Today marks the first entry in a series of posts known as The Fare Investigator- in which I discuss general assumptions about the cost of air travel. Today's post details Spirit Airlines, America's largest ultra-low cost carrier; and the low fares they advertise. Spirit's low fares were just one of the justifications given when the airline announced it would begin charging for carry-on bags earlier this month. Well its true- kind of… Spirit may advertise the lowest fares, but the absolute fare payed is similar to those of other carriers. In order to prove this, I decided to run a Fare Investigation!!
This is how a Fare Investigation works:
-I will only search for a nonstop flight between two cities (when applicable) and compare every airline on that route
-If no nonstops are available, then I will find the 3 shortest one-stop options (3 different airlines), 3 shortest two stops, 3 shortest 3 stops, and onwards
-I will always try to book the lowest fare class
-If airlines charge for ancillary services, those services will be added to the base fare
-The traveler viewed will be the same on all airlines
On that note, here is the data about our traveler.
He is going to be flying one-way from New York-La Guardia to Fort Lauderdale (Spirit's hub)
Passenger: Jack Jones
Age: 35
Route: LGA-FLL
Date of Travel: May 13, 2010
Class: Economy (non-refundable)
Services: carry on bag that won't fit underneath the seat, 1 non-alcoholic drink
Ok, so Spirit isn't the only competitor on LGA-FLL, which is good because it gives us a large sample size. Currently, Delta Airlines and JetBlue also operate multiple daily flights on the route. Here are the details of the investigation.
One fine day, Jack Jones, who lives in New York City, finds out that he needs to buy himself a one-way ticket to Fort Lauderdale in order to visit his aunt and be a witness for her will. Since Jack lives in Flushing Meadows, he decides to fly out of La Guardia, which is around 10 minutes away from his home. Being a seasoned traveler, Jack decides to look up flights on the websites of all 3 airlines flying the route nonstop. After doing so, he finds that the airlines are offering the following base fares:
But Jack, as all smart travelers know, decided to check out the additional taxes and fees, knowing that they could add a lot of price to the price of the ticket. The new prices:
Jack however, wanted certain service, so he decided to input those costs in as well. Basically, he added in the cost of a walk up carry on bag, and his glass of Coke.
After seeing Spirit's fare jump by $70, Jack promptly doubled over and fainted.
So as the Fare Investigator proved up there; Spirit's low fares aren't all they're cut out to be…