I had the chance to fly Spirit Airlines for the first time since the pandemic on a morning A321 service from Chicago to Newark and it showed me why I value Spirit so much as a check on pricing in the USA.
Spirit Airlines A321 Economy Class Review (ORD-EWR)
I was flying from Chicago O’Hare (ORD) to Newark Liberty (EWR), two United Airlines hubs. I also have Premier 1K status with United Airlines and am chasing 2 million lifetime miles. So why not use United? On a transactional basis, I could not justify it.
This was a last-minute trip and a one-way ticket on United was $348 (same price on American Airlines). Meanwhile, Spirit was $118.
Sorry, I’m not going to spend an extra $230 on a 719-mile flight just to earn a few measly United miles.
Plus, I was traveling with only my duffel bag, meaning I would not even have to cough up an extra $50 for a checked bag on Spirit.
I spent the night at the Hyatt Regency Chicago O’Hare and showed up at 7:00 am for my 8:00 am flihgt, having chehked in online.
The gate area was quite a gaggle, but operations were running smoothly and we boarded on time 45 minutes before schedueld departure.
I briefly wrote about my carry-on observations here. Some people seemed to game the system by having four items even though they were only entitled to one personal item, paying up at the gate to check one of them, but then being allowed onboard with the two extra items at no cost.
> Read More: Four Carry-On Bags…The Logic Of A Spirit Airlines Customer
I chose not to pay for a seat, but was assigned an aisle seat at the gate and handed a printed boarding pass.
Spirit Airlines 328
Chicago (ORD) – Newark (EWR)
Tuesday, October 8
Depart: 08:00 AM
Arrive: 11:23 AM
Duration: 2 hr, 23 min
Distance: 719 miles
Aircraft: Airbus A321
Seat: 8A (Economy Class)
There was no drama onboard…everyone found their seats and we pushed back on time.
Speaking of seats, the seating onboard the Spirit Airlines A321ceo includes eight “Big Front” seats and 220 seats in economy class. The economy class seats have a width of 17 inches and a pitch of 28.5 inches. Yes, legroom is very tight and the tray table is very small, making any work onboard tough.
At least there were air vents…
Since the seats don’t recline, I was less concerned about opening my laptop and positioning it gainst the seat in front, using that little tray table to try and steady my 15-inch laptop. While I got some work done, I must admit it was not very productive.
Service began right after takeoff, with flight attendants selling beverages and snacks. While Frontier offers free water, Spirit does not. I did not eat or drink anything during the flight.
I checked out one of the rear lavatories (there two in the rear and one in the front) and it was very small.
And less than 90 minutes, we touched down on time in Newark…it was a smooth, easy flight and I was very happy that I saved $230 over flying United.
Can you imagine how much United or American might have charged if Spirit did not provide some competition on this route?
Thank you Spirit for allowing me to save some money…
Nice to see a fair, honest review of a Spirit flight.
I agree with your reason for the flight with the difference in price. My only concern would be if I absolutely had to be there same day with the others having options for you quickly if a cancellation occurs for non weather issues. While Spirit often rebooks customers days later.
Get a life (Douchebag Dave), it’s not necessary to comment on every single blog post, particularly because frequent readers know that the vast majority of your comments are nasty, vile, disgusting, racist and bigoted and are only allowed due to Matthew’s extraordinary tolerance. You and your vitriol should not be allowed in polite society.
Very nice fair review.
The other lav in the back is much larger. They also combine to accommodate a wheelchair. DOT’s Disability Committee toured one of the first ones in that configuration when it was introduced and preferred it to any other lavatory (including a much larger footprint lavatory as this configuration with the opened divider gave more handholds and better angles to maneuver without reaching very far).
The newer planes (such as the neos) have larger tray tables. Spirit admits those seats with the tiny trays were a mistake. I’m not sure where with bankruptcy they are with replacing, but they aren’t adding any more of that sort. The new seats also are set to accept USB ports when those start getting installed soon.
As a Gold on Spirit, having carry on included, sitting in at minimum an exit row, and if things go wrong they buy me a ticket on another airline if more than 4 hours inconvenienced, and getting a $20 buy on board credit for each flight plus streaming WiFi, I’m happy to fly Spirit whenever I can.
I hope that UA gets WiFi as good as Spirit… on Spirit I can stream Netflix or YouTube with no buffering. On UA I can barely get the app to refresh sometimes.
Hey Matthew. It is so good of you to review the ULCC every now and then. The fact that you review ALL of the classes and not just focus on the upper classes. It gets really repetitive hearing reports on the more posh of airlines.
Your recent experience on the abominable Delta must have inured you to the barnyard stench present on every Spirit plane.
Well, if you read my ORD-EWR review yesterday, I was very thankful the plane did not smell like a weed house, unlike my prior two Spirit flights.
It’s getting ridiculous how many businesses have the “We don’t accept legal tender” sign you photographed. I thought legal tender was legal tender.
I think it’s a sad sign of the times. Too easy to pilfer/lose/mishandle ‘efectivo’. Plus the added labor in processing/accounting for same. I imagine the bean counters have figured it’s worth the fees the credit card companies ‘steal’ ! from their merchants !
My $49-$79 fares on Spirit to position at LAX or LGA plus uber to JFK have been seamless. Sometimes a flight from Houston to Tokyo on American will be $2,500 roundtrip and only $900 from LAX so I’ll use Spirit. They need to change their business model though. I don’t see a need for ULCCs in the US. It’s frustrating to the consumer to begin at $39 and end up $219.