What we heard before takeoff on a recent Spirit Airlines flight out of O'Hare:
Welcome aboard Spirit Airlines, home to the most professional flight attendants in the skies. Unfortunately, none of them were available today, so you're stuck with us. . . . In the unlikely event of a loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks and credit card swipers will descend from the ceiling. . . . Oxygen will flow from the mask, until you hit your credit limit. . . . If the plane is forced to make a water landing, don't worry: You won't be charged an additional cruise vacation fee.
What we thought: Great comedy bit. Love the self-deprecating references to Spirit's many added fees. Uh, there isn't an entertainment surcharge for the monologue, right?
If you've never flown Spirit Airlines, you've missed out on--or consciously avoided--one of the more interesting experiments in consumer pricing: the really-bare-bones airline.
Customers have gotten used to all kinds of changes in the way companies do business to maximize efficiency and reduce prices. Many of the innovations are part of the digital revolution: downloading music and movies, buying goods from Amazon, ordering a ride from Uber.
The airline industry has reinvented itself as well. Sorry, no teleportation yet, but thanks to deregulation and competition, say goodbye to free bags, free cocktails and leg room.
Spirit Airlines takes the trend to an extreme, and brags about it. The base ticket price can be very low, but almost everything else costs extra. You're allowed to board with one small personal item, like a purse or small backpack, but you pay for a standard carry-on plus more for each piece of checked baggage. You pay for boarding passes unless you print them at home, and pay for advance seat assignments. You pay for food, soda, water. Want to relax by reclining your seat? No charge! Why? The seats don't recline. They're lighter and cheaper to maintain that way.
Spirit says its business model is focused on cost-cutting, including jet fuel, so the airline doesn't mind that people pack lightly to avoid fees because that also reduces the plane's weight. Of course the airline doesn't mind the fees, either. Spirit makes more money from ancillary fees on a percentage basis of revenue than any other airline in the world, according to a 2014 study by IdeaWorksCompany. Spirit generated $51.22 per passenger, compared to $40.97 for United.
A lot of fliers hate the Spirit concept, and boy do they let the airline have it in consumer reviews. The funny thing is, Spirit over the past few years has been one of the fastest-growing, most profitable airlines in the industry, so obviously some people are OK with the concept.
What we found through a summer vacation experiment flying Spirit is that the airline can deliver on the promise of a cheaper way to fly--if you study the rules on Spirit's website and have the right expectations. A lot of Spirit's detractors get tripped up by the idiosyncrasies, complaining, for example, about paying $10 at the airport to reprint the boarding pass left at home.
You can grumble at the indignities, or rejoice at the savings when a flight goes well. What you shouldn't do is wait for the trend to blow over, because offering discounts is a lot like telling jokes: when you're good at it, you make people happy.
Editorial on 07/29/2015