How Horrible flying Spirit?

[pcur]

I will fly Spirit once in a while because they seem to have better times and nonstops than Southwest.  However, I only fly them for short domestic trips where I can take my under the seat roller bag.  Also, I always pay the the Big Front Seat.  I find having a shorter, maybe nonstop, and comfy seat overrides any other negatives with them.  

 

I will be flying them coming home from DTW in a week, and the flight gets me to CA by 11:45am.  That's not usual with Southwest.

[simplelife]

I have used Spirit several times, from and to different airports. I have saved a ton of money and  never had a bad experience I have only used them for direct flights, though.

[pcur]

On 5/15/2021 at 10:32 PM, pcur said:

I will fly Spirit once in a while because they seem to have better times and nonstops than Southwest.  However, I only fly them for short domestic trips where I can take my under the seat roller bag.  Also, I always pay the the Big Front Seat.  I find having a shorter, maybe nonstop, and comfy seat overrides any other negatives with them.  

 

I will be flying them coming home from DTW in a week, and the flight gets me to CA by 11:45am.  That's not usual with Southwest.

I got back from my Spirit flight on 5/22, and it was fine.  I had a few hours layover in Las Vegas, which was time for a meal.  What I like about Southwest and Spirit in Las Vegas, is they keep their gates assignments tight, so you don't have to walk a mile to the next gate.  

 

As I said above, I booked a Big Front Seat, and it was great.  Very comfortable.  As a matter of fact, my son from MI flew out on 5/21 to help me move that weekend, flying a Spirit red-eye home.  When I got his flight information, I went online and purchased him a BFS for all his flights.  I mean, if he's going to come and work his butt off moving me, I can make him comfortable coming and going (he wouldn't let me pay for the air).  

 

HOWEVER, Spirit's carry-on police are out in full force.  You CANNOT take a personal bag AND a carry-on bag unless you pay.  You can carry headphones, pillows, drinks, food, but no more than one bag that fits in their rather small test bin.  I had to take my headphones out of my bag and stuff the bag into my under-seat roller bag.  Once you're on the plane just separate them and put the larger one in the overhead.

[travelplus]

I can get other airlines at better rates when you add in seat assignments,checked bags ,priority boarding I would much rather fly on Alaska ,Delta ,AA or Southwest.

 

I have heard horror stories of people missing their ship on Spirit. When flying to a Cruise I would avoid SW ,Spirit Allegiant etc because they do not interline or plan to arrive two days early.

 

If I booked a flight and see a weather rebook waiver I'm on the phone to get an earlier flight and don't mind paying for an extra night in order to make my Cruise.

[Zach1213]

16 minutes ago, travelplus said:

I have heard horror stories of people missing their ship on Spirit. When flying to a Cruise I would avoid SW ,Spirit Allegiant etc because they do not interline or plan to arrive two days early.

 

 

Spirit and Allegiant? I'm with you there. Southwest? I disagree. Sure, they don't interline, but there's two important things to consider - (a) Southwest is massive compared to the other two...hell, compared to most airlines in the world. The domestic options, even on their own metal, are quite vast, and the chances of being accommodated on WN metal are significantly higher than Spirit or Allegiant, and (b) while AA, Delta, UA, etc. have interline agreements, in the grand scheme of things, they're not often used. Even as a top tier frequent flier, it's pretty rare for me to be put on to another (non-alliance partner) airline. It happens, sure, but it's rare...like, in flying 150k+ BIS miles each year since 2006, I can count on a single hand how many times. It's just not often going to happen.