If you ask any traveler about their opinion on the worst airline in America and you’ll probably hear rants about Spirit Airlines or Frontier Airlines. Both of these airlines carry reputations for squeezing every possible nickel out of their passengers while subjecting them to an experience that feels no different than being in a flying city bus. Now, after two bankruptcies and a failed bailout from the U.S. government, Spirit Airlines is reportedly preparing to shut down. Many travelers are probably cheering right now, but I will miss the airline of terrible gates and eye-searing jets.
This morning, the Wall Street Journal reported the breaking news that a $500 million deal between Spirit Airlines and the U.S. government has fallen through. With no other entity interested in saving the twice-bankrupt airline, Spirit is reportedly throwing in the towel and is preparing to cease operations. Unless a lifeline arrives in the 11th hour, America will lose one of its cheapest ways to travel great distances.
Update: 3 a.m. CST: Spirit Airlines has ceased operations, releasing this statement:
“It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately. To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available. We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 34 years and had hoped to serve our Guests for many years to come.”
The original story continues below.
Understandably, there will be a lot of folks who will feel rather elated at the failure of Spirit Airlines. The airline’s tantalizingly cheap tickets came with quirks like expensive upcharges for basically everything, even water. Viral videos of arguments, fights, and other poor behavior aboard Spirit flights didn’t help. But I won’t be cheering. Spirit might have been terrible, but it was also the perfect kind of airline for someone like me.
Cheap Is The Name Of The Game
Spirit Airlines has gone through a lot to end up where it is. The last time I wrote about Spirit’s struggles was in 2024, so let’s go through a quick review to bring you up to speed.
I think the most fascinating part about the Spirit Airlines story is that it didn’t even start life as an airline. It was founded in 1964 as the Clippert Trucking Company. The business would become Ground Air Transfer Inc. in 1974 and then Charter One Airlines in 1983. As Charter One, the airline ran chartered tour flights. It wasn’t until 1992 that Spirit began running scheduled flights, and Spirit didn’t become an Ultra Low-Cost Carrier (ULCC) until 2006.
That part is important because the way that Spirit operates makes it a bit different than an airline like Delta. Here’s what I wrote in 2024:
An Ultra Low-Cost Carrier operates differently than an airline like American or United. The ULCC business model focuses on cutting as much cost as possible. Most ULCCs operate just a single type of aircraft – usually the Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 – and configure each of those aircraft exactly the same with an all-economy configuration. Operating just one type of plane means that everyone, from mechanics to cabin crew, needs to be trained on only one type of plane, further saving costs.
In the past, ULCCs used to fill their fleets with used planes to save money, but now many carriers will just buy lots of new planes in bulk and then sell them for higher prices when they’re just a few years old. That saves the company money and it also benefits the customer since it means the planes usually stay nice and fresh. Well, as nice as a bare-bones all-economy Spirit plane can be. Flying new planes can also be cheaper to operate in the long run since they’re more efficient and may not be as maintenance or training-intensive as an old bird.
ULCCs also have other ways of trimming the fat from their operations. They will often order planes with as few features as possible to cut down on weight. Interiors will also usually be barren with the absolute bare minimum to get people from one destination to another. If you’ve ever flown Spirit or Frontier you know these airlines basically put glorified bus seats in their planes and your only luxury is a tiny tray table. The airline doesn’t even try making the seats look pretty. Frontier doesn’t even offer Wi-Fi, citing costs and the weight of carrying the equipment in each aircraft.
To be clear, public transit is great and there should be buses for all who want them. But far too many transit buses have rock-hard seats for their passengers, and it almost feels like Spirit copied them.
ULCCs have other clever ways to reduce their operating costs. They’ll fly to airports with cheaper fees and utilize mobile stairs whenever possible instead of paying to use a jet bridge at a gate. Aside from paying their employees less, ULCCs also often make their employees do multiple jobs. I have been on multiple Spirit flights where the gate agent was also a flight attendant, which isn’t as common in other airline models.
