My family is flying to Orlando in early January for a Star Wars Disney Cruise, and we still haven’t purchased our flights yet. Why not? I’m planning to use a combination of Chase Ultimate Reward points from a Chase Sapphire Reserve card and FlexPoints from a FlexPerks Visa to purchase the flights. The lower the price of flights, the fewer points we need to spend.
With that in mind, I’ve been monitoring flight prices for the past several months. Prices have been quite high for the DFW-MCO route at $380+ for a round-trip ticket during my preferred dates and times. I’m fairly confident they will come down in the next few months since we are flying at an off-peak time.
Finally, last week I saw a significant price break on Google Flights for $143 round-trip. Woot! My heart sank, however, when I saw that the low price was on Spirit Airlines.
I’ve flown Spirit Airlines many times before with no issues. I recommend the airline to friends, with caveats. However for this specific trip, Spirit Airlines is not the right choice.
Quirks of Flying Spirit Airlines
I’ve read a lot of horror stories about Spirit Airlines. In fact, last year Spirit Airlines had the highest number of complaints out of any U.S. airline.
Before I explain why I won’t be booking those flights on Spirit for this trip, it’s helpful to understand some quirks of flying on Spirit Airlines.
Nothing is included with the base fare. And I mean nothing.
Like many other airlines, you must pay baggage fees. The fees are cheaper if you pay for them in advance instead of adding a bag at the airport. Checked bags have a weight limit of 40 pounds, which is 10 pounds lighter than most U.S. airlines. Only small carry-ons that fit under your seat are free. Larger carry-ons cost extra.
If you don’t print your boarding pass at home, that’s a $10 fee at the airport (unless you use the kiosk). If you want to be guaranteed to sit next to your family, you can pay to sit together (or even splurge on the Big Front Seat).
How about a cup of water on the flight? Nope, you have to pay for that, too. No free peanuts or pretzels, either.
Spirit Airlines has no interline agreements with other airlines. This basically means that if my Spirit flight has mechanical issues before takeoff, Spirit can’t book me on another airline to get me there at no extra cost to me. The U.S. legacy airlines have agreements with each other in such situations, and I’ve actually been changed to another airline in a similar circumstance.
With all that said, Spirit can still be a good choice for short flights when you are traveling light.
Missing Our Arrival Time Would Be Catastrophic
The main reason I’m not flying on Spirit Airlines for our next flight is that we are leaving on a cruise the day after our flight, and missing the cruise departure would be catastrophic. No, seriously catastrophic. The cruise ship waits for no one! I feel that flying on Spirit before the cruise is riskier than flying on American or Southwest.
American and Southwest both have more flights out of Dallas. If there is a storm or mechanical problem, I’m more confident that American or Southwest could get us to Orlando faster, even if it’s later than our original flight.
My kids and I flew on Spirit back in June at the start of our 3 ½ week trip to Florida. Based on our more relaxed schedule and summer weather, I felt completely at ease flying on Spirit. I’ve also flown on Spirit to Denver many times as well as New Orleans.
But if I have to be somewhere by a certain time for something very important, like a wedding, a job interview or a cruise, Spirit is not my first choice.
Of course, we will have travel insurance for our cruise trip. But I’d rather not have to use it to fly us to Cozumel because of missing the first two days on the Disney Fantasy. And of course we could choose to fly in two or three days before the cruise instead of just one day, but that requires extra money for hotel nights, pet sitting, etc.
We’re Not Traveling Light
Most of the times I’ve flown on Spirit Airlines in the past have been for shorter trips. A few days in Denver and weekend in New Orleans don’t require much luggage.
But when my family goes on a cruise, we pack a lot of things. We can’t just throw a few swimsuits and shorts in a bag and go. We pack formal night clothes, pirate night costumes, Star Wars costumes, dinner outfits, beach gear, etc. Plus, my family participates in the Fish Extender gift exchange on board, so we have to pack gifts. There’s just no way to pack light for a Disney Cruise.
