I've flown Spirit multiple times and have only booked in the airport. For my family of 5 I've often saved $100-200 in fare by doing it at the airport. The baggage fee is $10 less online after booking (before the day of your flight) when purchased online. I paid $175 in tickets + $90 for 1 suitcase on our last trip to Houston from NY. Not bad!
While there prices were a while ago. Spirit now charges $79 for a checked bag at the airport and upon trying to get our plane tickets, they allowed bidding on seats. So when I got my ticket and seat number, my group of 7 were all reassigned to complete different seats separating all of us. I do not recommend spirit as there were a lot more complications that arose and spirit would not do anything...
While there prices were a while ago. Spirit now charges $79 for a checked bag at the airport and upon trying to get our plane tickets, they allowed bidding on seats. So when I got my ticket and seat number, my group of 7 were all reassigned to complete different seats separating all of us. I do not recommend spirit as there were a lot more complications that arose and spirit would not do anything about it. While it IS CHEAPER to book online beware of the "extra" charges and changes when you get there
This article is not accurate. The tickets are cheaper at the airport, BUT we tell the guests to purchase their bags online before you check in for your flight and you get a lower price on your bags. Also bags at the airport are around $79 at the ticket counter, so save money purchase on line.!
Mother's Day weekend this year my group of five traveled fron DTW to MCO round trip for $39.50 EACH!!! We fly Spirit regularly, and never pay for seat assignments. Our group has never been split up on the plane. We bought the tickets at the airport and carried backpacks. Spirit can be a pain in the butt, but for prices like that I'll put up with a little inconvenience.
There's another big exception to this, though. Some cheap fares, like your example, don't have a $12 fuel surcharge. All tickets purchased at the airport do. This is explained in the T&Cs. I've had a few ultra cheap tickets that only charge a $9.99 PUC and end up being more at the airport.
I've heard stories for a couple years about Spirit Airlines passengers buying tickets for future trips at airport ticket counters to save money. This supposedly works because Spirit puts a 'Passenger Usage Charge' on tickets purchased online or over the phone, which it then has to pay a 7.5% federal excise tax on. Booking at the airport with a Spirit agent at the counter means passengers avoid the Usage Charge, and Spirit avoids paying the tax on that portion of the ticket. I've been looking for an opportunity to test this out and last week finally had both a need for a Spirit ticket and a coinciding trip to the airport.
The best advice I can offer if you're going to buy Spirit tickets at the airport is to be strategic about when you head to the Spirit counter to buy your ticket. There are plenty of reports of people having to wait an hour or more in the Agent Assistance line. Doing that to save $11 certainly isn't worth it.
However, when I started thinking about flying a discount airline something else popped into my head. It reminded me of the hack I used to buy cheap tickets on Allegiant by going to the airport. Because Spirit Airlines is a discount airline like Allegiant, I thought maybe it could be even cheaper to buy these tickets at the airport too.
Ticket prices that are listed on the internet have to be totally inclusive of the price with taxes, before adding any extras. The passenger usage fee/charge is really part of the fare but the airline can avoid designating it as part of the fare as long as it is something passengers can avoid and is optional. In this case, it only applies to online bookings, so purchasing a Spirit ticket from the airport counter is actually cheaper than booking online.
This really helped !
I book my tickets at Spirit Airlines Counter at DFW airport and saved around $135 for a return flight from DFW to TPA for 3 passengers. However, I waited for close to an hour in the Queue (with 6 or 7 people before me) and there are only two counters open for ticket purchase.
1) Now a days they are selling tickets at the counter only from 7:30 AM to 10:30 AM (this may be different at another airport.
2) Make sure to carry a pen as you can fill a form with flight details, passenger name, DOB, etc. that will help agent to help you faster
3) Make sure to carry your ID (if possible for all travelling passengers) to avoid name typo issues.
4) They do not accept cash and we need to pay via credit/debit/prepaid card only.
