Spirit Airlines launches new Loyalty Program

Spirit Airlines has officially rolled out its brand new Loyalty Program ‘Free Spirit’.

Alongside the brand new Free Spirit program, the carrier is also refreshing its $9 Fare Club and rebranding it as the new Spirit Saver$ Club. And in addition to all this, the airline has launched 2 new branded credit cards.

The Free Spirit scheme was announced last year in October. As usual, rolling out a new program takes time, so Spirit set the launch date for 21st January,2021.

Here is what you need to know about the program

The new Free Spirit program operates, in a few ways, like a traditional airline loyalty program. Customers earn points based on dollars spent. Every booking, every bag, and every seat selection fee counts toward earning points. For those looking to earn points outside of flying, the new Free Spirit credit cards also earn customers’ points. The Free Spirit members earn 6 points per dollar spent on airfare.

Silver status can be earned by spending $2,000 on Spirit flights, or $20,000 on eligible Free Spirit credit cards, or a combination of the two, and offers members eight points per dollar spent on fares (16 points per dollar spent on optional extras), as well as free ‘shortcut’ security and boarding, and free general seat selection 24 hours before departure, with exit row availability three hours prior to departure.

Meanwhile, Gold status can be earned by spending $5,000 spent on flights, or $50,000 on eligible Free Spirit credit cards, or a combination of the two, and offers members ten points per dollar spent on fares (20 points per dollar spent on optional extras), as well as Silver benefits as per the above, a free carry-on and checked bag, and seat selection at the time of booking.

Points do not expire as long as members make one qualifying transaction to earn or redeem every 12 months. Free Spirit credit card holders’ points do not expire as long as their card account remains open. Members can use Points + Cash to book even faster and fly sooner by redeeming as few as 1,000 points and using dollars to cover the rest of the fare.

There is also a new “Points Pooling” feature in which up to eight friends and family members can combine their points and earn reward flights faster. Only Silver and Gold members and Free Spirit credit card holders can host a points pool.

Reward redemptions start at 2,500 points, and can be redeemed against every available seat on all flights, with no blackout dates. As the carrier puts it “If a seat is available for dollars, it’s available for points”.

Spirit is introducing two cards for the US: the Free Spirit Travel Mastercard and the Free Spirit Travel More Mastercard. The latter card offers a $100 companion flight voucher on the cardholder’s anniversary, and spend on the Travel More card counts toward earning SQPs. Both cards get shortcut boarding as well as a 25% inflight rebate on food and drink purchases.

Finally the carrier has revamped its existing $9 Fare Club as the ‘Spirit Saver$ Club’, offering subscription-based benefits including fare discounts and savings on optional extras.

“Points are useless if you have to wait forever to use them. We started with a clean sheet of paper so we could focus on what travellers and their families want, which is points that add up fast and generate rewards just as quickly. We know our Guests want to be able to earn and redeem their points without jumping through hoops.”

said Bobby Schroeter, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Spirit Airlines.

What do you think of Spirit Airlines’ new loyalty program? Let us know in the comments section below.