A no-frills flying guide, from Allegiant to Spirit
The fares are almost always enticing. Phoenix to Las Vegas as low as $31 one-way. Atlanta to Fort Lauderdale for $50. Denver to New York City, $59. All on nonstop flights. Discounters Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant – ultra-low cost carriers in airline industry lingo – have long known how to grab travelers’ attention. The bare bones ticket prices, of course, don’t come with much. Travelers pay extra for almost everything. The airlines used to bury the fine print on their fees but now trumpet their lack of frills, as major airlines are gradually switching to their a la carte approach. That doesn’t mean travelers are paying attention. The airlines draw plenty of social media ire from passengers unaware of their policies. With newbies in mind, here is a traveler’s guide to flying Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant
1. The ticket price gets you only a seat on the plane. And we don’t mean an assigned seat – for free, at least. Spirit Airlines spells it out on its website: “A ticket with us gets you and a personal item from A to B.” The airlines charge for seat assignments, checked and carry-on bags, and snacks and soft drinks, including water. 2. Bags don’t fly free, even carry-on bags. Passengers are allowed one free personal item that fits under the seat, such as a backpack or purse or laptop bag. The airlines closely monitor the size of those carry-ons. Want to bring a standard carry-on bag to put in the overhead bin? You’ll pay. Carry-on bag fees vary by carrier. Frontier’s prices start at $30 each way, Spirit’s at $35, Allegiant’s at $15. Note that Spirit and Frontier’s carry-on fees are $5 higher than their checked-bag fees, so check the bag unless you refuse to hassle with baggage claim. Spirit’s carry-on bag fee includes priority boarding.
3. Unlike major airlines, most of whom now charge $30 for the first checked bag and $40 for the second, the discounters’ checked-baggage fees vary by when you pay for the bags and, in some cases, the route
and time of year. Want to check one bag on Frontier? That’ll be $25-$30 one-way if you pay when you book your ticket online, $38 if you pay after you book your ticket but before online check-in, $40 if you pay during online check-in or through the reservation center, and
$55 at the airport ticket counter. Frontier recently raised its airport bag fees by $5, for tickets purchased on or after Sept. 12. Spirit’s bag pricing is dynamic and can have travelers paying one price for a bag on the flight out and a different place on the flight back. The general price range for one checked bag on Spirit: $30
$35 during online booking, $40-$45 before online check in; $40-45 during online check in; $50-$52 at the airport ticket counter or through reservations. Bottom line: Pay for your bags when you book your ticket.
The airlines have so many different prices, Allegiant and Spirit have online baggage fee calculators, and the fee tables for all three have more lines than an income tax form. Allegiant passengers, for example, will pay as little as $18 one-way for the first checked bag from Moline, Illinois, to Punta Gorda, Florida, and Las Vegas to Fresno, California, while checked-bag fees start at $30 from Des Moines, Iowa, to St. Petersburg, Florida, and Grand Forks, North Dakota, to Las Vegas.
4. Don’t overstuff your bags. The weight limit for checked bags on Spirit and Allegiant is 40 pounds,
not the standard 50 pounds allowed at major airlines and Frontier. Overweight-bag charges apply in all cases.
5. Spirit and Frontier charge slightly more for bags during peak travel times. Flying from Dallas/ Fort Worth to Cancun, Mexico, on Spirit for Christmas, New Year’s or spring break? The lowest price for the first checked bag is $35, compared with $32 for a late-October trip. Frontier’s checked-bag prices start at $25 for a couple of slow travel periods (including weeks in September and October in 2018) but are $30 the rest of the year.
6. Whatever you do, don’t bring a bag to the gate in an attempt to dodge bag fees. This might work on major airlines, which often ask for volunteers to check their bags free on full flights where overhead bin space is bound to fill up. Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant charge hefty surcharges to check bags at the gate. It’ll cost you $65 on Spirit, $60 on Frontier and $50 on Allegiant. If you plan to bring a carry-on, pay for it when you book your ticket.
7. Want to snag discount airlines’ lowest fares? On Frontier and Spirit, join the club. Frontier’s Discount Den membership is $50 a year, and it gets you discounts for up to six people per reservation. As with airfares, savings vary by route, travel dates, flight time and other factors. On a one-way, nonstop flight from Denver to Washington, D.C., in mid-January, the Discount Den fare was $35 lower than the standard fare. The savings on a Denver to Nashville, Tennessee, flight during the same time period: $10.
Spirit offers the $9 Fare Club, which is $60 a year and covers up to nine passengers on the same reservation. In addition to fare discounts, $9 Fare Club members pay less for bags. On a flight from Chicago to Fort Myers, Florida, for example, the carry-on bag fee is $26 versus the normal $35, and a checked bag is $21 versus the normal $30, if paid when booking the ticket.
8. Want to save more money? Buy your ticket at the
airport. Yes, the airport. Unlike major airlines, Allegiant, Spirit and Frontier have a usage fee for booking tickets online. Allegiant charges a flat $13; Spirit, $8.99$19.99; and Frontier charges up to $19. The fees are oneway. Those prices are included in the ticket prices on their websites. Note that airport ticket hours are limited and vary by airport. Also, read the fine print of fare sales, because some sales are only for tickets booked online, so it would be a waste of time to go to the airport. And never wait until the day of your trip to buy a ticket at the airport (or on any platform), because lastminute fares generally are airlines’ highest fares.
9. Picky about your seat or must sit with your family or other traveling companions? Then pay to reserve one in advance. There are no free advance seat as
signments as there are on major airlines (though the number of free seats available on those airlines is shrinking). In addition to reserving standard seats, Frontier and Spirit also sell seats with extra legroom. Passengers who don’t pay for a seat assignment will be assigned open seats at check-in.
10. Don’t want to be nickel-and-dimed? Frontier and Spirit sell a package of perks you can add on to your ticket price. Frontier has the Works bundle and the Perks bundle, which include a carry-on bag, checked bag, assigned seat and priority boarding. The works bundle also includes a couple of extra perks, including ticket refunds. Spirit sells the “Thrills Combo,” which includes a checked bag (up to 50 pounds instead of the usual 40 pounds), a carry-on bag, seat selection and more. The price for the Thrills on a sample flight from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale, Florida: $72.49 each way. Prices vary by airline and flight, so do the math to see if it saves you money over buying bags, seats and other “perks” separately.
11. Print your own boarding pass. Spirit and Allegiant charge to print boarding passes at the airport. Spirit charges $2 to print a boarding pass at an airport kiosk and $10 if an agent has to do it. Allegiant charges $5 per boarding pass printed by an airport agent. (The airline doesn’t have kiosks.)
12. Beware of limited rebooking options if your flight is canceled or delayed. The discounters don’t have as many daily flights to destinations as their larger rivals and don’t have agreements to transfer stranded passengers to other airlines. Allegiant passengers are the most vulnerable, as the vacation airline offers one daily flight a few times a week on most routes. If your Rockford, Illinois, to Las Vegas flight is canceled for weather or mechanical reasons, for example, the earliest you will get out is the next day.
Don’t overstuff your bags. The
weight limit for checked bags on Spirit
and Allegiant is 40 pounds, not the
standard 50 pounds allowed at major
airlines and Frontier. Overweight-bag
charges apply in all cases.