Horrible airline reviews?

[Britt]

So, I got this little nagging feeling to check out the airline we were booking our INSANELY awesomely cheap flights through and almost all of them are just horrible. Spirit Airlines? Anyone fly with them before?

Apparently insane costs for carry on luggage as well as checked luggage. Absolutely no space (leg room) on the plane and worst of all, constantly and consistently delayed flights.....

Soooooo we either pay $1200-$1400 (as priced now...Im sure they'll go down a bit by our trip) ooooor we drive the 15 hours there. Anyone, NOT local road trip it?? lol

 

[Californian Elitist]

I say road trip it! My friends and I are planning on driving to Florida from California next year.

 

[Maleficent61]

Check Southwest Vacations we found good deal on a hotel/flight combo from Florida.

 

[sweetpee_1993]

Our drive from Houston to Central Flirida is roughly 15-18 hrs. To us, that's drivable. If it was that amount to Anaheim we'd be driving vs flying. You're going to have baggage fees on Spirit. Thus far I've refused to even try them for all their nickel n diming. If I was you, road trip. But then again, I like road trips. Ooooh...just think of being able to bring your own groceries and not worry with bag fees. I'd be bringing sodas, water, etc etc!

 

[draybook]

I say road trip it! My friends and I are planning on driving to Florida from California next year.

 

[thomas998]

So, I got this little nagging feeling to check out the airline we were booking our INSANELY awesomely cheap flights through and almost all of them are just horrible. Spirit Airlines? Anyone fly with them before?

Apparently insane costs for carry on luggage as well as checked luggage. Absolutely no space (leg room) on the plane and worst of all, constantly and consistently delayed flights.....

Soooooo we either pay $1200-$1400 (as priced now...Im sure they'll go down a bit by our trip) ooooor we drive the 15 hours there. Anyone, NOT local road trip it?? lol

If you don't mind driving an hour you can fly Southwest out of Denver. Depending on how far ahead you are able to book and how flexible you are on when to fly they will have flights for less than $100 each way... so little less than 200 a person round trip is possible... Not sure how many are in your family... Also know that Southwest doesn't rip you off on the baggage fees like most every other airline... Only down side to them is that you need to check in over the internet as soon as possible during the check in window so you will be allowed in the first group to board the plane... they don't have reserved seats so it is first come first serve.

 

[cub21rak]

We drove there New Year's Eve this year. Chicago area straight there 18 hours. Left around 5pm there by noon New Year's Day. Next trip will be the same because its way way way less cost then flying for us. It was at times a tough drive at points but we managed.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

Dont worry, Spirit will probably be fine. Remember your going for a vacation, if a flight is delayed an hr your not missing a meeting. My inlaws fly Spirit out of Atlantic City all the time and love it. Save money and time and fly cheap.

 

[NYwdwfan]

The reviews were most likely written by people expecting 4 star service at a discount price. This doesn't happen. You generally get what you pay for - so if you temper your expectations going in, it will probably be fine. This being said, growing up we would drive from NY to Orlando every year. We drove about 16 hours the first day, stayed in a hotel, then 14 hours the second day (we made a lot of potty stops). As a kid I LOVED it - going there. The trip home stinks. Gas prices are pretty high though, so depending on how many miles to the gallon you get, the savings will differ.

 

[thomas998]

Dont worry, Spirit will probably be fine. Remember your going for a vacation, if a flight is delayed an hr your not missing a meeting. My inlaws fly Spirit out of Atlantic City all the time and love it. Save money and time and fly cheap.

When I'm flying for business I'm less concerned with a flight delay than when I'm on my vacation. Business meetings where some folks fly in are often delayed by flight problems so it isn't a big deal, but you only get so many day of vacation a year, no reason to waste even an hour of it if you can help it. We make a point of looking at an airline's on time record and taking that into consideration along with cost... I wouldn't fly Spirit if it the tickets were free... poor track record and even if the tickets were free you would be paying so much in add on fees that you could have bought a ticket on another better airline.

 

[stevehousse]

I'd say take the extra hour drive to the other airport by u and fly southwest. Cheap flights, no crazy baggage fees ( each person is allowed 2 checked bags free of charge), no carry on charges. Like someone stated earlier, u do have to check in online right when u hit 24 hours before ur flight. The seating is first come first serve, so the early u check in, the better seating selection u will get. I'm from Chicago and can get a flight from SW 89 one way...go for it!

 

[thomas998]

One point to clarify.... are you going to Disneyland or Disneyworld? You posted in the Disneyland forum but I'm seeing quite a few folks talking about going to Orlando... The prices I gave you for Southwest were assuming you were going from Colorado to Disneyland.

