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In April/May of 2023 Spirit Airlines offered up an incredible status match for $99. I took the plunge and matched to Spirit Airlines Gold Status primarily because it eliminates nearly all of the annoying fees and surcharges Spirit adds to the base fare. With my new found status, my wife and I began taking Spirit more often, and on one occasion we chose to give Spirit Airlines Big Front Seat a go when it was pricing cheaper than a Delta economy ticket on the same route.
What did we think? I’d do it over and over again. The biggest downside is the lack of seat recline, but on any flight under 2.5 to 3 hours, I don’t really mind it, and seeing as though the seat is roughly the same width as other carriers first class recliners for a fraction of the cost, it’s a winning ticket to me.
Many will argue that Spirit just “plane” sucks since it and Frontier often delay, cancel, nickle and dime you, and feel very, bargain basement. And I can’t really argue with with the timeliness factors ( both Spirit and Frontier are at the bottom, funny enough JetBlue is as well), but I just don’t care about the comfort aspects especially if you’re on a sub 2 hour flight, and with status all of the nickle and diming doesn’t matter since it’s included in the ticket price.
As someone who hasn’t flown long haul in economy since 2014, not a flex but to give you an idea of perspective, I’m more than happy to fly Spirit in the future if the price is right ( and let’s be honest… $24 fares are hard to pass up.)
Anyway…you’re here for the Big Front Seat review, so let’s get into it.
My Short Form review:
@zacharyburrabel When I needed last minute flights to promote my book 📕 n KTLA… Spirit had the big front seat for under $300 when Delta, AA, Southwest, and United were a fortune in economy. I’d never flown the Big Front Seat and wanted to give it a go… Here’s what I’d say. If you have a bad back… no recline is annoying. But, on flights under 2 hours, and Gold status waiving most of those crappy fees + no pet fee, I will undoubtedly be shopping Spirit. Often I’ll see sub $50 tickets on Spirit to NYC, Miami, Chicago, etc. That is ridics. Anyways… you won’t be the comfiest and there is very little leg room, but to save a few hundred?! I’ll do it. I also rarely pay points or cash to fly premium products in the states… the one exception is occasionally on the LA/SFO to NYC or MIA routes. But those have lie flat. #travel #travelhacks #spiritairlines ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys – Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey
What is the Spirit Airlines Big Front Seat?
The first two rows on “SOME” of Spirit Airlines planes offer up the Big Front Seat. There is a charge to sit up here in addition to all of the other fees.
How much is this charge? It’s completely dependent on the route, load, etc and the change the darn fee all the time.
Spirit Big Front Seat Details
We paid, in total with taxes and fees, $590 for both tickets.
- When: May 2023
- Route: ATL to LAX
- Aircraft: A319
- Seat: 2A
- Flight Time: 4:55
- Status: Gold
What do Gold Members Get:
And this is what it looks like when you’re selecting a seat with Gold Status
Check In
In order to avoid the check in at the airport fees ( there is one charge to print your boarding pass at the kiosk, and even more if you check-in with a person ) so I always just have a mobile boarding pass.
A normal Spirit Airlines Seat
This is from a much newer plane ( A320neo), but as you can see the space is EXTREMELY limited.
- Pitch: 28-29″
- Width17″
The Spirit Airlines Big Front Seat
First off, this is about as old as it gets with Spirit Airlines. In contrast, most of Spirit’s fleet is quite new as shown above. My seat was dirty, and if you watched the video, you’ll also see that everything was VERY VERY OLD. Did it matter to me? Nah…I was pretty comfy tbh.
- Pitch: 37″
- Width: 22″
Food/Beverage
Just because you’re flying up front doesn’t mean that you get free food. I received a ginger ale and some chips as a part of Gold status, but if you’re flying nude ( status free ) these are the prices you’ll pay for a snack.
Service
I’m not sure there is a big difference in service aside from the fact that you’ll get any food a bit quicker.
Airline On Time Report – an FYI
Yes… Spirit delays or cancels frequently, but oddly they get a MUCH, MUCH worse reputation than JetBlue and do better! I’d never have thought that…so there you go.
Overall
Is the Big Front Seat worth it? It’s something I would heavily consider on flights over 3 hours, and since this flight was over 4 hours, having the extra space, for less than economy on Delta/United/AA for the same route…was definitely worth it. Spirit’s economy seats in general are tiny, so if you’re a bigger person, it could always be worth it, but for me, I’d only opt for the Big Front Seat when it’s economically practical, or when it’s a longer flight, and the upgrade price doesn’t break the bank.
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
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