Allegiant MD-80 and Spirit Airbus A319 hanging out in Las Vegas. Photo by Joe (JX).
Recently, I was able to sit down at my local NPR studio and talk with Tess Vigeland about airlines and their fees. Previously, I wrote a story on how it makes sense that airlines, like Allegiant and Spirit, charge fees and how they aren’t that evil. Not that many people are fans of my thoughts on fees, but it is important for people to realize that they have a choice in what airline that they fly (on the most part) and voting with your wallet is the only way that policies will change. If you play your cards right, ultra-l0w cost carriers can provide substantial savings.
As for now, people have been voting by flying on Allegiant and Spirit more (my previous story shows the numbers), so why would they want to change their policies?
Spirit marketing with the Mastercard mileage program is a fraud. I have over 23,000 points, have called over 200 times to get a flight and there are never any seats available, I have tried to book months in advance but no seats available. It is a marketing scam and should be reported accordingly. I am closing my Spirit Mastercard as of today and putting my dollars and miles toward a real mileage program that will be able to provide me with flights as promised.
Regards and fair warning. !!!