Complaint Review: Spirit Airlines - Internet

I have taken many flights in my life, some were really good and some were really bad, but none of them ever rose to the level of complete dissatisfaction as my one and only experience with this sorry excuse for an airline company named Spirit Airlines.

I needed to go to Florida and thought by booking my flight 6 months in advance I would save some money. I went online and compared prices between the carriers and found that they were all about the same price, very little difference. But then I noticed that a company called Spirit Airlines was advertising a much less expensive flight than all the other Airlines. The Advertised price was about 40% less than all the other carriers. At first I thought this must be a mistake, so I called the CheapAir.com to confirm the price. I was told that this was indeed the price.

Having never heard of Spirit Airlines before of course I was a little weary but the cost difference was such that I thought I would give them a try…after all, how bad could it be? I should have stuck with my first thoughts and just payed extra and flown on a real airline and not this joke of an airlines “cattle hauler” called an airplane.

The trouble began long before my flight date. Several months before my flight date I kept receiving changes in my reservations. First the Airport was changed from Mesa Arizona to Phoenix Arizona that I would be departing from. Then the time kept changing and I went from departing at 9:35 pm to 2:00 am the next morning. As if this was not bad enough once at the airport on the day of my flight, the flight was delayed for over an hour.

Having flown many times before I just chalked all this up to the perils of air travel and sucked it up. Upon arriving at the airport the problems only multiplied. While checking in at the kiosk I learned that I would be paying over $150 more for my baggage. I had 4 bags (2 suitcases and 2 carry on bags) for which I was also charged for my carry on bags. They actually charge more for the carry on bags than the checked bags. I was also hit with an additional charge of $50 because one of my bags was over their ridiculous weight limit, bringing the total cost to over $200 for my departure flight alone. I would also have to pay that amount again on the return flight bringing my total cost of the tickets to more than it would have cost me to fly a reputable airline like Southwest or United.

The lines at their ticket counter are unbelievably long and you better get there several hours before your flight to make it through the lines as they will only have 2 or 3 people working to get hundreds of people checked in.

They have a $9.00 Fare Club that will supposedly get you discounts on luggage fees. I still have not figured out why it’s called the $9.00 Club because their $9.00 Club costs $59.95 annually to join. They say it will give you discounts on future flights with Spirit, but since you will most likely never fly Spirit again after your first flight with them, this really is just another way for them to scam you.

To add insult to jury they also charged me $10 each to print my boarding passes and then informed me that if I wanted an assigned seat I would need to pay for that as well. If you do not pay for a seat, you will just be randomly seated on the plane, which means if you are flying with someone as I was, you probably will not be sitting next to them during the flight, so of course I also sucked up the additional cost of a seat assignment.

Once you finally make it through the incredibly long ticket line, expect that your flight will be delayed and you will be waiting for hours to depart.  I almost missed my flight entirely as did the other passengers on my flight as they never announced the flight was boarding.  The first announcement we all heard was the last boarding call. While standing in the line to get on the plane everyone was asking one another if they heard any of the previous calls, everyone said no.

Thinking the experience could not get any worse I was once again proven wrong while boarding the plane. In an effort to squeeze as many people as they can on their cattle cart they have moved the seats closer together bringing the seat in front of you so close that your knees are buried into it during flight. Being that I am only 5′ 9″ this was not due to my height in any way. I noticed a taller gentleman actually sitting with his legs to the side because they would not fit in front of him. Also because of this, the seats do not recline, because if they did, the person in front of you would be in your lap.

During my flight there was a beverage service, but this was not complimentary and I was even charged $5.00 for a glass of water. They charge for everything and I mean everything. I did not use the restroom while on the flight, but I would not be surprised if it were a pay toilet as well.

The flight also includes a sales pitch for their Spirit MasterCard Program, it’s sort of like a time share presentation, but in the air. I guess they figure they have a captive audience at this point and they might as well try to scam a few more dollars from them.

The employees are rude and condescending, the service is awful, the flight is miserable and they are always delayed and I actually paid more for this! Besides all of this, the company is obviously run by incompetent fools. All one need do is review a few of their advertising campaigns like their “MILF” or “MUFF” special to get an idea of what kind of company this is. They know they are a joke and point it out in their ad campaigns.

Their website is a complete joke, and anyone familiar with website design can see that it is a simple template design and very low budget. Most things do not work on the website and you will get an error code when trying to do almost anything. You will receive a message to call customer “service” but good luck with that because get this, there is no number to call them listed on their website, not even an email address.

You are literally taken your life at risk flying this airline, review some of the near misses and ridiculous pilot actions of this company and you will not want to roll the dice with your life. How the FAA has not shut them down already is a complete mystery.

Do yourself a favor, avoid this airline at all costs! If you have to pay twice as much and fly on a real airline do it…in the end, you would pay just as much or more flying Spirit anyway and you can avoid the stress and aggravation of dealing with these scam artists.

The Onion recently posted an article on this ridiculous airline just to highlight what their passengers already know and although satire, it’s shockingly truthful.