Spirit ditches bare-bones fares, turns Big Front Seat into 'business class' in major transformation

30.07.2024 - 14:41 / thepointsguy.com / Ted Christie

While the Airbus jets will still be painted yellow, almost everything else about the Spirit Airlines passenger experience will soon be revamped.

The Dania Beach, Florida-based carrier announced Tuesday perhaps its biggest commercial strategy shift yet.

Spirit is officially abandoning its traditional bare-bones fare structure and replacing it with four new segmented fare products as part of an overhauled passenger experience and effort to reverse its precarious financial situation.

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There's lots to digest, and you can find all the details below.

Spirit is introducing four new fare products designed to appeal to a broad range of travelers.

The new fare products include different amenities and ancillaries. The cheapest offering is the Go fare, which largely mimics the existing Spirit experience.

With this fare, you'll get a ticket and a personal item. You'll need to purchase all of your ancillaries separately, such as seat assignments, checked bags and snacks. Passengers traveling with Go fares will not be allowed to bring a full-size carry-on bag and won't even have the option to pay to bring one. So, those looking to bring a full-size rollaboard will need to buy a different fare product or pay to check their bag.

Spirit's next-cheapest offering will be the Go Savvy fare. This package includes a full-size carry-on bag or a checked bag, as well as a standard seat assignment. Snacks, drinks and onboard internet access will all be available for an additional charge.

The airline will then offer two new premium fares that include innovative new products.

The first is the Go Comfy fare that guarantees a blocked middle seat, priority boarding, a carry-on bag and a checked bag. These seats will also include a single pick from a small snack basket and one nonalcoholic drink. At the outset, Spirit will reserve the first three rows of its economy cabin for Go Comfy seats, CEO Ted Christie told TPG in an interview ahead of the announcement.

Finally, Spirit will revamp the Big Front Seat experience into something resembling domestic first class. Dubbed Go Big, Spirit's most expensive new fare includes a variety of benefits and amenities.

Chief among them is access to the Big Front Seat, which will exclusively be available to those who purchase this fare product. Go Big travelers will also receive all of the benefits of the Go Comfy fare, as well as a more premium food and drink selection (alcohol included), free streaming Wi-Fi, and priority check-in.

"It's now going to be merchandised and sold like a traditional business-class product," Christie said. He added that the new Go Big experience is built on the Big Front Seat's "tremendous success."

As part of the