No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. Spirit, yes THAT Spirit, announced a major change to its business model today with the Florida based carrier bundling fares in an effort to attract more premium travelers. The airline is promising an “Unmatched Value with New Travel Options and Transformed Guest Experience.”
While this initially came as a surprise to me, many airlines have placed more focus on premium travel demand in recent months. Southwest just announced that it will begin to assign seats and is adding extra legroom seats. Alaska is increasing the number of premium seats across its fleet, and JetBlue is expected to announce a “Mini-Mint” First Class product shortly.
The airline is planning to deliver a more premium travel experience to passengers with Ted Christie, Spirit’s President and CEO stating:
“We’re unveiling a new era in Spirit’s history and taking low-fare travel to new heights with enhanced options that are unlike anything we’ve offered before. We listened to our Guests and are excited to deliver what they want: choices for an elevated experience that are affordable and provide unparalleled value.”
Tec Christie, Spirit President and CEO
The new travel options will go on sale August 16th for flights departing on or after August 27th.
Spirit’s New Fare Bundles
Spirit, and other ultra-low-cost carriers (ULCCs) have typically offered unbundled fares wherein passengers pay for a cheap ticket and then ancillary fees are added for things such as seat selection, checked baggage, priority boarding, snacks, and more. While this allows passengers to buy exactly what they want, most people are turned off by this approach.
The airline has now introduced four new fare bundles, ranging from premium to bare bones with everything in-between. The press release notes that these are designed to meet the needs of all travelers. The new options are:
- Go Big: This is set to become Spirit’s version of First Class and includes a Big Front Seat, snacks and drinks, including alcoholic beverages, one carry-on bag, one checked bag, priority check-in and boarding, and Wi-Fi. The Big Front Seat features enhanced comfort with wider seats, extra legroom, additional seat cushioning and no middle seat.
- Go Comfy: A band-new seating option for the airline, it features increased comfort and space with a guaranteed blocked middle seat (think European Business Class), one carry-on bag, one checked bag, priority boarding, and a snack and non-alcoholic beverage.
- Go Savvy: This option provides passengers with the choice of either one carry-on bag or one checked bag and standard seat selection during booking.
- Go: This product is the closest to Spirit’s current base ticket. It will offer the greatest affordability for those who want to keep it simple with the flexibility to purchase any of the following options: checked bags, standard seat selection, Wi-Fi, and snacks and beverages.
Spirit has released the following chart outlining each fare and more information can be found on the carrier’s website.
Increased Passenger Benefits
ELite members of Spirit’s Free Spirit loyalty program along with passengers purchasing more expensive fares will see additional benefits on the ground. The airline will debut a new, priority check-in experience for Free Spirit Gold members, Free Spirit World Elite MasterCard holders and passengers purchasing a Go Big ticket beginning August 27th.
This will be available to passengers at more than 20 airports including Atlanta (ATL), Cancun (CUN), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW), Detroit (DTW), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Houston (IAH), Las Vegas (LAS), Los Angeles (LAX), Newark (EWR), New York-LaGuardia (LGA) and Orlando (MCO). This dedicated lane will provide front-of-the-line access to the first available ticket counter agent.
Also beginning August 27th, passengers will notice an enhanced boarding experience with five groups. According to the release, this is being done in order to reduce boarding time and enhance operational performance. It also opens up priority boarding for passengers that purchased Go BIg or Go Comfy options as well as Free Spirit Gold and Silver members, credit card holders, and active duty U.S. military members and their families.
In addition, Spirit previously announced new guest benefits including no change or cancellation fees, an increased checked bag allowance of 50 lbs, and the extension of travel voucher expiration to 12 months from the date of issue.
Overall, all of these changes appear to be a net positive for passengers. We’ll have to wait a few weeks to see how Spirit prices these but I’m already considering taking a Spirit flight in Go Big. On paper, it appears to rival, or even exceed, what you get in First Class on the big 3 U.S. carriers.
Summary
Ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit announced a major change to its business model today. The airline is planning to bundle fares and pursue premium travelers as part of a strategy to boost revenues at the struggling carrier. The new options look very appealing and I’m definitely considering trying out the Go Big option should my schedule allow.
Do these changes have you reconsidering whether or not you’d fly with the airline?
I like it. And aside from the Big Front Seat being included, the Go Big is basically what I get as a Spirit Gold member (plus a phone line that actually gets answered without a phone tree). As I’ve shared with you in the past, other than the lack of a meal, Big Front Seat across the country is on par with AA narrowbody First Class.
The Big 3 (and perhaps soon even Southwest) have fought back to the ULCCs with Basic Economy. I would say this is the first time one of the low cost folks has been able to fire a shot back.
I’m excited to try them out. Aside from the hot meal you can even make the argument that Go Big is a better option than domestic first on the Big 3 (Aside from properly equipped Delta planes) as they offer free Wi-Fi. We don’t have many Spirit routes from Austin but I’ll be looking for something once flights go on sale to try it out.