Spirit Airline Insight - worth getting card?

[beth p]

So Spirit Airlines is coming to Cleveland. I'm not particularly thrilled about this, as I feel they will push CLE as a United "focus city" (formerly a lingering hub until a few months ago) further away.
Anyways, tickets start selling tomorrow. I started looking into their program.

• Beyond being a budget airline, the first negative I see is: The miles expire after 3 months of inactivity

• Their miles seem to be a different value than normal airlines

• I found this promo for 8k free miles: http://www.hatethousandmiles.com/ (I don't know if it is still valid)

• There is a cc that gives "15,000 bonus miles after you make a purchase within 90 days"

It claims this can get you up to 3 RT flights

Start redeeming round-trip reward tickets at just 5,000 Free Spirit miles (redemptions levels start at 20,000 Free Spirit™ miles for non-cardholders)​

• FEES:
  • It seems you will be charged award redemption fees based on close you book:

• $100 – Award ticket requested 6 days or less prior to departure
• $75 – Award ticket requested between 7 and 20 days prior to departure
• $15 – Award ticket requested between 21 and 179 days prior to departure
• $0 (No Fee) – Award ticket requested at least 180 days prior to departure

• Baggage Fees - have to pay for carry-on & they are charging more around the holidays:
• & fees like $10 if you don't print your boarding pass at home, pay for refreshments etc.

Which brings me back to the original question - is it worth getting the card? any experience?

 

[Ctrix65513]

It entirely depends on your schedule/flexibility and expectations.

Spirit is the Walmart of the skies and charges for everything. With that said, if you know how to use the program there are some great values to be had. Low season flights for cardmember start at 2,500 points (only $1250 cc spend) one way. I've used this numerous times from ORD-LGA for example. I also take advantage of the free personal item allowance quite frequently avoiding paying for luggage.

Also, use a positioning flight and get to FLL where many island hop flights can be had for only 5000 miles round trip ($2500 cc spend).

 

[taxicabnumber]

I'd say the card isn't worth it -- the award fees (assuming you make most award bookings inside 180 days) are onerous, and availability is (predictably) terrible. Unless you're completely flexible (e.g., flying Tuesday-to-Tuesday) and plan things really far in advance, the mileage redemptions + fees are usually a worse deal than just buying cash tickets.

(I flew Spirit fairly often for a couple of years when I lived on the east coast and traveled more infrequently)

 

[KennyBSAT]

You can easily sign up and do some dummy bookings to see how much trips you would actually take would cost. Miles don't expire if you have the card and spend on it each month, which should make that simple enough. Andy Shuman has a guide to maximizing Spirit http://lazytravelers.net/the-definitive-guide-to-gaming-spirit-part-3-tips-and-tricks/ that I think gives a good view of the program.

I wish they came close enough for us to try them out. As a primary program I think it would be awful. As an extra program it could be great. Upgrades to what amounts to a typical domestic F seat are comparable in cost to E+ upgrades on other airlines.

Oh, and US Airways has the same or higher fees at every point. AA probably will, too, very soon.

 

[pillow25]

No...why not use the Arrival+ (or any other 2% card) and use those points to redeem against Spirit ticket costs if you are really interested in flying Spirit?

And then you won't have to deal with availability.