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“Ultra low cost” carrier arrives in Bay Area

Spirit Airlines route mapSpirit Airlines route map

Spirit Airlines, which bills itself as “the ultra low cost carrier,” quietly entered the Bay Area this week, with four daily nonstops between Oakland and Las Vegas.

From Vegas, fliers can fly nonstop to its main hub at Ft Lauderdale– and from there connecting to points in Latin America and Caribbean.

Spirit also offers nonstops from Vegas to Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago-O’Hare, Dallas-Ft Worth and San Diego.

While I would normally get excited about new flights from the Bay, I’m filled with trepidation instead. Why? Spirit has a very strong “you-get-what-you-pay-for” reputation. (Disclosure: I have not flown Spirit yet. This is what I’ve heard anecdotally, online review sites and from media reports.)

A quick scan of Spirit’s OAK-LAS fares shows some good deals, but with some caveats. (Note Spirit fares do not show up on travel search engines…you must shop at spirit.com)

During September and October, Spirit is promoting $9 each way, $18 round trips between Oakland and Las Vegas. Sounds great, but you have to pay a $60 fee to join its “club” to get that fare.

Don’t want to join? Then the base fare jumps to $22 round trip.

But that’s not what you pay. In addition, you will pay Spirit’s unique “passenger usage fee” of $16 per round trip, plus the usual federal taxes, so the round trip ends up at $59.40. (This fee covers the cost of Spirit maintaining its web site, so the only way to avoid this fee is to go to Oakland and buy your tickets at the airport.)

But wait, it does not stop there.

If you carry on a bag, you’ll pay an additional $30 each way, making the total price $119.40. (Want to check your bag at the airport? That will be $40 each way!)

Want to reserve a window seat near the front of the plane, or one next to the person you are traveling with? That’s an extra $14 each way, $28 round trip, so now the ticket price is $147.40

By comparison, the lowest fare on Virgin America for SFO-Las Vegas in mid-September (including all taxes and fees) is $133.40.

Have you ever, or would you fly Spirit? Please leave your comments below.


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Comments

  1. I flew Spirit airlines once and that will be my last! Not only do they nickle and dime you for EVERYTHING, seats, bags, coffee etc but the entire ride is one big commercial! The interior of each plane looks like a busy hwy… Every single overhead bin has an advertisment like a billboard sign. And if you are looking for a little nap…FORGET ABOUT IT! cause every 15 mins or so the flight attendents get up and make an announcement for some kind of product to sell, credit cards, perfume…i am not joking!

  2. Chris – nice job explaining the true cost of the so-called ‘ultra low cost carrier.’ good to know.

  3. I wouldn’t fly this airline even if the ticket was free and I was being paid fir traveling.

  4. I live in FL and I have flown Spirit once to Mexico. The crews on the plane were very nice and the planes are new. Every customer contact point I had with them on the ground was terrible. The people are SO nasty. No one knows what is going on.

    The terminal they use in FLL must have been built in the 1950s and not designed for the huge amounts of people Spirit is putting through. They have all their planes land at the same time and the terminal is packed. There is no food on the planes and there was only one restaurant and one food cart in the entire terminal. The lines were so long I couldn’t get near either of them. There are no employees to explain delays or any other questions. I had to use my laptop to get any information on our delay.

    Coming home we had 5 international flights land at one time all going into customs. Most everyone is connecting and again the same crowds. Only with customs you are put through and then dumped out onto the street and have to go up one level to departures and then stand in a HUGE line to go back through security again to get back into the departures terminal.

    You definitely get what you pay for with this airline. I have never flown them again. I don’t care what their fare is. They aren’t worth it.

  5. Sounds a little like Jetstar in Australia. First, when booking, you have to guess how much your checked bags will weigh and pre-pay. If you don’t do it then, you can do it before arriving at the airport, guessing how much the bags weigh and paying on a tiered scale (i.e. 15kg = $30, 20 kg = $40, that sort of thing). God forbid you arrive at the airport without pre-paying. If you do you pay $20 PER KILO! So if you have a 20kg bag, its $400 upon check-in. According to the lady at the desk, they usually just offer a $80 “upgrade” to a fare that allows one bag instead. Either way, crazy.

  6. You’ve done an excellent job at illustrating that fares aren’t always what they appear to be.

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