December Trip Locked In Dec 8th to 13th

Just made airline reservations after wavering about which direction to go. Fares out of Lousiville have gone way up since my last trip so that left me with STL, IND, CVG and BNA to choose from.  All are roughly a 3-hour drive away.  The finalists were BNA, Nashville and St. Louis (STL).  STL won out when I realized I had enough Spirit points to book a departure out of there at no cost and then a red-eye return on Southwest. All in $179 including the checked bag I purchased on the Spirit leg. 

My first three nights are at the Four Queens.  Two of them are compend and then one is 25% off for a total of $119 for a Thur, Fri and Sat night.  I upgraded the room to a south tower king premium. 

I am up in the air as to where to stay the last two nights, but I just pay resort fees at any of the MGM properties so I will pick one of those.

Great bargains!

I'm always jealous about hub cities and their good air fares.  Ours is not, few bargains.

That said, allow me to ask about paying for checked baggage on Spirit.  I rode AA to Virginia when my brother passed.  I paid a king's ransom (last minute reservations) to fly from my non-hub city (no Spirit either) to the closest airport, Newport News, where everyone would be gathering and could pick me up, etc.  

Turned out my flight would be on American Eagles, the small versions of AA.  There would be a charge to check a bag (I think it was $35 or so).  I worked to get everything into the smallest suitcase I had and prayed it would fit the overhead, didn't sign up for the stowed baggage fee.  Once I started the trip I learned that American Eagle's overhead bins are so small they don't actually anticipate even small bags to fit.  They stow any and all bags that one totes through the jetbridge, no matter the size, for asking, no measuring, NO CHARGE!  Unless you want to tote it onboard, of course. 

I changed planes in Charlotte both ways so had to claim my bag there (both ways) roll it down the jet bridge for the guys to load/unload from the outside.  I guess I'm not an intrepid traveler enough to have known this.  And there was no advance information, of course, that there was really no need to pay for luggage to be stowed in the first place!

My point being, if flying a small plane, it is possible they operate the same way and luggage of any size may not require paying the stowage fee.

Anyway, have a wonderful time in Vegas in December!

Candy

Candy, the only thing they let you take on a Spirit or Frontier flight without paying extra is a personal item. You can purchase a checked bag and/or a carry-on. The checked bag is usually $5 to $10 cheaper so I buy it instead of the carry-on. If I were just doing a two to three-night trip, I'd try and get by with a personal item.

Near the Spirit and Frontier counters and gates at the airport is a sizer.  Your personal bag must fit in the personal bag sizer and your carry-on has to fit in the carry-on sizer.  If they don't, they charge you a hefty fee to convert your personal item to a carry-on or your carry-on to a checked bag at the gate. 

Spirt has raised their fares and bag fees quite a bit since announcing their merger agreement with Jet Blue. My checked bag was $50 one-way and that with being a member of their savings club. I wouldn't be flying Spirit this go around if it weren't for the free flight as by the time you add a bag plus their base fare they just aren't competitive anymore.  I found cheaper fares with Southwest and Delta out of three of those markets I mentioned above. One of the main appeals of Spirit and Frontier is they offer a lot of direct flights out of the smaller markets whereas the bigger airlines typically have at least one layover out of the markets I mentioned. On a flight with a layover, I am typically looking at 6 to 8 hours to Vegas vs four hours on a direct flight with Spirit or Frontier. 

Here is a pic of the Frontier sizer at one of their gates.

I have never...I mean never ever...seen a gate agent check a waiting passenger's carry-on in those sizers.  I've seen big full sized suitcases, golf clubs, baby grand pianos (LOL) etc. toted into the cabin with no flak from flight attendants until one just could not be stuffed in the overhead no matter how much pounding and maneuvering (while the line of on-boarding passengers gets backed up).  Then the bag is removed and stowed below.  I laugh to myself when I see one of those sizers by the gate.

Candy

Candy, I have seen this happen twice on Spirit flights. They bring extra gate agents over right before boarding. Then boarding is called. Once people line up to board the extra gate agents walk along the line of people waiting to board. If their bag looks questionable they make them put it in the sizer.  If it doesn't pass they have to pay up.  Spirit and Frontier are primarily looking for people with carry-ons trying to pass them off as personal items.

Spirit is also real strict on checked bags that are too heavy. Their limit is 40 pounds instead of the usual 50. At LAS you have to get in line and walk up to a scale. If you are an once over you have to pay.

I've flown Spirit once, and though it was cheap, my reaction was "Never, never, never, again."

Interesting, Mark.  Maybe other airlines do the same and I just haven't noticed.   Still, I see pieces of luggage brought on board (larger aircraft like Southwest) that in my mind couldn't have possibly fit in the sizer.  Spirit's overheads are probably too small to accommodate the bigger ones, and that could create a mess, delays, etc. if allowed inside the cabin.

Candy

I received an email today from Spirit informing me that my Thursday night flight is now a Friday morning flight and I should contact them if I have any problem with it.  I already had reservations for Thursday night and I didn't want to mess with those so I contacted Spirit.  They issued a refund for my luggage and then refunded the points I used to pay for the flight. I found a one-way flight from Delta that includes luggage for $128 so I jumped on that.  One of the biggest regrets I had about this upcoming trip was that I didn't arrive in Vegas until 11:40 pm. 

My new arrival is at 6:45 pm so I don't feel like I am wasting that first day anymore.  The net cost ended up being about the same as the luggage was $60 and the points were worth $60. I'll use my Spirt points on my next trip to Vegas.