If I miss my Delta flight to Atlanta out of my local airport I can probably get a seat on the Delta flight to Detroit and then get to Atlanta or wherever my final destination is, if I miss my Allegiant flight to Sanford, they are going to try to rebook me on the next one three or four days later, if there is space.
When things go well the ULCCs are fine, when they don't they are exactly like what happened to SW over Christmas, but without actually repaying anything.

 

[Jimsig]

When things go well the ULCCs are fine, when they don't they are exactly like what happened to SW over Christmas, but without actually repaying anything.

Luckily for SW they are as big as they and have almost 800 aircraft are and not the size of the ULCC's (Spirit has almost 200 aircraft and Frontier about 125) or that meltdown could have take weeks or over a month to get back to normal.

 

[lsayd]

Trying to find reasonable flights in April from PhL to MCO. Husband wants to drive have never done that king of a trip. Airlines right now scare me with cancellations etc.

any experiences with spirit? Have mainly flown frontier in The past

We just flew Spirit from Syracuse to MCO in January and had a great experience. We were 3 adults and the seats were a bit small for us 3 across, but if you are smaller adults or traveling with children in the same row it will be fine. We upgraded to the big front seats for the flight back for only $54 each and would do that again in a heartbeat. Being the flight was cheap to start with adding this fee still did not break the bank (we paid a little over $300 pp with the upgrade/luggage/and all fees - very much a bargain for us flying from upstate NY with seats close to the equivalent of first class size of other airlines on the way home). We also flew Allegiant years ago and had a good experience with them. We've also flown Frontier, but from Buffalo to Austin TX (for $60 RT! - that was pre-pandemic) a few years ago and had no problem with them either. Of course, you need to know the seats on all of these airlines (except the big front seats) were pretty much just hard plastic. I had no problem with that, my husband found them uncomfortable.