First of all, let me start by saying that this post is not paid for by Spirit Airlines. In fact, Spirit Airlines gives almost nothing away for free. (One exception is when they gave us 12 free bags to take Legos to Orphans in Guatemala. Yay Spirit!). But this post will show you how to travel for free (pay just taxes and fees $11-100 per ticket) using a Spirit Airlines credit card.
Spirit air has a gotten a bad reputation for being a cheap, no thrills airline that makes you pay for everything! However, many other airlines have followed this business model in the past few years, making Spirit Airlines much more competitive when compared to other airlines.
Using my miles, in the past year, I have booked a Baltimore to Ecuador trip for $67 (and 6500 miles) per person round trip, a Baltimore to Portland trip for $77 round trip (using zero miles), a Baltimore to Cancun trip for $91 per person round trip (using 5000 miles) and a Baltimore to Costa Rica for $95 round trip (using 6000 miles).
When you sign up for the credit card, Spirit gives you 40,000 bonus miles and a $100 flight voucher. Based on the mileage above, that 40,000 bonus is enough to take a family of 6 to Ecuador, paying only the airline fees, which range from $20-$105pp depending on what country you travel to. So signing up for the card to get the bonus may be worth it for you! If you keep the card and don’t cancel within a year, you will be charged a yearly fee (like $79?).
So here are the card member benefits directly from Spirits website:
https://secure.bankofamerica.com/apply-credit-cards/public/icai-single/#/info/
- 3 points per dollar spent on eligible Spirit purchases, 2 points per dollar spent on eligible dining and grocery store purchases, and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases
- Receive a $100 Companion Flight Voucher each anniversary after making at least $5,000 in purchases within the prior anniversary year
- No redemption fees as a primary card holder, no limit to the points you can earn, and no points expiration as long as your account is open
- Get a 25% rebate on all inflight food and beverage purchases when you pay with your new card
- Zone 2 Shortcut boarding on all flights
- Points Pooling – Pool your points with friends or family by linking your Free Spirit accounts to redeem points jointly
- Reach Free Spirit Status by earning 1 Status Qualifying Point for each $10 in Net Purchases during a calendar year towards earning Free Spirit Silver or Gold status.
- Contactless card – the security of a chip card, with the convenience of a tap
- No Foreign Transaction Fees†
- $0 introductory annual fee for the first year. After that, it’s just $79†
One other benefit of the card, is that this thing works everywhere! Where most other cards will give you fraud alerts while traveling, this card will never fail and has never given me the dreaded, “card declined”. Also, foreign transaction fees add up, so I love not having to worry about those with this card.
So do I recommend it? I have enjoyed getting the insanely cheap flights, but Spirit fares are often insanely cheap anyway so you don’t need the card to get the great prices. I would say the card is worth It if you get the 40,000 bonus miles, use them quickly and then cancel before the year is up. So, happy travels!!
