Spirit Airlines: To Fly or Not To fly?

As a nervous flyer, I had a lot on my mind as I booked my first Spirit flight. Why was it so cheap? Did this mean the plane wasn’t serviced well enough? Would a wing snap off mid-air? Is Spirit Airlines safe? Realizing logically that none of these contrived situations had actually ever occurred, I hit “Book Trip” and my one-way flight from MSP-LAX was confirmed.

The cost was my Spirit flight was unfathomable. $40 for a one-way ticket? A tank of gas costs more than that! There were some benefits for me as well. While I normally traveled with my children and checked a bag, I was traveling solo back from a girls’ weekend with college friends and could fit all of my belongings for the trip into a backpack. The backpack counted as a personal item, so I didn’t have to pay extra. I also skipped paying for seat selection as I didn’t care where I sat on the flight (only that it maintained its in-air status throughout the duration and that it took off and landed without issue). Because of these things, the $40 flight advertised remained a $40 flight.

It looks like an elementary student painted “Howdy” on the wing tip. At least it’s friendly?

On the day of the flight, I downloaded the Spirit app and checked in. The app was easy to use, directing me to check in with a black highlighted box under my flight information. I clicked through the simple process and was then able to view my boarding pass in the same black-highlighted box. My wonderful friend dropped me off at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport an hour and a half prior to my flight, leaving me plenty of time to cruise through security, the same as I would normally do with any other, more expensive airline, and I headed to the gate to wait for the flight.

After the previous flight had deplaned and been cleared, gate attendants started the boarding process. Shockingly to me, I was seated on the plane 30 minutes prior to departure time (and I was in the last boarding group). We departed on time and our flight attendants, kind and in good spirits (I couldn’t resist), gave us the safety demonstration and we were in the air.

The flight went off without a hitch. I didn’t notice any differences between flying Spirit and other, more costly airlines. My legroom felt just as sufficient as it ever has on a flight, save for the times I’ve flown Ecomony Plus, and I was able to sit in the seat without feeling cramped. Since I hadn’t paid extra to choose my seat, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in an aisle. The seat did the job, and while it wasn’t luxuriously comfortable, I paid $40 to fly and wasn’t expecting a Laz-E-Boy in the middle of the plane.

Beverages for purchase were offered, though I just brought a drink I got in the airport before the flight. I took full advantage of my kid-free time by reading a book and had no need for a screen, but had I desired a movie or show, Spirit offered WiFi onboard at a very low cost for searching or streaming.

Finally, right on schedule, I landed at LAX. Departure was smooth and as efficient as ever. I didn’t check a bag, so I strolled right out into the sunset, happy to have found such a deal for my girls’ weekend away.