Spirit Airlines Launches 2 New Credit Cards With Up to 40,000 Bonus Points

The new Spirit Airlines loyalty program is here, and so are two airline credit cards that can help you score free flights.

Spirit Airlines first released details about its new loyalty program last October. The announcement mainly covered upcoming changes to the Free Spirit® program, but it also teased the new airline credit cards it would offer with Bank of America.

Now the updated Free Spirit® program has launched and the new Spirit Airlines credit cards are officially open for applications. Here's a full breakdown of their features and whether they're worth getting.

The new Spirit Airlines credit cards

Spirit Airlines' top credit card option is the Free Spirit® Travel More Mastercard®. It's $79 annual fee is waived in the first year. The airline also offers a no-annual-fee card called the Free Spirit® Travel Mastercard®.

Both cards have several perks in common:

• Earn points on purchases (based on current award ticket prices, Spirit Airlines points are worth about $0.01 apiece)
• A 25% rebate on inflight food and beverage purchases when you pay with your card
• Complimentary Zone 2 shortcut boarding on all flights
• Points don't expire as long as you're a cardholder
• No foreign transaction fees
• Option to start a Points Pool with up to eight other people
• Access to Spirit's Yellow Glove Concierge Service, a dedicated phone service

In addition to those benefits, each card has its own set of features.

Free Spirit® Travel More Mastercard®

If you're going to get a Spirit Airlines card, the Free Spirit® Travel More Mastercard® probably makes the most sense. It offers:

• 40,000 bonus points and a $100 Companion Flight Voucher after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days
• 3 points per $1 on Spirit purchases
• 2 points per $1 on dining and grocery store purchases
• 1 point per $1 on other purchases
• A $100 Companion Flight Voucher each account anniversary after spending $5,000 on purchases within the prior year
• 1 Spirit Qualifying Point (SQP) for each $10 in purchases (you need 2,000 SQPs to reach Silver status and 5,000 SQPs to reach Gold status)
• No redemption fees (Spirit normally charges $10 to book award tickets from 21 to 90 days prior to departure and $50 to book award tickets within 20 days of departure)

Frequent flyers with Spirit Airlines should be able to get good value from this card. The sign-up bonus alone is worth about $500: $400 from the 40,000 bonus points and up to $100 from the Companion Voucher. The rewards rate is competitive, and avoiding those pesky redemption fees is a nice extra.

Free Spirit® Travel Mastercard®

Since it doesn't cost anything, the Free Spirit® Travel Mastercard® has more limited features. It gets you:

• 10,000 bonus points after spending $500 on purchases within 90 days
• 2 points per $1 on Spirit purchases
• 1 point per $1 on other purchases
• 5,000 bonus points each account anniversary after spending $10,000 on purchases within the prior year

This card will likely only serve a very small niche of travelers. Airline credit cards are typically only a good deal if you fly often with the airline. And if you fly often with Spirit Airlines, the Free Spirit® Travel More Mastercard® perks could save you more money.

Should you apply for a credit card with Spirit Airlines?

The general guideline on airline credit cards is that you should consider applying if you fly with the airline multiple times per year.

That's still the case here. The more that you fly with Spirit Airlines, the more valuable one of its credit cards will be. If you like to travel and Spirit is your carrier of choice, its new cards (and in particular, the Free Spirit® Travel More Mastercard®) are worth a look.

For those who only hop on the occasional Spirit flight, more versatile travel rewards cards are the better option.