Spirit Airlines attacked for gouging passengers with SEVENTY different fees after luring customers with bargain fares

• Even a carry-on bag will cost you $25, but that's just the start of a list that includes a $10 charge to print your boarding pass, $3 bottled water, and a $75 charge if you'd like to fly with your SCUBA tank

PUBLISHED: 11:38 EST, 1 June 2013 | UPDATED: 11:40 EST, 1 June 2013
You may feel like you’re getting deal when you book one of Spirit Airlines’ notoriously cheap fares, but a list of 70 fees that could potentially be tacked on to the ticket price has some people crying foul on the ultra-affordable air carrier.
Currently touted as the cheapest of all airlines and modeled after Europe’s Ryanair—which puts frugality ahead of cozy customer service—Spirit was once deep in the red.
In 2006, the company reported losses of $81 million. But that was before the company's now well-known fees took effect and before customers began complaining en masse.

Not to spirited: Known more for its bargain fares than caring customer service, Spirit Airlines is increasingly under attack for its liberal use of fees--both obvious and hidden--to increase revenue

According to website TravelNerd. In 2011, after fees and other non-ticket revenues had skyrocketed from 4 to 36 percent of total revenues, Spirit Airlines had turned a miraculous $76 million profit.
And many customers don't seem happy.
According to the New York Times, the Transportation Department receives six to eight complaints per 100,000 Spirit passengers. The industry average, meanwhile, is 1.4 complaints per 100,000 customers.

Fee-verish: Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza turned his company around with fee revenue and defends the practice despite widespread complaints and even a lawsuit

Wherever they can get it: A bottle of water costs Spirit passengers $3. If you choose to fly somewhere with a scuba tank, that'll run you $75

Money bags: Baggage fees make Spirit the bulk of its fee-based revenue. Passengers are charged even for one carry-on bag and the more bags you check, the progressively more you'll pay

‘The fee-for-everything technique allows airfares to be advertised as much lower than the overall cost,’ Paul Hudson, president of FlyersRights.org, told the New York Times.

A SELECTION OF SPIRIT'S MORE CONTENTIOUS FEES

 Spirit Airlines is known for two things: dirt cheap airfare and fees stacked upon fees for everything from $3 bottled water to a $10 charge simply to print your boarding pass once you've gotten to the airport. Below is a selection of some of the 'ultra-low-cost' carriers more contentious fees. There are many more than this, however. Find all 70 on Spirit's website.

Carry-On Bag, $35; First Checked Bag, $30; 2nd Checked Bag, $40; 3rd, 4th, 5th Checked Bag, $85;

Overweight bags 41–50 lbs. $25; 51–70 lbs. $50; 71–99 lbs. $100;

Bicycles, $75.00; Scuba Tank, $75.00; Surf Board, $100.00

Customer-Requested Deluxe Leather Seats, $1.00 to $50.00

Big Front Seats (In advance), $12.00 to $199.00

Passenger Usage Fee, $8.99 to $16.99 each way

Unintended Consequences of DOT Regulations Fee, $2.00 per customer each way

Charge for Airport Agents printing Boarding Passes, $10.00

Pet Transport Fee, $100.00 per pet container, each way

Award Redemption Fee, Up to $100.00 per customer

Snacks, $1.00 to $10.00

Drinks, $1.00 to $15.00

With fees ranging from $35 to $100 for carry-on bags, $3 for bottled water, and $10 just to print your boarding pass at the terminal, costs can certainly rise well above the self-described ultra-low-cost carrier’s bargain starting prices.
But Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza defends his company’s practices, though he admits that paying the list price for Spirit flights may be a bit harder than at other airlines.

'You can’t sleepwalk through the process,' he told the Times.

One customer begrudgingly agreed.
‘People don’t like the extra fees, they don’t read the fine print and they get mad,’ Ann Sheaffer, an accountant checking in for a Spirit flight to Dallas, told the Times. ‘But it’s all there in black and white. You just have to read it and understand it.’
One particularly contentious charge, a fee called the Passenger Usage Fee (PUF), has customers and former customers angry enough to take their fight to the courts.
A class-action suit was filed against Spirit Airlines over the fee in 2012 alleging that, though the company lists the PUF as an ‘optional fee’ on its website, it isn’t actually so.
The fee, it turns out, is only optional, when tickets are purchased at a Spirit ticket counter. If you buy your flight online, expect to be hit with a charge of $8.99 to $16.99 per customer, each way.
That seems like chump change when Spirit flights can range as low as the double digits, but according to a TravelNerd study, the airline collected an impressive $142 million from PUFs between 2008 and 2011.
Another fee that has passengers moaning, though it’s even lower, is called the Unintended Consequences of DOT Regulations Fee—a $2 fee tacked on to every ticket each way.
The fee, contends Spirit, is a reaction to a regulation passed by the Department of Transportation that requires airlines to allow customers to get a full refund from any ticket purchased with 24 hours. Spirit calls the rule expensive and decided to pass the ‘unintended consequence’ of a rise in cost on the consumer in the form of a small fee.
And the list goes on and on.

Costly: The Transportation Department receives more complaints about Spirit than any other airline. Nonetheless, they company took in $159.5 billion in revenue in 2012

The Spirit Airlines website lists about 70 fees in all. And though many of them are optional or unlikely to be imposed on most passengers, some of them are all but unavoidable.
For instance, if you plan to take a scuba tank onboard, be prepared to pay a $75 fee. If you redeem frequent flyer rewards travel, you’ll also get rewarded with a $100 fee, but you’ll be able to carry your infant child on your lap for free (except for in certain countries, where taxes may apply).
And, if you’re feeling squished by Spirit’s small seats—the industry’s tiniest—get ready to be squished even further. An upgrade to a ‘big front seat’ will cost you between $12 and $199.
Confusingly, that’s if you make your request at the time of purchase. Asking for an upgrade while already onboard (depending on availability) won’t cost you more than $75.