seb146 From United States of America, joined Nov 1999, 9813 posts, RR: 17 Posted (4 months 1 week 6 days ago) and read 1437 times:
My partner and I decided to spend a few days in Las Vegas. Nothing going on there and cheap rooms and nothing going on here, so why not? Last time, we flew WN. No frills, nothing fancy. Just what we expected. We don't need our own TV in the seat in front of us, we don't need full sized leather seats. Just two seats to LAS and back. We saw Spirit had cheaper flights than WN, so we thought "why not?" and booked them. They are a low-cost carrier, so we knew they would cram as many people in as possible and charge for drinks and food. That was a given. I never drink or eat on flights anyway. Nerves. We got to OAK and found they wanted $45 per bag (!!!) per leg for the flight. WTF??? I know AS and UA charge for bags. I would have expected it from them, but NK?? And that much? Really??? We spend almost as much on our bags as our seats!! This was bad enough, after we were in the air, the flight attendants trying to sell every little thing they could including credit cards! Just shut up!! I don't want to hear a sales pitch. I know we are a captive audience, but c'mon!! Give us some peace!!
Never again. As Glob as my witness. Never again will NK see another dime from me. Ever.
BoeingGuy From United States of America, joined Dec 2010, 2300 posts, RR: 7 Reply 1, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 23 hours ago) and read 1431 times:
You get what you pay for. If you'd one your homework you would have learned about the expensive fees and NK's repuation in general. That's why I'd never fly NK or FR.
I saw another recent example of a clueless couple trying to save a few dollars and spending a lot more. I was on the last flight to SJC. A couple wanted to go to San Francisco city but I'm sure a flight to the farther SJC was $20 cheaper or something so they booked it to save a few pennies. They were on the flight without having to even bothered to research where they were going or how to get to their destination.
Problem was they were planning to rely on public transportation (which they could easily have done if they flew to SFO). Problem was the late flight to SJC was going to make them miss the last Caltrain train to San Francisco.
So for the few bucks they saved on Orbitz by going to SJC, they were either going to have to spend the night in San Jose or rent a car at a much greater expense.
debonair From Germany, joined Jan 2004, 2098 posts, RR: 4 Reply 3, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 14 hours ago) and read 1324 times:
Quoting seb146 (Thread starter): We got to OAK and found they wanted $45 per bag (!!!) per leg for the flight. WTF??? I know AS and UA charge for bags. I would have expected it from them, but NK?? And that much? Really???
I don't understand your problem - I guess you visited school, so you are able to read.
Before you check-out on NK's web-page you can clearly read:
Buy Your Bags below and save money. AVOID PAYING MORE AT THE AIRPORT"
Even if you book through Orbitz.com, you will get clearly a message displayed and a link to the bag-fees applied on NK's flights:
You booked a flight on an airline that you didn't know and didn't bother to check whether or not they charge for baggage, even though you do know that e.g.
IAHFLYR From United States of America, joined Jun 2005, 4719 posts, RR: 25 Reply 5, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 1274 times:
Quoting BoeingGuy (Reply 1): You get what you pay for. If you'd one your homework you would have learned about the expensive fees and NK's repuation in general
My exact thoughts as I was reading the what the OP wrote.....wow, with the ability these days to check things out before hand it should have been quite clear what the experience and costs would be!!!
Quoting seb146 (Thread starter): I know we are a captive audience, but c'mon!! Give us some peace!!
Close your eyes and dream of your previous Southwest flight.
Any views shared are strictly my own and do not a represent those of any former employer.
flymia From United States of America, joined Jun 2001, 6289 posts, RR: 6 Reply 6, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 1263 times:
I thought this was going to be about 18 hours delays or something. Having to pay a fee for your bags which they tell you about before you buy your tickets is far from a nightmare. I would bet 90% of Anet members know NK has high bag fees like many other ultra low cost airlines. You get what you pay for. I flew NK on one round trip, it was ok. I got the big seat on one flight so that flight was actually fairly enjoyable. I will likely never fly them again unless I need a cheap fare for a weekend in some city. But this all comes down to you not knowing the airline. A quick search would have shown the bag fees. Far from any nightmare. Just a normal flight on Spirit. It's funny how people complain about things when they get low ticket fares but then will complain about high fares.
"It was just four of us on the flight deck, trying to do our job" (Captain Al Haynes)
HT From Germany, joined May 2005, 6471 posts, RR: 27 Reply 7, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 7 hours ago) and read 1249 times:
I had the single experience to fly with NK once, having booked them for the sole purpose of adding another airline to my logs. Being on a daytrip meant no bags to check.
Still for the flight FLL to ATL in a A321 people brought the kitchen sink AND the dishwasher onboard (this was pre-overhead compartment fees).
Don't even start comparing NK with WN. WN will win in every single aspect hands down.
Speaking of ULCC's, last weekend I was considering alternative ways to get home earlier than originally planned.
