How bad are Spirit and Frontier airlines, really?

[Bernadine]

I’m looking at a long weekend in FL- so like under 3 hours travel time, no checked bags needed.

[icedcoffee]

IMO the biggest issue is that if a flight is canceled (common now a days) you are pretty much shit out of luck because they have so few flights per day. I definitely wouldn't do it with kids.

[stinkyfeet]

Mar 3, 2022 13:45:49 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

IMO the biggest issue is that if a flight is canceled (common now a days) you are pretty much shit out of luck because they have so few flights per day. I definitely wouldn't do it with kids.

This has happened to us.  And with all the upcharges for picking seats and bag fees, it wasn't really that much cheaper.

[somersault72]

We only fly Frontier when we go to FL (2 hrs, non stop) and have never had an issue. I do not even pay for our seats to be together (which has only burned me once, and it was just me and H so it wasnt a big deal). I am not trying to spend a lot of money on a 2 hour flight so I have no idea what I am missing on a more expensive airline though.

[ECB]

For a 3 hour trip w/ no bags.... maybe tolerable. I flew Spirit once across the country and it was HORRID. The plane was actually pretty empty, but 2 woman picked the seats right next to me. Even though there were empty rows/seats ALL around us, they WOULD NOT let anyone move. Because we didn't pay for that seat.

The seats don't recline and sit uncomfortably straight up and down, and i was so uncomfortable the entire trip.

I will never fly Sprit again.

[puppyluv]

Like the pp said, the cancellations are the biggest issue at least with Spirit. I know so many people who have either been stranded for days waiting for the next flight that had a seat on it or had to pay to rebook on another airline to get home. I would only book one of those as a very last resort or if was going to save me over $500.

[somersault72]

Mar 3, 2022 13:47:32 GMT -5 stinkyfeet said:

Mar 3, 2022 13:45:49 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

IMO the biggest issue is that if a flight is canceled (common now a days) you are pretty much shit out of luck because they have so few flights per day. I definitely wouldn't do it with kids.

This has happened to us.  And with all the upcharges for picking seats and bag fees, it wasn't really that much cheaper.

I see people say this all the time and this is not true for us. We never spend more than $500 to fly our family of 4 roundtrip to FL (including bags), and no other airline that flies out of our airport can come close to that. So I guess it depends on where you live?

[al dente]

You're close to BWI aren't you? That's a southwest hub so I'd prob just book through them and watch ticket prices they'll price adjust if tickets go lower.
I wouldn't want to do the other airlines for a short trip because of cancelations like mentioned above. If you only have 3 or 4 days and end up losing a day that's a lot of the vacation.

[court26]

We have flown Frontier and had no issues but the no room for rescheduling is really rough. My cousin who tried to fly home from vacation Friday and had her flight canceled due to weather was able to fly home Tuesday and only that “early” because she flew out of a different airport. We were flying home from vacation Monday and they were looking for volunteers to give up their seats and wait and the next available flight was Wednesday to a different airport or Thursday to the same airport. So…..it’s a chance you take.

[tamarindy]

To me, the only real downside (as mentioned upthread) is the lack of options if something is delayed/cancelled. I don't have kids so I don't have to factor that in.

My H and I fly Frontier and Allegiant a lot and have flown Spirit to New Orleans a few times. Everyone always wants to rag on the low budget airlines for whatever happens that's newsworthy, but forget the 1000s of flights that take off and land with zero incidents every day.

It all depends on your wants/needs, though; I won't fly Southwest because I refuse to not have an assigned seat, for example.

[mandymay]

Mar 3, 2022 13:45:49 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

IMO the biggest issue is that if a flight is canceled (common now a days) you are pretty much shit out of luck because they have so few flights per day. I definitely wouldn't do it with kids.

I have a friend who got stuck in Chicago for nearly a week because her Spirit flight got cancelled and she couldn't get another one until then. She had her husband and three kids with her. It was a nightmare for her and I've promised myself I'll never book a Spirit flight.

[rebneen]

I think Spirit is worse than Frontier, but haven’t experienced flying with them.

I’ve flown Frontier and it’s pretty bare bones and no frills in appearance but there were no issues with cancellations or anything within the airline’s control. For a 2 hour flight with no baggage I’d do it in a heartbeat. They charge for a carry on - all you can bring for free is what fits under the seat. They give you 1/2 a tray table - as in it’s 1/2 a normal sized one. The seats were not as comfortable as the cheap seats on Delta. It was more crowded. None of these things would cause me not to fly them again for a shorter trip.

