Report from Deal-Land: My Two-Cent Roundtrip to Vegas

I'm back... landed early this morning after a one-night trip to Las Vegas. All thanks to the fun deal I found using Spirit Airlines special offers -- the two-cent roundtrip airfare from Atlantic City!

My wife and I had a ball, and here's my report about Spirit, at least based on the flights we flew.

First off, flying out of small airports is more pleasant than from major cities. The lines don't seem as long, things are easier to find, and you just seem to be able to get done with everything just a bit faster and easier. Of course, small airports don't offer as many options on airlines and destinations, but if you can find a trip leaving a small airport it might be a nice change from leaving out of a major airport.

The planes on Spirit appear new, I believe ours was an Airbus A319, and seats are gray leather. They have small headrest flaps that you can adjust so you can lean your head to either side and have some support. The seats don't recline as far back as in planes I've flown with other carriers. At first it felt odd not to be able to lean far back to lounge as comfortably as in other planes, but then again it was nice not to feel like the person in front of you was leaning back into you lap.

The width of seats seemed fairly average, and they had two rows up front with wider seats at a premium price. Legroom seemed a hair better than on some airlines I've flown but just marginally. I'm average height and was able to have my knees not touching the seat ahead of me. A tall person would probably still have some squeezing to do, but I don't know of too many airlines where that wouldn't be the case.

Spirit had allowed on-line seat selection 90 days prior to the flight, which was great -- we were able to book seats in the fourth row for quick deplaning at the end of our flights. They also allowed on-line printing of boarding passes 24 hours prior to the flight. This was another help in our travels since we didn't have to allow as much lead time for our airport arrival (we weren't checking any bags so once we arrived at the airport we could just go straight to Security).

One way Spirit makes up for low airfares is by charging for certain items you'd routinely expect to be free. First is a charge for any checked baggage -- we didn't have to pay because for a one-night trip you can certainly make do with a carry-on. But if you have carry-on luggage you pay a fee per bag. If you pay at the airport it's $10 per bag for the first two bags you check. You can prepay on-line for checked bags, the charge drops to $5 per bag. These fees are in each direction, so it's $20 roundtrip per bag if you arrange it at the airports or $10 roundtrip if bought on-line. If for some reason you need to check a third bag, it's a hefty $100 whether you do it on-line or at the airport.

You are allowed one carry-on and one "personal item" such as a handbag, computer case or such, at no cost. The bins on the planes seemed big enough to accommodate all the passengers' carry-ons without hassles (and the plane coming back was 100% full).

The other item where you pay additional is for snacks or beverages. I've seen some airlines charging for meal services such as sandwiches you can buy on board, but Spirit doesn't offer any type of meals for purchase. They have an assortment of beverages for sale, as well as a small selection of snacks for sale. They only take credit cards for payment.

They will still pour you a glass of bottled water for free, but you pay for coffee or sodas -- right now it's $1 but on October 1st it's going up to $2 for any non-alcoholic beverages except a poured glass of water. If you want your own small bottle of water you pay for that. Wine, beer and liquor is $5, which seems like a more standard charge compared to other airlines.

Unfortunately with today's security restrictions, you can't really plan ahead by bringing beverages from home since they'll be confiscated. I saw a woman at the Security checkpoint have to give up her "ice-cold" Coca-Cola (the TSA agent specifically noted it was ice cold and told her she could go back outside Security to drink it or else it would be thrown out). Once past Security you can buy beverages you can bring onto the plane -- those are usually more expensive than buying them at a local store but it may still be worth your while.

As far as snacks, the selection was fairly small and the prices on the high side -- a bag of pretzels, cashews and almonds is $4 as is a bag of Combos. For $2 you can buy a small canister of Pringles, a Granola Bar, Grandma's Cookies or an Otis Spunkmeyer muffin. So for a long trip I would plan to bring along some food such as a sandwich to tide yourself over. Not only to save money but there just isn't any substantial food available if you really get hungry.

There is one hidden benefit to the lack of meals available. They didn't seem to lose much time on the ground having to load hot meals onto the plane, so turnaround times were shorter than on other airlines I've flown and both flights were easily on time.

There is no in-flight entertainment, no movies, music, headphones etc. Spirit's on-board announcement was that they encourage people to bring their own entertainment and I saw someone bring a portable DVD player to watch a movie -- on a long flight this would be a really good idea. They do have an in-flight magazine, and the content is really focused on the various destinations to which Spirit flies. It was also filled with offers for hotel/resort packages in locations to which Spirit flies. I actually preferred this kind of in-flight magazine to one that has all sorts of articles on random topics but that's a personal preference.

There were no blankets nor pillows on board for passengers to use. I saw a couple of people actually bringing their own pillows along for the trip. This also probably helps with the quick turnaround of flights on the ground, but you should just be prepared. I felt that they kept the cabin comfortable temperature-wise, so a blanket wouldn't be needed but just another point to remember as you prepare for a trip on Spirit.

The service on the plane was fine. The pilot on our outbound flight was very friendly and enthusiastic in his announcements. The cabin crew was pleasant and seemed pretty quick to respond whenever a passenger rang the 'call-attendant' button overhead.

The return flight was a red-eye, and the pilot minimized any announcements to try and let people sleep. As with any red-eye the ability to sleep is related to how chatty the people in surrounding seats are, or whether babies cry (unfortunately we had two couples who seemed insistent on talking for most of the flight, but that can happen on any airline so it's not a Spirit matter, just a fact of flying life). When you're trying to sleep the fact that the seats recline a bit less seemed to make it a little harder to relax comfortably.

So all-in-all, I think Spirit seems to be a well-run airline, and the fares certainly make it worth considering and using when their itinerary meets your needs. Particularly for flights to the Caribbean and Central/South America they offer some interesting choices through Fort Lauderdale. They also have a route from Los Angeles to Guatemala and Detroit to Cancun. As a discount airline, the fares look great as long as you factor in any additional costs for baggage -- forewarned is forearmed.

Would I fly them again? Yes.