Shipping up to Boston from New York just got a whole lot cheaper.
Spirit Airlines just launched its newest route between Newark and Boston on November 18, one of the shortest in its network. Starting with only two daily flights, the carrier joins a highly-competitive sector that sees four other airlines flying between the two cities with countless flights.
The New York-Boston route typically serves the business traveler segment and is known for the shuttle flights offered by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and JetBlue Airways from New York's LaGuardia Airport. The elite clientele flying the route often makes the short flights back and forth quite expensive since airlines know business travelers are willing to pay.
In true ultra-low-cost carrier fashion, however, Spirit is now the cheapest carrier on the route by far, offering fares as low as $18 one-way. That beats all other airlines and even most bus and rail connections between the two cities, save for the famous one-dollar bus.
I flew on the first flight to Beantown to see just how Spirit would hold its own on the 200-mile route. It's not technically a shuttle flight since it doesn't depart from LaGuardia but, for the purposes of this story, that's how I'll refer to it.
Here's what it's like flying on a Spirit Airlines shuttle flight from Newark to Boston.