Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® Review

If you regularly fly Spirit Airlines, the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® could be worth having — especially during the first year. Along with an easy-to-earn sign-up bonus, the card offers a $0 Introductory Fee for the first year. After that, your Annual Fee will be $79. Plus, you’ll get 3X rewards on Spirit Airline purchases.

But because you can only use those miles on Spirit Airline-related purchases, it’s not a good choice if you rarely fly or if you prefer traveling on other airlines.

Here, we weigh the pros and cons of the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® to help determine if it’s the right fit for you.

• Sign-up bonus

  This card lets you earn 50,000 bonus points plus a $100 Companion Flight Voucher after making at least $1,000 in purchases within the first 90 days of account opening. The current sign-up bonus is worth roughly $550 in points. But once you factor in the $100 companion fare (which is essentially a $100 discount off a companion ticket on the same itinerary as the cardholder), that amount jumps to $650

  This sign-up bonus value is slightly lower than that of similar airline credit cards. But you can still potentially squeeze several roundtrip flights out of it. For example, we found a round-trip flight from Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for only 5,000 points.

  What it’s worth: Around $650, including the flight voucher

  Who’s eligible to earn this offer? This is a one-time offer that’s only available if you’re opening a new card. It doesn’t apply to product changes from another Spirit airlines credit card.

• Points on every purchase

  Like most airline credit cards, the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® offers its highest rewards rate on purchases made with the airline. It also offers elevated points in a couple everyday spending categories. You’ll earn 3 points per dollar spent on eligible Spirit purchases; 2 points per dollar spent on eligible dining and grocery store purchases; and 1 point per dollar spent on all other purchases.

  What purchases qualify for elevated points?

  Spirit purchases include airline tickets purchased directly from Spirit, as well as food, beverages and Wi-Fi purchased onboard Spirit flights. Purchases of eligible Spirit Airlines vacation packages, hotel stays and rental cars booked through Spirit also qualify.

  The dining category includes purchases made at restaurants, including fast food and drinking establishments.

  The grocery store category includes purchases made at supermarkets, freezer and meat lockers, candy nut or confection stores, dairy product stores, bakeries and miscellaneous food stores.

  Earning 3 points per $1 on Spirit purchases isn’t bad, except that you could be earning 3 points per $1 on all airline purchases with a more flexible card, like the Citi Strata Premier^℠ Card. There are also some excellent card choices for dining and grocery stores that provide a far better return.

We value Spirit points at 1.1 cent each. While that amount is about average compared with points from other rewards programs, it’s less than many airline programs, including American Airlines and United.

Your redemption options are limited with the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^®. You can only use points to book flights with Spirit Airlines or for select partner products or services.

The value you can get for your points depends entirely on the origin, destination and date of travel. It’s good practice to compare the award ticket price to the cost of a paid ticket, minus any taxes and fees. Here are a few examples of the lowest fares available for Spirit Airline flights in a variety of cities on Dec. 2, 2023:

Also note, as a Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® cardholder, you can avoid the massive $50 redemption fee for tickets booked less than 28 days from date of departure.

Beyond earning Spirit points that you can redeem for free flights, the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® offers a decent selection of benefits.

• Points are worth less than average

  The primary drawback to getting the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® is that the points simply aren’t worth as much as other airline miles. Where you can get 1.4 cents or more per mile with some other carriers, Spirit Airlines offers less value. Some of this value is recouped if you use your card to earn the $100 voucher and work towards Spirit Airlines elite status, but you can do better with other products if you don’t often fly Spirit Airlines and are considering other airline cards.

• You’re locked into flying one airline

  With the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^®, you can essentially only use your points to book travel on Spirit Airlines. By contrast, many other airline and travel cards let you redeem your rewards for airfare on a variety of airlines or even transfer them to multiple travel partners.

• Charges an annual fee after the first year

  Finally, the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® charges a $0 Introductory Fee for the first year. After that, your Annual Fee will be $79. So you’ll want to ensure the value you get after the first year outweighs the card’s annual fee.

Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® vs. The New United℠ Explorer Card

If you’re not committed to Spirit airlines or discount flying, you might consider The New United℠ Explorer Card for its valuable rewards and benefits.

The card lets you earn 2x miles on United® purchases, dining, and hotel stays when booked with the hotel. 1x mile on all other purchases. Plus, it comes with a generous sign-up bonus: Debut Offer: Earn 80,000 bonus miles after you spend $3,000 on purchases in the first 3 months your account is open. United points are worth approximately 1.3 cents each, making the sign-up bonus worth $1,040*.

You’ll also get a number of perks, including:

• Priority boarding
• First checked bag free for you and a companion
• Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS application fee credit

Unlike the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^®, the The New United℠ Explorer Card also comes with several protections, such as baggage delay insurance, lost luggage reimbursement, purchase protection and more.

That said, the annual fee is slightly higher than Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® at $0 intro for the first year, then $150.

Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® vs. Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card

 
If you’re looking for a card that earns flexible points that can be redeemed in a variety of ways, the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card is a better choice.

You’ll enjoy benefits such as 5x on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3x on dining, select streaming services and online groceries, 2x on all other travel purchases, 1x on all other purchases, $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit, plus more. Your points are worth 25% more when redeemed through Chase Travel^SM. You can also transfer points at a 1:1 ratio to a variety of travel partners.

However, you lose out on the Spirit-specific benefits, like 25% back on in-flight purchases and the ability to spend toward elite status.

Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® vs. Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

 
The Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card is another good alternative to the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^®. Similar to the Chase Sapphire Preferred^® Card, it lets you earn valuable rewards that can be redeemed in a variety of ways, instead of locking you into a specific airline.

You can earn 75,000 Miles once you spend $4,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of account opening, plus receive a one-time $250 Capital One Travel credit to use in your first cardholder year – that’s equal to $1,000 in travel. You’ll also get 2 Miles per dollar on every purchase, every day; 5 Miles per dollar on hotels, vacation rentals and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel.

Capital One miles can be used to book new travel or to cover previous travel. They can also be redeemed for cash, statement credits and more. Or you can transfer miles to more than 15 travel partners, mostly at a rate of 1:1.

You’ll also get access to benefits like a Global Entry/TSA PreCheck application fee credit, trip cancellation/interruption insurance and auto rental insurance.

If you frequently fly Spirit Airlines, the perks offered by the Free Spirit^® Travel More World Elite Mastercard^® may be well worth the limited redemption options, minimal benefits and annual fee after the first year. But if you want to earn more valuable rewards and have more flexibility in how you can use those rewards, you’ll likely be better off with a different airline rewards card or general travel card.