Strange Clouds: Making the Most of Spirit Airlines
The mixed excitement and anxiety of packing. The always painful and confusing journey inside the airport. It’s all worth that feeling when your plane finally lifts above the clouds. They’re all you look down and see. Like asymmetrical rows of big fluffy dumplings. Every now and then, you can catch a glimpse of a field or a small town below—the world you’re leaving behind for a little while.
We meet again, clouds. We’re on our way somewhere new again. Lately for me, it’s the south of Florida thanks in large part to partnership with Spirit Airlines. The new kids on the block, Spirit, have a little bit of a different way to approach flying. Spirit places a certain amount of responsibility back on the customer. The more you do yourself, the less money you pay. The airline’s a la carte menu breaks it all down for you. It’s all about transparency and putting travelers like me and you in touch with how much each part of our trip costs. The more you pay attention to details, the more money you have to spend when you travel instead of on your flight.
The whole process can be a little confusing at first. I saw a few women struggling at the airport using Spirit during my first trip down south. By the time I went to Florida for the second time in a month, I had it figured out. I wanted to share a few basic tips to maximize your budget and your time when you try out this new option.
The Case Study
In theory, I’ve set up a trip for May 18 to May 22. This would be a nice long weekend trip to For Lauderdale and potentially a day trip to Miami or West Palm Beach.
Flight: $102.40
I chose days that brought the price down significantly. Spirit shows you how much you can save by being flexible on the dates you depart and arrive. Check this out:
Bags: $70
You get one small personal bag at no cost. This is like a backpack or purse. You can add on a carry-on bag, but it’s a small size! Depending on when you add this bag to your order, you can save more money. See the chart below.
I personally prefer to get everything into a carry-on. Even on longer trips, I make it happen so I can eliminate the step of checking my bag and waiting for it at the end. More go, as Spirit likes to say! The size is SMALLER (18″ x 14″ x 8″ inches) than an average carry-on with other airlines. Make sure you take a tape measure to your bags before you get in the Uber to the airport.
I’m only adding a $26 fee for each way, for a total of $52 for bags.
Seats: $34
You can save and splurge here in a a few ways. Personally, a flight from Richmond to Fort Lauderdale to isn’t very long. Maximum 2 hours sitting in the plane. You can pay $0 and have Spirit pick your seat for you. You can choose a window seat, which I always do, for about $20. You can upgrade for larger seats for $30+.
Boarding Pass: $0
This part will save you time AND money. Spirit allows you to print your boarding pass at home for no cost. You do this the day or so before when you get your Check-In email. You can also have it sent to your email and use that barcode to get everywhere. The first time, I couldn’t print my boarding pass at home. I had to pay extra to print it at the airport. The second time, I printed it at the kiosk at the airport and that was super easy. The third time, I figured out how to pull it up on my email. I had to pull it up on a non-Gmail App, though. Fortunately, my iPhone has it’s own email server and it worked that way.
Total: $206.40
After taxes, etc. this is where I landed.
Other Ways to Save: I didn’t sign up for the $9 Fare Club, but if I started to fly more often to Spirit’s destinations, I think it would be a great value. I did also sign up to take surveys to earn extra flight miles. The times and locations are super limited on how you can use the miles, but if you have an extra 15 minutes here or there, it’s worth it. The program is called Miles for Thoughts.
What do you think?
Want to give Spirit a try? Let me know if you have questions I didn’t answer in this blog post! Send me an email: sweetsauceblog@gmail.com. I’m here to help you.
