The Offer
The usual sign up bonus on the Spirit airlines card is 15,000 miles after you make your first purchase (if a friend refers you, they’ll also earn 5,000 miles). At the moment it’s possible to get this offer and an additional $100 statement credit when you make $500+ in purchases within the first three months. Here is how to get the offer:
By phone
- Call 1.800.932.2775 and mention priority code VACE5Z
Online
- Create or log into your spirit airlines account
- Search for any flight
- Keep clicking continue until you get to the final booking page, half way down you’ll see a link to the special offer that looks like this (just below the “Total Due” section
Unfortunately it doesn’t look like it’s possible to provide a direct link, as it pre-fills in all of your information into the application.
The Fine Print
- Card earns 2x miles on all purchases
- Annual fee of $59 waived first year
- 5,000 anniversary bonus Spirit miles when you spend at least $10,000 in purchases annually and pay your annual fee
- Spirit miles don’t expire as long as you make at least one purchase per month on your Spirit credit card, usually they expire within three months unless you have any earning activity
- I’ve included the award chart below, which can be accessed directly by clicking here. You’ll notice that having the credit card allows you to take flights starting at 2,500 miles + taxes
Fees
Spirit airlines is an ultra low cost carrier airline, which basically means they’ll change you a fee for almost anything you can think of. You can view the optional extras and their associated charges by clicking here. I’ve listed some of the more common/annoying fees below, for prices I’ve assumed that you’re ordering these services during the booking phase (which is when it’s at it’s cheapest). I’ve also listed the prices for after December 31st, 2014 which is when prices go up (by about $1).
- Carry on baggage: $35
- First checked bag: $30
- Customer requested seat assignment:Â $1 to $50 (auto assignment is free)
Extra Free Miles
At the moment it’s also possible to get an additional 8,000 miles for free, simply by complaining about spirit or another airline. You can read more about this offer here. If you know of any other spirit free mile opportunities then please let us know by using the contact us page.
Our Verdict
I’m sure this is going to cause an uproar, but I think I’m going to apply for this card. Let me explain why. This card is issued by Bank of America, in general when you apply for multiple cards from them in the same day they will only pull your credit report once.
I’ve been stocking up on Alaska miles recently and want to continue doing so. If I apply for another Alaska card, I might as well tack this onto it. It’s a $100 cash bonus, I get 15,000 miles and I’ll also be able to utilize miles from other Spirit airlines promotions in the future. I don’t have a problem flying an ultra low cost carrier (it’s certainly not for everybody) if it can save me miles and money.
What makes applying for this card a little less attractive is the fact that Bank of America have shut down the downgrade path to the Better Balance Rewards card which would have netted me an extra $120 per year. I haven’t decided if I’ll take this route or not yet, I want to do a bit more research and try to finalize my travel plans for work before pulling the trigger. Yes, there is a chance that I’ll miss this offer but I never let the threat of a deadline influence making a rational decision. What are your thoughts on this offer? Will you consider it? Have you flown Spirit before? How did you like it?Â
I think this card doesn’t make a lot of sense for the majority of people due to the excessive fees that Spirit charge, but it might make sense for some people and only really when trying to combine multiple credit pulls. For the vast majority of travelers there are better cards out there.
Hat tip to MixedMetafive from reddit.com/r/churning
