Spirit Airlines Review: Economy & Big Front Seat Experience

When booking tickets for a trip to Atlanta, I came across an ultra-low fare I couldn’t pass up on Spirit Airlines. I had never flown Spirit so I didn’t know what to expect. Here’s how my experience went. 

I booked round-trip tickets from Fort Lauderdale, FL to Atlanta, GA for $44 total. Yes, that’s right, total. All fees included. 

About Spirit Airlines

Spirit is a low-cost airline based in Miramar, Florida. You can easily recognize Spirit aircrafts by their bright yellow bodies and black, bold-lettered logo. 

Almost nothing is included in the basic Spirit fare except for your seat and one personal item. Extra baggage, seat selection, and food and beverages must be paid for separately as add-ons. 

Booking

I booked my Spirit Airlines flight through the new Google Flights Price Guarantee program. This program lets you book flights through Google, who will monitor the fare and automatically refund you the difference if the price drops below $5 less than what you paid. That didn’t happen for my flight, but it was a nice peace of mind to know that I was getting the lowest price possible on my flight.

Baggage

As mentioned, only one personal item is included in your fare on Spirit. I happened to be traveling for a day trip so that’s all I needed, but in case you need more baggage, here are the sizing requirements: 

• Personal item: must not exceed 18 x 14 x 8 inches (45 x 35 x 20 cm)
• Carry-on bag: 22 x 18  x10  inches (56 x 46 x 25 cm)
• Checked luggage: Maximum of 62 linear inches (length + width + height; 158 cm) / 40 lb weight limit

Additional Options

Spirit will email you from time to time after booking to ask if you want to purchase any additional options such as baggage, seat selection, and more ahead of your flight day. 

A few days before my flight, Spirit offered me the option to bid on a “Big Front Seat” which is kind of like their version of First/Business class. The sets are wider and have more legroom. There are only 8 of these seats available and they’re located in the first two rows of the plane.

The email I received stated bidding started at $15, so I figured why not? I clicked the email and the price to bid was actually $17. I put a bid in to see what would happen. Spirit assured me that I would not be charged unless my bid was accepted on the day of travel. If I wanted to buy one of these seats outright it would have been $69.

A few hours later, I received another email from Spirit saying I had been “outbid” and asked me to place another higher bid to increase my chances of securing a seat. I was busy at the time so I didn’t end up increasing my bid and assumed I had lost the seat.

Checking-In

I checked in to my flight 24 hours ahead of time on the Spirit app. Once again, Spirit asked me if I wanted to pay extra to select a specific seat on the plane. Seats towards the front of the plan were going for around $28, while seats toward the back were around $11. 

Since I didn’t want to pay for any extras, Spirit stuck me in the middle seat at the very back of the plane, even though there were plenty of other seats available. Oh well.

I downloaded my boarding pass on the app and added it to my Apple Wallet. 

Spirit Tried to Pull a Fast One

At 1am the day of my 7am flight (so 6 hours before takeoff), I received an email from Spirit with the subject line “You Have a New Seat!”

Apparently, my $17 bid for a Big Front Seat had been accepted. So I guess the email I received earlier saying I had been “outbid” was Spirit’s attempt to get me to pay more for the seat. 

I have to say, that seems like a shady business practice, but at least I didn’t change my original bid. 

Keep in mind that the bidding happens per flight, not for the whole round trip. So I only got this bigger seat on my first flight so far.

Boarding Passes

My boarding passes were updated with my new seat and I went on my way to the airport. 

Does Spirit require you to print your boarding pass? No, you can use the app to board the plane on the day of travel, which is what I did.

If for some reason you need Spirit to print your boarding pass, I believe they do charge for this, so try to use mobile tickets if you can. 

Late Take-Off

My flight was scheduled to depart at 7:10 however we didn’t end up boarding until around 7:30 and then we took off around 8:00. A reason wasn’t given for the tardiness, but the flight ended up being shorter than planned. 

Spirit’s Big Front Seat

Since my bid was accepted, I was placed into a Big Front Seat in the 2nd row of the airplane by Spirit. I did not get to select the seat. However, there are only 8 (4 aisle and 4 window) so they’re all great seats if you can snag one.

I was very happy with my seat and had plenty of room to move my legs around. My Longchamp Pliage bag fits easily under the seat in front of me. Here are the perks of the Big Front Seat: 

• Extra wide seats for more comfort
• Up to 11 inches of extra legroom
• No middle seat
• Premium seating location at the front of the cabin for convenient boarding/offboarding
• Seats pre-reclined an additional inch

Keep in mind, the 1st row of the plane does not have a space to put your bag under the seat, so it must go in the overhead compartment. 

The Big Front Seats have thick armrests in between the two seats so both people can put their arms there at the same time if they want to, which is nice. 

Does the Big Front Seat have electronic outlets or USB ports? No, I was surprised to see that there were no charging ports of any kind in my seat. 

Does the Big Front Seat have a tray table? Yes, there is a folding pull-out tray table located inside the armrest of your seat.

Flying Economy on Spirit

Is it worth flying economy on Spirit Airlines? I’m not going to lie; no it is not worth it! I did not enjoy my return flight in the economy seat one bit.