Cheap: Yes, usually the most so
Bad: Very bad
Evil: They regularly make offensive ads to generate publicity, but I wouldn't call them evil, per se
Here's my LCC comparision:
Southwest:
*Straightforward pricing
*2 free bags
*passengers know what they're getting, and are content
*nicer F/A's because they deal with happier passengers
Spirit:
*Will charge you for every single thing, and the fees are more expensive at the airport
*Will charge you to print a boarding pass at the airport if you haven't ahead of time(!!!!)
*Constantly get passengers who don't know what they're getting into and are therefore grumpy and confrontational
*worse F/A's because all they deal with is upset and angry passengers, and they don't have enough energy to be nice to the rest of them
Evil is their middle name. They are not up front with their costs. They sneak them in. A lot of complaints about that. They also win for being the most grumpy.
A recent CNN had this to say:
Spirit ranked No. 1 in customer complaints about U.S. airlines filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation every year from 2009 to 2013, according to "the Unfriendly Skies," a U.S. PIRG Education Fund study of five years of government data.
http://www.uspirg.org/news/usf/report-spirit-most-complained-about-airlineA good example would be the story where their CEO Ben Baldanza hit "reply to all" and the person
who had a bad experience and was in touch with Spirit got this:
“Please respond, [Customer Service Representative], but we owe him nothing as far as I’m concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.”
Then the media found out and it hit the fan. Typical Spirit Airlines. Millions of people go for the cheap ride but so many people give it up after experiencing it. It is important to know what your getting yourself into.
