America's WORST Airlines? (Allegiant vs Frontier vs Spirit)

get ready for seats that squeeze no space for your knees and endless fees Allegiant Frontier Spirit which is the best and worst Ultra low-cost airline in the United States let's find out as we try all three back to back hello jet Setters I'm Jeb Brooks from greenergrest.com we're about to fly three of the largest low-cost carriers in the United States back to back over the next three days join us as we try out Allegiant Frontier spirit this is a low-cost carrier comparison here's the plan on day one we'll start with Allegiant in Punta Gorda Florida near Fort Myers we'll fly north to Cincinnati on the second day we'll make our way to Denver with Frontier and we'll wrap up the adventure on day three with a flight on Spirit to Las Vegas when it's all done we'll rate everything and compare these three Airlines to help you decide which one's right for you our first flight is with Allegiant we're flying from Fort Myers up to Cincinnati now Allegiant tends to use smaller airports outside major metropolitan areas so we're actually flying out of Punta Gorda which is about 30 minutes north of town each of these Airlines approaches pricing in a similar way sell a dirt cheap basic ticket and then allow passengers to pay extra for however they'd like to tailor their experience and we booked basically the same thing each time we paid to pre-select a seat near the very back ensured we'd carry on an extra bag and also pay the board early that was to facilitate filming on a legion that brought our total cost to 291 dollars for two of us thankfully all three of these Airlines participate in the TSA pre-check program and as members we were through security in no time it's my first time flying a legion see how it goes Allegiant is the only airline serving Punta Gorda and their passengers certainly filled the terminal part of Allegiance business model is to operate out of some of these smaller airports where fees tend to be lower and in theory they pass that along to you for example there's no jet Bridges here so they get a Payless when they use Gates here the junction behind Security offers Sundries everything you could possibly want including sandwiches so Suzanne grabbed a cheeseburger I'm having a turkey Panini and uh you know so that's your food option there's also a bar back here that has really good views of the Ram uh but we're just hungry at this point you're gonna get the most bang for your buck on a low-cost Airline if you can pack in a personal size item that can go under the seat that's free however we're carrying uh carry-on size bags on this trip this trip is kind of a week for us so we couldn't fit everything into a smaller bag so we're paying up for the carry-on bag it occurred to me I better check my bag so this is [Music] easy it's a perfect fit well you know it the only delay on the board is our flight to Cincinnati but these things happen that's why we built padding into the schedule so we're only taking one of these flights a day each day for the next three and that's really one of the key pieces of advice we can offer when it comes to booking any travel but especially with low-cost carriers give yourself plenty of padding between your flights and whatever you're flying to you see most low-cost carriers have smaller fleets than the major airlines which means they can't just magically find another airplane if something goes wrong add to that the fact that most of their routes are served once a day if not less well that's a recipe for trouble in the event of delays or cancellation in our case it took two and a half hours between when the delay was posted on the board and when a gate agent finally made an announcement about the delay we just got our first announcement the airplane's about an hour out of Punta Gorda and they put out some drinks for everybody on board to take advantage of at least it's a full flight so hopefully that is an incentive for Allegiant to get it out of here because we've got to make our way out of Denver tomorrow there it is I see it airplanes here ready to go outside the hard-working ramp workers fought the Florida heat pushing the ramp up to the plane 150 or so passengers streamed off making room for us to join the return flight up to Cincinnati and boy was it hot out here another shout out to the ramp workers again we paid 11.50 each to board early in order to make filming easier now on board you'll find a pretty basic 3-3 configured cabin we'll measure the seats we were in the most common and basic in the fleet but you can pay extra for more leg room in the exit rows and toward the front of the cabin and boarding test we settled in legroom is tight but there was room for our personal items under the seats [Music] we were glad to afford it early because most of the overhead bins back here are either filled with the life raft or a reserved for crew bags the tray table seemed a little small but would seem absolutely luxurious by the end of this low-cost carrier comparison Allegiance root Network stretches across the entire country and their Buy on board program is fairly robust we'll be ordering similar snacks and drinks on all three flights so we can compare them with prices and the experiences PSA middle seat gets the armrest that's true and just like the other two Airlines we'll be trying there's no in-flight entertainment two hours seven minutes 28 000 feet we're expecting a few bumps to climb up Associated weather do our best to find a nice smooth cruising out to for you [Music] it felt good to be in the air about three hours later than we thought and still no explanation from anybody about why departing Florida on a summertime afternoon almost always guarantees some turbulence and our flight was no exception [Music] it's time for the green grass tape measure let's check the bench 24 inches in whopping 24 inches and now let's check the knee room 11 inches and one more that's the shoulder width it was 15 inches as always it's best practice to never forget your own in-flight entertainment however be sure to download your content no Wi-Fi on board here [Music] we'll purchase drinks and snacks on each leg of this adventure and here on Allegiant two Gins a can of tonic and Doritos cost us 23.96 and just in case you're curious here's the full menu which is available on the Allegiant Airlines app [Music] now those two hours and seven minutes pass by relatively quickly and pretty soon we were on the ground again this time in the great state of Kentucky well