Spirit Airlines Credit Card
- Abigail Gaston
- Aug 15, 2018
- 6 min read
Last Fall, I opted to apply for the Spirit Airlines credit card by Bank of America. If I am being totally honest, Spirit is not my number one choice airline. That said, I will fly Spirit as long as the distance is not over a couple hours and/or if I am going to be gone only a few days and can get by on packing just a backpack that does not have to be checked and qualifies as a personal /free item (personal items that are free of charge have to fall within the following dimensions - not exceeding 18 x 14 x 8 inches).
Now let me be clear, so to not anger anyone from the Spirit Airlines team. It is not that the staff is rude, the pilots are sub-par, and the fleet is sketchy; personally, I have not had any experiences with the previously stated in my travels. In fact, I have always felt that the piloting was great when flying Spirit Airlines and according to the Spirit Airlines website, they have "the youngest fleet in the business."
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I am honestly just not a fan of the “Bare Fare” flying. I would prefer to have in-flight entertainment and snacks /refreshments included, etcetera. And, I like having the option to be able to connect to Wi-Fi. Again, I will do it if I am flying less than a couple hours; however, I prefer more than what Spirit Airlines offers passengers. Simply put, I am high maintenance. Okay, that is far from the truth; I promise you that I am as laid back as they come. Anyway, shall we get back on track?
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When I was weighing the idea of applying, I was booking flights out of Detroit to New York City. There were two distinct features that were tempting me.
1. If I applied for the Spirit Airlines credit card and was approved, I would receive $100 back in a statement credit. The flight cost was only $96. I would actually make $4 on this deal if I applied and was approved.
2. If I was approved for the Spirit Airlines credit card, after the first purchase, Spirit Airlines would award me with 15,000 bonus miles. I found this to be pretty great, as many miles /points credit card programs require you to spend a certain amount before they will reward you with bonus points. The Spirit Airlines credit card simply required one purchase.
The above features seemed pretty amazing so I went for it; I applied for the Spirit Airlines credit card and I was approved. Immediately following the approval, I was given the option to put my flight purchase on my new credit card. This eventually activated the 15,000 bonus miles offer. However, initially I was still a bit skeptical regarding the $100 statement credit and 15,000 bonus miles attachment to the credit card approval. Surely, I would come across some pretty hard to overcome caveats that would prevent me from earning the above, but I was wrong. The following month, I received that $100 statement credit and on Spirit.com, I had 15,000 additional bonus miles listed under my name.
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Spirit Airlines Credit Card Pros:
Using Bonus Miles:
Spirit Airlines makes it pretty easy to search and confirm airfare with your miles. In fact, if you are flexible with your dates, the website gives you the option to search by month, which is very helpful to see when “Free Spirit Mastercard Holder,” or “FSM,” dates are accepted and how many miles the trip would cost you.
Fly for as Little as 2,500 Miles:
You really can find flights for as little as 2,500 miles. Initially, I thought that they would be listed for one day per year and to and from locations I would not be interested in. That said, the first time I booked using miles, I was able to get a Sunday flight from Orlando to Detroit for only 2,500 miles. A popular travel route and on a weekend!
Annual Fee:
The annual fee is waived in the first year.
Mile Accumulation:
You get 2 miles for every $1 spent
Miles Expiration:
According to Spirit.com You can keep your miles from expiring as long as you use your Spirit Airlines credit card once per month.
Spirit Airlines Credit Card Cons:
Black-Out Dates:
Spirit Airlines states that there are no blackout dates; however, this is not entirely true. During multiple searches; searching for an actual airfare purchase need with miles and strictly research for this post, I discovered many blackout dates for award travel. One of the greatest stretches of blackout dates is a three week period around the Christmas and New Year holidays.
Also, your miles are not accepted for all travel routes. Example - I looked into using miles for my roundtrip flights from Detroit to Chicago and to my knowledge; miles are not accepted at all for this route. I had specific travel dates but out of curiosity looked at three different months and each month was blank/gray. To me, this is the same thing as “blackout dates.” Tis-tis, Spirit, you should be more specific with this statement.
Fly for as Little as 2,500 Miles:
Okay, although I did state above that I was able to find a good flight for 2,500 miles, there are still quite a few caveats. At the same time, I sort of feel that is to be expected for such little miles used. See the experience I had below.
It seems you may have to purchase one-way tickets to get this “FSM” 2,500 flight; one way there for 2,500 and one way back for 2,500.
Example – When I traveled from Detroit to Orlando, I discovered that if I purchased my return flight (Orlando to Detroit) separate from my departure flight, I could get the return flight for only 2,500 (one way, Orlando to Detroit). However, I had to pay cash for my flights from Detroit to Orlando, as there was no FSM miles offered for the time of day I wanted to depart or they were but would cost me 25,000 miles (I did not have that much). Essentially, I purchased them as one-way tickets, getting the flight to Orlando for $100 and the flight home for 2,500 miles plus tax /fees.
Annual Fee:
There is an annual fee of $59. The fee is waived for the first year and although this is not a hefty fee, I feel as if there are many better airline credit cards that exceed that of the Spirit Airlines credit card and they do not have an annual fee.
Example – Delta Gold by American Express (other Delta cards do have an annual fee)
Miles as Cash:
Unlike some other airline miles programs, you cannot use your miles as cash. Therefore, you must have accumulated equal to or above the miles required to purchase airfare with miles. Whereas with some other airline points programs, you can subtract miles or choose a miles+cash option. Spirit does not allow this.
Example - You have 15,000 miles and your flights cost $250; your miles are not worth any monetary value, so you cannot take $150 off your $250 cost (15,000 Delta miles equals $150 with Delta Skymiles).
Ultimately, it was the $100 statement credit and the 15,000 bonus miles that sold me and I am still glad I did it. I, again, walked away $4 richer after the statement credit and even if I cannot find any other use for my Spirit Airlines miles left over, I purchased three flights from Orlando to Detroit at 2,500 miles (7.500 miles total) and only had to pay the small fee /tax. It was definitely worth it; however, it is not likely I will renew the Spirit Airlines Credit Card for another year…unless they can rope me in with another great deal!
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