Doing the math on Spirit’s new seat assignment fees
Want an advanced seat on Spirit Airlines? Prepare to pay up.
Adding insult to injury, Spirit Airlines has decided to charge you between $10 to $15 if you want to book any seat in advance. Additionally, that fee is for each leg.
Following other airlines’ lead (like Air Canada and Allegiant Air), the “ultra low-cost carrier” will be charging you if want to book your seat assignments online. It’ll be $5 for a middle seat, $10 for an aisle seat, and $15 for a window seat.
Of course you can wait until you get to the airport, but there’s no guarantee that you’ll get the seat you want, especially if the flight is oversold.
Don’t forget that Spirit also charges you $15 for the first checked bag online, $25 for the first checked bag at the airport, and $25 for the second checked bag, regardless of whether you’re checking it online or at the airport.
Let’s figure this out here.
Let’s say you’ve somehow managed to snag a $10 fare on Spirit and you want advance seat assignments. You’re a party of 4, each member has one bag to check.
$10×4=$40 (before taxes and government fees).
You’re checking bags online, so $15×4=$60. You want advance seat assignments, so that’s another $40 (two aisles, one middle, one window).
Even before taxes and fees, your fare is already $140 (that’s a 250% increase).
And that’s one way!
Amtrak is looking better and better.
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4 Responses to “Doing the math on Spirit’s new seat assignment fees”
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Um…that’s $140.00 for 4 people one way. That’s still only $35 per person. How much cheaper do you want it?
Yeah… I think there’s a name for the kind of gross miscalculation that I just saw… fuzzy math.
I think the actual amount of the ticket is besides the point. The issue is that Spirit (along with just about all the rest of the airlines) is trying to obscure the true price that you will pay for your trip by adding a bunch of additional fees that they aren’t disclosing up front. $35 is still a great deal, but it’s 4 times more than you thought you’d be paying when you were excited about snagging a $9 fare.
Steve, you are so right in your explanation. But it appears that there are some who are poor in math. Of course $35 per person each way is a great deal. But after taxes, baggage and seat assignment, the fair is approximately $75 per person each way. I flew in May of 2008 and there was no fee for online seat assignment and it was $10 a bag, not $15. So yes, they lead you to believe that you are getting a great deal and then milk you in every other possible area. What’s next? They’ll probably start charging for oxygen!!!!!!!