If you’ve flown on an ULCC like Spirit Airlines or Frontier Airlines, you might have also noticed that they get the worst possible gates. For example, it’s common for Spirit and Frontier to use Chicago O’Hare’s international terminal for both departures and arrivals. If you’re unlucky enough to score a Frontier flight that leaves O’Hare, you have to leg it to nearby Midway.
Basically, ULCCs like Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines are meticulously crafted to spend the least money possible. The benefit is that these airlines can often offer base fares so cheap that no other form of transportation can even compete. Spirit advertises a base fare as low as $25. However, add bag fees and all of the micro fees together and it can be more expensive than a big airline.
Making you pay for bags and snacks isn’t the only way a ULCC will jack up the price of airfare. The Spirit Airlines of recent years has been criticized for turning to microtransactions to pad its bottom line. For example, it used to be free to walk up to a kiosk at the terminal and print your boarding pass. Now, it costs $2. If you want a human to do it, you’ll have to spend $10. Frontier’s fee is even more insulting at $25 to have an airport agent print it for you.
Now, most airline passengers are used to flying with digital boarding passes and thus, will avoid these fees. However, not everyone is tech-savvy. If you aren’t, these airlines say, you have to pay up. Spirit Airlines won’t even let you have a cup of room-temperature water for free anymore.
Spirit Made Bank, Until It Didn’t
Despite all of the hate, the upcharges, the complaints, and the late flights, the models used by Spirit Airlines and Frontier worked for a while. Spirit Airlines raked in cash, recording profits solidly in the hundreds of millions every single year until 2019. At their peak, ULCCs raked in more per dollar of sales than big airlines. The COVID-19 pandemic dealt a blow to airlines as travel demand plummeted. As CNN reported, America’s airlines collectively burned billions of dollars during the first two years of the pandemic, and that was despite billions coming from the federal government in the form of grants and another $21.2 billion in loans.
Then something a bit weird happened. Traffic demand rebounded, and most airlines recovered. But Spirit Airlines did not. According to VOA in 2024, Spirit had lost $2.5 billion since the beginning of 2020 and had another $1 billion in debt payments coming due by 2025.
What happened? One major curveball was that the big airlines wanted a slice of the budget market and started offering their own super-cheap base fares. Then, Spirit was hit by an engine recall from Pratt & Whitney, which left its aircraft grounded, unable to make money. In 2024, Spirit flew more passengers than it did before the pandemic, but those passengers were paying 10 percent less per mile, and Spirit made 20 percent less revenue per mile. So, flying more passengers alone didn’t help.
Frontier tried to merge with Spirit, but was outbid by JetBlue. The Justice Department blocked the JetBlue deal, which worsened conditions for Spirit. Click here to read more from my report.
In 2024, Spirit Airlines filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in November 2024. This wasn’t the end, but a restructuring. Airline bankruptcies are common in America. In the past 27 years, American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines all had bankruptcies. American’s bankruptcy was only 15 years ago. Usually, the airline makes a bunch of changes and cuts, straightens up, and flies right again. It’s common for an airline to go bankrupt, restructure, and come out of the other end stronger. But that isn’t what happened with Spirit.
During its first bankruptcy, Spirit said it burned $1.2 billion and was out of cash. Spirit emerged from its first bankruptcy in March 2025, stating:
Spirit Aviation Holdings, Inc., parent company of Spirit Airlines, LLC, (“Spirit” or the “Company”) today announced that Spirit has emerged from its financial restructuring, completing a consensual, deleveraging transaction that equitizes approximately $795 million of funded debt. With significantly less debt and greater financial flexibility, Spirit emerges as a stronger company better positioned for long-term success.
As part of the restructuring, the Company has also received a $350 million equity investment from existing investors to support Spirit’s future initiatives, including investments to provide Guests with enhanced travel experiences and greater value. Spirit’s Plan of Reorganization was confirmed by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, with overwhelming support from a supermajority of the Company’s loyalty and convertible noteholders.
