Spirit Airlines

I must admit that I was positively surprised about Spirit Airlines with my flight from Houston to Denver. I pay for my luggage, printed my boarding card and everything was smooth. The check in was courteous and quick and the flight was on time. Whilst I realise that they do charge a lot for luggage and that they are somewhat often delayed, I was really pleased with my flight and I would fly with them again.

Against better judgment, my wife and I booked round trip flights for our vacation to Tampa, Florida with Spirit Airlines. As we were waiting at our gate in Detroit, an announcement was made advising that the flight at an adjacent gate to Orlando was delayed due to a storm front going through Florida. I thought it was odd that our flight to Tampa was not affected. Approximately 45 minutes before our departure, we were advised that our flight was now delayed. 15 minutes later, the gate agent announced, "I have some bad news, this flight has been cancelled by air traffic control in Tampa. Please proceed to the Spirit office in the baggage claim area to rebook and claim your luggage." First, I question the basis for the cancellation as other flights to Tampa were not cancelled and the flight to Orlando eventually left. Secondly, since this was the Saturday of "spring break" for many schools in Michigan, rebooking options were limited. I was advised the earliest I could get to Tampa was Sunday evening. I ended up getting a refund and booking on Delta at an increased price. Spirit is well known for cancelling flights, book with it at your own risk. I will never fly with this airline. Spend a few extra dollars and fly with a quality airline, it will be well worth it. I learned this lesson the hard way.

✅ Verified Review | I booked a round-trip flight from Latrobe - a small airport 50 mi. east of Pittsburgh PA to Orlando. The initial departure from LBE to MCO on 3-31 was delayed 2 hours, not a problem. I arrived in Orlando at 9.30 pm on Thursday night. My return flight was a different matter. On 4-2, flight #878, MCO to LBE was originally delayed 45 mins - to 1 hour due to inclement weather. After I arrived at MCO and checked in at the service desk, the Spirit agents asked all passengers for LBE to meet at one end of the counter. We were informed that the flight was cancelled and that the next available flight to LBE would not be for 2 days. Spirit only offered only 2 choices. 1) Receive a refund for only the return flight - $109 or 2) Wait for 2 days. Spirit offered no help with trying to help board another carrier, finding or help reimbursing a hotel, or help with obtaining a rental car. After no luck with Hertz on a one-way rental to LBE, AVIS rented me a one way to PIttsburgh. After 16 hrs and 1026 miles later I arrived in Pittsburgh. I then had to take the Avis rental to PIT then had to get a ride to LBE 50 mile east of PIT to get my truck. Spirit seemed not to care at all that their passengers would be stranded for 2 days and basically left to their own devices. I would never fly this airline again. It's not worth saving a fews bucks to risk being stranded.

✅ Verified Review | San Diego to Fort Lauderdale. Worst customer service. Cancelled my flight 7 hours prior to departure and this happened late at night so I didn't find out until I went to check in online on my way to airport. They couldnt get me another flight until 3 days later so I had to pay $300 for a new flight home. They told me they gave me a voucher valid for a round trip for inconvenience when I went to use it it was only worth $50. Spent 2 weeks calling them about this and every time it was a different story. All the representatives are like robots. Like they have had the most impersonal customer service training ever. "Thank you for patiently waiting, please hold another minute or two while we look up your information". Sometimes it's just not worth saving the money.

✅ Verified Review | Las Vegas to Baltimore via Chicago. This was the worst flight experience I ever had. Our flight leg from Chicago to Baltimore was cancelled due to "Air Traffic Control". I am not sure I believe it or not. The staff at the counter could not have been less helpful. I was told the Chicago to Baltimore flights were booked through April and there was no way to reroute us. They said the airplane that was supposed to go from Boston to Chicago and been cancelled and they were not responsible, but they'll give me a refund for the Chicago - Baltimore leg. The manager was too busy to come and see me, but he eventually did. He reiterated that where was nothing the airline could do for me. Nothing. I ended up having to spend $1,190 for my family and I to fly home on AA. Also we had to drive and go pick up our luggage from the airport instead of them bringing it to my house. Spirit's customer service was the worst I have ever experienced and I will never fly them again. I don't care how inexpensive they are. They said they have no relationship with other airlines so they could not even book us with an alternative. It is not worth taking the risk with Spirit and I am finished with them.

