New Airline To Take Flight At Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) – Starting early Wednesday night, we should be able to start booking flights on a new airline at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
We won't know officially which airline it is until the Minneapolis Airport Commission announces it, but it's widely expected to be Spirit Air.
That's the airline known for its rock bottom prices and fees on everything from carry-on bags to boarding passes. The new airline will be flying out of Terminal 2 or the old Humphrey Terminal, which is right now dominated by hometown Sun Country Airlines.
The Twin Cities has the 11th highest airline prices in the nation.
"More competition is good," said Lynn Arneson, a frequent air traveler.
Initial speculation focused on JetBlue or Spirit being the new airline at the MSP airport. A spokesperson for JetBlue said Tuesday that there was no announcement planned for Minnesota. Officials with Spirit Air didn't confirm the announcement with WCCO-TV.
Edina-based travel agent Raelee Boyce said Spirit's deals can appear better than they actually are. Delta's round trip price for a flight from Chicago to the Dominican Republic is $719, while Spirits is $581.
But when you add in the Spirit fees of $50 for carry-on bags, $20 for an assigned seat and $2 each for snacks, drinks and printing a boarding pass, the price of the Spirit ticket jumped to 657. It's still $54 less than Delta, but not quite the deal it appeared to be.
Travelers WCCO-TV talked to seemed to balk at the carry-on price more than anything.
"For me they shouldn't charge for a carry-on," said traveler Chuck Zwitt.
An official announcement on the new airline at the airport will be made at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