Then, Spirit fell apart again and had to file for bankruptcy a second time. In August 2025, Spirit found itself back in court, filing another Chapter 11, and asking for help again. Here’s how that went, from CNBC:
Spirit Airlines won approval for a $475 million lifeline and a $150 million payment from its biggest aircraft lessor in court on Friday, as the struggling budget airline races to stabilize itself after its second bankruptcy since November.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the $475 million in debtor-in-possession financing, a lifeline that bankrupt companies can use to continue operating, along with $150 million from AerCap and the rejection of 27 airplane leases. Spirit said on Friday that $200 million would be immediately available for the carrier.
Spirit has been cutting dozens of routes, announced plans to slash its fleet, and last month said it would furlough about one third of its flight attendants to cut costs. The airline is in talks with its pilots’ union and is seeking about $100 million in cuts from that group.
The Spirit Airlines shrinkage was dramatic. In April 2024, the airline had 25,000 scheduled flights. This April, it had only 12,000 scheduled flights. But the airline just couldn’t arrest its descent. Spirit, like other airlines, is getting hammered by higher fuel costs due to the war with Iran. Spirit planned to spend $2.24 per gallon of jet fuel this year, while current prices are a little over double that.
But unlike other airlines, Spirit just didn’t have any buffer for surprises. Worsening Spirit’s condition is that other airlines have been rushing to fill the gaps left behind by Spirit’s heavy cuts.
A twist in the Spirit story came in April when the Trump Administration entered talks with Spirit and its creditors for a potential rescue package. Trump wanted to give the airline $500 million in exchange for a 90 percent stake in the airline, effectively making the U.S. government the majority owner of the airline.
As CNBC reported, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy was against the idea, as were some lawmakers and some of Spirit’s own bondholders. The Trump Administration wasn’t even sure how it would fund the deal. Then, the government also hit an impasse with Spirit’s creditors.
According to the New York Times, Spirit’s creditors believed having the government take control of 90 percent of the airline would put them in an even worse position if Spirit failed after the rescue package. So, the deal has apparently fallen through, and reportedly, Spirit Airlines is preparing to cease operations. According to Reuters, some other airlines think that Spirit won’t even survive the weekend and are preparing to take on Spirit’s passengers.
Meanwhile, Trump has reportedly sent one last proposal to Spirit and its creditors in hopes of getting a deal. If the deal isn’t taken, Spirit will likely fade away from American skies, and quickly. That makes me sad.
I’ll Miss Spirit Airlines
Yes, I just spent so many words absolutely trashing Spirit. I strongly dislike Spirit’s upcharges, its performance, its lack of comfort, and its seeming disdain for its own passengers. Flying Spirit really does feel like you’re boarding a city bus that calls itself an Airbus A320. But you know what? Spirit is awesome in just the right situation.
As most of our readers know, I am a serial cheapskate. With rare exceptions, I usually buy the cheapest, most depreciated versions of my dream cars. Getting the best deal sometimes means having to fly somewhere to pick that car up. The only way this works out financially is because Spirit and Frontier offer ludicrously cheap base fares.
When a dealership in California gave me a sweetheart deal on a new 2016 Smart Fortwo Edition #1, I had to fly out there to pick it up. It was my first time flying in my whole life. I paid Frontier about $50 to fly from Chicago to Los Angeles aboard “Fallon The Falcon,” then a factory-fresh Airbus A321. An Uber ride to the airport costs more than that!
In 2017, someone gave me a Smart entirely for free on the condition that I drove it home. I paid a whopping $31 to Spirit Airlines, which got me from Chicago to Denver. You can’t even fill a car’s gas tank for that price nowadays. I paid these base fares, too, because when I go on trips to buy cars, I fly with nothing more than what I can fit in my purse. So I don’t bring a carry-on or anything else that would trigger an upcharge.
These stupidly cheap fares mean that people who don’t have the cash for even a normal economy seat can fly vast distances for less than what Amtrak or Greyhound charges. Spirit also has a stellar safety record with zero hull losses or fatalities in its entire history.
I won’t say the flying experiences have been nice. Frontier Airlines has canceled more flights for me than I can remember. In 2022, Frontier left me stranded in California for days because of an operational meltdown. While Spirit hasn’t canceled that many flights for me, it has the problem of rarely really getting me to my destination on time. The seats in the Airbus aircraft of Frontier and Spirit are so hard that my butt hurts just thinking about it.
