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Spirit Airlines has quietly reintroduced change fees on its lowest-priced “Go” fares. After touting that change and cancellation fees were gone, it seems like that’s no longer entirely true. This essentially aligns the low-cost carrier with other airlines.
The low-cost carrier made a big deal in May 2024 when it announced that “change fees are gone for all.”
Spirit used to charge fees based on how close a flight’s departure time was with this sliding scale:
- 0-6 days before departure: $119
- 7-30 days before departure: $99
- 31-59 days before departure: $69
- More than 60 days before departure: $0
The policy it introduced last year was even more generous than what Frontier offered because its new Basic Economy fares still incur fees (just like Basic Economy tickets purchased with American, Delta, and United).
It looks like “real” travel bloggers failed to notice that Spirit reintroduced change fees to Go fares back on February 5th. pic.twitter.com/NdfRO9Gtb8
— Fake Points Travel Blogger (@TravelFake) February 22, 2025
@TravelFake first flagged this change (it went into effect on February 5th).
Now, the lowest fare class (equivalent to Basic Economy) incurs fees. Spirit was overly generous here, needs the cash (as it just emerged from bankruptcy protection), and is aligning itself with other airlines. It has reintroduced a change fee schedule that is similar to what it used to charge and based on how close you are to a flight’s departure date. This includes:
- 0-6 days before departure: $99
- 7-30 days before departure: $79
- 31-59 days before departure: $59
- More than 60 days before departure: $0
A $99 fee will also apply for cancellations to Go reservations.
This makes sense given Spirit’s current situation and fees are lower than what they used to be for changes.
Anthony’s Take: This change is not a huge deal and aligns Spirit with its competitors. Now, we have a different situation if fees creep back into other fare buckets or other airlines add back more fees. For now, this is a nominal change and will only impact those looking for the absolute cheapest tickets.
(Image Credits: Spirit Airlines.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
