joan

I am planning an impromptu budget trip to the Caribbean this fall, and Spirit Airlines has some very low fares. They offer FLL nonstop to St. Thomas for $225 roundtrip, for example. That is lower than I've ever paid to the Bahamas or anywhere in the Caribbean (and nonstop with leather seats apparently!).

However, there is a thread on the little-used Airlines board where a poster's flights were changed by two days outbound, and one day return, with little or no notice. Before I book, I thought I'd post here, to see what the savvy Caribbean travelers have to say...

Here's the other thread:
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34993808

Comments?

joan

Anybody?

Becca

I have one experience with Spirit Air. It wasn’t a good one. My husband and I flew round trip from Atlanta to Punta Cana, DR this past January. The flights were basically on time, and our luggage made it to Punta Cana. On the return trip, however, one bag turned up missing – as did the luggage of nearly all of our flight. Spirit wasn’t equipped in Atlanta to handle all these claims, and we stood in line for well over an hour (and we were at the beginning of the line) to make our claim. Over the next several days, no bag and no word from Spirit. So, we began calling the lost luggage claim phone number, but the voice mailbox was full each time and we would be cut off. I then e-mailed and faxed Spirit but received no response. I finally called corporate headquarters and spoke to a lady who said she couldn’t locate our claim form. At one point, the voice mailbox of the lost luggage claim phone number was cleared and I left a message everyday for one week, but we never received a call back. Finally, I got in touch with a live person at the Spirit counter in Atlanta, who found our bag just sitting there and shipped it to us. All in all, it took one month to get our bag back, and if I hadn’t gotten in touch with the guy in Atlanta, I don’t know that we would have ever seen it. Would I fly Spirit again? Yes, if the price was right, though I would do it begrudgingly and I wouldn't check a bag with them again ever.

JarredK

Had a similarly bad experience concerning my luggage. I checked a brand new Andiamo piece of luggage (reknown for being nearly indestructible). Upon claiming it at baggage claim, two wheels were entirely ripped off and missing. When I went to Spirit's agent, she pointed to a posted policy behind their counter (of course written in fine print) that Spirit is not responsible for "broken wheels." Despite arguing that (1) that policy wasn't on my ticket or visible when I purchased my ticket and (2) the wheels weren't "broken" they were totally missing, the agent got very irate and Spirit was of no help and basically gave me the "tough s**t" response. I would've sued in small claims but for the fact Andiamo replaced the wheels and fixed the luggage at no charge.

turksoldtimer

Yes.... you can get good deals on Spirit Air.I have found that they think they have the right to be rude and obnoxious to you because of it. I had a very bad experience in Providence RI>. On line you select your seats, when we arrived the supervisor seperated my whole family ( kids ages were 3& 9 ) she expected me to have my kids sit with strangers. Of coarse I had an attitude after that. On our return flight she put us right next to the bathroom. What a Batch she was. Never agian will I fly Spirit Air. I don't care how much there fares are.

ewesthoff

Here's the deal, if you fly, more than likely you will have problems with either service, timeliness, luggage, etc., so you just have to be prepared for it. It has happened alot to me. If I refused to fly all the airlines that I thought were responsible, I would have to take a boat or swim to the islands. Some airlines are better than others, some worse. My experiences have shown that the bigger the airline, the easier it is to find someone to help and to get things done. My opinion, take the cheap flight and learn first hand. Bring a carry on and a few extra things in case they lose your luggage and good luck.

joan

Yikes. I guess the old adage about you get what you pay for is true.

I will probably do as ewesthoff says, take my chances. Wish I could do all carryon, but we'll probably stay in a villa, and bring food to check through. Also, it will only be one nonstop flight, increasing my luggage chances. I will also remember to continue to check the flight times to make sure they're not changed.

Thanks very much for the feedback.

caribtraveler

Joan: I think Kristen on this board tried it once after also finding a cheap rate. If I remember correctly, she had NO drama at all and she also had heard some negative stuff.
Good luck. That rate is great!

riddle82

I flew from FLL to St. Thomas in March of this year for $143 rountrip. It was on good days (left on a Friday and returned on a Monday). I didn't havea problem with Spirit Airlines. They left on time and the I found the service to be fine. On the way over I had a funny flight attendant and on the way back I had a regular "all business" attendant. I just took carry-on's so I can't comment about checking things in. Hope this helps!

hansboomer

Spirit is an OK carrier. We have flown them several times and it all depends on the crew, the day, the weather, the time the sun came up....etc. LOL. If you find a GREAT airline, other than JAL and China Air, tell me! Bad things can happen on any carrier. Great fare...grab it!

joan

My fare went back up
But I am patient, and hopefully it will show up again. I joined their "$9 fare club", so maybe I'll even get that $143 fare that riddle got.

Kristen1206

We had a terrific experience on Spirit to T&C. The planes are new..leather seats, modern movie screens...and the flights were on time. I would not hesitate to recommend them. On the flip side, we jut traveled USAirways and they ahve gone way downhill. Spirirt and AirTran were much nicer.

Regarding the fare, you will definitley see the low fare again..probably lower. They typically offer fares from FLL to the Bahamas for $9, $24, $9 and $99 one way. We way $8 to get to Provo and $50 to get to FLL from Washington DC.

joan

Thanks, Kristen!
I shall wait and pounce!

Kristen1206

sorry for all my typos! That 3rd fare I listed should have read $49.

Good luck!

beachdreams3

Kristen,

How much total did you end up paying from DC to Provo (including all taxes) per roundtrip ticket?

I've been watching the Spirit sales a little, but a lot of the times, they don't offer Provo on the sales.

Thanks!

Kristen1206

The total per person including all taxes from DCA to PLS was under $200pp.

I got that deal in Feb of 2006 when they had just starting offering servcie there but I haven't seen many deals to Provo since then and I have been looking!

beachdreams3

Thanks, Kristen. I wish I could find a great deal like that to Provo. The sale fares seem to be a lot higher now. I've also seen Spirit flights on Skyauction, with total prices from DC ranging from mid $300s to low $400s.

cocontom

You get what you pay for. Our first 4 flights with them were fine, good times, on time (or close, at least), etc. When we flew to PR, something little went wrong or was annoying every step of the way- long lines at check in, the kiosk would only take the confirmation number (which I didn't have with me- possibly the reason for the long lines) not the cc I used to pay, last name, flight number, my cat's birthday, etc, the bitchy woman at the counter told us our flight was oversold (it wasn't) and complained that we were checking in so late- we had enough time to stand in line at Starbucks and drink most of our venti lattes (we would have checked in online, but my cc matched my maiden name in their system- not on the card and the expiration date changed too). And then the flight was delayed for close to an hour- with us on the plane. We got into FLL to find that they're in the terminal that only has 3 women's bathroom stalls within a reasonable distance (like inside security).

When we finally got to San Juan, I had to check tags on one bag since ours was new and had a shoulder strap (that I asked if I should remove)- it was ripped off, and it looked like it had been dragged behind a cart. Which wasn't nearly as bad as the jewelry missing from it (it was just two really cheap necklaces, but they were mine!).

We thought our return flight was non-stop (it was listed without any stops when I booked it)- turns out we had a stay on the plane stop in Orlando- so all of the time constraints of a plane change, without being able to stretch our legs or use a real bathroom. And they hadn't restocked, so there was no wine, and who knows what else they were out of.

They didn't do anything really, really wrong, but it was just so many annoyances that the $50 (if that) that we saved per ticket just wasn't worth the hassle.