Spirit airlines...

bigtexas1974 says on Sep 3, 2008, 03:12:

I have Spirit booked for November and December...will post my experiences.

"Sex is one of the most wholesome, beautiful, and natural experiences money can buy." - Steve Martin "You don't appreciate a lot of stuff in school until you get a little older. Little things, like getting spanked every day by a middle aged woman."

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Papi de Alejo says on Sep 3, 2008, 05:01:

I just booked for Sep 17. Will report back as well. When I attended college in Buffalo, NY, I used to fly often on an airline called People's Express. They used to be priced a little above the busses. They didn't offer much. But for a seat and a quick flight from Newark to Buffalo you couldn't beat the price $49. You got used to not being offered a drink or inflight music or movies. But why would you need that for a 45 min flight.

I will travel with my laptop and it will have several movies loaded. I plan to make the most of the bus in the air from LaGuardia to Cartegena via Fort Lauderdale. #$348.30 including luggage both ways.

PdA

PdA

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larryrn says on Sep 3, 2008, 06:49:

I fly all the airlines and I have in all my years (I fly twice, sometimes 3 times a month) I have only had one piece of luggage lost which really wasnt lost, it was delayed for a couple of hours and delivered by taxi to my apartment in Colombia.. Larry

--- Larry Snyder - http://www.rn.org - Your Source for Online Nursing Education!

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jdixon150 says on Sep 3, 2008, 07:01:

Spirit Suck

First time, got to FLL 3 hours early. 2 hours 45 minutes later I checked my bag in and got my seat, actually 300-400 people in check in Line. Line went out the door of the terminal all the way to the next terminal.
Second time, No problems
Third time, Cartagena toFll. Got to the Airport 2 hours early, when departure time came delay announced. 3 hours later flight cancelled. Stand in line for another 3 hours while they figure out what to do. Only 10 to 12 empty Spirit seats per day to reschedule people on. The next day they bus us to Barranquilla for the AA flight. Left Caragena 8am arrived FLL 4pm
Forth time. Yesterday I called Spirit to try and change my flight on the 15th(one way to fll ). They claim they have no seats available in September, but if I go on the web site it shows they do, they said they are only for round trip ticket holders.
Plus its not such a good deal when you add the baggage and seat charges.
I will never fly Spirit after this next trip, there customer service sucks, there attitude sucks.

"Life is not a dress rehearsal" Rose Tremain..

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cdy says on Sep 3, 2008, 07:19:

Spirit is OK if you don't have a problem. Their planes are fairly new and comfortable. They charge for everything, they are always short on people. (although you can say that about any US airline now).
They have a bad rep for checking bags in FLL. They have a nasty habit of bumping people up in line if their flight is leaving soon. So if you get to the airport 2 hours before your flight and some yahoo gets there 40 minutes before his, they bump him to the front of the line, pushing you back and creating a longer wait for everyone. They just don't have enough gate personnel to handle everything in an effecient manner.

Their prices can be very good though, will be flying them in October to PTY, $150 RT from FLL, also flying them to CTG in November.
Will not check bags on either flight, not sure if I will still have to stand in line but at least maybe able to bypass luggage line.

Favorite airline to C America or Colombia - Copa, very good service, real food, they don't nickle and dime you, sometimes have very good fares. Everything goes through PTY however so you have to connect to Colombia.

Flying TACA next week to Managua, we will see how that goes.

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NastyPapi says on Sep 3, 2008, 08:23:

I just flew Spirit to Bogota. The price was $340 all in and the reason I flew them. Also Ft. Lauderdale is closer to where I live. The planes are very new and confortable.
But it is totally no frills. You pay for everything even water. So eat and drink before you get on. The food selection is poor. Also if you book your seat ahead of time you get charged so book when you get to the airport.
On the plus side they leave on time and I mean on time, they are very sensitive to that so they hustle you in and to your seat and both times we actuallt left early.
No problems with my bag arriving or getting lost.

