Spirit Airlines, famous for its yellow planes and Bare Fare’ fares is shifting gears entirely and will fly with four different fare classes, each a bit higher and with a bit more amenities than the other.
It’s part of a major shake-up among budget and low-fare airlines over the past year after court cases broke up JetBlue’s alliance with American and barred a JetBlue takeover of Spirit that was seen as a rescue mission for both airlines, which have been in financial difficulty since.
JetBlue has been sharply trimming routes and redirecting its emphasis, Southwest has abandoned its open-seating plans, and now Spirit is turning its pay-extra Big Front Seat into a sort of business class, along with two other upsell operations.
Passengers at the cheapest, or ‘Go’ level will be allowed one personal item, and not even the option of paying for a regular-size carryon, priority check-in or boarding. Fees will be charged for checked bags, seat selection snacks and WiFi. The next level up, ‘Go Savvy’ gets a choice of free carry-on or checked bag, and free selection of a standard seat.
Closer to the front of the plan, Spirit is reserving the first three rows of regular seats for ‘Go Comfy,’ where the middle seats will be blocked. Comfy passengers will get a free carry-on and checked bag, priority boarding and one selection from a limited snack and drink basket.
The pinnacle of Spirit luxury, the 2×2 Big Front Seats, come with free WiFi and priority check-in along with ‘premium’ snacks and drinks. Labeled as ‘Go Big,’ the airline is working to have them show in online searches as equivalent to first-class or business.
The new fares will be bookable by August 16 and in effect for flights starting August 27. Spirit’s ‘chief transformation officer,’ Rana Ghosh, told The Points Guy site that if the premium seats don’t sell out, the airline may upgrade Spirit status members or credit card holders because “behind the scenes, we’re intending to take, specifically with cardholders and with some of our status members, a surprise and delight approach that we’ll roll out over time.”