Yet, when I just need to get from A to B with exactly zero frills, Spirit’s website is the first place that I visit. When United Airlines tells me to cough up $400 for a ticket, I know Spirit is probably going to want only $120 for that same flight. When I just want to get from one place to another, I appreciate that.
The Impact Of Spirit Failing
I’m not really sure what’s going to happen in a post-Spirit world. The immediate impact is going to be a lot of hardship for hard-working Americans. Spirit Airlines employs around 9,500 full-time workers and around 17,000 people if you count contractors. All of them could be out of work before the weekend is out. That’s devastating, especially at a time like right now when people are already struggling.
Anyone planning to fly Spirit home may find themselves without a ride, which is also terrible. Any points you accrued with Spirit would be worthless, and you’ll have to beg for a refund on any ticket you currently have. It is never a good thing when an airline shutters, even an airline that people hate.
It’s also unclear what budget flying will look like in a post-Spirit world. Chances are, if Frontier, JetBlue, or Southwest aren’t flying where you’re going or their fares aren’t cheap enough, you’re going to have to cough up more dough to fly. This will be even worse in cities where Spirit held a high market share, like Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Reportedly, Spirit has a 27 percent share of the market there.
Yet, I also know that a lot of people aren’t going to miss Spirit. They won’t miss the delays, the microtransactions, the poor behavior on flights, or the hard seats. But I will. I’m going to pour one out for the big sky taxi.
Top photo: Spirit
Mercedes, I’ll second your theme of “cheap airlines are great, if flawed”.
I flew Frontier to Florida (from St. Louis) a few times, and it seemed there was always a complication. My favorite memory: the flight that was supposed to be back at 6 PM. We had to wait on something- New plane? New crew? Soda pops? – and we left at 2 AM. I got home at 6 AM, slept for thirty minutes… and went to work. Ugh.
We fly Allegiant now, as it really works well for us from a smaller airport near our home. My favorite story with Allegiant: The guy working the gate came onboard before takeoff (speaking of working multiple jobs, plus he had to be 75 years old), because a passenger was apparently intoxicated. The guy sitting next to me was the target- he was beyond drunk. The Allegiant employee started chewing me out, as he thought I was the pathetic drunk. (Oddly enough, I was completely sober.) Before I could even figure out what was happening, his co-Allegianter told him it was Seat 33-C, not Seat 33-D. (Or whatever). Anyway, I was pleased the pathetic drunk guy was removed from the plane.
So yes, these discount airlines are great and worth having around.
I don’t know, if the 75yo flight steward couldn’t tell the difference between you and the drunk guy why not leave him alone?
While I’m not a fan of ridiculously drunk people on planes, you do make a good point.
The drunk guy was clearly drunk. He had been making incoherent sounds and had a terrible time just getting into his seat. He was sweaty and leaning forward in his seat, breathing heavily. I’d say there was a real chance he’d be sick on the flight.
I was quietly reading my Kindle.
I have flown on both Frontier and Spirit.
But only once on Spirit. From IAH to Toluca. The line to check in was pretty long but the fare was unbeatable and the hours worked out. I do admire Frontier’s livery.
There’s a joke about an inflight emergency and a PA gets on the PA and asks if there’s a doctor on board and the punchline is that something along the lines of this is Spirit. Do you think a physician is going to fly on Spirit?
Fortunately, there were no onboard emergencies on my flights there and back. But yeah. They nickel and dimed you/me/our customer for every possible thing they could.
To be honest, I felt the same way flying on SWA, but they were pretty funny on the safety announcements.
I think of that doctor bit every time Spirit comes up.
As someone who is actually a bus enthusiast (until you I didn’t even know that was a thing!) maybe consider not using transit as a synonym for “crappy”.
Transit is great, even in my Midwest city which gets a bad rap. So much effort and money is poured in to get me (and others less fortunate) around town and it seems to be met with derision. We should encourage taking the bus!
I prefer to save my driving for back roads and 4×4 trails and let the fine people who run my district get me where I am going. And 100% of the time it’s less aggravating than that time I took Spirit. Cleaner too!
