Spirit Airline for foreign travellers
 

Hello,
I do not live in USA and would be visiting USA with family of 3 in July 2016 for vacations. My domestic air flights would be
NYC TO ORLANDO
MIAMI TO NYC OR DC

I usually buy my domestic tickets online about 30-60days in Advance to get the lowest fares when i am on vacations, Thinking of doing the same during this trip

I understand that Spirit airline is the cheapest in USA domestic but you need to add on every checked bag, drinks, food etc, but still i think that they in most cases they still come out cheaper as compared to other domestic airlines in USA

I'll be having 2 or 3 (my trip is long, so need clothes & stuff) checked baggage's of about 40Lbs each
My questions are
1. Which would be the most suitable airline, with a checked baggage's, Spirit or any others ?

2. How early should i book on Spirit to get the lowest airfares? While searching on the internet, someone said that Spirit charges USD16/ for online purchasing of airtickets? so, therefore one should buy it from their office (i have friend in NYC, who can buy for me)

3. With 2 domestic visits only, should i buy the Spirit fan fare $9.0/

Thanks a lot

I would keep checking Southwest Airlines.
They sometimes have some great deals. They don't nickel and dime you. No charge for luggage or all the other fees Spirit charges.

I've flown spirit before and they do charge a lot for their baggage. The best thing to do is find out how much each ticket is and then ad in their baggage fees. The baggage fee for Spirit is $55 according to google. I'm flying to New York from Dallas later this year and the cheaper airline for me was United Airlines. And their Baggage fees are not outrageous. Keep checking sites like Kayak that checks multiple sites at the same time. Southwest Airlines does not advertise with any of those sites, so you have to check their own website. I'm not too sure about Spirit's $9 fan fare tho. Sorry

I assume you prefer to fly out of LGA in New York. If you want to fly non-stop from JFK, you could use JetBlue which I much prefer over Spirit.

I do not know of anything on the bidget scale which is going to take you from MIA to either New York or Washington that is N/S; from nearby Fort Lauderdale, yes, but not from MIA.

"I usually buy my domestic tickets online about 30-60days in Advance to get the lowest fares when i am on vacations, Thinking of doing the same during this trip"

You are absolutely NOT going to "get the lowest fares" especially on US domestic carriers, and definitely not on US domestic budget carriers, by waiting until 30-60 days prior to the departure date so you need to re-think that.

Spirit Airlines also charges for carry-on luggage. If available, Southwest is a better alternative.

Spirit is often voted the worst US airline and that is saying something.

Thank you all for ur suggestions.

How early should i book on following to get the 'Lowest fares'

1. Spirit
2. Delta
3. South west
4. Jet blue

I agree with Dukey on JetBlue. Get on their mailing list. They have very inexpensive flights on the East Coast and are reliable and pleasant to fly.

Also a JetBlue fan. Best thing about booking is that it is very easy to see charge for different flights on different days - and sometimes changing your flight time by 10 hours or to day earlier or later can save you a lot of money.

Prices of Jet blue are coming out to be DOUBLE as compared to Spirit

and both will charges for Checked baggages

Why are you coming back north after Florida? Can't you just take 1 flight or train trip?
There are 2 trains that leave NYC and go through Washington on the way to Florida. Each passenger can have 2 bags up to 50 lb. each without an extra luggage charge.
The trains are the Silver Star and the Silver Meteor.
Sometimes there are good deals on one way car rentals to or from Florida.

Southwest will allow two checked bags each up to 50 lbs per ticket without an additional charge. They also do not charge for a carry on. Lots of people like SW for good reason. Very few people like Spirit, also for good reason.

Train is no cheaper. Atleast 120$

SW allows 2 free checked bags, though it is above $200/-

Please check prices again. I checked NYC airports to MCO (Orlando) on 3 random dates in July - 8th, 12th, 21st. On all 3 dates Spirit was the more expensive airline, with JetBlue offering non-stop flights while most of Spirit's flights required a stop.

You have to price the flights and include all the add ins before you know which is cheaper. Taking 3 checked bags means paying more than $150 per person in bag fees per person on most of these airlines except for Southwest. Most charge progressively more for every bag after the 2nd.

If you really want to save money the best way is to bring less stuff. It's always much cheaper to do a few loads of laundry along the way than to check multiple giant bags. 40 pounds is a lot for a bag.

I think at least one of those "three bags" is going to be charged for even on Southwest, am I incorrect in that thinking, Doug?

Southwest does not have any N/S service from New York to Florida from any of the usual airports or am I incorrect about that, also?

I like Southwest but a stop is a stop.

In terms of when to book on any of these airlines I will SAY AGAIN: yesterday!!!

Poster indicated travel was for a family of 3 - perhaps s/he is taking 3 bags for the family, not 3 bags on one ticket.

Allegiant flies from Allentown and Harrisburg to Orlando.
http://www.allegiantair.com/
Each person flying gets one checked bag free or cheap - even children.
What makes me mad is when they start charging for carry on bags.
I still don't understand coming back north after you get to Florida.

Dukey, SW does indeed have non stops to FL. We fly SW non stop to Ft. Lauderdale 1-2X/year from B'more, but they have them from NY as well. In NY they fly out of Long Island Islip Airport. I know they also have non stops to Orlando and Tampa from NY. Also, they do not charge for the first bag, or the second either up to 50lbs each.

assim - the SE fare from NY Islip is under $150 per person to Orlando using their "wanna get away" advance purchase fare and even less to Tampa. Tampa is an easy drive to Orlando. One other thing I like about SW is that they do not charge to change a flight. Other airlines do.

Thank you all

Flying back to North/NYC from Florida is a must, as we are coming from a far off country i.e Pakistan and major airline will ONLY have flights from NYC OR DC

I agree that these budget airlines are charging high on Checked bags, but but coming for 27 days we need atleast 30-35Lbs/person i.e around 100Lbs for 3 of us

But the policies of checked bags are mostly same for Spirit or Delta or United, Right?

Checked NYC to Tampa, but it also atleast USD135/ basic on United
But after some searching i find the following conclusiont

NYC to Miami and then Orlando to DC is cheaper
as compared to
NYC to Orlando and them Miami to DC.

Any other suggestion to go cheaper on this. Like going from NYC to somewhere which comes out cheap by Air and then connecting Orlando or Miami by road

Whats the difference in SPIRIT vs Delta & United