[QUOTE=boytyperanma]
If you need to get to your destination on time or want any level of comfort avoid Spirit especially this time of year.
If you travel light, can afford to take an extra day getting to or from, and want the cheapest flight available take spirit.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, it’s a matter of adjusting expectations. They really don’t meet mine and I am more than willing to spend a few more dollars for something that does; and once you add seat choice, luggage, etc., the difference has not been that much worth it in the routes I regularly travel. (Still, the multi-staggered luggage-fee structure *can *get confusing for someone more accustomed to fixed rates.)
With JetBlue’s management having been cowed by their financiers to announce they are turning the airline into just a hipper version of the reorganized legacy carriers (to cut down legroom, charge for 1st luggage, institute classes of service), it’s over for anyone wanting any different; Southwest is left virtually standing alone as a “traditional” low-fare carrier.
[QUOTE=Lord Feldon]
28 inch pitch and no reclining is not “par for the industry.”
[/QUOTE]
Not yet. But just you wait :mad:.
[Quote= NotherYinzer]
Once we finally got off the plane, we were sent to the wrong luggage carousel. Fortunately, the correct one was right beside the one we had been sent to. The one with the big “Latrobe” sign on it.
[/quote]
Oh, THAT, that’s just what happens at Fort Lauderdale airport, it’s not specifically Spirit.
I’ve been thinking about this. This year I’ve traveled on Spirit, Delta, American, United, US Airways, Suncountry, Southwest, and Meridian (Italian.)
With the exception of the DASH prop plane, and the free wine and partying Italians on Meridian, it was all about the same.to me. A big greyhound bus in the sky. Something to be endured to get from point a to point b. Might as well be as cheap as possible.
But they were all good flights, I landed safely. Staff were friendly and polite, but then again, so was I.
My biggest complaint? All the assholes who have to stand in the way during boarding. Why?! Argh! Sit down until they call your zone. You have to weave through them, then they stare daggers at you like you’re butting in line. Get out of the way, moron.
I flew Spirit between NYC and Kansas City for the World Series a little over a month ago, and I didn’t have any problem. Sure, they nickel-and-dime you, but you know when you pay their lower fares that you’re giving up something for that. As for the staff, I found them the absolute opposite of surly. The person making the pre-flight safety announcements on each of my flights threw in a lot of jokes.
I did have a bad experience with them 11 years ago. I booked a flight to San Francisco based on a sale they were having, and they cancelled the flight out from under me because there weren’t enough takers, so they were going to lose money on the flight. I was pissed as hell and refused to consider flying with them for a long time, but these days, they’re really significantly cheaper than the next-cheapest flight, if you can manage without luggage.
And who do I have to fuck around here for some legroom? The Spirit defenders like to say, hey, the stripped-down services are why it’s so cheap. Okay, so they stick me in a goddamn crate and charge me for water? What’s next, coin-operated bathrooms? I wouldn’t be surprised.
If you’re going for an hour-long flight and can tolerate mild discomfort, and/or you don’t plan on staying anywhere long enough to need to pack more than a backpack (and a very small backpack, at that - must fit under the seat), have at it. Just know you will be uncomfortable and thirsty. If you are anyone else, just pay for a real airline since these clowns charge you for such luxuries as printing your boarding pass and putting your carry-on in the overhead. Yes, you can print your pass at home, so there’s that.
What really chapped my ass most is when you book on vacation sites like Orbitz, they didn’t tell you that Spirit charged for all this shit, so if you just booked your vacation package online and smugly patted yourself on the bag for snagging such a deal, you’d be in for a rude and rage-inducing awakening when you arrived at the airport and realized you’d be paying $100+ in fees to bring your bag on the plane and print your pass. Last time I went to a vacation site, there was this big warning about Spirit; I guess enough people complained about being hoodwinked? You might ask, well isn’t that Orbitz’s fault? Yes, but even knowing what I know about Spirit, it’s still a shit airline, and I’d only take it if I were going for a quick weekend trip to someplace less than an hour away because it is unreasonable to expect an adult to sit still in a place for longer than that where their knees are pressed against their face and water comes with a $3 surcharge. And no, I’m not some giant fatty who thinks airplane seats in general are too small. I’m 5’8" tall and completely average weight.
Out of curiosity (given that I am a VERY frequent flyer in a wide variety of airlines) I checked SkyTrax to see what their rating for Spirit Airlines is.
2 stars.
Copy-paste from the relevant webpage:
***"The 2-Star Airline Rating is awarded to airlines delivering a poor Quality performance, below the industry Quality average across the rating sectors.
A 2-Star Airline rating normally signifies a poor standard of Product and/or poor and inconsistent standards of Staff Service delivery in the Onboard or Airport environments."***
Spirit Airlines shares the 2-star rating with companies such as Turkmenistan Airlines, Biman Bangladesh, Cubana de Aviación and Ryanair, among others.
It is the only US-based airline that has the 2-star rating from SkyTrax.
I’ve flown Spirit once. Never again. I’m 5’1" and my legs felt cramped. The check-in desk staff were surly, I was told that I was in the wrong line three times (the third time when I got into the first line that I’d already been kicked out of), and they were horribly disorganized. I’ve flown domestic Aeroflot in Soviet times, and Aeroflot would have been an improvement.
Seriously, I don’t think the bizarre medical problems on that flight were due to Spiirit. I’ve flown them since and find no discernable differences between them and the others. Air travel is universally shitty, no matter what paintjob is on the plane. They delivered exactly what I paid for, according to their website (“Your Ass, our Gas”). I find their frankness refreshing, actually.