[haliskerbas]

Spirit also doesn’t live up to that in my experience. Their cost structure nickel and dimes the consumer so much that by the time you get to the destination you may have paid more for a much less comfortable trip.

At least in my anecdotal experience.

[TinyRick]

> Their cost structure nickel and dimes the consumer so much that by the time you get to the destination you may have paid more for a much less comfortable trip

That lends more credence to the comparison against Dollar General and similar discount stores. Dollar stores generally charge a higher price relative to quantity, but they offer smaller quantities than big box stores which allows their customers to spend less (but also get a lot less). Wendover on YouTube did a video on this recently [0].

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQpUV--2Jao

[busterarm]

I've flown on Spirit twice, as a side effect of living in Miami.

The last time I did they canceled my flight overnight at 2:30am and forced me to rebook my ~$300 flight at twice the cost -- and it was leaving the same airport at the same time to the same destination.

And it was a miracle that I woke up to the email alert and was able to rebook my flight before it sold out anyway.

[YeBanKo]

And of course such a thing could have happen only with Spirit, right? Could not be any other airline. Like United would never cancel a flight without an ample notice and helpful customer success agents rebooking you trip hassle free.

[sokoloff]

Flights being cancelled? Sure, that happens to anyone operating mechanical equipment with required crews (and duty limits) and in variable weather.

I've never felt jerked around with any of the majors when it came to rebooking travel. They can't conjure up an empty seat that doesn't exist, but I've also never been required to pay a higher fare for them to take me on the itinerary that I originally booked.

Delta in particular I think is quite good at recovery from irregular ops (at least for their higher tier frequent fliers), but on the few instances with other carriers, I expect (and have received) decent and fee-free service when the airline cancelled a flight or missed a connection due to airline fault. I fully expect to have a crappy experience on Spirit whether or not they cancel the original flight.

[busterarm]

I've had shitty experiences with other airlines but that one was unique/notable.

It does seem like post-Covid all of the airlines are racing to the bottom for quality.

I've had canceled flights before but no other airline has ever forced me to rebook effectively the same flight at double the rate and wait the 8-10 days for the refund on my original flight to my credit card. Back when I was a brokie (you know, Spirit's main customer base) that kind of shit would have been trip-ending.

[OkayPhysicist]

I've never run into any issues with United's support. A pretty similar situation happened to me, didn't cost me a dime.

[thehappypm]

Yes. But this is super transparent on their site. You can get super cheap flights if you don’t care about checking bags, in-flight sodas, and so on.

[setr]

To add credence to that statement… LAX to LAS is a $20 flight one-way through spirit. It’s cheaper to fly a family of four than drive. It’s wild how cheap spirit becomes on certain routes, especially short hops where you can trivially get away with nothing extra

[OkayPhysicist]

For Spirit, a carry-on is considered an extra. That's an extra $35 right there, which brings it pretty much inline with Southwest's pricing.

[mdhen]

Get a big backpack, i got a tom bihn synik 30 that qualifies as a personal item. Let's me carry enough for any short trip without having to use a carry on.

[wddkcs]

They allow you up to two personal items/small bags.

[daynthelife]

Just to add some data points, I’ve flown spirit many times (at least 20), have never paid any more than the base cost, and have never had any issues. Maybe it’s just that I go in with the expectation that I’ll receive no special service, but my overall experience has been fine.

Of course, I wouldn’t fly spirit if I had a complex flight itinerary or needed to be 100% sure I would arrive when expected. Then again, I’ve had more issues with other airlines (looking at you Alaska) as well, so go figure.

All that being said, the invisible variable most of us miss is plane maintenance. I don’t know what spirit’s record is in particular on this axis, but some airlines really skimp on maintenance costs, sometimes leading to entirely preventable disasters ([0] to name one of many)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Airlines_Flight_261

[delfinom]

Sounds exactly like a Dollar General or any "dollar store"

https://thehustle.co/the-economics-of-dollar-stores/

[paul7986]

If you are a lite traveler .. fly with clothes in book bag then Spirit is the way to go and it's cheap. If you expect same experience you get from the others ..free checked luggage, refund or credit if you missed your flight, free peanuts and a soda, quick user interface / experience to book a flight, customer service rep to talk with and possibly free wifi you shouldn't bother with Spirit (spend more money for those things).

As a lite traveler Spirit fits my needs and I have more money in my pocket for my trip(s). As well I'm off the plane with my book bag and out of the airport quickly! I always get an aisle seat up front.