Why having the Spirit Airlines credit card isn’t crazy

19.07.2024 - 12:19 / thepointsguy.com

There's an airline credit card that can offer incredible value when it comes to affordable travel. This credit card allows you to earn award flights, pool your points together and even achieve elite status solely based on spend.

So, what card is it?

We're talking about the Free Spirit® Travel More World Elite Mastercard®. This card can help you earn free flights and money-saving status levels if you're comfortable flying Spirit Airlines and understand how to maximize the Spirit frequent-flyer program.

The information for the Free Spirit Travel More World Elite Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

There are actually two different Spirit cobranded credit cards: The Free Spirit Travel More World Elite Mastercard with a $79 annual fee and the Free Spirit Travel Mastercard with no annual fee.

Related: 5 things you should know about Spirit's revamped credit card lineup

While the no-annual-fee card might sound enticing, we recommend the Free Spirit Travel More card with the annual fee since it offers more value for frequent Spirit flyers.

New cardholders can receive a $0 introductory annual fee for the first year (and then $79 thereafter). This will allow you to try out the card for the first year for the same no annual fee and see if the benefits are worth it for you and your family for the years following.

The information for the Free Spirit Travel Mastercard has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.

You'll also earn 50,000 bonus points plus a $100 companion flight voucher after spending at least $1,000 on purchases within 90 days of opening an account.

Free Spirit Travel More World Elite Mastercard cardholders receive the following benefits, too:

Related: How to keep Spirit Airlines points from expiring

While these are overall decent benefits, there's one that truly sticks out amongst the rest: The ability to earn 1 Status Qualifying Point (SQP) toward status for every $10 charged to the card. Spirit Airlines' loyalty program has two tiers, Free Spirit Silver and Gold status. You need 2,000 SQPs to earn Silver status and 5,000 SQPs to earn Gold status.

Benefits to elite status include increased point earning rates, free seat selection at booking, free first checked bag, free carry-on and more. $20,000 in annual charges on the card automatically earns you Silver status, while $50,000 in charges earns you Gold — with just credit card spending alone. Of course, if you earn SQPs flying Spirit throughout the year as well, this will lower the amount of spend required on the card.

Related: How much is