Cheapest Destinations Blog is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

How to Get Around Spirit Air’s Baggage Fees Extortion

Spirit Airlines high baggage fees to take luggage

Spirit Airlines is the airline that seems to invite everyone to hate it, partly because of doublespeak press releases that accompany every customer-unfriendly move. Here’s the one they put up at the beginning of the decade when first announcing new bag fees.

“In order to continue reducing fares even further and offering customers the option of paying only for the services they want and use rather than subsidizing the choices of others, the low fare industry innovator is also progressing to the next phase of unbundling with the introduction of a charge to carry on a bag and be boarded first onto the airplane.”

Interpretation: “We will now charge every single passenger who brings any kind of luggage a hefty fee. You will pay us this on top of the price of your ticket whether you check a bag or carry it on.”

They even call it “Bare Fare.” They’re proud of the fact you get nothing for your ticket except a cramped luck-of-the-draw seat. You will pay dearly for anything beyond that, from a drink of water to a seat assignment. And yes, Spirit Airlines makes it extremely difficult to fly somewhere and spend the night without adding on more charges each way for baggage fees. That’s part of the reason Consumer Reports ranked them as the worst airline in America and why they show up at the bottom of the heap in most traveler surveys too when it comes to fees, cabin comfort, and customer satisfaction.

Spirit Airlines Carry-on Size

There’s only a knee’s worth of room between seats on Spirit flights, but if you can fit what you have under the seat in front of you (short people rejoice!), then you can still bring the bag on without a fee. It has to be a tiny bag that fits under the seat though, which they define in very strict terms. Here’s the official Spirit Airlines personal item size:

Under seat bag size Spirit Airlines

That drawing is a good illustration of how small those dimensions actually are for a Spirit Airlines personal item. A messenger bag for a 15-inch laptop is about all that will squeeze into that space. The under-seat bags sold by Delsey and others will easily fit, but most are technically too large by an inch or two if the gate agent wants to get snippy with you.

Spirit Airlines Bag Fees

If you’re actually going to go somewhere for business or pleasure instead of just turning around and coming back, you may actually need luggage. If so, you’ll need to consult a complicated fee chart to figure out the Spirit checked bag price. You have to actually do a flight search on their website to get the prices—that’s how much they don’t want you to see them.

Let’s ignore the $9 fare club that you have to pay $60 to join: only a true masochist (and someone who is bad at math) would regularly fly on Spirit enough to get loyalty club benefits that require an extra charge. For a regular passenger, you’ll pay anywhere from $30 for the first bag booked in advance on a short-haul flight (see the chart here) to $47 for a carry-on for a long-haul flight.

high luggage fees on Spirit Air

Ironically, it can cost you more to bring a bag that no Spirit employee touches than one they check for you—a sure irritant for people trying to save time on arrival or just not lose their luggage. The airline also shaves 10 pounds off the maximum compared to what you get for free (with two bags) on Southwest or what you pay for on the legacy airlines—the maximum luggage weight allowance on Spirit is just 40 pounds.

After that you pay overweight charges that almost double the price. Pretty soon that advertised $69 one-way flight turns into $169.

If you learn at the gate you need to check your bag, don’t expect any sympathy: it’s a stinging $65 charge at that point, even if it’s a carry-on! The way the Spirit Air baggage policy works, your one-way bag fee could cost more than the actual suitcase did when you bought it.

How to Fly on Spirit with No Baggage Fees

It’s going to take some work to get around Spirit’s baggage fees, but it can be done if you’re determined to actually get one of those advertised teaser fares that are just the base price.

1) Don’t pack a bag at all.

This might get you screened on the way in and out by the TSA, and will add a few extra hours when leaving Colombia, but it could be done. You’ve got no change of clothes and just a toothbrush in your pocket. But hey, you can always buy a new outfit locally for less than all those Spirit baggage fees.

2) Pack one change of clothes in a tiny bag with your laptop.

If you pack well, a small laptop/netbook, a change of clothes, and something to read should fit under the seat and comply with the Spirit Airlines personal item size. You might even be able to fit in some flip-flops or flats. I would suggest good travel apparel from the likes of ExOfficio so you can sink wash one set at night and it’ll be dry by morning. (Here’s a more detailed take on that brand from me.)

