Q: Is the BofA Spirit Airlines credit card a good deal or not?

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.

I originally wrote a Spirit Airlines credit card review here about 2-3 years ago. Back then it was issued/managed by Barclay’s bank and in short, the experience my family had with it could be summed up in these excepts from the old review:

The prior experience with customer service…

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 (or some similar country) they seem to just read from a script. It doesn’t matter what you say or what your question is, these people hardly seem to know English. All they know how to do it seems is to read from their script. It feels impossible to communicate with them, let alone have your issue resolved.

And this was the prior experience with the rewards…

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 of little value since it only made up a tiny percentage of total annual spending).

To add insult to injury, the promotional signup “bonus” was a total joke. They claim it’s enough for free airfare (which technically is true) but afterward I saw fine print. They use language like “up to” and “off peak.” After we got the card, there wasn’t anywhere close to enough for the roundtrip ticket I wanted. In fact, a year and a half later – plus after it being the main credit card used during that time – there still were not enough accumulated miles!

That was then, but how about now?

Okay so just to reiterate, those comments were from the old Spirit MasterCard review which was written around the end of 2009 and early 2010. Since then the credit card program has changed. Here’s a look at the newer version:

• Issuer: The card is now issued by Bank of America. I’m so glad to hear they changed, because their partnership with Barclays clearly wasn’t working – based not only on my own experience, but from the countless customer complaints I heard echoing much of the same (just scroll through the comments below to see).
• Name: Previously it was called the Free Spirit Onyx World MasterCard. Now it’s just called the Bank of America Spirit World MasterCard.
• Annual Fee: At $59.00 per year it’s not exactly cheap. There is a lower tier version, Platinum Plus for $19.00, but it only earns 1 mile per $1 spent.
• Rewards: The card gives 2 miles per dollar spent. Admittedly this is much better than in the past, but I’m still not convinced it’s a competitive credit card offer and here’s why:

Complaint #1. To redeem Spirit airline miles, you have to call customer service

The Q&A section I found linked to on the credit card application says you have to contact them by phone and speak with a “FREE SPIRIT specialist” to use your miles. Given the reputation of their customer service, this definitely doesn’t sound like a very enjoyable experience.

Complaint #2. You will be charged award redemption fees

Being charged to spend your reward points? What the duck is up with that? The website lists these “non-refundable, per customer award redemption” fees:

• $100 – Award ticket requested 6 days or less prior to departure
• $75 – Award ticket requested between 7 and 20 days prior to departure
• $15 – Award ticket requested between 21 and 179 days prior to departure
• $0 (No Fee) – Award ticket requested at least 180 days prior to departure

Keep in mind, those are in addition to any applicable government taxes and fees you also will have to pay.

Complaint #3. Navigating the peak vs. off peak nightmare

Perhaps the biggest drawback of both the old Free Spirit MasterCard and the new version is the way this airline structures their mileage redemption.

You may have seen them advertise things like “15,000 bonus miles, enough for 3 roundtrip off-peak tickets.” They reel you in with promises like that which are technically correct, but take a look at the complicated redemption maze and judge for yourself whether or not that’s what you will be paying: Free Spirit redemption (PDF file).

From my experience, when I would check for a roundtrip domestic ticket for routes I typically fly (between the Midwest and the West coast) the required amount would often be 20,000, 25,000, or even 37,500 miles.

Sure, on short distances you may be able to snatch a low mile deal but again, I urge you to take a close look at that PDF file and pay attention to all the date ranges they classify as “Peak” and “Standard” flights.

Verdict?

As mentioned I used to fly Spirit airlines all the time but now that they charge for both checked bags and carry-on bags and a slew of other fees, I have actually found it to be cheaper to fly the “regular” airlines instead.

For the past couple years I’ve usually been flying Delta, which for me as often worked out to be cheaper than the self-proclaimed “ultra low cost” airline believe it or not. On top of that, their seats are much more comfortable and they still give free beverages and snacks.

The bottom line is this: The Spirit Airlines credit card rewards are better than the past, but still aren’t competitive. For the same $59 annual fee, you can also get 2 miles per dollar spent with the Capital One Venture and it charges no foreign transaction fees, plus you can use your rewards to pay for any travel purchase (including the purchase of Spirit airline tickets).

To compare the Spirit MasterCard to other airline-specific card offers, here is a list of the top travel credit card deals.

Written Jan 2012. Note that the the Bank of America version was launched in spring of 2011. Older comments are referencing the Barclay’s version.