When Does Booking With Spirit Airlines Make sense?

I have written in the past about booking with Spirit Airlines. For the most part, after taking into consideration all the fees that Spirit adds on for certain things it doesn’t make sense to book a flight with them vs other airlines who already include it in their price. However, when you intend on flying without any bags or very minimal baggage, booking on Spirit might be your less expensive option depending on the fare you find. The key is to add all the fees for each before making your decision.

Below i explore a few cases to determine if flying on Spirit is the best option. For the examples below we are assuming you are traveling with 1 checked bag and no seat preference (Spirit charges you $1-$50 if you want to make a seat selection vs allowing them to pick for you). Also note for this example you are printing your own boarding pass at home. Having Spirit Airline agents print it for you is $10.

Example #1: Los Angeles to Las Vegas. Travel dates 3/11-16. Winner: SPIRIT AIRLINES
*Price on Virgin America: $149 round trip + Baggage fee $25×2 (round-trip) Total: $199
*Price on Spirit Airlines: $97 round trip + Baggage fee $30×2 (round-trip) Total: $157

Example #2: New York to Montego Bay Jamaica 4/17-21 with 1 stop. Winner: SPIRIT AIRLINES
*Price on U.S Airways: $464 + Baggage fee $25×2 (round-trip)= $514
*Price on Spirit Airlines: $379 + Baggage fee $30×2 (round-trip)= $439

Note: Pay for your bags on Spirit online while booking your fare, if you wait until after or even worse, the day off, the fees are much higher. Also note not all airlines charge you for bags when traveling internationally to certain destinations so pay attention to that beforehand. Spirit always charges for bags despite the destination.