Posted on Monday, 28th December 2009 by CreditCardGuru
Q: Is the Spirit Airlines credit card a good deal?
A: Founded in 1980, Spirit claims to be “the ultra low cost airline for the Americas.” They’re mostly known for their flights down to Florida and the Caribbean. Personally, I used to fly them all the time because they offered direct flights to and from Detroit/Los Angeles, however they have since ended that route.
Spirit Airlines Credit Card Review:
About a year and a half ago, I decided to apply for the Spirit Airlines card. At the time, it appeared to be a decent way to rake up some rewards since I was a frequent flyer on this airline. Eventually I discovered that the Free Spirit MasterCard is anything but rewarding. Here’s why:
The Worst Customer Service In My Life…
The phone number on the back of the card to book a flight is big, but the number for customer service is so insanely small you can hardly see it. After dealing with them, I understand why they’re apparently not eager for you to talk to their customer service department!
I’ve dealt with many, many foreign call centers and the Spirit credit card service department is by far the worst… ever! Based in India, they just read from a script. It doesn’t matter what you say or what your question is, these people don’t even know English. All the know how to do is read from their script. It’s impossible to communicate with them, let alone have your issue resolved.
Lack of Fraud Protection…
One of the reasons I called them was for a fraudulent charge of approximately $70. They did their “investigation” (which took forever) and only refunded me for approximately $40 of it and told me I am responsible for the rest! I have NEVER heard of any reputable credit card holding a customer partially responsible for fraudulent activity. This is totally outrageous.
Horrendous Rewards…
For me, the only reason I was interested in the Spirit Airlines MasterCard was the rewards. Unfortunately, this credit card definitely falls short. You only earn 1 mile per $1 spent (and 3 miles per $1 spent on Spirit purchases, but that’s worthless since it only made up a tiny percentage of my total annual spending). To add insult to injury, the promotional signup “bonus” was a total joke – they claim it’s enough for free airfare, but afterwards I saw fine print. They use language like “up to” and “off peak.” After I got my card, I didn’t have anywhere close to enough for my ticket. In fact, a year and a half later – plus after spending over $12,000 on the card – I still don’t have enough!
Why Pay The Annual Fee…
The Free Spirit Onyx World MasterCard has a $69.00 annual fee. If they give sub-par rewards and nightmare customer service… what the heck was I paying for?!
Spirit’s Prices Have Skyrocketed…
I check every airline and travel site when booking a trip. The past two years, Spirit has never been the cheaper option for me. In fact, my three most recent flights were cheaper on Delta. Yes that’s right, the legacy airline Delta was cheaper than a self-proclaimed “ultra low cost” airline. On top of that, their seats are much more roomy and they didn’t charge me for a friggin’ cup of water like Spirit does now!
Is it a scam? I’ll let you make your own conclusion. The bottom line is you should stay away from the Free Spirit credit cards. I’m sure tons of others much have these exact same complaints about them, too.
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Tags: spirit airlines card, spirit airlines credit card, spirit credit card
Posted in Reviews | Comments (1)
January 7th, 2010 at 9:31 am
On behalf of Spirit Airlines, I regret to hear about your experience. But I’m happy to say that much has changed since your experience with the FREE SPIRIT MasterCard program.
***JANUARY 8, 2010: NOTE BY ADMIN***
I appreciate your response Misty, but about 80% of your post appears to be nothing but an advertisement for Spirit credit cards, so I have to delete most of it (except for the first and last sentences, since those are not promotional). Your commentary is welcomed, but please refrain from advertising.
Regarding your “much has changed” statement, unfortunately that doesn’t appear correct. I just called your customer service less than 2 weeks ago (I believe it was December 26th or 27th) and it was the same terrible Indian call center, people just reading from a script. You may only have to pay them 1/4 the hourly rate you pay an American, but the Indians take 4 times longer and the issues are still not resolved. In addition, all that does is anger customers such as myself, and in turn I will never buy another flight on your airline again. Sure, the Indian CSR that dealt with me probably saved you a couple dollars, but you’re now going to lose out on a couple thousand dollars in annual airfare purchases from me and my family, because I’ll make sure we never fly Spirit again.
Again, I’m sorry about your experience, but would be happy to assist in reviewing your particular situation with our credit card company Barclays. I can be reached at misty.pinson@spiritair.com.