The enigma that is Spirit Airlines

So, I will be flying to Vegas this evening on a Spirit Airlines flight. Not being familiar with this airline, I decided to check the trusty internet to see what I could find out about them. I might as well have Googled the term "Snake Oil." As I read through some reviews, several phrases kept popping up:

• Expect delays
• Nickel & Dime
• Bait & Switch
• Soul Plane

Soul Plane? Yes, I actually saw multiple one-star reviews comparing Spirit to a real life version of the movie Soul Plane. That confused me because that sounds like a good thing.

Apparently the airline is basically just a la carte. They give you a really cheap ticket and then charge you for everything else. Everything. Some of it can get pretty expensive.  $10 if you don't print your own ticket.  $3 for water. $10-$50 to pick your seat. Baggage seems to be the biggest problem. Here's a (helpful?) chart for that:

They actually have a pretty funny video that you can watch that attempts to explain what they are doing. But what really put my mind at ease was running across this:

So, not only will they have drinks, but they will give you discounts the more you purchase at one time. Mixing it up, they call it. Spirit Airlines is alright in my book.

*One member of our group is flying out a day early. I was able to get some early feedback on the Spirit experience. Our conversation after the jump..