Companies like Osprey, North Face, and Sea to Summit make duffle bags that fit in a tiny pouch, so you can carry something larger after uncompressing your clothes. In theory you could even use something like Space Bags to cram in more by sucking out all the air.

3) Layers, layers, layers.

So far there’s no extra charge for being a large human—too hard to “unbundle” that—so expand your width with lots of extra clothing. You can strip some of those layers off after take-off.

4) Wear your belongings.

There’s a company called ScotteVest that makes vests with 26 pockets to hold all your gear and gadgets. Then there are those photography vests the French are so fond of wearing that hold all kinds of stuff in multiple pockets. Some ExOfficio Storm Logic jackets have six or eight pockets, as do Clothing Arts’ Pickpocket Proof Pants. (See the travel gear brands that haven’t let me down.)

5) Ship your belongings.

On a long domestic flight, you would likely come out ahead by shipping your belongings in a Priority Mail flat rate box or by UPS.

6) Fly on Southwest instead.

I’ve met some nice, well-meaning people from Spirit Air and the company flies to some underserved routes in places like Colombia and Nicaragua. Sooner or later though we’re like frogs in a heating-up pot that’s about to boil. Jump!

I get that they’re trying to be like RyanAir, whose CEO admits the airline is just “a flying bus,” but few buses make you pay for baggage and often they come with a movie, a snack, a drink, and Wi-Fi. So can “We’re worse than a bus” be a successful strategy?

I’m not convinced. Legacy airlines have earned a bundle of pure profit from passenger baggage fees, but Southwest keeps thrashing these airlines in every market where it competes, with lower fares and no fees for bags. They win hands down in customer satisfaction surveys. RyanAir and EasyJet succeed because their fares are clearly half the price or less of competitors, especially across Europe when purchased in advance’, where in Spirit’s case that’s only sometimes obvious (with a calculator in hand).

What do you think? Are you willing to fly on Spirit if it’s cheaper? Or will it need to be almost free before you go on their planes?

Related post: Flying on Allegiant Air without baggage fees.

Greg

Tuesday 27th of April 2021

I fly Spirit all the time and usually just bring a carry-on without paying. It’s very rare that the employees check. I usually use a Nike sports bag that I can fit enough clothes for a 5-7 day trip. If there’s room overhead I put it in the bin and if not I just stuff it under the seat as best I can and once on board no one says anything. At DFW one employee saw me siting with a large carry-on while charging my phone and demanded to see my boarding pass. When she saw I didn’t have a carry-on she demanded I go to the counter and pay $60. I basically went to the counter and said I didn’t wanna pay but they told me I had to. I ended up just boarding the flight without paying because none of those people were near the boarding door so they didn’t catch me getting on.

Carlos Loayza

Monday 2nd of August 2021

Thanks!!

Tim Leffel

Tuesday 27th of April 2021

Glad it worked out! You're right that once on board, nobody is looking at your boarding pass to see if you can use the bin unless they run out of space. The hurdle to get through is the gate agents. I've seen them make people put their bag in that sizer contraption and if it didn't fit, they had to pay up on the spot. Squishy is better so you can cram it in!

T

Saturday 6th of March 2021

Just got back from Ft Lauderdale, heading back down in 5 weeks, $32 rnd trip, shit yeah !

Cindy

Tuesday 25th of August 2020

I like spirit they're ok.

Tina

Thursday 19th of September 2019

Spirit is actually great. There's videos on how to pack and avoid fees from actual travel bloggers who know what they're talking about. They are a fraction of the price of any other airline aside from Frontier. I love that the seats don't recline because I don't want the person in front of me on my lap anyways. If you're over 6'2 then I'd understand not liking the airline but I love it. Flights to Florida and New Orleans are as cheap as $48 round trip. Unbeatable. I am a spirit stan til the end of time.

Ed

Wednesday 18th of September 2019

I'm a regular Spirit flyer and love it. Sure you need to stuff your belongings in a backpack but it is perfect for a long weekend and it makes my frequent trips to Florida much cheaper! Without this airline I would not have a direct flight to the destinations I frequent so that is a huge benefit. Not to mention if you want a direct flight on a competing airline it would cost more than double! If Spirit's model is so bad why did the other large airlines try implementing 'basic' which is essentially the same thing (except I know you get free drinks). This is just my opinion. I know it isn't for everyone but I love the newer planes, friendly cabin crew (that make fun of their bare fare!) and the many nonstop destinations I can go.