Spirit Airlines vs. RyanAir: How Do They Compare?

This past weekend, I got to experience one of the coolest things ever: a Pakistani wedding in Orlando, Florida! An old co-worker of ours got married, and we were SO honored to have been invited! Between the wedding lasting three days, culturally “appreciating” some traditional South Asian dress, and learning a few group dances before the big days, it was an unforgettable experience that I’m always going to cherish.

But, you know, it was Christmas weekend. And it was also Orlando. While I couldn’t have cared less about shifting my family’s Christmas celebration to a different day, finding flights around Christmas — specifically to and from Orlando — was not the world’s cheapest undertaking. Which meant that, in order to make it more affordable for us, we undertook another “first” experience: flying on Spirit Airlines.

Friends and family let out an audible groan when we shared the news. Again, it had nothing to do with us missing Christmas. Rather, they were instantly dismayed for us simply due to the fact that we would soon be boarding a Spirit Airlines flight. Some shared horror stories of their own. To which I would ask: “Well, is it worse than RyanAir?”

RyanAir, dear reader, is Europe’s mononymous budget airline. The Greyhound of the sky. The bus with wings. It’s neither glamorous nor comfortable, but it gets you from Point A to Point B, sometimes for as low as $12 one way. During my years living and traveling around Europe, I’ve flown RyanAir countless times, and while it’s sure not the best, it’s usually the most cost-effective option.

The problem was that, when I asked my question to Spirit Airlines’s detractors, they couldn’t answer me: No one I knew had flown both Spirit Airlines AND RyanAir, so there were no comparisons to be made.

I’ve now sacrificed my own aviation comfort on numerous occasions, and I’m here to do my part for those who are familiar with one airline or the other and would like to know. Spirit Airlines vs. RyanAir: how do they compare?

Quick disclaimer: I’m talking about my one-and-only Spirit Airlines flight compared to a collective 30+ RyanAir flights here, but I still think I can make a good comparison.

Spirit Airlines Booking Experience

While the majority of major airlines you can fly in the U.S. will allow you to bring a carry-on bag for free, this is not the case with Spirit Airlines. (Though I think the way of the aviation industry around the world is starting to lean toward charging customers for more and more, so it may become the norm eventually.)

For our one-way, direct flight from Kansas City to Orlando, it cost $61 to add a carry-on bag. Interestingly, the cost of checking a bag was only $55. I think these costs change based on the ticket price and destination, so it may be different next time.

We don’t like checking bags unless we really have to — because in the best-case scenario, you have to wait forever at baggage claim, and in the worst-case scenario, your bag gets lost. We decided to book just one carry-on bag between the two of us, which was a little tough packing for four days, including three wedding outfits, for two people, but we made it work.

We also would have had to pay between $9 and $117 to select a seat, which we didn’t care enough to do. However, one of our friends gave us a tip about flying Spirit Airlines: A few days before your flight, they will send you an email asking if you want to “bid” on an upgraded seat, either a bigger seat at the front of the plane, or an exit row. As our friend told us, “People who fly Spirit Airlines are cheap, and they’re not going to bid because they don’t want to spend money. So just bid a few bucks and you’ll have a great chance of getting upgraded.”

We decided to try it out, knowing that our credit card wouldn’t be charged unless we got the upgrade. We bid $13 each, and we ended up getting exit row seats!

RyanAir Booking Experience

So, I’ve been flying RyanAir regularly for the past 10 years. While I can’t remember if things were exactly the same in 2013 as they are now, it’s much more typical for carry-on bags to cost extra in Europe, so that’s not really a surprise for me anymore. However, I can confidently say that while the bag prices also vary based on ticket price and destination, a single carry-on bag has never ever cost as much as $60 with RyanAir.

Looking at our receipts from 2022 and 2023, it seems that we always paid between about $24 and $35 for each carry-on bag. And we’ve never checked a bag, but it looks like it would typically cost about $40-$50.

If you want a seat in the front of the plane, or an XL or exit row seat, you’ll have to pay more to select your seats. Any seats in the back half of the plane can be chosen for free at the time of booking.

Spirit Airlines Boarding Experience

When we got to our gate for boarding, there were a couple of things I noticed. First, there was one of those bag-size-measuring bins, which made me a bit nervous. I had read online that Spirit had stricter requirements for their carry-on bag size compared to other U.S. airlines, but looking at other peoples’ bags, I didn’t think ours looked bigger than anyone else’s. Also, it was off to the side of the gate a bit, like they weren’t planning on using it.

The other thing I noticed was two lines for boarding marked by signs: Zone 1 and Zone 2-4. We looked at our boarding passes and saw that Matt’s said Zone 1, and mine said Zone 2. We had put the carry-on bag on his ticket, so apparently you get to board first if you have a carry-on. We heard them ask for Zone 1 to line up. After allowing pre-board, military, and families with children to board, they called for Zone 1 passengers.

Interestingly, they said if you were in a different boarding “Zone” but were traveling with a Zone 1 passenger, you were allowed to board with them, so I hurried to get in line beside Matt. Boarding was pretty quick and efficient, and it was actually much more chill than I was expecting.

Oh, and also we actually had a jet bridge to the plane. More on that later…

RyanAir Boarding Experience

So, why was I so surprised by how smoothly the Spirit Airlines boarding process went? Oh, maybe because… the RyanAir boarding process is a f*#%ing $h!tsh0w every. single. time…?

