Spirit Airlines - do fares fluctuate?

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Paulino

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Jan 4, 2002
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I am trying to find reasonable fares from MIA/FLL to DR, flying out mid December, returning early January. As AA fares are now quite prohibitive - at least MIA-STI which is my primary itinerary - I looked into what Spirit had to offer. So yesterday evening (Sunday 9/10) I found some reasonable fares - at USD 119 pp each way + tax. FLL-SDQ. But to my surprise, when I looked up the pages again today Monday morning European time they had suddenly risen to USD 154 for each leg. So there go USD 210 up in thin air, literally.

However I do ask myself, and now anyone who might have an idea, is there a chance the fares will go down again? Like for example, if I look them up again next weekend? Or perhaps even tonight? Because I did do a similar search a few day ago as well, and then the fares were already up there at $ 154 (and obviously came down later). Can't remember what day that was though, but most likely in the daytime and during the week, like now.

Any shared knowledge or point of view would be much appreciated.
 
cobraboy

cobraboy

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Jul 24, 2004
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Spirit has different fares for different days. The cheapest days to travel are Tues-Thurs.
 
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Berzin

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You are right. Airfares fluctuate from one second to the next with no apparent rhyme or reason. So if you see an airfare that's good snag it as soon as you can.

And remember that the DR has taxes of around $118 roundtrip if I'm not mistaken, so you have to add that to the cost of the flight.

For example, I was looking for airfare to Rio on American for Christmas/New Years and it has gone up $400 in 3 days. And other airlines have round trips for as much as $4500 in COACH to the same destination. Go figure.
 
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Everett

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Spirit seems to run their airfares to accomodate empty seats. I scan them constantly to get a sense of what the range is then jump on the best fare when my travel time is certain.
It helps to get on their internet notification newsletter - then you have their sales the same day they publish them.
When you go into their system for the flights, prior to purchase, they will tax and total the ticket price so that there will be no suprises. As the man said: midweek fares are less. Expect fares to jump as we go into the busy winter season.
From Florida they only have Ft. Lauderdale departures - they do not service the MIA market.
 
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Paulino

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Jan 4, 2002
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Thanks for the input...

Yes, I am aware of the high DR taxes - outrageous to say the least. On top of entry tax and departure tax, unless included in what one pays to the airline. And of course to add insult to injury there's the penalty if one as a non-resident stays more than two weeks.

When I mentioned the fares I was talking about net amounts. For the three of us the grand total would be $ 1067 with the low fare, $ 1277 after they raised it.

Those fares are crazy no matter what. For example, here in Norway I can fly Oslo-Tromso which is exactly the same distance, round trip for less than NOK 1100, which translates to US $ 175 taxes and all. And that' on SAS, which is no budget airline. I know because I'm flying there this coming Thursday. But needless to say it's all about competition vs. monopoly.
 
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Dragonfly32837

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May 31, 2005
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It all depends. Prices change all of the time and you never know when. My friend was price shopping for his trip for December to the DR last year around the middle of November and the prices were about 800 to 1000 dollars from fll to sdq via spirit. He then checked a week later when he was ready to purchase his ticket and he was able to purchase the ticket for 544 dollars. Totally unexpected. He went in to pay the higher amount that he saw the week before. I do not think that it is wise to wait till the last minute though. The price could have gone up as well.
 
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rellosk

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Mar 18, 2002
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Paulino said:
Those fares are crazy no matter what. For example, here in Norway I can fly Oslo-Tromso which is exactly the same distance, round trip for less than NOK 1100, which translates to US $ 175 taxes and all. And that' on SAS, which is no budget airline. I know because I'm flying there this coming Thursday. But needless to say it's all about competition vs. monopoly.
Click to expand...
As you said, it's competition not distance that determines the price. In the US, I can fly from Newark to London (about 7,000 miles) for much less the price to fly from Newark to Puerto Plata (about 1,500 miles).

Regarding the pricing, my experience is for some routes you need to check on a daily basis. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why the prices go up or down.
 
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Berzin

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rellosk said:
As you said, it's competition not distance that determines the price. In the US, I can fly from Newark to London (about 7,000 miles) for much less the price to fly from Newark to Puerto Plata (about 1,500 miles).

Regarding the pricing, my experience is for some routes you need to check on a daily basis. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why the prices go up or down.
Click to expand...

There is a rhyme and reason for these price fluctuations-its' called greed and sheer stupidity.
 
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Paulino

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Final outcome - if anyone's interested:

I gave up on Spirit Air - their fare currently stands at $154 + $417 (!!!) + tax for the itinerary I wanted. Greed does seem to belong somewhere in this picture, indeed. I ended up making reservations on AA's MIA-POP flight, the fare here was a reasonable $430 something, tax included. And I avoid the hassle of driving all the way up to Hollywood/FLL from Little Havana and also the almost unbearable taxi + bus trip from Las Americas via StoDgo to Santiago. POP is 20 minutes farther away from where I will be at (Esperanza) than STI, but that's no problem. It's made up in full by avoiding the madhouse called Avenida Estrella Sadhala in Santiago.

One final note: The weekend before last I was unable to find MIA-STI for Dec/Jan under $650 or so - yesterday I found it for $493. But I'm still better off flying MIA-POP, saving some $180 in all.
 
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