Oh, boy. What a flight. All the negative stereotypes about Spirit…are 100% true.
John and I boarded the flight from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale and could immediately see that this was a different kind of clientele. Or perhaps I should say hear.
Language was coarse. A lot of swearing. Many were first time flyers judging from comments like, “Wow, these seats look big” or “I’ve never been on a plane so big!” (we flew an A320). Just after sitting down the lady sitting behind me wedged her feet between my seat and John’s. I may have set my elbow on them.
A guy walked onboard reeking of marijuana like this guy. He sat down two rows behind us and we could smell him. Nasty…
> Read More: Sky High: My Stoned, Stinky Seatmate
We took off and the FAs went to work hawking their onboard products, including a disproportional quantity of liquor. On Spirit, you can even drink three varieties of cocktails from a can…
Passengers liquored up and a group of millennials, some with young children, held an impromptu party a few rows behind. Despite it being an overnight flight, volume was not controlled and raucous laughing and loud conversation lingered for two hours into the flight. FAs did not seem bothered.
As we touched down in Ft. Lauderdale at 4:40a, a lady decided it was time to let the group have it. She started cursing them out for being loud. She raised her voice. Other chimed in around her.
The passengers ignored the chorus of complaints…for a moment.
Then a woman in the loud group turned around and started screaming at the woman. Oh my goodness, what a profanity laced tirade that was…
Even though we were taxiing on the ground at FLL, a FA sprang up to try to diffuse the matter. She was successful. No blows were exchanged, just some more swearing.
Just another redeye on Spirit Airlines…
It’s so weird when I hear these stories about Spirit. I’ve flown them some and have never come close to any of this. They do seem to attract people who don’t fly as much as they are looking to go “cheap” but it just seem strange to hear of these events. Maybe it’s more prone on certain routes. Like flying from Las Vegas can be on many carriers. I guess the moral of the story is don’t plan on sleeping on a Spirit flight 🙂
Love your comments! Very true!
You’re dead on. I did find Spirit to be like a flight to Vegas on any carrier–full of people who don’t travel often and are lacking in normal manners for flying. Not that any airline has only pleasant passengers, but Spirit tends to have substantially more price sensitive flyers, with all that entails.
maybe you should’ve paid the $99 for jetblue instead
Great — Flying NK for the first time next week BWI-SEA. I’m a spoiled millennial when it comes to flying; however, I couldn’t pass up the $50 transcon flight. I’ve gotten cheap w/ airfare since quitting my job for law school (gosh, what was I thinking!?). I’m hoping that the Baltimore to Seattle crowd are a bit better.
Well… you pay peanut, you get monkey…
What actually leaves me in more shock is, did John actually fly spirit airlines with you? I thought it was first class or nothing…
@Alan
Ha! Well, we were in a “Big Front Seat” so technically domestic first class.
These fares are pretty much the equivalent to Greyhound bus fares back in the day. You get all kinds of attitudes and views on life in the mix.
Wow! So no sleep? You don’t say whether it was worth the $ (I’m guessing not!).
Makes me feel a lot safer (even in coach) on #flyerfriendly UA+WN 😉
P.S. I was once kicked out of a hotel happy hour for saying the C word. Well, I didn’t use it per se, I was reading a funny comment on Gary’s blog and some uppity senior citizens overheard and reported me. I was not a happy camper! Can’t imagine swearing on an airplane in this day and age. That’ll get you reaccommodated on most carriers!
It may be just a typical european LCC flight late at night as well…
So you didn’t mention how much sleep the ‘Big Front Seat” provided. 😉
Bad…
But not as bad as paying $999 on JetBlue.
I flew on Spirit ONCE! First and last time! It’s just not worth high blood pressure!
What A pretty ignorant story. This can happen on Delta Airlines, American Airlines and United Airlines. It just happened to be a Spirit flight you were on.
Was that you making the noise onboard?
Not ignorant if it’s fact. Never once on AA, Delta or UA have I experienced crap like on Spirit. It’s like WalMart. You build it, the riff raff come in droves. I’ll spend whatever it takes to fly a US3 carrier domestically over Spirit.
Such is life with lower people.
It was an isolated event that can happen on airline you travel on.
No.
-Consuela
This post is so irrelevant the blame shouldn’t be on Spirit. This post is really about the passengers. You are on a flight with a bunch of teenagers what do you expect?
No, it is the clientele that Spirit attracts. Sorry if you disagree. I’ve flown 1.5 million miles on United and 500K on other airlines. I would know.
Hmmm, you sure seem to know a lot Matthew. You too were one of Spirit’s clientele that day but you obviously think you are better than the rest. Why didn’t you fly United, Delta or American? Wonder what that seat would have cost you on your beloved United, home to many recent scandals of late.
I too fly a lot, actually significantly more than you and on airlines all over the world and can attest that there are ignorant, rude passengers on almost every flight. Look to the people, the culture of entitlement that we live in. This to me is where the blame lies, not on any one airline.
everyone just mind their business and keep to themselves flight should go ok. granted you will find assholes no matter which airline you choose just sayimg.
If you were so affended you should have your own plane!!! Everyone talks about Walmart, but everyone goes there!!! Some people think they are so much better than others!! Shame on you!!!!
Flight 2/10 LAX to DFW. Really rough crowd. Woman passed out in aisle, while FA and a nurse are assisting the woman. Man cones out of the bathroom..he had been in the toliet over 20 minutes..high as a kite, ready to take down anyone in his path. Threatening the FA, nurse diffused situation.. police met him at the gate. He didnt even get a slap on his hand. On the curb, he is boasting to his friends about how he kicked their MF asses etc..
Bad call police.. he will just behave like that again.
*defuse, not diffuse.