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august says on Sep 3, 2008, 14:37:

I just flew back to NYC last week with Spirit through Cartagena. Pretty amazing how they tried to collect a 38 dollar exit tax - in cash - on behalf of the airport, an airport "timbre" they call it. Well I don't know what sort of poor but happy travelers have 80,000 pesos in effectivo in their pocket on the way to their plane, but I know I didn't (DAS, in fact, had just finished cleaning out my bank account for a one week expired visa - don't do that). My saddest puppy dog face convinced them to waive the tax, but everyone else was paying it. Pretty lame that they don't just include that in the price of the ticket. They did not, however, loose any bags, going or coming, much to my amazement. Not even a complementary soda on the flight though. Boo to being at the will of the cheapest airline.

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viajero123 says on Sep 3, 2008, 17:05:

august, probably if you had stayed in the country for the right length of time of your tourist entry permit you would not have had to pay the timbre tax.

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wwwhitey says on Sep 3, 2008, 18:33:

I'm flying Spirit on Sept 11 Detroit-Ft Lauderdale-Cartagena and will post my experiences when I get back. $US450 all in.

I really don't expect much out of an airline anymore ... seems to me they all suck unless you can afford business class. And for $450, I don't mind spending an extra few bucks for a drink if I have to ... but you can bet there will be some of those little one-shot liquor bottles in my luggage!

Whitey

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Papi de Alejo says on Sep 3, 2008, 18:46:

Hey Whitey, be careful with the little bottles. TSA does not allow them through security. I remember I had to toss one of those when I was transiting through San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was too early in the morning or I would have just swigged the whole bottle right there before I tossed it.

PdA

PdA

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panthdave says on Sep 4, 2008, 11:57:

Don't know what Spirit offers but I just bought with American 306.30 Multi City R/T MIA to Bogota and coming back Medelllin to MIA.....Will pay Avianca for a one way though to MDE for 141.00 from Bogota but for that price will stick with AA and Avianca....

panthdave Miami

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david barkley says on Sep 4, 2008, 15:18:

Does Panthdave ever work, all he does is buy tickets?

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OneHappyBoy says on Sep 4, 2008, 19:20:

Doesn't AA have a lot of add on fees for luggage, preferred sitting etc?

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Papi de Alejo says on Sep 4, 2008, 22:03:

I used to fly AA often. They did not have the kind of fees that Spirit has. They have recently added the luggage fee, and as far as I know, they only charge after the first piece. I have heard that many airlines are looking at charging for all pieces of luggage, but I'm not sure if AA is one of them. They do not charge for preferred seating. If I'm wrong, you will certainly hear differently from others.

PdA

PdA

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toneloc24 says on Sep 4, 2008, 22:18:

I posted my Spirit Airlines experience on this thread. Feel free to read it.
http://poorbuthappy.com/colombia/post/spirit-airline-check-in-question...

In short, unless cost is your ONLY consideration, I wouldn't recommend it. The experience just wasn't worth it. As they say, you really get what you pay for. In this case, don't expect much in the way of customer service nor consideration.

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

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OneHappyBoy says on Sep 4, 2008, 22:56:

I appreciate the comments....The cost for the main line carriers, out of the US, are getting very expensive flying to Colombia... I have also noted, here lately, that Mexicana, LAX to Bogota, has been very reasonable..($657=all fees)

Anybody fly Mexicana? It seems that they have a fairly new fleet, but routed through Mexico City Airport.

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toneloc24 says on Sep 4, 2008, 23:09:

Also check out JetBlue. They were awarded routes from Orlando down to Bogota. I haven't kept up with whether those flights have started or when they will start. You'd just have to get down to Orlando.

Also see about buying/flying on miles on Delta/Northwest. Check Craiglist in your area.

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

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david barkley says on Sep 5, 2008, 06:18:

You would think Panthdave would be a AA Platinum Memeber by now, earning double mileage on each flight, thus earning a free ticket every 5 trips.

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