Credit Card Review: Bank of America Free Spirit Travel More
Spirit Airlines is the biggest budget airline in America. Despite its growing presence, it is consistently perceived as the worst American airline. Spirit Airlines is a budget carrier. Its affordability attracted a significant amount of customer base, and naturally, folks with low budget thresholds flock to Spirit Airlines. People do not realize how expensive a flight could be since you will need to pay for anything and everything to fly Spirit. From printing a boarding pass at the gate to assigning a seat, you may end up with double the original flight price by the end of the flight. To enhance the travel experience, Bank of America (BoA) has partnered with Spirit Airlines, and there are now two Spirit Airlines credit cards on the market. Today, I will go over the Free Spirit Travel More card and why the card may deserve a spot in your wallet. Here’s my review of the BoA Free Spirit Travel More card:
Spirit Airlines is known for its affordability, and with its co-branded credit card, your next Spirit flight will be more enjoyable. Image by Forsaken Films on Unsplash.
Sign-Up Bonus & Multipliers
The BoA Free Spirit Travel More card currently offers a sign-up bonus of 60,000 points and a $100 companion flight voucher after spending $1,000 within three months of opening the card. I personally value Spirit Airlines points at 1.5 cents per point, which makes the overall sign-up bonus worth about $1,000. Since BoA issues the card, be aware of the 2/3/4 Rule. To put it simply, Bank of America will approve you for two credit cards per rolling two months, three credit cards per rolling 12 months, and four credit cards per rolling 24 months.
The BoA Free Spirit Travel More card can be surprisingly useful, and the elevated sign-up bonus makes the card even better!
The BoA Free Spirit Travel More card has decent multipliers. The card earns:
3X Spirit points per dollar on Spirit purchases
2X Spirit points per dollar at restaurants and grocery stores
1X Spirit points per dollar on all other purchases
While the card covers dining and grocery purchases, it doesn’t earn points on other everyday spending categories like gas and general transportation such as ride-sharing and parking. If you are looking for a workhorse credit card geared towards general everyday spending, I suggest you check out the AMEX Gold card and the Chase Freedom Flex card. Then, what is the use case for this card, aside from the sign-up bonus? It’s all in the benefits.
Here is a small glimpse of the perks that the BoA Free Spirit Travel More card offers. Image by Spirit Airlines.
Annual Fee & Benefits
As a new cardmember your annual fee is waived for the first year, and it will cost you $79 annually after that. Let’s see if the perks of the Free Spirit Travel More card justify its relatively low annual fee.
Companion Voucher Earning Opportunity
If you were to spend at least $5,000 on your card by the card’s anniversary, you would receive a $100 companion voucher, which is the same type of voucher as the sign-up bonus. The voucher is pretty simple to use; if you are traveling with a companion, the voucher will give the companion a $100 discount when redeemed. I don’t think it is worth spending $5,000 to earn this companion voucher, but it doesn’t hurt to save some money if you already plan on putting significant expenses on the card.
With a companion voucher, you can travel with your friends and share your travel experiences. Image by Eddy Billard on Unsplash.
Waived Points Redemption Fees
Although Spirit Airlines is a budget airline, if you were to do or ask for anything additional, you would find yourself slammed with fees. Of course, there are fees to check luggage, but you will need to pay for bringing in a personal carry-on item. In-flight soda isn’t free either, and even printing out a boarding pass during check-in will cost you money. Redeeming Spirit points is no exception. Generally speaking, Spirit Airlines will charge you $50 if you were to book an award flight within 28 days of departure. However, if you hold the Free Spirit Travel More card, the $50 fee is waived, and you can book last-minute award tickets without worrying about the fee.
The fees include a $50 redemption fee, which will be waived when you pay with the BoA Free Spirit Travel More card. Image by Spirit Airlines.
In the example above, the $50 redemption fee is imposed on the award flight from Austin to Bogotá because the departure date is within the 28-day period. However, if I purchase the award ticket with my BoA Free Spirit Travel More card, the $50 points redemption fee would be waived, and I would be responsible for $86.27, not $136.27.
Status Earning Potential
For every $10 on the card, you can earn one Status Qualifying Point (SQP) toward status. After earning 2,000 SQPs and 5,000 SQPs, you can earn Silver and Gold status, respectively. This means you will need to spend $20,000 to earn Silver status and $50,000 to earn Gold status, which is a lot to put on the card with basic multipliers. Silver status will get you a free seat assignment at check-in, same-day standby, and shortcut boarding. The Gold status will even give you a free seat selection at the time of booking, and you will receive a first checked bag, a carry-on drink for free, and a free drink on Spirit flights. If you must put a large purchase on your Spirit credit card, then it’s better to earn something than not, but I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to qualifying for either Silver or Gold status.
Would you spend $50,000 to obtain Gold Status with Spirit Airlines? Image by Spirit Airlines.
Points Pooling Ability
If you need to merge Spirit points with up to eight people to make one big redemption towards an award ticket, having the Free Spirit Travel More card will come in handy. Cardholders of either version of Spirit Airlines credit card can amalgamate points with other Spirit members. The combined points can be redeemed for anyone, which makes the ability even more remarkable.
Miscellaneous Perks
The BoA Free Spirit Travel More card comes with other practical benefits. For example, cardholders will receive a 25% discount on inflight food and beverages. In addition, Spirit points do not expire as long as you have the Free Spirit Travel More card (or the no annual fee Free Spirit Travel card). Lastly, cardmembers will receive Shortcut Zone 2 boarding, and the early boarding benefit will extend to other companions traveling on the same itinerary.
Thanks to the Shortcut Zone 2 boarding benefit, you will board your flight sooner than others. Image by Suhyeon Choi on Unsplash.
Summary
The Bank of America Free Spirit Travel More card currently offers a lucrative sign-up bonus of 60,000 Spirit points and a $100 companion voucher. The sign-up bonus is worth about $1,000, which is amazing for a credit card with a $79 annual fee. The Free Spirit Travel More card has basic multipliers, covering Spirit Airlines purchases and purchases at restaurants and grocery stores. Because Spirit Airlines is a budget carrier, it heavily imposes fees on its customers, and luckily that is when the card shines. As a cardholder, you won’t pay fees for making last-minute award flight bookings and can merge Spirit points with up to eight people. In addition, the credit card will prevent Spirit points from expiration as long as the card is alive, and cardholders will experience Shortcut Zone 2 boarding. The Free Spirit Travel More card is not the most outstanding travel card, but for a niche group of people, it could genuinely save some cash as its benefit will effectively cancel out pricy fees.
