If you read or watch a review of Spirit Airlines, it’s easy to think that the plane only consists of the first few rows. That’s because it seems like everyone who reviews Spirit flies in the Big Front Seat. Full disclosure: my only flight on Spirit until now was also in the Big Front Seat (here’s my review of that experience). But most people who fly Spirit aren’t upfront. They’re seated in the regular Spirit seats, with limited legroom.
When I had to book a last-minute ticket on Spirit to get home after American Airlines delayed and eventually canceled my flight, all of the Big Front Seats were taken. However, there were seats available in the exit row for a $28 upgrade charge. That’s a bargain compared to what a legacy airline would charge for the exit row on a five-hour flight.
And OK yeah, it was the middle seat of the exit row, but what can you do when buying a ticket three hours before the flight?
Spirit Airlines Exit Row Review
Before I paid for an exit row on Spirit Airlines, I did a quick search on AeroLOPA to see what I’d be paying extra for. Short story: You’re paying for extra legroom. In fact, it’s a significant amount of legroom compared to the other seats on a Spirit A320.
The usual seat has a pitch of 28.2 inches. The exit row seats have 35 inches of pitch. That’s almost as much legroom as the Big Front Seat.
The Spirit Experience
I realize that some people would rather do anything other than take a five-hour flight on Spirit. But you know what? It wasn’t that bad. Even though I had a middle seat, I was between two other solo travelers. We formed a bond during the flight, and we all agreed to take bathroom breaks at the same time.
One advantage of flying on Spirit is not having to fight for space in the overhead bins. With over 3/4 of the flight loaded, there was still plenty of space for bags. While I paid for a carry-on bag, which allowed me to board first, I could have waited until the end of the process and still had a place for my bag.
I also got to experience a funny Spirit announcement, during which the flight attendant made several jokes about flying to Orlando from Las Vegas and made a few other quips.
Final Thought
While many people will only fly with Spirit if they can sit in a Big Front Seat, that’s only good if you want to fly in a bigger seat. If your big concern is legroom, you’ll be able to get almost the same space to stretch out by paying a small premium to upgrade to an exit-row seat on Spirit. And while legacy carriers charge over $100 for these seats on longer flights, I was able to snag a middle seat for $28.
At the end of the day, all I wanted was a way to get home, and it was a small price to pay for the five-hour flight from Las Vegas to Orlando to get seven extra inches of legroom. I’m almost willing to say that the exit row is a greater value when flying on Spirit than the Big Front Seat.
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1 comment
Thanks for this review. Yes, the exit row is a great value usually (same on Allegiant – where due to the large number of families and elderly, I am about 50/50 for having a middle empty next to me in the exit row).
I had to get a last minute ticket recently on American and exit row middle was the only thing available for this Oneworld Emerald… Wasn’t any better than Spirit (and probably cost 4x as much for the ticket… I get exit row free).