that was a pretty bumpy three hour delayed flight but we're here in Cincinnati that's good news because tomorrow morning first thing we're headed out to Denver with Frontier we're just getting started another day another Ultra low-cost Airline let's check out Frontier today we don't fly Frontier Airlines enough to justify paying sixty dollars to join their discount Den Club so the base fare for our flight was 49 each but once we added our reserved seats at the back of the plane and carry-on bags that included boarding early our total came out to be just shy of 275 dollars for the two of us don't miss our behind the scenes video here at Cincinnati we went and made an Airport's revealed highlighting everything behind the scenes but finish this video before you watch that one but know what's out there and we're skipping that line because we went ahead and paid for these carry-on bags again same as we did yesterday trying to keep these experiences as similar as possible in order to make a comparison as accurate as possible it's been a hot second since I've printed out a boarding pass but it cost twenty dollars to check out the counter here for Frontier so you gotta think ahead what do you think of when you think of Frontier uh I think of the the animals on the Tails absolutely I think of that I think of Denver that's probably their biggest Hub yes let me fact check that I'm sure you're right that was my first Frontier flight was into Denver as well so excited to go back and it's time to fuel up for the day the need for caffeine is real we just finished breakfast here at Braxton brewing and I gotta tell you those breakfast tacos were the best airport breakfast I've ever had highly recommend this place next time you're coming through Cincinnati you gotta check it out that's a must do this is a really really good airport Frontiers Fleet tends to be younger than Allegiance for example the plane we were on yesterday was nearly 20 years old we were originally scheduled to be on a brand new Neo A320 Neo today to Denver but we were just swapped to one that's seven years old and thankfully I'm good to go with this bag looks like our airplane Sammy the squirrel may be in need of a visit to the paint shop but no time to think about that now boarding was beginning and because we paid for that extra carry-on bag we were able to be among the first to board Frontiers Fleet is made up of three three configured air buses just like Allegiance you'll find more legroom if you book the more expensive seats at the very front or in the middle of the plane but we kept making our way back I stopped in one of the last open bins it turns out Frontier also blocks some of the bins at the rear and thanks to that last minute aircraft swap we've moved from the next to the last row to the very last one if you thought yesterday's seats were Bare Bones these are even more basic the tray table is even smaller but we did not have trouble finding space for our carry-ons and the window offers a nice view of Sammy frontier's root map is more extensive than Allegiance though you can even fly with a New Mexico and the Caribbean and here's the menu but now it's time to hear from our captain probably a few bumps on the deceptant to Denver we'll get a little weather around Missouri we have to go around but uh we'll probably find you a good ride today [Music] and as we cross ten thousand feet I pulled out my iPad no Wi-fi here on Frontier and also like a legion plenty of bumps two Gins a can of tonic and Pringles on Frontier cost 26.98 tonic at 8 30 in the morning on a flight but this is for data collection purposes the last time I came with Frontier there was an option to leave a tip made with a credit card this to them she just has tapped the machine with the card so I'm not sure if something changed but you know in the comments are they still accepting tipping office like popping champagne whoa with a snack drinks and iPads the tray tables were pushed to their limit I guess my point here is that if you're looking to try to get work done on a laptop during your Frontier flight these seats are probably not for you I measured the pitch at 24 inches we found 11 inches of leg room and they're 14 inches of shoulder room the laboratories on all three of these airlines are essentially the same so here's the one in Frontier our two hour and 30 minute flight was soon coming to a close we began our descent into Denver where we touch down at the country's largest airport by land area well we've made it to Denver actually we got in early now that's a benefit of taking an early morning flight which we're not doing tomorrow with the spirit that said that flight was uh the longest one of the trip and I would say that wasn't the friendliest crew we've ever experienced in our lives nobody was rude to us but I saw some unfriendly Behavior to other passengers which is too bad I know how difficult that job is but I was sorry to see that that said again we're not done yet wish us luck as we head out with Spirit tomorrow Spirit Airlines Savers club didn't make sense for the same reason that frontier's competitive offering didn't make sense yesterday so our base fare was just over 95 dollars for the two of us we added our carry-on bags and paid to select our seats again and that brought our total to just over 250 dollars after we bought our tickets I decided to add Wi-Fi I got one voucher for the browsing speed and another for streaming to compare them for you security here at Denver was so brutal we didn't have time to stop by the ticket counter now the good news about that is we had no need to you see we paid for our carry-on bags and we checked it online so thankfully we were able to come straight to the gate speaking of let's go uh check on it see if the flight's on time our plane is not here yet it's actually coming in from Las Vegas as we speak but we're looking on time so far hopefully that holds which thankfully is something I can also say for the carry-on bag Sizer for Spirit Airlines well it's time for spirit so we save the best for last or is it going to be a big time will tell we should be boarding up here pretty soon some of you may be wondering why we didn't include Southwest in this low-cost carrier comparison well that's because we think that Southwest Jet flew and Breeze might be a better match for each other let us know in the comments if you should make another comparison of those three Airlines after a quick bite we caught a glimpse of our inbound aircraft when we flew this route in August of 