Spirit Airlines is a budget airline that charges for things like carry-ons and printing a boarding pass at check-in. They have the highest number of complaints per passenger. But they’re cheap – they claim 40% lower on average. They are also known for controversial ad campaigns, including their most recent Hate Thousand Mile Giveaway. Basically, make a complaint about any airline and get 8,000 Spirit miles. If you don’t have one yet, you can sign up for a free account beforehand.
As previously mentioned, you can grab another 1,000 Spirit miles with a new Rewards Dining account and spending $30 (tax and tip count) at a participating restaurant. Get another 750 bonus miles by signing up for MyPoints and making a $25 purchase through their shopping mall. Finally, get 400 miles for joining a survey site and taking your first survey.
What can you do with Spirit miles?
- Free flight award chart. One-way awards start at 10,000 miles. This is why I mention the partners above, as a possible way to get to 10k without flying.
- However, if you apply for their branded credit card, one-way awards start at 2,500 for off-peak awards. But since everyone is getting these free miles, I don’t know how easy it will be to grab one of these.
- Free magazine subscriptions. Via MagsforMiles, 40 issues of Fortune is 2,900 miles, 51 issues of The Economist is 4,800 miles, 12 issues of Money is 1,200 miles, 304 issues of Wall Street Journal is 4,800 miles, 52 issues of Time is 1,800 miles. Other examples are Sports Illustrated, Vogue, People…
So at worst, fill out a 60-second form and get two free magazine subscriptions. I just did it and I’m not really sure where the “hate” goes, I guess they just want to remind us that other airlines stink too. “Miles will be posted to your FREE SPIRIT account within 10 days of submission.” Keep in mind that miles expire after only 90 days of inactivity. So redeem quickly or sign up for the dining miles program to extend expiration.
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I’m not a fan of Mags for Miles. I redeemed some miles for a subscription several years ago and was required to provide my credit card number. After the 1-year subscription was up, and with no prior notice, my credit card was charged for a subscription renewal. I had an extremely hard time cancelling the subscription and getting my money back. It’s been a few years, but I believe I had to dispute the charge with my credit card company. The magazine said I had to manage my subscription through Mags for Miles, and Mags for Miles made it impossible to cancel.
I don’t doubt your experience, but I just redeemed my miles for a subscription of Wall Street Journal at MagsForMiles and it did not require any credit card at all. However, you can add additional discounted titles with a credit card. I declined that option so I don’t think there is anything to worry about in this particular case.
What if you provided a credit card with an expiration date before the end of the free subscription period. Could that prevent a subscription renewal from being charged to your card?
@DollarBill, there are back-bone systems that allow merchants with initial authorizations to exploit updated credit card information as long as the original card issuance has remained an open account (albeit different number and expiration date and security code). So it’s never safe to assume that you’re protected if the account is active, regardless of changes.
FYI, Spirit allows you to diss Spirit, which I gladly did since they’re the worst.
Thanks Paul. In that case I’ll use a credit card that I plan on closing before the end of the free subscription period. I have a couple bonus-mileage cards that I plan to close before the annual fee comes due.
Does anybody know if I can use these miles when departing from SLC? It looks like Spirit doesn’t fly there. Partner airlines perhaps?
I’m afraid Spirit doesn’t have any partner airlines. You are limited to their route map for award redemptions.
How long does it take for the miles to appear in your Free Spirit account? I filed my complaint a few days ago but my account does not reflect the miles.
@Linda
Jonathan’s posting above states “Miles will be posted to your FREE SPIRIT account within 10 days of submission.” BTW, I signed up on the 10th and my miles haven’t posted yet as well.
My 8,000 miles posted to my account today July 16. I submitted my hate on July 10.
Thanks DollarBill, I just checked and my 8,000 miles are there as well.
Just redeemed miles for a WSJ subscription. No credit card required, but there is one upsell page where you have to decline additional subscriptions for $2 and get to the final confirmation page.
So our 8000 miles posted Thursday to our accounts and we have already redeemed them for miles! If any of your readers need a step by step guide on how to redeem once the miles post, we wrote a blog post about it, as it was somewhat tricky at first. The post is here: http://twototravelandtango.com/travel-tips/how-to-redeem-free-spirit-miles-for-magazines/#more-376
Excited about a free year of The Economist, ESPN, and Time!