All of that extra stuff means additional fees on Spirit Airlines. We normally fill our suitcases to almost 50 pounds, but on Spirit we would be charged an additional fee since the limit is only 40 pounds. We would likely bring extra suitcases on Spirit.
If we fly on Southwest, our bags are included. On American Airlines, our baggage fees will be waived since I currently have an AA credit card.
Factoring in the additional risk of Spirit flights plus the extra cost of baggage, it doesn’t make sense for my family to fly Spirit on this next trip.
Bottom Line
I’ve had no personal horror stories with Spirit Airlines, and I’m sure I’ll fly Spirit again. But, not for this occasion.
Am I being paranoid? Perhaps. But I’ve been looking forward to this cruise for so long, and there’s no way I’m gonna miss it by choosing the cheaper airline.
Have you flown on Spirit Airlines? Why do you think it gets so many customer complaints? Do you think it’s riskier to fly on Spirit before an important event?
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Author: Nancy
Nancy lives near Dallas, Texas, with her husband and three kids. Her favorite vacations include the beach, cruising and everything Disney.
The whole thing about Southwest having more legroom than the legacies is pretty misleading, for one simple reason. Currently, the 737-700s that they fly have 31 of pitch in economy, on par with most legacies, and the -800s and MAX 8s have 32-33. The thing is, Southwest has over 500 -700s, accounting for about 70% of the fleet. This means that you are more likely to get a seat with 31 pitch than the 32-33. Yet I have seen several articles that state that Southwest has 32-33 legroom on ALL planes, while American, Delta, and United are 31. Sure, if you are flying on an -800 or MAX 8, the 32-33 legroom will be better than legacies with 31. But given that 70% of the fleet has 31, it would be a stretch to say, flat out, that Southwest has more legroom than the legacies.
I hope you are right that if you keep waiting flights will come down but in the last couple of years it seems like domestic prices are high and stay high even to locations that aren’t far away. It is cheaper to go to Europe these days than to explore the US!
@Kelly I hope I’m right, too! LOL If I had a plethora of Southwest points, I’d book the flights at the higher prices and just get them back as they come down. But with using other currencies, I have to hedge my bets. Even though I could get a credit for the cash price difference, it would be spread out among 5 people and we don’t have a good use for the credit in the next year since we are traveling internationally. When we cruised in January 3 years ago, we snagged $36 one-way flights on Southwest! I’m not optimistic that will happen again, but I feel the current prices are a bit ridiculous.
You can print boarding passes at the airport using the kiosks at no cost.
@Audrey Good to know! I assumed it was $10 at the kiosk as well.
Southwest from Austin isn’t bad. AUS-MCO-DAL is around $250 for early to mid January, plus no checked bag fees.
@Chris Based on your comment I started looking around the site and it seems that it’s cheaper to fly out of Austin than it is to fly out of Dallas. Not worth the 3-4 hour drive for us, though.
If there is a chance that you will miss out on 1 moment of a Disney cruise, don’t take it! Too much money at stake and too much to miss out on on the ship. I have been on 5 Disney cruises and have never regretted the price.
@Susanne You’re so right! I’ve never had any regrets about our Disney cruises! DCL is such a luxury, it spoils us.
Susanne Although admittedly the prices on DCL are getting out of hand. We are lucky to have January off-season pricing for this next cruise. Not sure if we’ll be able to cruise DCL at peak times. Boo.
Join the club
We flew on Spirit and it was totally fine. I will not hesitate to do it again at the right price. That said, I do understand your reasoning. I have my eye on Windstar Cruise that leaves out of St. Maarten, the one with sails. I probably would not fly Spirit to St. Maarten for fear of missing the cruise, but would be OK booking it for the way back. We’ll see. It’s not something that will happen for few years anyway. Maybe Southwest will start flying there from MCO.
@Leana That cruise sounds intriguing! We loved St. Maarten and I hope to visit there again. You’re right, booking Spirit on the way back wouldn’t be bad, and I may still consider booking Spirit home from our cruise. The timing is not ideal, so I’m still waiting for better alternatives.
Check Skyauction!
For that cruise I mean .