Frontier & Spirit Airlines merging...

[rachel83az]

Who needs any bags?  There's no limit on how many layers of clothes you can wear. lol

Careful, people have actually gotten heat exhaustion from wearing too many layers. But wearing your stuff can be a good way to avoid baggage fees. https://www.scottevest.com/

[dfrecore]

I'm definitely frugal (ie cheap), you can ask my family.  BUT, you get nickel and dimed to death on Spirit/Frontier.  That initial cost of your flight is just the beginning - that's the price for walking onto the plane.  You want a seat (you HAVE to have one), that's an additional fee.  You want a row or aisle seat, extra fee. You want to sit next to your family, fee.  You want to bring a suitcase, fee.  By the time you've added just a couple of things, you're paying the same price as the other airlines.  It's ridiculous.

I prefer to just know the price up front.

You don't have to pay for seats, they just make it seem like you do. When I flew Spirit I always clicked the (rather small and not obvious) button that says "continue without selecting seats" or something similar like that. Then randomly selects a seat for you with no choice and every time it was always a middle seat for me. Which is fine since it was just me, I guess if you are a family with kids this wouldn't be ideal and makes sense to pay. Also I always used a backpack as my free under seat item since it would usually be technically larger than the measurement but they wouldn't measure it cause it was on my back and it is squishy so still fits under the seat anyway.

I was pricing it out once, and you HAD to select a seat - I think the cheapest one was $6 for a middle seat, and it was each leg, so overall it was another $24 for the overall price - and then a carryon was another fee.  By the time it was all added up, it was almost the same exact price as SWA or United, but those had more options for times IIRC.

[LevelUP]

For a week trip, you can use only an underseat bag like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsonite-Underse...07H8Z848G/

[dfrecore]

For a week trip, you can use only an underseat bag like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsonite-Underse...07H8Z848G/

Spirit considers this a carry-on and will charge you, as it exceeds their "personal item" size of 18x14x8.

[LevelUP]

For a week trip, you can use only an underseat bag like this one:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsonite-Underse...07H8Z848G/

Spirit considers this a carry-on and will charge you, as it exceeds their "personal item" size of 18x14x8.

You are correct that the bag technically exceeds the dimension limit for Spirit Airlines.

They usually won't check the size of luggage. If they do check, they will ask you to put the bag inside the Personal Item check box which it will fit.

They could also check to see it doesn't stick out of the seat before the plane takes off.

Q: Will this fit as a personal item with spirit ?

A: Yes , This is why I purchased it it fits in Spirit Air Personal Item Check size box at the Spirit Check in Counter
By David A. Wood on February 21, 2020

[freeloader]

My big issue with Frontier, Spirit, and Allegiant is that they tend to have fewer flights than the bigger airlines (less flight density, more routes) AND then typically will not book you onto a flight with another airline if they have a problem. I used to work at an airport and saw people routinely camp out overnight, sometimes for 2 or 3 nights, in the public part of the airport because Allegiant cancelled flights, rebooked them on something days later, and they couldn’t/wouldn’t pay to stay in a hotel. Granted, I could afford to stay in a hotel, rent a car, book a ticket on another airlines, etc, but it’s just not worth it.

All of that said, my wife and I were looking at flights to Australia. Turns out, you can fly from Honolulu to Sydney on the low-cost operation of Quantas for $200 or less each way (plus all the add ins that low cost airlines charge). That one I might actually consider…

[ashkir]

My one experience on Spirit wasn't bad. $30 round trip to Denver in the Big Front Seat. lol.

[GizmoJack]

I'm OK with the no-frills approach. However, Spirit has burned me a couple of times with cancelations and missed connections due to poor on-time performance. When you miss a connector and have to spend the night in a hotel, you haven't saved a dime.

[ss20ts]

I'm OK with the no-frills approach. However, Spirit has burned me a couple of times with cancelations and missed connections due to poor on-time performance. When you miss a connector and have to spend the night in a hotel, you haven't saved a dime.

I've had friends whose flight was just cancelled. There wasn't another flight for a whole week! Guess whose vacation was completely ruined because they wanted cheap flights. They never made it to their vacation and were out a considerable amount of money since they prepaid for tickets to amusement parks and hotels to save a few bucks. Saving a few bucks doesn't always work out.