 

[Club Cooloholic]

When I'm flying for business I'm less concerned with a flight delay than when I'm on my vacation. Business meetings where some folks fly in are often delayed by flight problems so it isn't a big deal, but you only get so many day of vacation a year, no reason to waste even an hour of it if you can help it. We make a point of looking at an airline's on time record and taking that into consideration along with cost... I wouldn't fly Spirit if it the tickets were free... poor track record and even if the tickets were free you would be paying so much in add on fees that you could have bought a ticket on another better airline.

I hear you, but this not a case of do I fly from nyc to boston or drive? 15 hrs in the car is gonna take more out of you than a 2hr delay. That said I am talkimg direct flights here, if she has connections, your right pay the money or travel out of a direct flight airport even if you have to drive further. One last thing drive if your willing to make it a fun thing

 

[sweetpee_1993]

One point to clarify.... are you going to Disneyland or Disneyworld? You posted in the Disneyland forum but I'm seeing quite a few folks talking about going to Orlando... The prices I gave you for Southwest were assuming you were going from Colorado to Disneyland.

She's talking DL for sure!

 

[thomas998]

I hear you, but this not a case of do I fly from nyc to boston or drive? 15 hrs in the car is gonna take more out of you than a 2hr delay. That said I am talkimg direct flights here, if she has connections, your right pay the money or travel out of a direct flight airport even if you have to drive further. One last thing drive if your willing to make it a fun thing

I think she has already committed to driving to Denver, as Spirit doesn't even fly out of Colorado Springs... I suspect the big thing the OP is missing is that SouthWest doesn't show up on any of the sites like Travelocity or Orbitz... for them you need to go to their web site. Which has prices that are comparable to Spirits but without the added fees that can more than double the price of a Spirit flight.

 

[Britt]

OMG So sorry guys, I wasn't getting ANY of the notifications for this post at all!!

Yes, if we fly, we're flying from DIA! Colorado Springs is too expensive to fly out of. LOL

You actually made a great point about a couple hour delay vs 15 hours in the car....hmmmm....lol I didn't really think about that!

Southwest is our go-to for flights. We love them and their prices! AND no hidden fee's. We're looking at at least $182 in baggage fee's both ways with Spirit (assuming we dont just suck it up and do 1 carry on which is possible for a 2 hour flight....except if they lose my luggage...then we have NOTHING. We usually pack at least 2 days worth of clothes/necessities in our carry on's). They just dont have their Sept/Oct flight info out yet.

It's just such a large difference $830 vs $1300 if we go with todays booking price...lol

 

[thomas998]

OMG So sorry guys, I wasn't getting ANY of the notifications for this post at all!!

Yes, if we fly, we're flying from DIA! Colorado Springs is too expensive to fly out of. LOL

You actually made a great point about a couple hour delay vs 15 hours in the car....hmmmm....lol I didn't really think about that!

Southwest is our go-to for flights. We love them and their prices! AND no hidden fee's. We're looking at at least $182 in baggage fee's both ways with Spirit (assuming we dont just suck it up and do 1 carry on which is possible for a 2 hour flight....except if they lose my luggage...then we have NOTHING. We usually pack at least 2 days worth of clothes/necessities in our carry on's). They just dont have their Sept/Oct flight info out yet.

It's just such a large difference $830 vs $1300 if we go with todays booking price...lol

keep watching the Southwest site so you are ready as soon as they open the days you need. I'm betting if you jump quickly that you should be able to snag some of the cheapest flights that would likely be sub 100 each way, but you might have to take a very early flight out of Denver, probably the one that leave around 6:30 in the morning.

 

[Britt]

keep watching the Southwest site so you are ready as soon as they open the days you need. I'm betting if you jump quickly that you should be able to snag some of the cheapest flights that would likely be sub 100 each way, but you might have to take a very early flight out of Denver, probably the one that leave around 6:30 in the morning.

Totally ok with that. We always try and book very early flights 5-7 am so we can start our vacation as soon as possible AND avoid large lines at check in and security.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Southwest is also our go to for flights! And their Rapid Reward program (frequent flyer miles) is AWESOME!! After our last trip to Orlando a couple weeks ago, I now have enough for a free one way for our November trip! The miles are soooo easy to redeem where I feel like other airlines are more difficult and need way more miles for a flight. We're flying SW to Disneyland in April. I was prepared for $350-400 tickets but we ended up paying $291 roundtrip! A wicked steal from Boston to LAX roundtrip! and with SW you can change the flights if plans change without a change fee. We're waiting for prices to come out for November so we can book ASAP!

 

[DisneyJoe]

Dont worry, Spirit will probably be fine. Remember your going for a vacation, if a flight is delayed an hr your not missing a meeting. My inlaws fly Spirit out of Atlantic City all the time and love it. Save money and time and fly cheap.

Same here, about 90% of my flights to WDW are using Spirit, no problems 99% of the time, only one trip I had a 90 minute delay coming home and it was a late flight and the problem was due to weather.