10 North American budget airlines Aussies should know (or be warned) about (2024)

Cheap internal flights in the US can save travellers a fortune. But you have to know where to look, and some of the budget airlines are bigger villains than others for piling on the extra fees. Here are 10 North American low-cost carriers that travellers may encounter – brace yourself for discomfort and infuriating add-on charges.

Southwest Airlines

The original US low-cost airline now occupies a strange space between budget and full service. The legroom is better than most and complimentary snacks and soft drinks are served on the flights.

Southwest passengers also get to take a cabin bag and checked-in bag for free, while the airline does offer connecting flights.

On the flip side, it’s all economy seating, seats aren’t assigned, there’s no meal service and you can forget about seatback screens.

JetBlue

New York-based JetBlue is another former budget airline that’s now well in the hybrid zone. It has a wealth of codeshares, runs trans-Atlantic flights and has business class flatbed seats on some planes. It also has considerably roomier seats than most of the cheap fare challengers – seat pitch starts at 32 inches (81 cm).

However, you’re still going to pay to check in a bag and while there are free snacks and soft drinks, you’ll have to pay up for anything approaching a substantial meal.

Avelo

A relative newcomer, Avelo burst onto the scene near the start of the COVID pandemic. Despite the poor timing, it has quickly expanded, running a series of niche routes from bases that other airlines don’t. Burbank in California, Wilmington in Delaware and New Haven in Connecticut are certainly bold choices.

But it’s in opening up unusual routes to places like Kalispell, Montana, and Sarasota, Florida, that has seen Avelo grab a foothold. Unusually, this low-cost carrier charges more for carry-on bags than checked-in bags.

Breeze Airways

Like Avelo, Breeze is a newcomer focusing on fairly obscure airports, with bases in the likes of Norfolk, Virginia, and Provo, Utah. Its destination list, including the likes of White Plains, Santa Ana, Akron and Tulsa, will have most Australian travellers scouring a map in confusion.

Breeze offers a somewhat puzzling system of fare classes, with the more freebies chucked in the more you pay, and its own frequent flyer scheme (which will be fairly useless to Aussies).

Spirit Airlines

Perhaps the most notorious of the US low-cost carriers, Spirit was the first airline to start charging for carry-on bags. While its advertised fares are often the lowest on the market, they don’t work out so cheap when you wade your way through the enormous succession of add-on fees.

Spirit’s notoriety extends to the customer service, which is ambivalent at best, and the seats are cramped. But it seems to work – Spirit’s route map is massive.

Frontier Airlines

Unlike some competitors, Frontier Airlines flies a lot of the big routes, with its busiest hubs being Denver, Orlando, Las Vegas and Philadelphia. But comfort is not exactly Frontier’s hallmark – many of the seats have just a 28 inch (71 cm) pitch.

The real rage is likely to come when you see the baggage charges. On a one-way flight from Philadelphia to Miami, it costs $US60 ($A90) for a checked-in bag, plus another $US60 for a cabin bag.

Sun Country Airlines

According to Skytrax’s 2023 rankings, Sun Country Airlines is the best low-cost carrier in the US. That says more about the competition than it does about Sun Country, but it’s amazing how far up the table free drinks and in-seat USB ports can take you.

Sun Country’s primary purpose is connecting chilly Minneapolis to warmer climes in the southern US, Caribbean and Central America.

Air Canada Rouge

Third in Skytrax’s North America rankings – Southwest Airlines came second – is Air Canada Rouge. Like the Jetstar to Air Canada’s Qantas, it concentrates on leisure routes and has more cramped seats than its big sister.

Air Canada Rouge charges for checked bags, but not cabin bags. It also benefits from codeshares in the Star Alliance network, offers free snacks and drinks and has its own, streamable on-board entertainment system.

Allegiant Air

Allegiant is a stalwart of the US budget airline scene, having been around since 1997. It covers more than 100 destinations, with more than 100 planes, largely focusing on smaller cities that the big boys can’t be bothered with. That’s how you end up with hub cities like Allentown, Pennsylvania, and Bellingham, Washington.

Allegiant also has an uncanny knack of being neither loved nor loathed. It allows a small backpack on board, but charges for pretty much everything else – it’s just that the charges are usually relatively reasonable in comparison. The 30 inch/ 76 inch seat pitch isn’t as squashy as some of its competitors, either.

New Pacific Airlines

Perhaps the youngest of the North American budget carriers is New Pacific Airlines, which launched in 2023. The aim is to use Anchorage as a hub to connect North America and Asia, in the same way Icelandair uses Reykjavik to connect North America and Europe.

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There’s one snag, though … doing this involves flying over Russian airspace, which American airlines are currently banned from.

So instead, New Pacific Airlines is currently flying from Ontario, California, to Las Vegas, Nashville and Reno. It’s, erm, a brave pivot.

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