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Spirit Airlines began scheduled service to our home airport, MCO, in 1993. My husband Joe and I moved to Orlando in late 2000. At the time, I looked at what Spirit had to offer and essentially said, “Not no way, not no how.”

Don’t get me wrong; there was a time, when I was still relatively new in my career and budgeted a LOT, and was young enough to not care about every amenity you get from the legacy airlines. But by the time Spirit was an option for us, Joe and I were already well-established in our respective careers and were comfortable with paying a little more to get better service.

Over the next 25ish years, I did fly Frontier a couple of times (literally a couple – 2 R/T flights) and they went fine. But I’ve always been leery of Frontier because if something happens and your flight gets cancelled, you might be stranded until the next Frontier flight, 3 or 4 or 7 days from then. Spirit has always had more flights than Frontier (well, at least out of Orlando) but I still steadfastly and stubbornly refused to fly on them. Couldn’t even tell you why.

Joe flew on Spirit a small handful of times and had no issues. My mindset was always, “Good for you. Enjoy. Not me. Not no way, not no how.”

But then we were planning a 5-day trip to NYC and airline prices were mondo expensive (just like everything else is mondo expensive right now). Joe was able to snag MCO-JFK seats on JetBlue for a decent price but flights on the way home, on a Sunday, were crazy – over $200 per person on United (the other airlines were even crazier). But when he added Spirit into the mix, well…there’s a big difference between $59 per person and $200 per person. So I agreed I’d go on Spirit. And Joe said we could even get a “Go Big” package including the Big Front Seat – with that, we’d have leg room (which I don’t need; I’m only 4’6″ but Joe’s 6′ tall) plus:

• Personal Item
• Carry-on bag (value: $59 ea)
• First Checked bag (value: $59 ea)
• Seat selection: Big Front Seat®
• Premium snacks and drinks including alcohol (21+)
• Priority Boarding in Group 1
• Wi-Fi Streaming (subject to availability)
• Priority Check-In (at available airports)
• No change or cancel fees* a fare difference may apply

The total price was $368 for the 2 of us in Big Front Seats, which was still less than United in Economy.

How was it?

Honestly? It wasn’t bad at all.

I mean, sure, the seats were undoubtedly more comfortable than what they would have been in Economy – they’re plushy, covered in leather, 18.5 inches wide and have 36 inches of pitch. They were also in a 2-2 configuration, so we didn’t have to worry about a third person in the row. We also had decent-sized tray tables, as opposed to the tiny, 1/4-size ones in Economy. Like the seats in Economy, they don’t recline at all, but frankly, I’m not much of a recliner when I fly, anyway. So I didn’t miss that.

But the biggest difference on Spirit? The flight attendants. They were nice! Friendly! They had a sense of humor!

Case in point – as part of the Big Front seat package, you get free alcohol. I ordered a Buzzbox Long Island Iced Tea because why the hell not? OK, it was only 11:30 in the morning, but still…. Anyway, as a side note, as I mentioned earlier, I’m 4’6″ tall. My hair also started turning gray at a very young age (17), and people tend to think I’m some little old lady. I promise I am not. But people tend to think I’m Joe’s mother or something LOL!

So anyway, I ordered the Long Island Iced Tea and the flight attendant, who was probably somewhere in his 40s, was having a BALL with this idea of some little old lady drinking booze at that hour. “You sure you want that? Those things are strong. You’re going to be flying high. I can call for a wheelchair for you when we land if you want.” He was just teasing, of course, but it made me smile.

Then, whenever he went past us, he’d ask me, with a wink and a smile, “You want another one?” It was a lot of fun throughout the flight. And by the way, that Long Island Iced Tea WAS pretty damn strong, LOL!

There were a few announcements that concerned me though – they reminded passengers, four different times during the flight, that everyone, including children, had to wear their seat belts while they were in their seats. They emphasized the “children” part. They also announced that people were allowed to get things out of the overhead compartments, but they needed to close the overheads when they were done. And I really started wondering what sort of people were back in economy? The kids wearing seat belts thing, OK…little kids might need more parenting to sit properly. But were there people back there who didn’t close the overheads???

But yeah, overall, flying Spirit wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I don’t know if I would say the same thing if I were back in economy, but maybe I’ll even give that a shot someday. Never say never.

P.S. Of course, now that the CEO of Spirit has stepped down, who knows what will happen with the airline, newly out of bankruptcy, with talks of mergers and/or reinventing itself as a premium brand. Maybe this was my one and only chance to fly on Spirit. Time will tell.

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary.