Web Watch
www.spiritair.com
Rating (out of five stars): 3 1/2
You won’t find any flashy pictures or cool special effects at the Spirit Airlines FREE SPIRIT Web site. Graphics are virtually nonexistent and the site is simple and to the point.
Online enrollment requires you to fill out a quick form and you can choose to receive special offers, including fare sales and other promotions. You can also choose to receive tailored promotions by selecting up to five preferred airports, which you can change at any time.
After logging in, you can view your account activity and your elite status and rank. The ranking system is only important for those members who are within reach of becoming the top 500 A-List members, top 10 Celebrity members and the #1 Member, but even the non-status Somebodies can still see where they stand in the ranking.
You can request missing mileage credit online or add your FREE SPIRIT number to an upcoming flight. You can redeem miles for an award flight online and the award chart is simple and easy to read, although you will need to be up-to-date on airport codes to decipher the airports listed beneath the different regions. It would be helpful to have a legend at the bottom of the chart that spells out the codes.
Once booked, changes to an award ticket are not allowed, but you can cancel your award ticket online (for a $60 service fee) and rebook a new reservation. The airline will be migrating to a new award reservation system soon, which will allow members’ to modify their award itinerary. During the transition, members will need to submit an award ticket request via an online form and a customer service representative will contact you within 72 hours.
The membership guide is thorough, but long and missing a table of contents. To find information, your only option is to scroll and search — you won’t find a list with links to take you directly to the section you want.
You can navigate the site using the menu on the left side of the screen. FREE SPIRIT is a relatively small program with only a few earning partners and you can find more information about earning miles from partners under “Ways to Earn Miles.” The program also offers miles through the FREE SPIRIT Mall but the link to the mileage mall is located on the right side of the page. Information about the mall as an earning partner should be listed in the “Ways to Earn Miles” section.
There is a short FAQ list of seven questions, but it is missing answers to some of the commonly asked questions we like to see, such as when do miles expire and how do I redeem for an award ticket.
FREE SPIRIT keeps its Web site simple and pages load quickly. The site is easy to navigate but the Membership Guide could be better organized and we would like to see a longer FAQ list.
