Spirit Airlines Has Made Some Significant Changes

Spirit Airlines has long been viewed as a budget, bare-bones, no-frills, ultra-low-cost airline designed to get you from one location to another with not much else to offer. But after some recent changes, that is no longer true.

As Kyle Stewart of Live and Let Fly points out, Spirit Airlines has gone through a pretty extensive overhaul and should no longer be dismissed as simply a budget airline. In fact, it's competitive with airlines like American and Delta in many ways.

"Spirit recently overhauled its Free Spirit loyalty program, and—brace yourselves—it’s good. Not 'good for Spirit,' but actually competitive with mainline carriers," Steward wrote for Live and Let Fly this week. "Elite members can now enjoy perks like free checked bags, seat selection (yes, even Big Front Seats), and priority boarding. And unlike American’s loyalty points or Delta’s SkyMiles circus, Free Spirit Status levels that award these perks are available at lower thresholds than any of the major carriers. 

"Spirit also offers more nonstop flights from secondary cities than the other carriers," he continued. "For airports like my home airport in Pittsburgh, it’s often the only nonstop option or is more competitive in markets like New York (though it’s since discontinued flights between Pittsburgh and the New York market)."

Clearly, Spirit is not the same airline it used to be. However, unlike Southwest, it seems like Spirit is changing for the better and has taken some significant steps to improve the customer experience.

It's a bold move from the airline to completely change its image, but it appears to be paying dividends.

It'll be interesting to see whether or not these changes will ever lead to the airline changing its perception amongst customers.