Flying Spirit Airlines was a disaster!
I've traveled quite a bit around the World and have never encountered air travel that was too eventful... which is a good thing.
First time I booked on Spirit to fly from Orlando to Boston last week. Let me just say that I looked up some expense comparisons on the internet, but nothing really compares "apples to apples."
For example, on American and other airlines, if you fly for 3 hours you get a movie option or a console on the front of your chair to pick your movie experience, nothing on Spirit.
Also, you get complimentary beverages on most airlines, not Spirit. You want a water, tea, or anything to drink, then you pay for it! I almost asked if a cup of ice would cost me money. Not sure if the bathroom was coin operated, didn't dare check it out.
Furthermore, checking bags on Southwest cost 0 dollars and on the others, they are pretty reasonable. Spirit cost $38 PER BAG, and you are allowed a carry on so long as it fits in the "metal bin" marked "personal items." So one bag we checked for $38 and the other did fit in the metal bin (so we thought).
When we got to the gate to get on the plane, a Spirit representative made us put our bag in the "metal bin" again and the black handle on the end stood up just a tad over what they considered a good "fit" in the bin. So they said you have to pay for this. We had to pay $45. NOW for the priviledge of carrying our own bag online. The price jumped an additional $7.00 from check-in to gate departure. Needless to say, the bag fit perfectly in the overhead bin, but I got clipped for that.
While on the plane, I realized the seats were paper thin. I am 5 feet 10 inches tall and my legs stretched into the seat in front of me. The gal who sat right in front of me kept jumping up and jamming her body back to get my legs off the seat, but I had nowhere to move. Likewise, the guy in back of me was tall and his legs were jammed into my back. So jammed legs in my back and the lady slamming me in the front, the ride was a nightmare.
I opted to choose Spirit Airlines because it was about a $200. savings from Southwest, but after I did the calculations for bags, drinks, and miscellaneous charges that Spirit charged, it actually cost me a lot more money to fly Spirit Airlines! Urgh - Now I know!
Also, the day before I departed Orlando I put my family members (ages 14 and 10) on a non-stop flight from Orlando to Dallas. It was a 2 hour non-stop flight of which I paid $400. round trip for the priviledge of tagging them "unaccompanied." They forgot to charge me at check-in for the way back. After I got them on the plane and started back down the hall a Spirit attendant came running after me screaming "mam" "oh mam" and my heart dropped. I thought something happened to the girls. I said "are the girls alright, did they miss the plane." He didn't even address my concern, instead what he said is "no, I'm in big trouble... you get me in big trouble if you don't pay more money." He didn't speak English well and was hard to understand (not that I care about languages or accents but when I am trying to get some information regarding a critical matter in an American Country, I guess I expect someone to be able to articulate it to me in a particular profession). I guess he wanted to let me know that the girls at the front check in had inadvertently forgot to charge me. O.K. I get it but the way he handled it and talked to me, and it was "all about him," and not the girls was quite obnoxious.
After I finished paying I said "well the plane just left so I guess the girls are alright." He still didn't respond, just ran my credit card through. I let him know I blog, I have 20,0000 plus facebook fans on various pages, and that it wouldn't be the last that they'd hear from me.
The entire experience was a sham, the worst in my entire life with an airline.
As a matter of fact, they came on the speaker announcing their new Spirit Credit Card for free 15,000 miles of travel and my husband said, "well, I guess you'd rather be boiled in a vat of water than fly Spirit." YUP....
