Spirit Airlines. Some people will cringe when they hear that name. I, however, see dollar bills being saved.

Spirit Airlines is a unique airline company. Their business model is one that cannot be found elsewhere. They literally put customer service last and working them makes life very complicated. It comes as no surprise that they ranked last in the Consumer Satisfaction Index… for the 3rd year in a row.

They can be compared to McDonald's. You don’t go to McDonald's for their service. You go because it’s cheap and it gets the job done. Sound familiar?

For the record, I am not defending nor condoning Spirit’s business model. I merely take advantage of what’s offered. If they want to be unreasonable and charge innocent folks $100 at the gate for a carry-on and have no feels for their customers… I have no qualms flying with them knowing that I am scheming them in return.

If you haven’t read my Spirit Airlines Hack of you can pretty much take a large bag for free, click the button below

You are paying Spirit for taking you from point A to point B. Nothing more. What most people get upset about is the deceiving surprises, and Spirit Airlines is full of those.

Lucky for you Mileaholics… one surprise is actually a positive.

Spirit Airlines fares online are listed with all taxes and fees included. What you may not know is that Spirit.com used to say this at the bottom of a fare listing page:

"Lower fares generally available at the airport"

I actually looked today and noticed I couldn’t find it anymore…A literal SURPRISE for me.

Anyhow, the fares are cheaper when booking at the airport Spirit counter...All fares

This is how you can calculate and expect what to pay when you get to the Spirit counter:

When you look at a fare online, you can hover over the $ amount and it will give you a fare breakdown popup.

That “Base Fare” is the price you can expect to pay at the airport.

In the example screenshots, you can see that the Flight from DFW to MSY shows $40.19 online is actually $24.87 at the airport. All taxes and fees included.

Apparently, the “Government’s Cut” is only enforced when booking online and not at the airport.

So, there you have it. A pleasant surprise that will have you saving more $$$.

The dollar menu of the airline industry.