My experiences with Spirit airlines (and similar carriers) - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Yong Fang · 10-26-2023, 03:08 AM

Hello.

As some of you know, I am an American living in China with a local wife. I had to return to the United States to take care of some business and booked the cheapest flights. Wasn’t too bad, made it from Shanghai to Memphis, Tennessee for about $650 dollars one way.

One of the carriers was Spirit, a low cost airline that seemingly everyone hates. For me, it wasn’t bad at all.

A negative is that they charge for excess luggage (I dislike the term “bags”). Basically one can have what they refer to as a “personal item” which would basically be a small backpack. Anything else one has to pay for. For me, I discovered that I can fit all my clothing and whatnot….in a small backpack. It was nice not to have to “check in” luggage and be able to depart from the aircraft with just my backpack and go.

Spirit doesn’t give you anything. Nothing. One can buy food and drink with a credit card in flight however. One nice caveat is that one can bring your own food and drink. One downside is that one cannot bring liquid through TSA security so if you want something to drink, one has to pay the outrageous prices at one of the airport shops. But in Memphis, there is a Chick-fila store, and one can bring food or drink on the plane.

The plane was clean, and nicely for me, the attendants just did what they had to do by law (the safety announcements no one listens to) and that’s about it. They will make one round to see if anyone wants to buy a drink and then they are gone. I like that because I can get up and use the toilet without being blocked by those ridiculous carts. Plus just less foot traffic in general.

Other countries all over the World are using this low cost model. I used a Japanese airline called Zip (my nickname Zippy) which is basically Spirit. Again, wasn’t bad, one was allowed to bring their own food and drink, had Wifi (so people can order and pay for stuff on the flight) and beautiful flight attendants. Zippy was less than half of a major carrier. Great!

I think one thing that sucks about Spirit is that if the flight is cancelled, you are sort of screwed. This was my fear in Memphis since there was a problem that required maintenance and feared of the flight being cancelled which would have ruined the trip and me being out of money (Zippy won’t refund or change your flight). But everything went OK.

But crossing the ocean, and having to deal with TSA in two different American cities and Japan, plus having to wait in line like cattle, is endurance to say the least. Plus, I just HATE airports. I think of there is a Hell, it isn’t fire and brimstone, it’s being stuck in an airport forever where you can’t leave and deluded to think you can but never do, condemned to stand in endless lines, sleeping on floors, abs eating “beep” at five times the price.

But Spirit isn’t the hellhole the comedians make it out to me, their problem is that they are slightly shady with their policies and it’s good to read them over carefully . This is what they should be called on, the plane was clean and fine.

HuntingtonM15 · 10-26-2023, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yong Fang

But Spirit isn’t the hellhole the comedians make it out to me

Yes, it truly is. Just because you had one decent experience does not mean they are all like that. I've flown Spirit many times in the past, and I will absolutely never do it again. While I've had several experiences where nothing went wrong, far too many other experiences went horribly wrong.

Everything from extreme delays to cancellations (neither caused by weather) to their planes having issues, and then the final straw for me was earlier this year in Ft. Lauderdale. The gate attendants arbitrarily decided to close the gate earlier than the scheduled time, and refused to let several people board, including myself. Literally never again.

10-26-2023, 03:08 AM	#1
Yong Fang Member Forum 3000 Club Member Join Date: Aug 04, 2009 Location: Memphis Tennessee Posts: 3,073	My experiences with Spirit airlines (and similar carriers) Hello. As some of you know, I am an American living in China with a local wife. I had to return to the United States to take care of some business and booked the cheapest flights. Wasn’t too bad, made it from Shanghai to Memphis, Tennessee for about $650 dollars one way. One of the carriers was Spirit, a low cost airline that seemingly everyone hates. For me, it wasn’t bad at all. A negative is that they charge for excess luggage (I dislike the term “bags”). Basically one can have what they refer to as a “personal item” which would basically be a small backpack. Anything else one has to pay for. For me, I discovered that I can fit all my clothing and whatnot….in a small backpack. It was nice not to have to “check in” luggage and be able to depart from the aircraft with just my backpack and go. Spirit doesn’t give you anything. Nothing. One can buy food and drink with a credit card in flight however. One nice caveat is that one can bring your own food and drink. One downside is that one cannot bring liquid through TSA security so if you want something to drink, one has to pay the outrageous prices at one of the airport shops. But in Memphis, there is a Chick-fila store, and one can bring food or drink on the plane. The plane was clean, and nicely for me, the attendants just did what they had to do by law (the safety announcements no one listens to) and that’s about it. They will make one round to see if anyone wants to buy a drink and then they are gone. I like that because I can get up and use the toilet without being blocked by those ridiculous carts. Plus just less foot traffic in general. Other countries all over the World are using this low cost model. I used a Japanese airline called Zip (my nickname Zippy) which is basically Spirit. Again, wasn’t bad, one was allowed to bring their own food and drink, had Wifi (so people can order and pay for stuff on the flight) and beautiful flight attendants. Zippy was less than half of a major carrier. Great! I think one thing that sucks about Spirit is that if the flight is cancelled, you are sort of screwed. This was my fear in Memphis since there was a problem that required maintenance and feared of the flight being cancelled which would have ruined the trip and me being out of money (Zippy won’t refund or change your flight). But everything went OK. But crossing the ocean, and having to deal with TSA in two different American cities and Japan, plus having to wait in line like cattle, is endurance to say the least. Plus, I just HATE airports. I think of there is a Hell, it isn’t fire and brimstone, it’s being stuck in an airport forever where you can’t leave and deluded to think you can but never do, condemned to stand in endless lines, sleeping on floors, abs eating “beep” at five times the price. But Spirit isn’t the hellhole the comedians make it out to me, their problem is that they are slightly shady with their policies and it’s good to read them over carefully . This is what they should be called on, the plane was clean and fine.