[wildrice]

I have never flown Frontier. I have flown Spirit a lot and have had zero problems with them. They do charge for a carry on that doesn't fit under your seat, FYI. I usually just bring a backpack that I can shove under the seat and that is free, though. If you do need an actual carry on suitcase, purchase it when you buy your tickets and it's cheaper. And actually checked luggage is cheaper than a carry on, so when we've needed to bring more, my H and I usually share a suitcase and check it so we only have to pay for 1 bag. I think it's $35.

I almost never buy seats and they always have sat my H and I together anyway. I am not particular about where on the plane we sit so to me it's not worth paying for. I didn't pay for seats once with United and they seemed to seat us apart as a punishment (it was not a full flight so there was no reason we couldn't sit together) but Spirit has never done that.

I don't mind the extra charges otherwise because they are not hard to avoid. Check in via the app and plan to bring on your own drinks/water. That's really it.

I guess cancellations could be an issue but as someone who has flown multiple times a year for most of my adult life and has NEVER had a flight cancelled, I don't worry too much about that. Yes, it will be an inconvenience if it happens but that's true of so many things that could go wrong in life. Flying with Spirit means I can afford to live my life the way I want to live it (by regularly visiting friends and family flung across the country) so I am grateful for the option, to be honest.

[ellipses84]

I know lots of people who fly Frontier from like Ohio to Florida and it’s fine. I’d consider flying them over Spirit if it’s a common route. I heard they were merging and hope they both become more like Frontier… I’ve flown spirit once round trip and only dealt with long lines and a couple hours of delay, but tons of people flying spirit to other places had their flights cancelled 2 days in a row (I know because we were stuck with them in line for over an hour to check our car seat). I know several people who’ve cancelled weekend trips due to spirit delays or cancellations because by the time they’d arrive at their destination the weekend would be over.

If you are flexible on dates and have a place to stay with friends or family, Spirit may be worth the risk. If you have lots of luggage, have to cancel a hotel due to delayed flight and can’t get refunded last minute, have to buy a last minute ticket on another airline or are only going for a couple days, it’s not worth the risk and you may end up paying more in the long run.

[mofongo]

I’ve never flown frontier. I flew spirit once and never again, ever!

[mala]

Husband is in emergency services in a major airport (probably the airport youre flying out of, actually). He flat REFUSES to fly either one (or jetblue) at all, ever, no exceptions.

[Pilsy]

Mar 3, 2022 14:56:17 GMT -5 mala said:

Husband is in emergency services in a major airport (probably the airport youre flying out of, actually). He flat REFUSES to fly either one (or jetblue) at all, ever, no exceptions.

JetBlue??

[followyourarrow]

Frontier delayed me by 6 hours. Annoying, but it was just me and not the end of the world. Very no frills, but eh.

Spirit delayed me by 2 days and I missed part of my event. Never flying them again.

[Aloe Vera]

I flew Spirit to go to Vegas and Orlando and had no issue.
That said, at my work nobody is allowed to fly on these airlines per company policy.

[bex1973]

I have flown Spirit multiple times and have never had any issues. Honestly I've had more issues with Delta! I think the issues folks have experienced could happen with any airline.

We did the math and even with paying for luggage and picking our seats at booking it was cheaper for the 3 of us to fly from MI to FL than any other airline.

[shauni27]

Mar 3, 2022 14:42:41 GMT -5 wildrice said:

I have never flown Frontier. I have flown Spirit a lot and have had zero problems with them. They do charge for a carry on that doesn't fit under your seat, FYI. I usually just bring a backpack that I can shove under the seat and that is free, though. If you do need an actual carry on suitcase, purchase it when you buy your tickets and it's cheaper. And actually checked luggage is cheaper than a carry on, so when we've needed to bring more, my H and I usually share a suitcase and check it so we only have to pay for 1 bag. I think it's $35.

I almost never buy seats and they always have sat my H and I together anyway. I am not particular about where on the plane we sit so to me it's not worth paying for. I didn't pay for seats once with United and they seemed to seat us apart as a punishment (it was not a full flight so there was no reason we couldn't sit together) but Spirit has never done that.

I don't mind the extra charges otherwise because they are not hard to avoid. Check in via the app and plan to bring on your own drinks/water. That's really it.