With RyanAir, first of all, they also have those bag-measuring bins, and I have seen them used fairly frequently. Especially back in 2013, I literally had friends crying in the airport because the mean gate agents were telling them their bags were too big and they were going to need to pay like $100 to check them. Anyway.

Just like Spirit Airlines, there are two lines for people to line up in: Priority and Non-Priority. If you’ve paid extra for a carry-on bag, you automatically get a Priority boarding pass. The problem with 95% of the RyanAir flights I’ve flown on is that people start lining up sooooo long before boarding time, and if you don’t, you still risk not having space for your carry-on bag in the overhead bins. People will truly start lining up an hour or more before the flight.

Once you make it up to the gate agent and get your boarding pass scanned, you might think you’re on your way to the plane and to finally sit down after standing for an hour. Unfortunately, you would be very wrong. Where, in most American airports, you would think you’re walking to the jet bridge, instead you’ll find yourself most likely going down some staircase to some other holding area. Where you’ll stand for another 30 minutes or so.

Sometimes, it’s just a giant enclosed area and all the non-priority boarding people will also be mixed in with you, which means all semblance of priority boarding is gone, and the non-priority boarders will race to the plane to put their small backpacks in the overhead bin space you paid for.

Also, there is literally never ever a jet bridge. You might get put in a shuttle bus that will drive you to the plane, or you’ll simply walk across the tarmac if the plane is close enough. In either case, you’ll need to board the plane via air stairs, which are at both the front and back entrances, and you board based on your row: rows 1-15 board in front, and rows 16-30 board in back. Or, at least, you’re supposed to. Inevitably there are a few people who don’t pay attention and then you’ve got people trying to go in opposite directions halfway down the aisle of the plane.

By the time you finally make it to your seat, sweating more profusely than you ever thought possible, all you want to do is close your eyes and shut out the bright yellow interior of the plane and all the terrible people who chose to fly at the same time as you (how dare they).

Spirit Airlines In-Flight Experience

Upon boarding the Spirit Airlines plane, I was surprised how big and spacious it was inside. It honestly looked like just about any other U.S. airline’s plane interior — the only thing I noticed was that their seats weren’t as plush-looking. The seats kind of looked like they were large plastic bus station seats with fabric on them. But I figured for a couple of hours, it would be fine. Also, the plane’s interior was typical gray and blue. Literally, except from the seats, you could tell me I was on a Delta Airlines plane or something, and I would believe you.

And honestly, the seat wasn’t that bad. I know it may have been different if we hadn’t been in the exit row with extra legroom, but the exit row seat was totally fine. Once we were in the air, I felt like I was able to relax and my Spirit Airlines flight hadn’t been bad at all.

There is no snack or drink service, which I don’t really care about. There are pamphlets in the seat back pockets that list the snacks that are available for purchase. I’m pretty sure you can only pay with a credit card. And I think the flight attendants came through with a drink cart for people to buy from at one point, but they aren’t over the top about trying to get you to buy anything.

The flight attendants were very nice. They asked whether people were excited to go to Orlando for Christmas and told a few jokes. Near the end of the flight, they led an “airplane yoga” session and took everyone through some different stretches they could do in their seats, and I was surprised how much people participated. Also, they left a voucher for 500 free Spirit points on one “Lucky Seat” that was chosen at random, which was kind of fun.

RyanAir In-Flight Experience

When you board a RyanAir flight, the first thing you notice is that almost everything is yellow. Yellow overhead bins and yellow seatbacks really remind you that RyanAir’s brand color is yellow. (Although, so is Spirit Airlines… and for them, yellow is only on the outside of the plane.)

The second thing you notice is all the advertising. Most of the overhead bins are branded with advertising posters. And you’re going to be assaulted by RyanAir flight attendants trying to get you to buy something throughout the entire length of the flight. They make soooo many announcements about buying not only snacks and drinks (which are of course not free) — but also buying perfume, cosmetics, and other random things that I feel would be kind of strange to purchase on a flight.

I guess if you didn’t have time to hit up the duty-free section of the airport before your flight, probably because you were busy standing in line for two hours before boarding, it could make sense. But the number of overhead announcements about buying things is just over the top. You feel like they’re holding you hostage so they can advertise at you while you have nowhere else to go because you’re stuck on a plane. But the flight was literally $20… so you just suck it up and remember that, in this case, it’s not about the journey… it’s all about getting to your destination.

Final Thoughts on Spirit Airlines vs. RyanAir

I have to say that I think I was a little too harsh on Spirit Airlines in the past, in the fact that I refused to fly with them until now when it was really an “emergency” situation. In the future, I would absolutely fly with Spirit again as long as their flight + carry-on bag price was less than other airlines. Overall, I had a surprisingly good experience with them, though having extra legroom probably helped a lot!

With RyanAir, writing everything out like this made me remember that they are actually terrible and the whole thing sucks most of the time, but I will absolutely continue flying with them when we live in Europe. The low prices and the massive number of direct flights they have between cities/countries means that I’m probably always going to keep going back to them even though I know I deserve better. 😉

In the end, when it comes to the battle between Spirit Airlines vs. RyanAir, Spirit definitely wins for me.

 

I hope this was helpful to anyone who was familiar with RyanAir but not Spirit Airlines, or vice versa! Let me know what you think in the comments.

-Cathy

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