The Guide to Spirit Airlines Seat Selection

Spirit Airways is understood for its low fares and plentiful flights to common trip locations. However due to the airline’s pricing mannequin, selecting your seat and most different providers past the ticket itself will price you further when flying Spirit.

Earlier than you ebook your ticket, right here’s what to learn about seat choice on Spirit Airways, together with the forms of seats obtainable and the way a lot they could price.

As an extremely low-cost provider, the rule of thumb on Spirit is that seat choice is not free, and clients can count on to pay for seats on every leg of their journey.

The one vacationers who don’t must pay a seat choice payment are Free Spirit elite standing members, who get free seat choice as one of many program’s perks.

When reserving, you’ll be able to pay for seat choice and baggage as a part of a bundle. Alternatively, you’ll be able to select your seats individually as a visit add-on throughout reserving or anytime after — even at check-in.

Vacationers hoping to fly as cheaply as potential can skip paying for seat choice altogether. In that case, the airline will randomly assign them a seat at check-in.

Sure, meaning you would find yourself sitting aside out of your journey companions: The airline states it will probably’t assure vacationers shall be assigned seats subsequent to one another, even when they booked the tickets on one reservation.

Nevertheless, the airline says gate brokers and flight attendants will attempt to present adjoining seats “when potential” for vacationers ages 13 or youthful who’re touring with an grownup.

Notably, this assurance shouldn’t be sufficient to satisfy the U.S. Division of Transportation’s new suggestions that airways assure adjoining household seating for no extra price.

In contrast to different airways which have a variety of seat varieties and courses of service, it’s fairly simple on Spirit — there are simply three choices to select from.

Spirit’s normal seats signify the overwhelming majority of seats on the plane. You should buy a typical seat a la carte or buy it as a part of a bundle — which we’ll talk about in a second.

When you could wish to equate a typical seat to economic system class on one other airline, don’t count on a lot in addition to a spot to take a seat. As a price range airline, you’ll typically must pay for anything you need, from soda and snacks to carry-on luggage and different providers.

On Spirit, premium seats are exit row seats that include a bit of additional legroom but additionally require passengers to have the opportunity and keen to help in an emergency. This implies vacationers beneath the age of 15 can’t select these seats, per federal pointers.

Whereas Spirit doesn’t have a real top notch, it does supply wider seats with extra legroom on the entrance of the plane. The airline calls the seats on this part the Massive Entrance Seats.

With eight or ten such seats obtainable on every flight — relying on the plane — Massive Entrance Seat passengers stand up to 32% extra legroom when in comparison with normal seats. There’s additionally no center seat, as all Massive Entrance Seats are both window or aisle seats.

On the internet, there are a couple of methods to see the Spirit seating chart. You’ll be able to take a sneak peek earlier than selecting a flight by deciding on “seat map” on an itinerary you’re contemplating.

When you do this, you’ll be able to view seat varieties and availability on the aircraft, as proven on this instance flight from Newark, New Jersey to Orlando, Florida.

When it comes time to pick a seat whereas reserving, the seat map will present the value of every seat. When you choose a seat, a pop-up field will show the value, together with a picture and extra data, like whether or not it’s an aisle or window seat.

In the event you’re deciding on seats as a part of a bundle, you’ll select your seats utilizing the identical kind of map, however seats included within the bundle shall be listed at $0.

In the case of deciding on a seat on Spirit, you’ve gotten three major choices:

Seat project costs can range dramatically based mostly on the flight and the seat you select. Spirit advertises the value for the standard seat as beginning at $5 per flight and climbing as excessive as $200 beneath the most costly circumstances.

The worth of a Massive Entrance Seat ranges from $12 to $750 per route, and shall be pricier than normal seats for the additional house. It’s also possible to get monetary savings by paying to improve to a Massive Entrance Seat on the day of your flight, however there’s at all times an opportunity there gained’t be any obtainable.

In NerdWallet’s evaluation of airline seat charges, Spirit Airways is the second most costly amongst main U.S. airways, at a mean of $20 per seat per flight. Spirit trails solely its price range airline counterpart, Frontier, in that rating.

With such a variety of costs, let’s see what these charges seem like in observe. We priced out a summer time weekend journey from Baltimore/Washington Worldwide Airport in Maryland to the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Worldwide Airport in Florida, with a base fare coming in at $229 round-trip. On the leg to Florida, seat choice charges begin at $17 for the standard seat towards the again of the aircraft.

If we wish to sit nearer to the entrance of the aircraft, normal seats go for $18 or $27. Exit row seats are $33, whereas the bigger, extra-legroom Massive Entrance Seat prices $110.

For the return journey, the most affordable seats begin at $20.

If we aren’t paying for further baggage, and if we choose the least costly seat every method, our $228 ticket finally comes out to $265.

As a substitute of paying for seats individually, you’ll be able to pay for one in every of Spirit’s bundles. These embody a checked and/or full-size carry-on bag, a typical seat and different providers for one worth.

Just like the seats themselves, the prices of the bundles range by flight. And take into accout you’ll have to pay for the bundle for each the outbound and return flight.

Earlier than selecting a bundle, you’ll wish to resolve what providers you want after which worth out the best choice.

Right here’s what you get with Spirit’s two major bundles:

For our hypothetical journey from Baltimore to Fort Lauderdale with a $229 base fare, the Only for You bundle prices $69 every method. The Bundle It Combo tacks on $130 every method.

So if we resolve so as to add on the Bundle It Combo, we might pay $489 — which could not be such deal.

If we solely need one a part of a bundle’s choices — for instance, a carry-on bag — and don’t want seat choice or precedence boarding, it’d make sense to skip the bundle and pay for the carry-on bag individually.

Members of Spirit’s subscription-based Saver$ Membership obtain reductions on seat choice for themselves and as much as eight journey companions, together with different advantages like expedited safety entry, early boarding and ticket flexibility.

This system prices $69 for a 12-month membership, with 18-month and two-year memberships additionally obtainable.

Some of the helpful perks of Spirit Airways elite standing is the power to pick a seat at no cost. Spirit’s seat choice advantages for elite standing members are as follows:

In the event you’re a frequent Spirit flyer, you’ll be able to work towards Free Spirit elite standing by flying and on a regular basis spending utilizing the Free Spirit® Journey Extra World Elite Mastercard®. Cardholders earn 1 Standing Qualifying Level (SQP) per $10 spent on eligible purchases.

For context, it takes 2,000 SQP to achieve Free Spirit Silver and earn complimentary seat choice at check-in. Gold standing is earned when you attain 5,000 SQPs.

When flying a price range airline like Spirit Airways, you must go in anticipating that your ticket solely will get you a spot on the aircraft and a private merchandise that matches beneath the seat. Anything, together with selecting your seat, will price further.

When reserving a Spirit Airways flight, a little analysis and technique may help you get monetary savings. Determine your biggest areas of want— whether or not it’s a full-sized bag, shortcut boarding or deciding on a seat — after which evaluate the value of bundling your add-on providers or paying for them individually.

And, when you’re planning to fly Spirit frequently, supplementing your flying with an airline-branded bank card is an effective way that will help you attain elite standing and earn free seat choice.

(High photograph courtesy of Spirit Airways)