As I had two W6 flights booked routing WAW - NYO - GDN (booked as daytrip) I looked into baggage fees for checked bags (not pre-booked, as I had performed OLCI already by the time I got the news about a funeral to attend). The fee is a whopping 60 € per sector ( these are flights or roughly 75 minutes each).
For an extra 10 €, these 120 € in baggage fees would have bought me a first class train ticket from Warsaw all the way to home in Northern Germany, purchased on the spot.
Also, if flying W6, there are two sizes of carry-on bags. Small ones are free, but larger carry-ons go only for a fee. Even FR doesn't have such a rule.
-HT
Carpe diem ! Life is too short to waste your time ! Keep in mind, that today is the first day of the rest of your life !
AirframeAS From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 14150 posts, RR: 26 Reply 8, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 6 hours ago) and read 1242 times:
Quoting seb146 (Thread starter): We got to OAK and found they wanted $45 per bag (!!!) per leg for the flight.
Wait a second here, let me get this straight.... You have been an A.net member here since 1999 with 9,300+ posts and you had no idea that NK actually does this?! Are you serious???
There are a LOT of threads about NK and its bag fees here on these boards. You should have known this by now without any surprises.
. Shoulda done your homework, sir.
A Safe Flight Begins With Quality Maintenance On The Ground.
DFWHeavy From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 469 posts, RR: 0 Reply 10, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 1214 times:
Wow, talk about being dramatic. Others have hammered in the point very well. He could have paid less by buying the baggage on-line before hand. While one may not want to pay for baggage, saying it's a nightmare is ludicrous. Pay more and fly a different airline if you don't want to pay for baggage.
Spirit didn't do anything wrong as as others have noted, it's very well known and made clear at booking they charge fees such as this.
RussianJet From Kazakhstan, joined Jul 2007, 6276 posts, RR: 23 Reply 11, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 4 hours ago) and read 1199 times:
Quoting seb146 (Thread starter): We got to OAK and found they wanted $45 per bag (!!!) per leg for the flight. WTF???
Well, that would be your own silly fault I'm afraid. You didn't have to wait until you got to OAK to discover this. Sorry to sound uncaring, but your overly-dramatic headline really bears no resemblence to the facts of the situation.
AirframeAS From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 14150 posts, RR: 26 Reply 13, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 1151 times:
Quoting IAHFLYR (Reply 9): The "interests" in the profile says it all!!
LOL! Point taken. Thanks! That made my day. :-p
A Safe Flight Begins With Quality Maintenance On The Ground.
mesaflyguy From United States of America, joined Dec 2012, 710 posts, RR: 1 Reply 14, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 1138 times:
I don't wanna sound rude, but you should have known this beforehand. The bag fees are not new and $45 is pretty good for NK. I flew with them on Christmas Day and they started out with $50, then $100.
And as for the sales pitch, it's 2 minutes at the end of the flight. All airlines advertise their various products on their flights. It's also a ULCC, which means that the odds are they are BOB with snacks and drinks.
Be that as it may, other people (including myself) have had much worse experiences with NK. Yours sounds like it went exactly as planned.
Before the baggage fees, people would bring their giant bags onboard with them and wait for the overheads to fill up, then they would get to check their bags for free! I guess the airline caught on.
Right. On a LCC, we pay for a seat and get charged for food and drinks. We are not high rollers used to paying high prices for every little thing above and beyond that. When a site advertises "low cost carrier" we take that to mean over all. Not just the seat, but including bags and food and drinks. The reviews said nothing at all about over priced baggage fees. There were comments about rude FAs and delayed flights. The normal stuff. Not this BS that we encountered. We booked on Expedia. They said "may charge" but not "will charge" for bags. Two different things.
Quoting mesaflyguy (Reply 14): And as for the sales pitch, it's 2 minutes at the end of the flight.
No it was not. Trust me. I was there. It was at least 20 minutes while we were in the air and all the way down until we were at the gate. So, probably more like 35 or 40. On and on about that stupid credit card.
NK is not a LCC, B6 and WN are Low Cost Carries NK is an ULTRA Low Cost Carrier as is Ryanair. Many airlines have bag fees to begin with so why paying for a bag is so horrible I do not understand. That is the way NK works. It's right there at the top of their website http://www.spirit.com/OptionalFees.aspx
You said on an LCC you pay for a seat and that's it. So why would you get food and bags on NK with your base fare?
As for the advertisements I remember them when I flew them. It wasn't so bad they talked about their credit card and stuff you can buy on the plane. If they added more stuff I can't comment on that. Every airline advertises their credit cards and buy on board products.
No offense, you obviously were not aware what NK offers but it is fairly odd that such an active Anet member was so uniformed about a carrier like NK. We talk about them all the time on the forum, they are in the news all the time about their low cost system. They are the Ryanair of the U.S. we all know this. I can see the general person making this mistake once but not an Anet member.
Anyway you get what you pay for, I am sure your fare was fairly low and the most important thing you got everywhere safely.