This is a horrible airline and there is no way I would recommend it to anybody I actually liked. My friends and I decided on this airline to fly Seattle to Los Angeles because of the price and I guess you get what you pay for because we never even got to get on the plane. After waiting for two hours in the tsa line, my friends and I arrived at the gate. There was no one at the desk, no plane and yet the arrival board said our flight was on time. Ten minutes before our flight was scheduled to board we received an email that said our flight was cancelled. We had to go back out through security to the main desk where a large group of confused passengers were trying to find out what was going on. There was about five attendants behind the desk and none of them had a clue. They said the system was down and they were going to try and book us all flights on other planes because apparently the one plane Spirit owned in Seattle was having maintenance issues (mind you I had to ask three different attendants before anybody told me this). Another couple of hours and they finally started calling names. Only one person in our party of four got a re-booked flight (we had all purchased our tickets together) and it left Seattle at 7 pm that night, had a six hour lay over in Oakland and then arrived in LAX at 7 am the next day - we would have missed our reservation and only one of us would have arrived. Our party ended up driving down to Portland where we got a flight by 4 pm on Alaska to LAX. We all were told that we would receive a refund from Spirit within 5 days - still waiting on my money to be returned to me and fully expecting to have to make several angry calls in order to get it back.

Waited at the gate in Cleveland for 2 hours yesterday with a sign reading "On Time". Received an email stating the flight was cancelled, the sign never changed. The gate agent told us, go get your bags and proceed to the ticket counter for a refund. We got nothing for you. We don't live in the departure city so we had to get a hotel stay to fly out the next day. Lost our reservation for the destination city (1 night). Arrive at the airport again the next day and waited at the Spirit ticket counter for 20 minutes before anyone came out to help us. Spirit employees came out with coffee, laughing, talking, drinking coffee, and talking on cell phones. Took an additional 5 minutes for them to start helping anyone. Worst customer service ever.

✅ Verified Review | It's important to remember that Spirit is a low cost carrier and they do everything to turn a profit and keep their costs to a bare minimum. This translates into savings for flights that otherwise might be double at the major airlines. THIS is important to keep in mind. They're not offering luxury but they will get you there inexpensively. The service I received from flight attendants was kind and pleasant. The few flights of Spirit that I've been on have all yielded similar results and it's worth noting that no matter what airline you're on, you're going to get back what you put out. As a taller person I'd find almost any airline seat (that's not first/biz class or premium economy) uncomfortable and in that sense, Spirit flights aren't drastically different from any other flight you'd take from any other carrier. On the flight coming back from Vegas, I purchased a premium seat and due to a technical snafu whereby they thought I had canceled my trip (they manually boarded me in Atlanta so they had no electronic record of my having flown) I was only allocated a regular seat. However, the manager on duty at McCarran was incredibly understanding and sympathetic and found me an upgraded seat to move into (as they were all technically purchased and I had no choice but to get bumped down, lest the same thing happen to somebody else) without hesitation. I do notice that Spirit flights often experience delays and cancellations, however the company is growing rapidly to meet passenger capacity needs so these problems that arise when flights are delayed getting in from one place, thereby affecting that plane's itinerary for each of its following legs, or when crew time out. All in all, Spirit get you there and get you there cheaply, if not always on time (but usually with little delay). They've got a wonderful, on the whole younger group of crew, their in-flight services leave you wanting for little (I highly recommend their pre-made "Tequila-Rita" cocktail) and won't break the bank, and overall still offer anything you could require in an air travel experience.

Spirit Airlines flight canceled for a 5pm departure from Tampa to Cleveland, the next available flight is 4 days off. The staff was unhelpful and quite unreasonable. This was our first and our last encounter with this pathetic excuse for an airline. Goodbye Spirit Airlines you don't deserve to be in business.

Ft Lauderdale to Baltimore with Spirit Airlines. I bought two seats next to each other for myself and my daughter and when we boarded we were told that we had to sit in alternate seats because another mother and a younger daughter wanted to sit next to each other. The flight attendant told me that there were two other seats available. Both were middle seats and in different rows and one was next to a mother with an infant on her lap. The flight attendant made it seem like I was the problem. I argued that I bought those two seats so that my daughter and I could sit together. I didn't want to make a huge scene on a packed flight so I let it go and I could tell it wasn't going to make a difference anyway. So to me buying seats is a scam. What's the point?