Spirit May Not Be the Evil Empire After All (and the $9 fare club)
Since I get this question a lot; no I do not get any compensation for writing positive reviews about Spirit Airlines. I know people have had horrible experiences with them, I don’t doubt that. My point is (usually) that horrible experiences with Spirit are no better/worse than any other airline. I’ve flown on at least eight other carriers over the last two years in addition to flying on Spirit so I’m constantly mentally comparing different airlines and the pros/cons of each.
I was pleasantly surprised today that I received a reminder E-mail from Spirit that my $9 Fare Club membership is going to be automatically renewed next month. I have 30 days from today to cancel it without being charged. The even better thing is I don’t have to call anyone to cancel it; I can do it online.
The down-side to this is if I decide to cancel it early it will be effective immediately and I won’t get my last month of membership.
Even though the price has gone up $10 (it’s $69.95 for the year, not $59.95) I will probably keep it. At worst we’ve broken even with the membership, at best it’s saved us $30-$40 over the year. It’s not a substantial savings; but it’s enough for me not to cancel it this year.
Price and schedule are our first priorities when booking flights. If other airlines are more competitive and have better rates that fit us better I have no problem flying on them. With DFW being one of their hubs, I still see Spirit being our best option when flying in the continental U.S.
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Is there any upside to letting it auto-renew as opposed to letting it lapse and then re-joining when you need to use the benefits again?
The $9 Fare Club membership is worth keeping to me, but I am only using it a few times a year. I plan to cancel right before it’s done and then sign back up in a few months when I need to book/add baggage again. Seems like this would avoid wasting paying for time when I know I won’t be using it.
Am I missing any downside of letting membership lapse?
Not that I’m aware of. I considered canceling it and then re-upping later; but so far we’ve used it again within a month of when ours expires so I’ve not let it expire.
The only potential downside I can think of is if they raise the price of membership again; but since they raised it fairly recently (less than a year ago) I think you should be okay.
Last month my husband and I took advantage of Spirits “$23.10 one way” sale and booked flights one way from Detroit to Dallas to Pheonix to Denver to Las Vegas to Los Angeles and back to Detroit. To keep the fare as low as possible I joined the $9 Fare Club. The total cost of air fare for both of us was $277.30!!! Not bad for over 5000 miles of sight seeing.
We spent three to four days in each location and had a marvelout time.
We are foo again to Myrtle Beach for a week on the same deal! What’s not to like about Spirit?
I’m glad you had a great experience with them! 🙂
Spirit has ways of allowing people to travel on budget to different cities at minimum cost. I have no complaints on Spirit and they are my preferred airline (regarding cost).
I am flying spirit in a couple days and nervous because of all the bad reviews. I had a question if it was true that spirit delays or cancels there flights a lot I am nervous about it because our flights have 2 connecting flights?? and is it convenient to pay for our seat assignments?? thank you!
I’ve been on more on-time/early flights with Spirit than delayed flights. And the majority of the delays I’ve had on them were 30 minutes or less. That being said I think a lot of it depends on where you’re flying to/from. The most significant delays I’ve had with them were west coast flights flying to DFW (one out of Oakland, the other out of Las Vegas).
If your flight is delayed and you have a tight connection Spirit tries to help you make your connection. The last flight I was on they asked everyone who wasn’t making a tight connection to keep their seats to help other people get off the plane quicker so they could make their flight.
You’ll sit together even if you don’t pay for your seats. Now, if you want to pay to be closer to the front so you can get off the plane quicker, that’s a judgement call you need to make if you think it may be worth it or not. Or maybe for some legs of your trip but not others.
Good luck! I hope it goes well!
I joined the $9 fare club to save on a flight. I forgot to cancel and was charged the following year but only used it that one time. I’m up for renewal in feb & was going to cancel before then. If I book a trip now as a member & cancel by feb., but my actual travel dates are in June, do they charge me more since i would no longer be a fare club member by the time I travel?
Although Tiff knows a lot about the airline, it’s always best that you contact the airline directly, policies may change and if she didn’t know the answer she would have to spend her time contacting them directly same as you, that being said, I know because I DID call them and was told, no (of course not-my editorial opinion) because you already bought and paid for your ticket WHILE a member, they don’t go and change the fares after you paid (same as if you bought a membership AFTER you booked a ticket) you won’t get any discounts retroactively.
I try to keep up-to-date since we still fly them several times a year, but yes, sometimes it’s best to call. =D
That was my experience as well. Purchasing the tickets as a member you still get the member prices. However, if you wait to purchase your bags until after your cancellation then you’ll get charged the non-member fee.
Tiff, I left a reply for Lisa and it was posted but now not here, is it under review for accuracy or was I too school “marmish” in my reply?