Few, if any, airlines offer lower priced cheap airplane tickets or cheap vacation packages than Spirit Airlines. However, savvy travelers need to make certain that they compare Spirits total ticket prices to the competition prior to purchasing tickets.
Spirit is expected to earn $50 million this year in revenue from carry-on bag fees. Experts estimate that 20 percent of Spirits passengers pay its fee to store bags in the airlines overhead bins. While the fee is not charged for bags that will fit under a seat, otherwise the fee ranges from $20 to $25 for members of Spirits $9 Fare Club and $30 to $40 for others based on where and when they check in.
Spirit appears to be the most inventive fee creating U.S. airline. In November the airline began charging passengers $5 to have an agent print a boarding pass and increased its fee for booking online from $18 to $34 for domestic round trip tickets.
Spirit contends that its approach to fees gives passengers more choices and allows the airline to maintain lower prices. Spirit believes its carry-on fee has resulted in fewer carry-ons, which has in turn has contributed to speedier boarding and unloading, improving plane turnaround times.
Based on its financial performance, Spirits fee strategy appears to be working. The airline flew almost 25 percent more passengers in the 12 month period following the August 2010 implementation of its carry-on fee and achieved a profit margin in excess of 11 percent in the first quarter of this year.
Some travelers believe that other airlines have effectively emulated Spirits carry-on fee by allowing passengers to pay an additional fee to board early, thus increasing the odds of such passengers of finding overhead storage space. www.cheapfares.com