I also appreciate cities and transit districts that give us back what we give to them in taxes. It doesn’t always work for me, But I am happy to help for those who can’t afford a car.
Other than a monthly trip from WA to CA to visit and take care of stuff for my 90-year-old mom, I could get by on public transit and Lyft rides and save a ton of money. Insurance, for me, as a non-tiffieckted driver for over 40 years, is really pretty insane. I drive a paid-off nine-year-old car, parked in a garage, and it’s still $2000 a year. Maybe I can let go of comprehensive coverage, but still.
Oh,same for us. We had a low miles, 15 year old 135i that we adored and barely drove and was paid off but to maintain insurance in our underinsured state was something like that cost. I could ditch comprehensive but when one of these uninsured drivers hit me I would be furious.
first world problem, but insurance has made it hard to hang on to the lovable old grandpas car I always assumed I would have.
Same here. I take public transit to work every day, and even if they offered to pay for my parking or something, I’d still ride it instead. Night and weekend driving is so much more fun; the rare times when I do drive during the daytime, I get frustrated with the experience.
I think Mercedes was alluding to the busses that run between different cities/states which is usually privately run and a totally different thing than a bus system for commuters in a city.
Some things just aren’t worth cheaping out on.
I was a pretty frequent flier with Spirit, Frontier, and Allegiant. Living in Las Vegas gives a fellow so many choices. Nobody HAS to fly a ULCC, it’s a choice for people with more time than money. When the other two are gone, and flights to anywhere are $400+, I will absolutely fly less.
Nothing hits like boarding Spirit LAX to Detroit, circa 1999, Gate 52B temporary bus gate.
I have never flown Spirit, mostly because I am usually traveling to or from a Delta hub so their flights are the most convenient. Plus, I often fly for work so I am not paying the bill anyhow.
I was envious of Spirit passengers once, though. I was trying to fly to my parent’s house in the midwest during the CrowdStrike outage that grounded Delta. I had four flights cancelled over three days, which somehow my parents new 1,500 miles away before I did waiting at the gate. I watched those damn yellow planes taking off and landing on-schedule while I repeatedly waited in hours-long lines to rebook. I eventually gave up on that trip entirely.
It was a frustrating ordeal, but the worst part was seeing that those who paid $50 to ride the Greyhound Airbus managed to get to their destination while my $900 Delta first-class ticket only managed to get me into the terminal. Spirit might have been a crappy airline, but it sure looked good those three days.
Like they say, even a blind squirrel gets a nut occasionally. As I said in another post, here in God’s Waiting Room, FL, literally EVERY year Spirit would make the news for stranding hundreds of people at RSW for days due to thunderstorms cancelling flights. They had no capacity to get them out in a timely manner. Not enough flights, not enough seats on the flights they have. I can only imagine the chaos. The majors would be affected too – but when you have five hubs and eight flights a day to each of them, you can get through a backlog of people pretty quickly by sending them every which way to get home. Spirit didn’t even fly to the same destinations every day…
Spirit is the perfect airline for people who took a Greyhound bus to the airport and are going on a Carnival cruise.
And catching a quick bite at a Waffle House somewhere en route
Awesome and well written factual article Mercedes. We had our Spirit flights for this week from Punta Gorda, FL to Atlantic City, NJ cancelled two weeks ago, and had to scramble to replace those. We wound up booking with Allegiant Airlines. The experience flying Allegiant was virtually identical to several past experiences flying Spirit, as the aircraft were the same A320’s. My butt was sore prior to landing on either Spirit or Allegiant due to the same cheaply constructed and designed seats which do not recline, have little padding, and no headrest. The only accommodation offered on Allegiant during beverage service is a small cup of water, all else being very expensive. Spirit at least offered a choice of beverages and a small bag of pretzels. Stating those complaints, I agree with the sentiment of your article and will miss Spirit as an inexpensive option to travel between FL and NJ in spite of the issues I have stated, and the shortcomings of economy (cheap) airlines. I also feel for the people who work for Spirit who will find themselves without employment in the near future if a resolution cannot be achieved which makes the company solvent.
I’ve been mentally mixing up Spirit Airlines and Ryanair this whole time.
