TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Spirit Air

With the ridiculous air fares from our origin city to SXM I have done some creative searching. One combination set up is using Spirit Air and flying out of Ft. Lauderdale.

Does anyone have anything to say positive or negative about Spirit?

One concern is we have 1.5 hours to make connection returning but we have Global Entry and will be doing carry on only.

Take a roll of duct tape with you and a lot of patience. Lol
Hour and half should be enough time with carry on and GE.

Spririt is the worst! Only flew them out once. Never again! Left me stranded at STT at night.

Ohhh ... Spirit? I would not fly them if I had other choices. Don't be fooled by the initial lower costs. Everything will be an add-on, and I mean everything. Have you checked out Jet Blue from Fort Lauderdale yet?

If I recall even your carry on has a charge.

Negatives about Spirit, I assume you know. You have to pay for EVERYTHING, including seat assignments AND carry on bags, unless they fit under the seat in front of you. The seats are EXTREMELY close together, front to back, closer than most any other airline. Unless something has changed, you don't get even a free soda on the plane. You also have to PAY to print boarding passes at the airport. So unless you have access to a printer in SXM, you will have to pay for that. If you don't pre-pay for bags (including carry on bags that have to go in the overhead) they charge BIG bucks at the airport. If it were ME, I would not book a connection on the return with only 1.5 hours. The other issue with Spirit is that they only have one flight per week (I guess that's still the case) and if that flight does not go, I think you might have a BIG problem, as Spirit does NOT cooperate with other airlines. What that means is that they will NOT place you on another airline if they have mechanical trouble. They presumably will try their best to get another plane there and get you there, even if it is a day or so later. But with other airlines, they will put you on another airline. Not Spirit.

Sent reply and must have hit wrong send butto. Basically, we have flown Spirit many years from Myrtle Beac, SC and have enjoyed the flight from Fort Lauderdale. Hope this brief reply goes.

Make sure you get to airport in time. Should you miss your flight you'll have to eb prepared to wait a week for the next one.

I must be the only one with something positive to say about Spirit. THEY called me to refund my money after Irma. I wasn't due to fly until end of January. Full refund on my credit card. This January I also went with Spirit as they were the only game in town that left from Florida and close to where I live. That being said, now that JetBlue flies out of FLL I will probably fly with them.

Not the ONLY one, as Coffee also had good things to say, but that's about it..

That said, I will be flying Spirit myself here in the US in about a month. Fingers crossed. (But not my legs, as I didn't pay for the Big Front Seat!! )

Just returned today on JetBlue. Why in the world would anyone even consider taking Spirit out of FLL anymore??? JB prices are fantastic....service incredable.....and even returning back to FLL today...we landed early.....and was actually through customs and out the door within fifteen to twenty minutes. In fact, we were already picked up by our ride in FLL, the time we were supposed to land!!!! GREAT EXPERIENCE.

Thanks for the update Ed. Will be flying through FLL in June. Have a 3.5 hour drive after clearing customs, so I hope it will be quick when I get there. I don't have GE but I do have the mobile app.