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MEGAPHONE THE R.V. Dispirited A la carte airline travel experience not ideal, but a market is there by Richard N. Velotta S | 9 JULY 2012 | of clicking to get them. pirit was the fastest-growing air- line at McCarran International Airport last year. The company is trying to make Las Vegas its largest western outpost. Las Vegas is now Spirit's second- largest station, and the airline has established crew and main- tenance bases here. It averages 22 round trips a day through Las Vegas with nonstop routes to 11 cities. It has a 4.8 percent share of the seats to the market, making it the sixth-largest domestic operator here. It is also an airline critics love to hate. Spirit and Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air have led the charge in the United States for a la carte fees for just about everything imaginable. While the airlines defend the practice by saying it allows customers to choose what's important to them while enabling the company to generate rev- enue in a tough industry, some consumer advocates have called on the government to put a stop to the fees that are difficult for customers to avoid. Spirit offers low base fares and makes a hard sell for some of the additional services it provides. One of the biggest promotions it has is for its $9 Fare Club, which provides tickets for as low as $9 exclusively for club members, plus discounts on bag fees and special offers on hotels and car rentals. The catch is that joining the $9 Fare Club costs $60 a year. An executive of the company once equated it to a Costco membership. Paying the annual fee gets you in the door of the store and access to other deals. You can get a 60-day trial membership for only $20 if you want to give it a test run. Customers who have flown Spirit or Allegiant know that you have be on your toes when you book a reservation if you want to keep the costs down. In some cases, you have to opt out of purchases instead I had never flown Spirit Airlines. I needed to make a quick trip recently to Minneapolis, so I decided to give it a try. I wanted to fly as inexpensively as possible but still sit with my wife. We had carry-on bags small enough to fit under the seats so we could dodge Spirit's $30 fee for larger carry-on luggage. (Baggage fees are $30 when buying online, $35 through the reserva- tion center, $40 at the airport ticket counter on the day of the flight or $45 at the gate.) But unless I chose a seat, my wife and I could have been assigned to different parts of the plane or, worse, to the dreaded center seat. Spirit has escalating fees for special seats. Passen- Because Spirit crams as many seats as possible into its Airbus A319s, there isn't a lot of leg room, especially if your carry-on is stowed under the seat. My wife is 5 foot, 3 inches tall, and her knees were up against the seat in front of her. Some of the seats don't recline. gers can buy Big Front Seats — about the size of most airlines' first-class seating — for an extra $12 to $199 seats cost an extra $1 to $50. I chose two aisle seats, which cost my wife and me an extra $40 round trip. It was worth it, sort of. Because Spirit crams as many seats as possible into its Airbus A319s — something Southwest Air- lines is doing on its Boeing 737s — there isn't a lot of leg room, especially if your carry-on is stowed under the seat. My wife is 5 foot, 3 inches tall, and her knees were up against the seat in front of her. Some of the seats don't recline. board. If not, it will cost them $33 to check a bag. So now I've flown Spirit. It was a nonstop flight to if they buy them in advance. Customer-requested Minneapolis, something Southwest doesn't have. There's definitely a market for the flight. I was stunned that my midweek, red-eye flights were packed in both directions. Would I do it again? Probably not. But Spirit's busi- ness model appeals to many. And if it can succeed with those fees — late carry- on charges go up to $100 beginning Nov. 6 — more power to them. rick.velotta@lasvegassun.com / 259-4061 / @VegasInc_TheRV 19 I was surprised to see people hoisting bags into overhead bins when I boarded, and later learned that the passengers who board first are the ones who bought bin space. Everyone else in later groups can use the bins if room remains. So passengers can take a chance that bin space will be left over when they LEILA NAVIDI