Up until late June, we had only flown with Spirit once and that was back in late 2008!
Our flights to/ from Panama don’t stand out much besides a delay caused by a lack of crew on the way to our destination.
At the end of the school year, we decided to take a trip to Haiti. The country had been on my list for quite some time but there was one problem, from the US, only one airline flew there, Spirit!
We decided to take our chance and book a flight from Newark to Cap Haitien (with an overnight stop in Fort Lauderdale.
We weren’t sure what to expect, but how bad could the airline really be? We were hopefully optimistic. Our 11 year old Lucas on the other hand, kept complaining about having to fly this budget airlines as he had heard a lot of negative things about it.
The check-in process was smooth, as was the boarding process. We had no issues at all with storing our carry-on luggage in the overhead bins.
One thing stood out- the seats looked thin, like really thin. Regardless of how crappy these seats looked, they weren’t really that uncomfortable. Legroom isn’t very generous either so if you’re over 6 feet tall, this might be an issue. (We’re not…)
One thing which really annoyed me was how basic the seat backs were!
There’s no pocket, just an empty space so good luck if you want to store a bottle of water or something else. The tray table which folds down is more like a third/ half of a tray table. Not the best but it worked just fine for eating snacks.
Complimentary snacks and drinks are not offered on Spirit flights.
On the last leg of our trip home, we decided to splurge and purchase a couple of snack boxes and sodas. I don’t remember the exact price we paid so I looked it up online. I’m pretty sure we got a combo which came with two drinks and a snack box for $15.50 and an additional box that was in the $9-10 range. Really not awful and well worth it to keep tired kids happy!
Final Thoughts:
Our experience flying Spirit was a positive one. We didn’t face any flight delays and the flight crew were very friendly. We’d definitely consider flying the airline again if the price was right.
Ed- That definitely stinks…
Good: They answered the phone after moderate hold time. Bad: After cancelling a flight they could offer nothing but a refund or a re-booked flight 3 days later. The airline has no interline agreements or spare planes to help passengers when irregularities arise.