An Open letter to Gary Leff (View from the Wing)

Thinking about doing a new post? You mentioned it in Bits 'n Pieces on the 7th, but it's probably worth a post that Spirit's basically completely trying to turn themselves around, in a way that RyanAir probably never will.

Almost all of the problems that you mention here are addressed:

• Opt-out rather than opt-in travel insurance is now opt-in
• No seat is selected by default, therefore no seat selection charges are made by default
• Spirit is (subjectively) very clear about their bag fees

The one point that sticks even today?

• Spirit is not clear that you can save $17/one way ticket/passenger by buying at the airport

On the whole, though, there seems to have been a massive change in their marketing. They seem to be trying to communicate to customers what the value proposition is and what to expect when flying Spirit. They also say they've been retraining their staff to be more respectful; I have limited to experience in this regard, so I can't really comment on how things have changed, or not.

Ok, this point stands: "I’m long on record believing that Spirit Airlines is a carrier I would never want to fly..."

But has this part become more nuanced, "and one that I wouldn’t recommend flying"?

I realize I'm citing a post you made three years ago, but Spirit is the leading LCC in the US industry. Making these changes is significant.

Have a great day, Gary!

New mileage earning option - Buy miles!

Last week, I got an email from Spirit in my email inbox announcing a change to their mileage program. At the bottom of that email was a large button, proclaiming the new world of Spirit miles!

Look up. There's your powerful new button!

In this brave new world, you have the power to purchase miles. It isn't really a change to the program itself because transactions are conducted via Points.com. However, it does mean the Beloved Little Airline That Could is one step closer to taking on the big legacy carriers.

Let's take a look at the strength of this offer, and any limitations.

Points.com will let you buy miles in increments of 1,000, up to 60,000 miles at a time. That'll cost $1612.50, or a tad under 2.7 cents per mile (CPM). In most of my uses, that's about break-even for me, even at off-peak award levels.

While it isn't the greatest way to earn points, buying points can make sense to fill up your account to reach an award you otherwise wouldn't be able to make, especially at the last minute.

Travel free!
~Free Spirit Travel

Mexican escape

Want to visit beautiful, sunny Los Cabos, Mexico for as little as 5000 Spirit miles? Today's your lucky day! I've found another great value in the Spirit award chart, that reaps as much as 2.7 cents per mile (CPM) in value!

Flying from San Diego (SAN) to San Jose Cabo - Los Cabos, Mexico (SJC), we can find plenty of off-peak (read: cardholder) availability on the Spirit award calendar.

And wide open availability for the return as well:

Now, you might have noticed, those fees add up to $101.10. That's not free travel! That's true. Truly free travel is hard to come by, often more expensive than an award. However, this is a highly discounted rate. Let's take a look at what Kayak shows across all carriers for these dates.

Sorted by price from low to high (lowest price is at the top)

We can clearly see that our beloved Spirit is the cheapest carrier available at $240 for these dates. Now, for a round-trip, we'll need to use 5,000 miles and $101.10. We can weight that against the $240 price tag for buying the ticket outright.

5000mi + $101.10 = $240
5000mi = $138.90
1mi = $.02778

That means one Spirit mile is worth 2.7 cents when redeemed for this route! That's a fantastic value! In fact, that's far better than a cash back card because we're earning TWO of those miles for every dollar spent. In terms of the value, the Barclaycard Arrival earns a return of 2.2% (2% with 10% back when redeemed for travel), while we're getting 5.5% returns on every dollar we spend!!!

That's just another reason to spirit yourself away to Mexico this spring on Spirit!

Travel Free!
~Free Spirit Travel

Bonus miles every year

I can't believe I forgot about this. I think it's because I sometimes forget how amazing Spirit's award chart can be.

As discussed previously, it's really, really important to have the Spirit card to maximize your miles' value. Having the card unlocks the lowest levels of award availability, which is what gives the program its amazing values.

I got a letter today reminding me of the benefits of my Spirit card. One of those points was the 5,000 bonus miles awarded every year that I spend $10,000 and pay my annual fee. Another one was earning 2 miles per dollar... wait, WHAT?! Since I value Spirit points so much, I put all my general spending on this card. I'll easily hit $10,000 this year, and I'm planning to keep the card for as long as I can. In fact, I want to see if I can get more of them! So, I'll have no problem getting 5,000 free miles for spending I was already planning to do!

Just to be sure, I went to the Spirit Mastercard application page and pulled up the terms and conditions. Here's what I found:

Anniversary Bonus Miles: If you spend at least $10,000 in Net Purchases on your Card within a year (beginning on the date you open your account and continuing for every 12 month period thereafter) and pay your annual fee, you will be awarded 5,000 bonus Miles. The bonus Miles will be posted to your Miles account within four to six weeks of the anniversary of your Card’s open date.

Well, that's pretty clear, folks! Spend $10,000 in a year, pay your annual fee, and get 5,000 bonus points for free! I'm loving this card more every day!

Travel Free!
~Free Spirit Travel

Time to get back on that horse!

I think I had a bit too much egg-nog this year!

Sorry for the break. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming!