This summer has been filled with amazing adventures as Derek and I trot around on our Global Wedding Reception. What’s a Global Wedding Reception you ask? Here’s the back story and our solution. Derek grew up in Texas, has lived in Texas for the majority of his life and the majority of his people are either in Texas or a short flight away. As a result of my nomadic history, my friends and family are scatted all over the globe.  We quickly realized that I would be asking people to travel from far off places, Australia, Japan, Peru, the UK. These people would travel for days, spend thousands of dollars and we would get to see each other for 30 minutes, if we were lucky. With all the weddings I have produced I knew this is not what I wanted to have happen. I wanted to spend serious quality time with each of these people and for Derek to have the opportunity to get to know them. Our solution:  in lieu of a giant wedding where all of our friends and family flew to see us we decided to go and see THEM.

“What a great idea this is…” has been echoed by numerous people.  However, we ran into a bit of a challenge. We spent more on our wedding than we had initially planned and Global Wedding Reception budget took a bit of a hit. It was time  to get creative.

For years I had been hearing of this polarizing airline called Spirit air. Some people love it and other LOATH it. As a long time devotee of anything “VIRGIN” it was tough for me to jump ship from the Virgin America experience that i have come to love. While typically a bit more pricey than other carriers, Virgin is second to none. BUT,  with all the traveling we are doing this summer and beyond we needed to look at less expensive options during the high priced summer travel season.

We jumped on the Spirit site and began to peruse the various tabs. The ticket prices were amazing! $79 dollars to Los Angeles!?! Amazing.. BUT I knew that Spirit Airlines was renowned for charging for absolutely everything. Buyer beware… and thus decided it was time to read every line of their “extras”.  While a bit unusual in their weight limitations, ticketing and a few other quirky ways of doing of business, I found the website to be totally upfront. The site clearly instructs you how to save and what to do to avoid the EXTRA charges.  They have no bones about being BAREBONES. And that they are. They even have a 101 course on traveling with Spirit. They set expectations and they meet them.

Soooooo, if you like to fly and be treated like Royalty, Sprit Air is NOT the airline for you. If you want to get from point A to point B as cheaply as possible and you don’t require much luggage, “infotainment”, or high levels of customer service Spirit is your answer.

Personally, when I fly Spirit in the future, which I will, I will do the following.

1. Upgrade my seat to a Premium seat.

2. Buy any additional luggage at the time of ticket purchase.

3. Print my boarding pass out at home.

4. Bring my own snacks and non-adult bevies on board.

5. And make sure I’m not flying more than 4 -5 hours.

Also keep an eye on your total cost. Airlines like Southwest with their two free bags policy are direct competitors and the  prices can frequently come very close to each once you have all your add-ons. Do you homework and know your travel style.

Bottom Line : Would I fly to Lima on Spirit Airlines? HELL NO. Would I fly 3 or 4 hours from Dallas to San Diego, or Los Angeles or New York, Absolutely! If you look at it as a bus rather than a flying experience, you follow the rules and you educate yourself on their unique ways of flying the friendly skies, you will be able to afford to go to all of your friend’s destinations weddings and live a jet set life on a beer bottle budget!