In what way?Spirit beats Frontier without question. Planes are a little small if you are a little above average size.
Of course weather cancellations can hit any airline and be a big mess but one thing to consider with ULLC's like Spirit or Frontier is with less planes and less flights it is harder to get where you are going when bad weather hits. A one flight cancellation is not as big of a deal but when they have to cancel multiple flights to the same location it becomes a lot harder to get evey one rebooked in a timely manner. SW and JB which are LLC's have the benefit of more planes and routes so they can recover quicker then the ULLC's.Used spirit last Oct from PHL to Mco and back with no issues. This was my first time on Spirit. I don't consider a weather cancellation a reason not to use them.
I used to think that way. SWs recent melt down changed my opinion.I think more than any other airline, Spirit and Frontier travellers need to have some sort of plan B if possible
Very true. It can happen on any flight. No sooner do I comment on this thread but my flight home from Puerto Vallarta yesterday was delayed 22 hours. Luckily we were put up in a nice all inclusive with transportation both ways. But sometimes the travel gods just aren't with you.I used to think that way. SWs recent melt down changed my opinion.
I agree with about half of it. If you only fly somewhere twice a week and a plane mechanicals, you're passengers are stuck until at least the next flight three days later, if that flights full, then what? The ULCCs aren't set up to recover with staged flying. If I miss my Delta flight to Atlanta out of my local airport I can probably get a seat on the Delta flight to Detroit and then get to Atlanta or wherever my final destination is, if I miss my Allegiant flight to Sanford, they are going to try to rebook me on the next one three or four days later, if there is space.When you travel, issues can arise no matter how you are going.
I have flown on both Spirit and Frontier and the experience was fine. Saved a ton of money.
The bargain airlines get extra complaints because they attract many infrequent flyers who don't know about the extra fees, don't think about the limited service, don't know how packed airports and all flights are, don't know how to adjust when things go wrong, don't know how to pick flights that may help them avoid issues.
For example, if you book the last flight of the day on any airline, the chances of an issue are much greater than if you book the first flight. And if you book the first flight, you have all day to recover.
This can all apply to any airline, but it is especially true for the ultra-low-cost carriers.
Luckily for SW they are as big as they and have almost 800 aircraft are and not the size of the ULCC's (Spirit has almost 200 aircraft and Frontier about 125) or that meltdown could have take weeks or over a month to get back to normal.When things go well the ULCCs are fine, when they don't they are exactly like what happened to SW over Christmas, but without actually repaying anything.
We just flew Spirit from Syracuse to MCO in January and had a great experience. We were 3 adults and the seats were a bit small for us 3 across, but if you are smaller adults or traveling with children in the same row it will be fine. We upgraded to the big front seats for the flight back for only $54 each and would do that again in a heartbeat. Being the flight was cheap to start with adding this fee still did not break the bank (we paid a little over $300 pp with the upgrade/luggage/and all fees - very much a bargain for us flying from upstate NY with seats close to the equivalent of first class size of other airlines on the way home). We also flew Allegiant years ago and had a good experience with them. We've also flown Frontier, but from Buffalo to Austin TX (for $60 RT! - that was pre-pandemic) a few years ago and had no problem with them either. Of course, you need to know the seats on all of these airlines (except the big front seats) were pretty much just hard plastic. I had no problem with that, my husband found them uncomfortable.Trying to find reasonable flights in April from PhL to MCO. Husband wants to drive have never done that king of a trip. Airlines right now scare me with cancellations etc.
any experiences with spirit? Have mainly flown frontier in The past