We’re taking a pause from looking at the ‘Big 3′ US airlines’ credit cards to take a look at the Spirit Airlines “Free Spirit” Mastercard from Bank of America. Airlines are increasingly reliant on co-branded credit card deals to drive their business, and with Spirit Airlines having recently entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy, credit card profits are more important to them than ever.
I assume this card is mainly targeted at cost-conscious travels that would otherwise be flying Spirit at least somewhat reguarly.
This blog is just for entertainment purposes. I provide the information here just to give readers a vague idea if the rewards offered by the card might make sense for them to consider the card. The information on this page has been collected independently, and all information should be confirmed with the card company before applying.
Welcome Offer
At the time of posting, the Free Spirit card has a 50 000 bonus points offer and a $100 companion flight voucher after spending $1 000 in 90 days. The $79 annual fee is also waived in the first year. I don’t actually know what value I’d assign Spirit points, but we can (probably) safely work off a value of 1 ¢/pt. That makes this current welcome offer worth at least $580, which is good for a $79 annual fee card.
Earnings
The Free Spirit card has a good setup for a low annual fee co-branded card: 3x points/$ on Spirit Airlines (good), 2x points/$ on dining (common) and grocery stores (more interesting) and 1x point/$ on everything else.
These earning rates are decent for a $79 annual fee co-branded card. Offering 3x points/$ on Spirit purchases and 2x points/$ on grocery stores purchases could well be desirable for Spirit’s customer base.
The 2x miles/$ grocery store category is particularly interesting to me because it’s the only AA card that offers it.
Benefits
For its $79 annual fee, this card offers a handful of benefits. Just for holding the card, it offers priority boarding (in group 2) and 25% back on inflight purchases. It does not offer any free checked bags, but if you spend at least $5 000 on the card in a membership year, you’ll receive a $100 companion flight voucher on your card member anniversary.
The other benefit this card offers is the removal of the “close-in” redemption fee ($50 if a flight is booked less than 28 days in advance).
How to use the points
The main use for Free Spirit points is to redeem them for Spirit Airlines flights. Award flights on Spirit are dynamic but do not have a set value. My understanding is that the points can only be used for the base fare and not for add-ons (which is where Spirit makes all its money). That makes the points somewhat useful in usefulness, but at least Spirit no longer charges cancellation fees (as is my understanding).
Spirit charges $50 for close-in bookings (less than 28 days), which eats up a lot of the value of its points.
Examples of using the card
These examples assume you spend all your airfare budget on Spirit Airlines (which would be impressive).
Spend per month
| Example A | Example B | Example C | Example D | |||||
| Groceries (2x) | $300 | 600 | $200 | 400 | $600 | 1 200 | $400 | 800 |
| Gas (1x) | $0 | 0 | $100 | 100 | $200 | 200 | $100 | 100 |
| Airfare (3x) | $700 | 2 100 | $200 | 600 | $0 | 0 | $400 | 1 200 |
| Hotels (1x) | $1 000 | 1 000 | $200 | 200 | $0 | 0 | $300 | 300 |
| Gen Travel (1x) | $400 | 400 | $0 | 0 | $300 | 300 | $100 | 100 |
| Dining (2x) | $600 | 1 200 | $300 | 600 | $300 | 600 | $0 | 0 |
| General (1x) | $1 000 | 1 000 | $500 | 500 | $500 | 500 | $400 | 400 |
| Total | $4 000 | 6 300 | $1 500 | 2 400 | $1 700 | 2 800 | $1 700 | 2 900 |
| Average points/$ | 1.58 | 1.60 | 1.65 | 1.71 |
The 3/2/1 earning structure means that the average points earned has a range of 1.58 – 1.71 points/$, but the limited value of Spirit points means that the return is unchanged at 1.58 – 1.71 ¢/$. That’s maybe an okay return overall, but a lot of these categories should go on a 2% cashback card instead in my opinion. The range is really dependent on how much you spend each month on Spirit Airlines (and on groceries/dining).
Specific examples
| Card | Spirit Airlines Economy class ($750) (% return) | Marriott Hotel night ($230/night) | Points values (Flight/Hotel) |
| No rewards card | 4 200 SP (5.6%) | 2 200 MP (7.7%) | $42.00 / $17.60 |
| General 2% cashback card ($0) | 4 200 SP + $15.00 (7.6%) | 2 200 MP + $4.60 (9.7%) | $57.00 / $22.20 |
| Chase Sapphire Preferred ($95) | 4 200 SP + 1 500 UR (8.6%) | 2 200 MP + 460 UR (10.7%) | $64.50 / $24.50 |
| Amex Green Card ($150) | 4 200 SP + 2 250 MR (9.8%) | 2 200 MP + 690 MR (11.9%) | $73.50 / $27.26 |
| Free Spirit Card ($79) | 6 450 SP (8.6%) | 2 200 MP + 230 SP (8.7%) | $64.50 / $19.90 |
Is this the right type of credit card for you?
I don’t think it’s actually worth putting much money on this card. I could see an argument for getting this card if (a) you book close-in award tickets at least 2x/year and/or (b) you would buy priority boarding at least a couple times per year (or some combination of those two). The odds are that if you’re flying Spirit, you’re likely to be very price sensitive, and earning 2% cashback on your purchases on a $0 annual fee card is likely to better align with your spending habits and give you better value.
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