I guess cancellations could be an issue but as someone who has flown multiple times a year for most of my adult life and has NEVER had a flight cancelled, I don't worry too much about that. Yes, it will be an inconvenience if it happens but that's true of so many things that could go wrong in life. Flying with Spirit means I can afford to live my life the way I want to live it (by regularly visiting friends and family flung across the country) so I am grateful for the option, to be honest.

this is my experience as well. We only flew them once, though.

Part of me is mad we didn't book them for our trip next month. They were $100 cheaper/per person than what we went with (even with luggage), and would have been direct.

[shauni27]

Mar 3, 2022 15:23:56 GMT -5 Aloe Vera said:

I flew Spirit to go to Vegas and Orlando and had no issue.
That said, at my work nobody is allowed to fly on these airlines per company policy.

curious if you know why! That is interesting.

[Aloe Vera]

Mar 3, 2022 15:35:22 GMT -5 shauni27 said:

Mar 3, 2022 15:23:56 GMT -5 Aloe Vera said:

I flew Spirit to go to Vegas and Orlando and had no issue.
That said, at my work nobody is allowed to fly on these airlines per company policy.

curious if you know why! That is interesting.

While we trust budget airlines in the US meet safety standards, all the issues listed above are why. We need flexibility and comfort for our team. 

[atarianna]

Flying alone, it’s NBD on Frontier. I’ve never paid to pick seats because the flights I book are only 2ish hours long and I just don’t care that much.

Flying with family, it’s a little harder but still totally doable especially if the price difference is significant. Typically we will put a car seat in a checked bag and stuff with other essentials so we only have to check a single large bag for the family.

I’ve never picked seats as a family either and they’ve always been put together.

[beerlover]

We only flew Spirit once to Florida from a smaller PA airport. It was fine, and I would do it again.

[Whitecaps]

I have flown budget airlines (Frontier and Allegiant) three times in similar situations - 2-3 hour flight, long weekend and no luggage or kids. I have a 66% success rate.

The one disaster experience was a bad storm that shut down the Florida airport as we were trying to get home. After a few hours, Frontier canceled our flight completely. I don't blame them for a storm. But the airline's next flight to my city was in FOUR DAYS. Husband needed to get home for a work event. Since Frontier does not have any partner airlines, no one else could/would help us.

We ended up booking same-day flights on United out of a different Florida city, renting a car, driving two hours to that city and then flying a two-stop itinerary home. Needless to say, it was $$$.

We are flexible travelers with no kids, and so I think we *might* still consider a budget airline if circumstances were right and our schedule wasn't rigid on either end. But "your mileage may vary," literally.

[letsgetweird]

Mar 3, 2022 13:45:49 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

IMO the biggest issue is that if a flight is canceled (common now a days) you are pretty much shit out of luck because they have so few flights per day. I definitely wouldn't do it with kids.

this has been my only issue with Spirit. They once delayed my flight by 14 hours.

Otherwise I have no issues because I don't pay for a seat and I don't pay for a carry on. I definitely think it's worth it for a quick trip when I don't have alot of luggage to take.

[Leeham Rimes]

I’ve flown both, I would never fly spirit ever again. I don’t have any bad experiences with frontier. I’m flying with them tomorrow actually. They fly into a small airport in my home town but they have a ton of flights daily so if it does get canceled I hopefully don’t have to wait too long.

[Leeham Rimes]

Mar 3, 2022 13:53:40 GMT -5 somersault72 said:

Mar 3, 2022 13:47:32 GMT -5 stinkyfeet said:

This has happened to us.  And with all the upcharges for picking seats and bag fees, it wasn't really that much cheaper.

I see people say this all the time and this is not true for us. We never spend more than $500 to fly our family of 4 roundtrip to FL (including bags), and no other airline that flies out of our airport can come close to that. So I guess it depends on where you live?

I compared frontier and delta and delta was hundreds more expensive. I’m sure there are a lot of variables (and I always compare with sites like kayak and such bc I hate overpaying).

[Deleted]

Mar 3, 2022 15:00:15 GMT -5 Pilsy said:

Mar 3, 2022 14:56:17 GMT -5 mala said:

Husband is in emergency services in a major airport (probably the airport youre flying out of, actually). He flat REFUSES to fly either one (or jetblue) at all, ever, no exceptions.

JetBlue??

I'm really curious about the inclusion of JetBlue on this list as well.