Spirit Airlines to start charging for MIDDLE seats!
Airlines have been doing anything they possibly can to raise money over the past few months, from checked bag fees to charging for soft drinks to increasing the price for almost everything that formerly had a fee associated with it.Now, according to an article over at Smarter Travel, Spirit has decided to start charging extra for online seat selection.
Carriers have done this before -- many current legacy carriers charge extra for sitting in an aisle or window near the front of the plane or in preferred seats. But what Spirit is proposing is to charge for ANY seat selected online before departure -- even the seats that most people don't want.
Fees will range from $15 for a window to $10 for an aisle to $5 dollars for a middle seat.
So if you want to sit next to a person that you're traveling with or want to sit in a decent seat and want to pick your spots before departure, you're basically screwed into paying these fees. It looks like you can still go to the airport the day of departure and get assigned seats, but there's no telling who you'll be sitting next to and where at that point.
[Via Airfarewatchdog]
What strange things have been found on planes?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jul 1st 2008 @ 8:44PM
james said...
Grant, your thing with Spirit is suspect. First you post the thing about Spirit flying with "commies" and now this. I don't know Spirit, not in my city, never flown them, probably never will. But, seeing these 2 posts causes me to wonder what you are up to.
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Jul 1st 2008 @ 9:37PM
Grant Martin said...
No conspiracy, I'm afraid, I'm just picking stories up from the wire. :)
Cheers,
Grant
Jul 3rd 2008 @ 5:34PM
mary ann said...
There is nothing suspect about this article. It is absolutely true. I had to pay $60.00 for seat selections for our trip to Detroit this coming Thursday. The cost was $15.00 per seat, each way. I paid extra to have a seat in the exit row so we would have some extra leg room. I also had to pay $10.00 per bag to check, each way, for a total of $80.00 and I believe we are going to be charged an additional surcharge at the airport as two of our bags are golf clubs.
Jul 1st 2008 @ 9:48PM
Gargamello said...
Yes this is a bummer but I gotta think the oil companies are more to blame than the airlines for all the price hikes. How many billions is Exxon making a month?
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Jul 2nd 2008 @ 12:08AM
Brenda said...
I don't know how many billions, but we all know that they're raking it in. Chevron headquarters are right across the bay from me, they have refineries in the East Bay, but I just paid $4.69 a gallon here in San Francisco...I guess it costs a lot of money to move that gasoline a few miles......hard to believe that it cost me $75.00 to fill my 16 gallon tank on my car.
Jul 3rd 2008 @ 3:19PM
RICK said...
YES, IT'S TRUE. $10 IF YOU WANT TO PICK AN AISLE SEAT OR WINDOW SEAT WHEN YOU MAKE YOUR RESERVATION. A DISGRACE! NEXT THEY WILL WANT A FEE TO USE THE BATHROOM. THIS IS JUST RUBBING IT IN OUR FACES! IF I HADN'T ALREADY CONFIRMED MY RESERVATION, I WOULD HAVE REFUSED THE TRIP & BOOKED ANOTHER AIRLINE. I'D RATHER PAY MORE ON SOUTHWEST FOR EXAMPLE THAN HAVE THIS PULLED ON ME. THIS IS MY LAST FLIGHT ON SPIRIT FOR SURE. TAKE A STAND-- FIGHT BACK. IF BOOKINGS GO DOWN, MAYBE THEY'LL DO AWAY WITH SOME OF THESE AGGRAVATING FEES. THEY'RE AS BAD AS THE BANKS NOW.
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 3:23PM
Sunny said...
First, flying was sophisticated and an adventure.
Then flying used to be fun.
Now it is just a major pain.
What the hell happened??
(Besides 9/11)
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 6:12PM
Brian said...
Two words -- greed and avarice.
Jul 3rd 2008 @ 3:39PM
Sullu said...
I do fly to NY almost every other month. I do fly Spirit, I will however NOT pay for my seat selection. I purchase a ticker which most certainly should give me a seat. All Spirit customers should not choose their seat online, do it at the airport; that should get rid of this "charge".
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 3:48PM
hc said...
I have given up airline travel unless absolutely necessary. fuel prices and regulations have done a num ber on the industry.
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 3:58PM
Jim said...
Piss on the "Friendly Skies"! I live in Michigan and I drive everywhere I wanna be, even Florida.
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 4:30PM
Craigo said...
Stay home! Nobody has a gun to your head. I spent the same last year on air transportaion as I did 10 years ago, so the joke is on all you compaining fools.
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Jul 7th 2008 @ 3:45PM
khadijah allen said...
Try paying the same price now. I recently started traveling from NY to Miami once a month and I saw the increase every time. I used to just pay for the ticket and hop on the plane until I had to pay seating, checking, beverage, and surcharge fees. And when I tried to purchase the ticket in the airport I received a $30 printing fee. Needless to say, you will be shocked.
Jul 3rd 2008 @ 7:39PM
Craigo said...
It costs me exactly the same now as before: zero. Why would I be shocked?
Jul 3rd 2008 @ 4:55PM
James vanBuskirk said...
If we all stop flying unless we have no choice but to fly - it won't be long and the cheap fares will return and this nickel and dime stuff will stop. We need to remember that without us (the flying public) the airlines have nothing.
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 5:41PM
Chad said...
How much to breathe oxygen?
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 5:54PM
terri said...
I fly Spirit at least once every other month. It was initially upsetting to me when they started charging fees for baggage and seating, but that's simply because I was spoiled for always flying from NY to FLL for less than 50.00 round trip.
My roundtrip tickets to Florida are always for less than 50.00(not a typo), which includes all taxes, w/baggage and seating my round trip tix is still under 85.00 round trip, 65.00 if i have a carry-on. Not bad when other airlines announce a sale and the fare from NY to Ft Lauderdale is 99.00 each way plus taxes and luggage fees.
Just yesterday I booked a trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina from NY with Spirit. My grand total? $77.44 for two roundtrip tickets. Try finding that fare with any other airline.
People stop complaining and do the math.
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 7:27PM
stuart said...
I really dont mind paying the fees, but I do feel that I have been taken when they are not being up front. Also their customer service is by far the worst when you have a problem. The last time I flew, they rushed me through the check in so fast that I did not have a chance to consolidate my carry on and was charged for baggage. I was on hold a total of 3 hrs to try to rectify it and gave up. This time after being on hold for an hour I was given the phone number for the corperate office (954 447 7965) and no matter which option you chose you were referred to the web site. If anyone knows how to speak to a customer service rep, please pass it on.
Jul 3rd 2008 @ 5:57PM
deborah said...
Would you like the breathing or non-breathing section?
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Jul 3rd 2008 @ 6:32PM
Megan said...
I'm traveling with Airtran next week and they're charging $10 for each additional bag over 1 if you tell them in advance, or $20 at the gate. This is also only if the bags are under the 50 pound weight limit. We also had to go online the other day to book our seats because there was a story in the news about a woman who didn't book her seat ahead of time and was told that she couldn't get on the flight because they sold her seat to someone else. We ended up paying $6 per seat per flight, so $24 total or $12 per person roundtrip. I wanted to sit in the seats that have only 2 people next to each other but then realized that the only rows available were exit rows which would have cost us $20 per person per flight, or $80 when everything was said and done.
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