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What you need to know
Adding the Spirit Airlines World Mastercard® to your wallet can help you earn Free Spirit® miles and ultimately save you money on flights.
If you’re not already loyal to one brand but like the idea of getting a card with either airline, first take a look at local flight options before fretting too much about card benefits — the card that’s best for you may depend on where you live.
Both airlines fly coast to coast within the U.S. and serve many North American and Caribbean destinations, but they may have different levels of service at your local airport. Generally, Spirit Airlines is a god option for folks on the East Coast.
But if both airlines are equal options for you, here’s what you need to know.
Spirit Airlines World Mastercard®
The Spirit Airlines World Mastercard® stands out by offering bargain-barrel flights starting at just 2,500 miles, plus taxes and fees. That’s pretty impressive when you take into account the welcome bonus offer.
The Spirit Airlines World Mastercard® offers a sign-up bonus of up to 30,000 miles: 15,000 miles after your first purchase and another 15,000 miles after making $500 in purchases within 90 days of account opening. That means the sign-up bonus could get you seats on up to 12 flights.
And when you consider the 5,000 anniversary bonus miles that the card offers every year that you spend $10,000, that’s an additional two flights annually that you can potentially get. All that without even touching the two miles you’d earn for each $1 spent on any day-to-day purchases.
Although the Spirit Airlines World Mastercard® offers cheap redemption options, they’re limited to “off-peak” travel — which generally doesn’t overlap with holidays or the summer. Otherwise, you can expect flights to start at 10,000 for “standard” dates or 15,000 miles for “peak” travel windows. Plus, the amount of miles needed for redemptions depends on the flight distance. To see if the redemptions might work for your travel needs, check out the Spirit Airlines award chart.
You can save on redemption fees by booking early. There is no fee for flights booked at least 181 days before departure. These fees, which range between $15 and $75, increase the closer you get to the departure date.
To learn more, read our review of the Spirit Airlines World Mastercard®.
If you’re a fan of low-cost airlines and saving every penny on travel, either of these cards can help take your money further.
But if both airlines are equally useful in their destinations from your local airport, the Spirit Airlines World Mastercard® might be a better option for you, simply because of its ultra-low redemption options. Sure, the qualifying “off-peak” windows are limited, but if you’re flexible on travel dates and can plan in advance, you can save a lot of money with this card.
What to consider when applying for a travel card
If you travel often, a travel card can be a powerful tool to turn those travel-based purchases into miles.
Travel cards come in two general categories.
- Brand-specific cards like the Spirit cards are best if you fly with a specific airline consistently because they both offer airline-specific perks and reward loyalty.
- Generic travel cards offer rewards that can be used with many travel brands but don’t offer specific perks with particular carriers. These are better if you like shopping for the best deals across brands when booking travel.
But as with all credit cards, travel cards should be used with caution and a plan. Travel credit cards are not your best option if you don’t expect to pay your credit card statement balance in full every month. If you do carry debt on these cards, the interest fees could quickly wipe out any benefits you may have earned from the rewards.