How's this for a cheap fare?
01/14/2009 NK7185 Fort Lauderdale (FLL) to Santo Domingo (SDQ) leave 6:00am arrive 9:15am
01/20/2009 NK718 Santo Domingo (SDQ) to Fort Lauderdale (FLL) leave 10:05pm arrive 11:25pm
Airfare (roundtrip)-$16.00
Tax- $127.40
Total $143.40
Gotta love that Spirit Airlines. It doesn't get much better than this. If fact, as soon as I saw this, I booked it. (I've flown this route with them before in August so I know what to expect)
Six months ago I was certain Spirit would be doomed as a result of their bare bones service and with the cost of fuel they can't keep prices low enough to keep people flying on them despite nonexistent service. Now that oil has crashed (there's no other way to put it, oil was trading in the $30 a barrel range today), they just might make it if they keep undercuting the other carriers by as much as half or more. Putting fuel costs aside, Spirit's operating costs are a fraction of AA's. Much lower labor costs, almost everything outsourced, brand new extremely fuel efficent planes. AA absolutely cannot compete with Spirit in price so they can only compete in quality of service. Even with the economy going south and much less leisure travelers, they are still doing well with VFR traffic (visiting friends and relatives) who will go home to their country to see their family no matter what and is always looking for the best price. Their Jamaica and Haiti routes are extremely popular. and every Santo Domingo flight I have been on with them has been at least 90% full, often completely full, and they plan on serving a third city in Colombia early next year. This might give some of these people a chance to see their family a little more often with fares like these. For better or for worse, Spirit just might make it.