Most of us would probably hesitate to give them our business, but that hesitation doesnt translate to airfare.

We keep paying forcrappy, bare bonesflights.

And thats not a good thing.

How to Fly Spirit Airlines Without Losing Your Mind

On one hand, this model makes travel more accessible, whichdoesseem like a good thing.

In the past couple of years, Ive booked a few flightsback home to Texas on Spirit Airlines.

And recently, I booked a flight to Iceland on WOW Air.

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I might not have taken these trips if the flights werent dirt cheap.

Youre Still Going to Pay

Maybe youve heard of the Boots Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness.

In other words:buy cheap, buy twice.

Cheap Clothes Are Too Expensive: Buy Quality Instead

This happened with WOW air.

But when we got there, I heard a slam.

We bought another ticket, which was even more expensive than the original.

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Total, we spent considerably more than we wouldve on a bundled fare with a larger airline.

And we still had wet feet, so to speak.

A friend had a similar experience with Spirit.

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Both Spirit and WOW have strict no-refund policies.

To be fair, these are just two examples, though.

Also, despite what WOWs ticket said, we should have been at the gate even earlier.

Its not just these freak incidents, though.

You often pay more even when everything runs smoothly.

Beyond this anecdata, research shows that unbundling leads to higher fares when you compare apples to apples.

Non-bag-checkers among leisure passengers, however, benefit from a lower fare.

Its easy to say, No big.

Ill just buy the bare bones flight and deal with it.

At some point, though, you get tired of stressing and pinching pennies.

As a result, you end up paying almost as much or more for the same level of comfort.

Okay, maybeyoudont, but someone does because its working.

However, contrary to popular belief, airlines arent that profitable.

And this isnt really a new problem.

Especially after theAirline Deregulation Act of 1978, big airlines like United started running into problems.

Cheap competition popped up.

Since 2002, Delta, United, and American have all filed for bankruptcy.

you might be wondering.

Screw those big, bad companies.

I want my cheap flights.

Well, thats what I said, at first.

Heres the thing, though.

Major airlines have done a little bit of both.

To stay in business, they had to jack their prices back up.

But customers hate fare increases, so they came up with unbundling to get around it.

In other words, the unbundling model is a sneaky way to increase prices without turning off customers.

To keep up with competition and stay in business, airlines cut workforce costs.

Its not just that, though.

Because of the focus on quantity over quality, flights are now jam-packed.

It sucks to feel like a sardine, sure, but it sucks for industry workers, too.

So they get more bang for their buck.

But being sardined tends to make people cranky.

The crew now has to deal with even more complaints from even more passengers.

Unbundling encourages more people to fly, and that should be a good thing.

Were flying First Class on a Third Class airline, he laughed, acknowledging the contradiction.

The problem doesnt just span seats, either; it spans airlines.

Legroom has

dwindled similarly

on all carriersdown to 30-ish inches from 32 to 36 in the mid-1980s.

I likethe way Skift puts it: airlines are selling you pain.

They make your experience as uncomfortable as possible so youll pay more.

by increasing the density of the Economy cabin, airlines can boost capacity without adding to the fleet.

And with some of the carriers, you cant even buy relief.

We laughed about it later, but there wasnt a fee we could pay tonotget reprimanded like children.

In other words, you cant buy your way to better overall service.

Analysts saythe biggest problem is that theres no middle ground.

Oneairline executive told Slate:the greatest service we can provide to them is keeping the fares low.

Spirits CEOs have also been pretty open about their goal to be cheap, not good.

Its true, more people get to fly with discounted airlines and unbundled fares.

However, its not as simple and rosy a picture as marketing efforts would have you believe.

Also, it doesnt always benefit the little guy.

A lot of people would just have to cancel their trip and go home.

Larger issues aside, if youre going to buy cheap tickets anyway, at least know your risks.

However, theres always a catch.

Illustration by Sam Woolley.

Photos:Francisco Antunes,Scott,Matthew Hurst