I have bought my tickets at the airport for two different destinations on spirit. I never had to wait longer than 5 minutes in line. I have a family of 6 and it saved me alot to do it this way. Definitely worth it. You just have to go at the right time
I disagree with the writer and it really depends. My tactic is to go and purchase my ticket at a time when the counters are empty. After multiple flights have departed and a lag of several hours between allows time to purchase the ticket without waiting. My last trip to the airport for 7 tickets saved me $300. I agree do not fly Spirit unless you are just taking a small backpack. Once you realize Spirit is not a friend and will do you no favors and just a ride only it puts things in perspective.
Yes!! Buying Spirit airlines tickets manually at the airport is very affordable and cheaper as compared to online booking. As per some s researches, purchasing your ticket directly at the airport saves about the $19 per trip.
If you want to avoid the extra booking fee, then you can book your flight tickets directly at the airport. Suppose you are booking a ticket for four people for a round trip, then it means your total saving is over $150. Spirit airlines also charge form their passengers to choose a seat, add baggage or adding any additional service in their trip. It is also suggested you pay your bags as soon as possible because Spirit airlines charge more when you check-in at the gate.
Looking for new and handy travel hacks to save more on your next trip? Plenty of creative ways to save money exist, and budget-conscious travelers know to leave no stone unturned. If saving money means an extra trip to the airport, why not? But is it indeed cheaper to buy flights at the airport? Or is this another urban myth, like Tuesdays being the cheapest day to book flights?
Surprisingly enough, one of the best ways passengers can save money with Frontier is by buying their tickets at the Frontier Airlines ticket counter. Other options, like third-party sites or purchasing through the Reservation center, could subject you to an additional $5-$35 fee. So, to make your cheap flight even cheaper, consider traveling to the airport and booking with an agent at the counter.
However, not all tickets will be cheaper just because you can avoid the online booking fees. Some airlines, like Spirit, will have carrier-imposed fees or government-imposed taxes that apply to in-person tickets, potentially negating any savings you might make by skipping the online fees.
This one is fairly obvious. If you want to save money, then don't pay for an advance seat assignment. Spirit's dynamic pricing model will charge you from $1 to $50 to reserve any seat in advance of travel. Reserving a seat in advanced online is always cheaper than choosing a seat when you get to the airport, but you'll have to pay either way. If you don't pay, they'll just assign you a random seat when you check in. If you wait to get your seat assignment at the airport, I've found that the gate agent may move you to, say, an available exit row seat, without an extra charge at the check-in desk. That said, Spirit flights often are jam-packed, so don't count on moving. If you're okay with flying in a middle seat, this is an easy fee to avoid.
The airlines' websites don't contain tons of information about how to buy at the airport. So, the editors here at The Arizona Republic gave me the go-ahead to buy a couple of tickets between Phoenix and Las Vegas to check it out.
Is it cheaper to buy at the airport? The short answer is yes. I tested Allegiant (at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport) and Frontier (at Sky Harbor) to get an idea of how it works at both airports. You can also buy Spirit tickets at Sky Harbor.
In days gone by, it was common to wait until you arrived at the airport to purchase tickets. You can probably think of several movie scenes where the harried hero squares off against an unhelpful airline worker at the departure gate. Yet outside of the movies, most airport service desks exist to provide services other than selling flight tickets. The focus of their job is mainly checking in passengers, assisting passengers with checking bags, arranging upgrades, helping passengers find new flights and other services.
There is one notable exception: you can often find Spirit Airlines deals by buying tickets at the airport. When you book Spirit Airlines flights in person, you can often avoid additional service charges. Most other tickets purchased at the airport will come with added fees.
My husband dropped me off at the Cleveland Hopkins Airport one Saturday afternoon. He planned to circle the airport a few times, while I purchased our plane tickets to Savannah on Allegiant. We thought this would be a fairly quick transaction.
The bottom line is that buying tickets on budget airlines at the airport can definitely be cheaper. You will simply have to compare your savings on fees vs the total cost of your flights to see whether the fare difference is worth it.
If you are planning your journey with Spirit Airlines then it is recommended to buy your ticket at the airport as buying tickets at the airport can actually save customer around $19 per ticket each way. Spirit Airlines charges extra costs for booking online or via phone but these costs are saved while buying a ticket from the airport.
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