“Oh, the US govt is getting involved in the fate of an overseas airline? *shrug* Whatever. That’s where we are now.”
Spirit has jet planes.
Spirit only flew Airbuses, Ryanair only flies 737s.
I thought I flew on a prop plane with Ryanair. It may have been Flybe.
Google says you may be right – they flew a few turboprops in the very, very early years 40 years ago. But nothing but 737s for a very long time now – first big order for them in ’99. And occasionally, like Southwest, some other jets when they bought out other airlines, but they very quickly got rid of them. Amazing to think they have been around for 40 years.
It was in the 2000s, so it wouldn’t have been Ryanair. I don’t travel much in europe, but always heard the Ryanair jokes from coworkers who did. I think I just combine all low cost European airlines in my head and assume they are all Ryanair.
LOL – they certainly all TRY to be!
I flew on them to Vegas a couple of times, never had any issues. The planes were clean and the crew very nice, I even had an overweight bag coming back home and they let it slide. Last trip I bought the “big front seat” and honestly it was as good as Delta first class for 1/3 of the price except no IFE. I only used them twice but I’ll be sad they are gone.
I worked at Spirit for 11 years. I was a Captain for nearly 8 years and was in the training department for 7 years. I was very proud of our safety reputation and 9 of those 11 years were the best in my aviation career.
I’m thinking of all the families affected by this likely being their last day working for NK. Good luck to them all.
You want a proper Budget airline?
Only operate proper regional jets and regional turboprops (with the built into the door air stairs),
If you can’t use stairs you can’t fly with this airline.
Fly into all the little airports, and partner with the big airlines for connections.
Only have basic complementary drinks like water, iced tea, hot tea, etc.
Bring your own entertainment and we’ll provide the power.
2+1 seating. The single seating section is the luxury section with properly reclining chairs.
etc.
Aren’t smaller planes less efficient?
Yes, by a lot.
Ryanair really is the king of these. They only fly 737s, many if not most of which DO have airstairs. I don’ t think Europe has quite the same requirements as the ADA does for accommodating the disabled – though I would be curious to hear about that. They fly mostly to goofy alternate airports nowhere near where you think you are flying. That is kind of Allegiant’s thing in the US, they fly to a lot of oddball, but kinda-sorta near places you want to go. Like Punta Gorda instead of Fort Myers or Sarasota, or Portsmouth, NH instead of Boston. Smart, saves a ton of money. They charge for EVERYTHING, and they pack the planes like sardines. But if it’s just you and a tiny bag, and you follow all the rules around checkin and printing your own boarding pass and whatnot, they can be super cheap.
But the thing is, flying around Europe tends to be really cheap on every airline, both due to competition with them and other LCCs, and competition with trains. I flew KLM from Amsterdam to Munich for $30. And I actually flew from Amsterdam to Munich. Not some random airport 40 minutes from each.
Those airstairs on the 737s are not built for continuous use and Ryan Air has learned this the hard way by them failing all the tine
They must think the savings are worth it. Every bit of ground equipment they don’t need saves them money.
Still worth it but they’re angry about it, Boeing advertised them as airstairs, when used as airstairs regularly they fail all the time. What they really are are occasional use airstairs.
Yeah, I live near Allentown and Allegiant flies a ton from ABE.
“If you can’t use stairs you can’t fly with this airline.” I think this part might fall afoul of the ADA?
Very much so in the US. They would need to have a ramp or a lift available.
I’ve never flown Spirit, but once my MIL did. On top of the standard delays, they lost her luggage. That was the first and only time she flew on Spirit.
Your check engine light booked a flight!?
Well, my mother in law, but since I’m ignorant, How do you get CEL out of MIL?
Malfunction indicator lamp. It was my first thought while reading your comment as I’ve been flipping through these shop manuals trying to keep the fleet alive.
Flying Sprit was like living in that pit in Silence of the Lambs. “It puts the bag under its seat”.
I fly for work alot, I’ve got good status on United and flew out of ORD for years.
I tried Spirit once for a short vacation, barely a long weekend. The price was low and they were the only airline offering direct flights. The time on the ground at the destination was short enough that a layover would have made the trip undesirable.