2023 Las Vegas is the only city Spirit served from Denver Spirits ground handlers here in Denver got to work offloading this Airbus A320 however just like that found out our Spirit flight is delayed there's wind in Las Vegas and so that's caused a little bit of a delay here we hope it's only a half an hour but we'll find out yeah there's one thing you can take away and we could take away from this experience it's you know no matter what airline you're flying you're flying first class you're flying to make habits fly in the morning that's probably the best bet to avoid delays most definitely the airlines really want to start the days off right and uh as I've always said weather weather is the great equalizer by the way quick uh shout out to the ground crew here in Las Vegas at Spirit they did a nice job of telling us exactly why the delay can't say the same for uh Allegiant the other day went to Florida it's really great when Airlines go out of their way to communicate more information is always better for passengers than a better informed passenger is less likely to be well upset so shout out to these guys and after only about 30 minutes we're ready to board up so it's time to get on this bird we paid 7.99 to board with Zone one unlike the first two airlines Spirit offers a unique configuration for their planes at the front you'll find the so-called big front seats they're arranged in a 2-2 configuration they're extremely comfortable although like all of the seats on all of these Airlines they do not recline the rest of the plane of course is arranged in a 3-3 configuration Spirit does seem to have more overhead bin space toward the back of the airplanes than the other airlines we had no problem with our personal items fitting under the seats Spirits Buy on board program looked pretty similar to the others but their root network is definitely more extensive you can fly all the way to South America with them a little bit of a behind schedule today they were had some delays this morning in Vegas when we left there and now there's more delays going back so bear with us we're trying to get a time for departure here to take off work with air traffic control once you're born though one hour's 54 minutes it's a little bit longer like this afternoon a lot of weather around Las Vegas so they have us going on a different meeting today true thank you [Music] once we were above 10 000 feet I unfolded the tray table and opened up my iPad unlike our previous flights we were also able to check out the onboard Wi-Fi again we got a voucher for the slower and the faster speeds to test them both and you know what they're essentially the same so just get the cheaper one unfortunately Suzanne's tray table had some residual residue from a previous passenger and that's too bad however that didn't stop us from checking out the menu again this is on the app once more we ordered two Gins a can of tonic and this time a massive bag of Cheez-Its all of that for 25.50 [Music] now how about these seats well neat room came in at 12 inches we measured the pitch at 24. and the shoulder room was 15 inches although it won't weigh into our comparison metrics this flight turned out to be one of the most visually amazing in the last year or so [Music] thankfully those wins that delayed us earlier picked up again in Las Vegas and that meant we had to hold before we could land but that wasn't too bad in our book because the desert Southwest is in but before too long we've begun our descent into Las Vegas well that's spirit in the bag now weather delay can affect anybody so we won't fault him for that but now it's time to compare these experiences and we'll do that by comparing each airline's ground game seats Buy on board program onboard service and in-flight entertainment pricing is really a non-factor since all three flights were essentially exactly the same first The Biggest Loser in the ground game category is Allegiant if only the ground team in Punta Gorda had made some kind of announcement at one point I approached a supervisor during the delay and asked for an update personally she said she didn't even know it was delayed but that the gate agent working the flight would make announcements every 30 minutes or so we hadn't heard one and it took two and a half hours to get an update the biggest winner award goes to Spirit whose contract ground handlers made Regular updates during the mere 30-minute delay we encountered plus the pilots updated us throughout the flight as we had to hold because of wind changes when it comes to seats well they were all pretty much the same that said Frontier is The Biggest Loser their Slimline causes the most back pain the biggest winner let's Spirit thanks to that one extra inch of neru their seat aloud just like the seats the Buy on board program is virtually identical among these three but I guess the winner was Allegiant because their price was the cheapest beating Spirit by one dollar and 54 cents The Biggest Loser in terms of service well that's Frontier their crew were downright rude to several passengers who were clearly confused by last minute changes their seats because that aircraft swap the winners though were Allegiant who despite the delay all had great attitudes finally the clear winner in in-flight entertainment category was Spirit thanks to the existence of Wi-Fi Allegiant and Frontier tie here since neither offers anything no matter who you're flying always bring your own Ife but the winner of the low-cost carrier comparison Spirit Airlines but the real winners well it's us I still can't believe that worked out now be honest if you think you'd be here right now if you think you're gonna make it no I thought there was like very little chance we were going to pull this off but the schedules worked and we were able to make it only a couple of delays along the way but we did it between now and the next time see you in the sky

Channel: Jeb Brooks

Views: 1,691,813

Keywords: spirit airlines, frontier airlines, spirit airlines review, frontier airlines review, allegiant airlines, budget airlines, worst airlines, low cost airlines, ultra low cost airlines, #LowCostCarrierComparsion, americas worst airlines, allegiant airlines review, airline comparison, worst airlines in the world, low cost airlines review, allegiant vs spirit, allegiant vs frontier, frontier vs spirit, allegiant vs frontier vs spirit, low cost airline comparison

Id: WRJ1oJ0rfFU

Length: 20min 50sec (1250 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 02 2023