Surviving the Fees of Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines is known as one of the American budget airlines and are constantly offering lower than average fares to some of the top tourist destinations across the country. Unfortunately, unless you know what you're getting yourself into and all of the ins and outs of flying spirit, you are going to end up paying just as much, if not more, than the same itinerary on another airline. Luckily, we am not new to flying on Spirit and have found some ways to avoid the hefty fees while still having a good flight.

xo Jessica



So you have found a cheap flight on Spirit Airlines (whether that is through kayak.com, orbitz.com, or their website) and are ready to purchase. Right on! We are all for budget travel and prefer to spend less money on our flights even if it means we lose a few things in the process.

In order to make the best out of your pending or already booked flight on Spirit Airlines, here are some of our top tips for avoiding paying more out of pocket after your ticket has been purchased.

Baggage- This is the biggest problem that people face when traveling on Spirit Airlines. Every possible suitcase you have that you may be thinking about taking on your trip? Rethink it. Spirit charges a fee for all bags except one very small personal item which on their site is listed as a purse or small backpack.

The current prices for the bags, assuming that you are not a $9 fare club member, are as follows (with a description of each bag and approximate size in the picture below)- Carry-On: Pre-paid online before checking in $35, Pre-paid online during check-in $45, at airport check-in desk $50, at gate $100. First Checked Bag: Pre-paid online before checking in $30, Pre-paid online during check-in $40, at airport check-in desk $45, at gate $100. Second Checked Bag: Pre-paid online before checking in $40, Pre-paid online during check-in $50, at airport check-in desk $55, at gate $100. Third, Fourth, or Fifth Checked Bag: Pre-paid online before checking in $85, Pre-paid online during check-in $95, at airport check-in desk $100, at gate $100. As you can see above, if you must take anything other than a personal item (we have taken a backpack and weekender bag without problems as the personal item), it is actually cheaper to check your first bag rather than take a larger carry-on.

Seating- If you are used to flying on planes with plenty of legroom and comfortable seats, you may want to rethink flying with Spirit. Spirit Airlines' planes are extremely cramped, uncomfortable and offer minimum-to-no reclining. On top of this, if you would prefer an aisle or a window seat you're going to have to spend extra money ahead of time to pick a seat instead of getting a randomly assigned on at your online check-in. We personally don't mind just sucking it up for a shorter flight (like DTW-LGA which is less than 2 hours) but for a longer flight we would definitely consider paying more for a better seat or just flying a different airline. The pricing for choosing a seat as well as the option of the "big front seat"- Spirit's version of "first class"- are all sorted by color on the layout of the plane. Prices start at $18. 

Check-In- Supposedly a new rule, although we haven't flown Spirit recently enough to confirm at this time (we will update this weekend with whether or not this is true), Spirit Airlines is now charging customers $10 to simply print off their boarding passes at their reservation/check-in desks at the airport. Our advice for getting around this? Print it out at home or your hotel! Although some people are saying that it is still free to use their kiosks for printing, others have still had to pay so for now we'll just say that it is better to not even take the chance on having to pay $10 to print out your ticket.

For more information on rules, regulations, information on the $9 fare club, and fees, please see Spirit's website.

Since Jessica is flying with Spirit on Thursday to New York City, we will hopefully have some updates for you on these new regulations and fees.