I followed my travel rules, which is get an early morning flight so you aren’t hit by delays from earlier connections for that airframe. We were there early, the plane was there, we were set to go to the beach. Then a flight attendant called in sick. Spirit has such a skeleton crew presence they had to wait for another plane to fly in with an extra flight attendant. We lost most of our day. United would have had backups and could call someone in with barely a delay, especially at a hub.
Never again did we fly Spirit. The small premium for a major airline is worth the cost.
This. My wife used to love Spirit and Frontier, even though she would get delayed and stranded all the time on them due to minor crew or plane issues. On her last big trip I sat her down and ran down the flight cost and fees and compared it against United. The flight itself was $300 less on Spirit, but once all the fees were added it was a difference of $60. I then had to ask her if $60 was worth spending an extra 4-12 hours in the airport because of the normal Spirit delays she ALWAYS experiences flying them. She relented and flew United, and made it to her destination at the scheduled time for what feels like the first time in decades. I know why Spirit exists, but with how poorly they operated, I struggle to feel that much is lost with their absence.
I’ve experienced the same issues on big airlines. I was stuck at Atlanta with 6 hours of flights that were also waiting for Delta to graduate their stewardesses and get to their flight. We had so many people waiting we couldn’t fit in the line smoking restaurant. At first we squeezed in as the security people warned us. But then there were too many people we couldn’t squeeze into a restaurant and we decided to gently threaten the 2 man security crew. They just stopped coming by.
That’s my thing too. I don’t necessarily care about paying extra for amenities, but the ULCCs eat all the margins in crew scheduling, aircraft availability, turnaround times, etc., so any perturbation is a major disruption. Add no rebooking on top of that. When I fly out of EWR terminal B, I’m always surrounded by unhappy faces, but none more so than the Spirit customers waiting for their flights delayed by multiple hours.
I object to Spirit simply on my belief that planes should be predominantly white.
My other hope out of this is that Delta picks up a sizeable amount of those A320/1s and (fingers crossed) cancels the remaining 737 MAX orders.
I object to Spirit because I don’t believe in ghosts.
What? Under your white paint rule, Hughes Air West never would have become Top Banana in the West
Air New Zealand disagrees.
Perfect example – they have two liveries. One black, one predominantly white with the black fern leaf on the back of the plane. The white one is far nicer and more interesting.
I’m afraid, sir, we shall have to agree to disagree. I find the all-black livery to be far more distinctive and interesting. I may also have a predilection for murdered-out cars, but so be it.
Meanwhile, I look at the rainbow of European and Asian liveries compared to the fields of white and gray that the ramps of ‘Murica are and feel deprived. Especially when looking at photos of airports 25 to 30 years ago and seeing far more variety in color and aircraft configuration. Plus with Embraer E-Jets and their underwing twinjet design (and we can’t have the cool gull-wing E2s because then regionals would steal work from the majors), all airliners basically all look alike aft of the front section.
But doesn’t matter to 95% of the general public anyway; airliners are just flying busses; who cares how they look? (paraphrased from an actual Reddit comment)
On the basis of CP Air’s orange and aluminum I have to disagree.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Pacific_Air_Lines
“Spirit Airlines won’t even let you have a cup of room-temperature water for free anymore.”
Nothing a visit to the bathroom with a cup can’t fix.
They don’t have coin operated restrooms?
If they want to make flying an even pissier AND shittier experience, well, that’s a good way to do it.
Airplane water can get sort of nasty sometimes. I think I’ll just wait until landing. 🙂
Bring a water filter straw.
Yeah you do NOT want to drink plane sink water. If you do I suggest sitting down on the crapper and waiting out the inevitable.
Yeah, not drinking any water out of an airplane tank that hasn’t been boiled first. And since I hate coffee and rarely drink tea, not even then. Dog invented bottled water for a reason.
I didn’t fly them alot, but I never had a problem when I flew Spirit. Allegiant is the low cost carrier I’ve flown the most lately, because they tend to fly out of smaller or alternate airports. Flint isn’t much farther than Detroit Metro for us, but we can park outside the terminal for like $10 a day and sail through security.