"It was just four of us on the flight deck, trying to do our job" (Captain Al Haynes)
mesaflyguy From United States of America, joined Dec 2012, 710 posts, RR: 1 Reply 17, posted (4 months 1 week 4 days 19 hours ago) and read 1093 times:
If it was 20 minutes (I won't doubt you, you were there and I was not) then they WAAY overdid it. On every NK flight I've been on, they've taken 2-3 minutes out of the end of the flight to tell us about and make their rounds.
But, as others said, you did get there safely and (I hope) ontime. I have recently started seeing consistent smiling faces in NK flights, too.
DFWHeavy From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 469 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (4 months 1 week 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 1052 times:
First off, why did you book through Expedia and not the airline directly.. would have gotten the same or cheaper price.
The OP is upset for all the wrong reasons in this case unfortunately. Do research, ask questions, etc. Just need to take responsibility for your own nightmare in this case. It's not the airline's fault.
AR385 From Mexico, joined Nov 2003, 4843 posts, RR: 27 Reply 20, posted (4 months 1 week 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 1029 times:
Quoting BoeingGuy (Reply 1): I saw another recent example of a clueless couple trying to save a few dollars and spending a lot more. I was on the last flight to SJC. A couple wanted to go to San Francisco city but I'm sure a flight to the farther SJC was $20 cheaper or something so they booked it to save a few pennies. They were on the flight without having to even bothered to research where they were going or how to get to their destination.
A few years ago, a friend of mine wanted to go visit family in Manhattan. He was delighted when he got an excellent deal on WN HOU-ISP. I told him to check how to get from ISP to Manhattan. I told him it was going to be an ordeal, but, I guess some people think they´re the only ones who know stuff. He ended up spending more time trying to and getting to from ISP to Manhattann and back, than the actual flying time. So, of his long weekend, an entire day ended up being used up on commuting. Told ´ya...
RussianJet From Kazakhstan, joined Jul 2007, 6276 posts, RR: 23 Reply 21, posted (4 months 1 week 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 1025 times:
Quoting seb146 (Reply 15): We are not high rollers used to paying high prices for every little thing above and beyond that. When a site advertises "low cost carrier" we take that to mean over all. Not just the seat,
Come on mate, it says you've been a member here since 1999, with the best part of 10k posts. You can't seriously have failed to notice a million or so cautionary tales in thread after thread on this site down the years. We should all know by now that you have to check these things.
Quoting seb146 (Reply 15): We booked on Expedia. They said "may charge" but not "will charge" for bags.
And that, right there, is your cue to CHECK what the deal actually is.
AirframeAS From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 14150 posts, RR: 26 Reply 22, posted (4 months 1 week 3 days 23 hours ago) and read 975 times:
Do you even know the difference between LCC and LFC?
LCC, Low Cost Carrier: Costs are low to the company, not to the pax
LFC, Low Fare Carrier: Costs are low to the pax
NK is not a LFC.....at all.
Quoting RussianJet (Reply 21): Come on mate, it says you've been a member here since 1999, with the best part of 10k posts. You can't seriously have failed to notice a million or so cautionary tales in thread after thread on this site down the years. We should all know by now that you have to check these things.
Truer words ever spoken. Spot on, mate!
A Safe Flight Begins With Quality Maintenance On The Ground.
B6JFKH81 From United States of America, joined Mar 2006, 2767 posts, RR: 7 Reply 23, posted (4 months 1 week 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 959 times:
Quoting AR385 (Reply 20): A few years ago, a friend of mine wanted to go visit family in Manhattan. He was delighted when he got an excellent deal on WN HOU-ISP. I told him to check how to get from ISP to Manhattan. I told him it was going to be an ordeal, but, I guess some people think they´re the only ones who know stuff. He ended up spending more time trying to and getting to from ISP to Manhattann and back, than the actual flying time. So, of his long weekend, an entire day ended up being used up on commuting. Told ´ya...
....AND that would be with a stop somewhere (BWI or MDW perhaps?) since WN doesn't do HOU-ISP non-stop. So for a good price he added a buttload of time between a stop somewhere and having to take the LIRR from Ronkonkoma...and had to add the price of the LIRR ticket which is another ~$16 each way (peak times) if I recall correctly. As a Long Islander I can tell you right now "NOT WORTH AND Irtysh-Avia (Kazakhstan)">IT".
"If you do not learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it"
DFWHeavy From United States of America, joined Jul 2011, 469 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (4 months 1 week 3 days 4 hours ago) and read 887 times:
Seb146 has gone quiet... I wonder if he has accepted responsibility yet....?
Christopher W Slovacek
25 RussianJet: Perhaps he's been busy penning a lengthy and furious letter of complaint!
26 rwy04lga: On the 'Colbert Report', Stephen Colbert once reported that 'one airline has started counting scrotums as carryon bags'. Even in jest, that HAD to hav
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