Allegiant just seems to do a better job too. And a classier clientele. My Mom flew them quite a few times between Punta Gorda and Portsmouth, NH while she still had a house up north. No problems, and as you said, dirt cheap parking at both airports. $3/day in Nude Hampster! And both airports are tiny and only served by them, so super easy to deal with.
I do wonder how they are doing though – they absolutely lost a fortune building a really dumb resort here in Charlotte Co. FL. A giant beach resort with no beach, just a big pool area. An absolute white elephant plus the pandemic completely screwed up their build timing, and then it took major hurricane damage before completion in 2022. They ended up selling it for a fraction of what it cost to build.
You are reminding me that Alliegent also lost a ton of money near me building kind of a Dave and Busters spot called “Alliegent Nonstop” and it was right before Covid. It’s gone through a couple owners now.
I know this sounds crazy, but it was real. https://m.yelp.com/biz/allegiant-nonstop-warren
That’s interesting. Reminds me of how the railroads once built vacation spots to get riders on weekends.
The weird thing is that it’s like an hour from the nearest airport that Alliegent flies out of.
Wierd…
This is what they built here. It’s 15 minutes from the airport.
https://www.sunseekerresort.com/
I’ve flown allegiant twice and it was acceptable. 80$ from Albany to St. Pete was a solid deal.
Allegiant really seems to have a different clientele/business model from Spirit (or Frontier) because of where they fly to and from. Mostly not-major urban areas to the God’s Waiting Room parts of Florida, with just a relative handful of East-West flights and flights to major cities themselves. So they get an older, wealthier, and calmer type of flyer. Albany – St. Pete is likely a very different market than Newark, Chicago, or Philly to Ft. – Myers.
I’ve seen Allegiant as bad if not worse then Spirit. Might as well call it felony air. Fly in to XNA their LAX plane that arrives always has TSA and police standing outside of it to detain a few people sometime they go on the plane to get them. There is always some felon that decides an airport is a good place to steal something from a store 200ft from the gate with TSA and police around. Then run through the terminal. Always an insane show you can sit and watch with people getting paid $300k+ a year from Walmart.
I fly on frontier alot because their hub is in DEN and they go where I need to. It’s always fine and on time to the best of their abilities. New airbus a32x mainly younger people and other cheapskates. Or people that don’t care.
I refuse to fly United on domestic routes always a headache and terrible experience for me. Even their international routes they need to replace their flight attendants with ones that aren’t insane. American could think to do that too. Ive witnessed insane behaviors from them.
Like a trans pacific flight where you won’t let some guy go the toilet for no reason then you are unhinged. I heard it and told the guy flight attendant when he went though who shook his head said not again thanks I’ll handle it went over and told the guy it’s fine to use. Or an American flight attendant trying to start a war with some 75 year old man because he was wearing a cowboy hat and wanted a coffee but she wanted to flirt with some random guy for 20 minutes on an hour flight.
Here in God’s Waiting Room, FL, Allegient operates a big operation out of little Punta Gorda airport, and they never seem to have the problems that Spirit had in Ft. Myers or Sarasota. But I wouldn’t fly any of them – I don’t need to.
United has been dead to me for many years. I’ve been a very frequent flyer with American since US Airways bought them, very few complaints. Poop happens, especially when 90% of your flying is up and down the East Coast in 4-season crap weather and ATC dilemmas. The trick is having enough status to be first in line for reaccommodation. And long layovers and a club membership ease the pain considerably.
American does have the east coast locked with American eagle and embraers. I just don’t want to transit though CLT. But some routes you suck it up and do it. And witness interesting things.
True, but to be fair, Albany to anywhere is a pretty pleasant type of flyer. We’re just stoked to be going anywhere. And the median age in Upstate NY seemed to be “near retirement”.
Yup – that is pretty much Allegiant’s target market. Very different from the “cheap beach vacation from the inner city” types Spirit was hauling down here.
I’ve heard some younger people excited about deals in upstate ny. I had to look at some listings to believe it but some very reasonable properties. Some of the cheapest farmland with water and power in the country. Along with cheap houses in semi livable to livable condition.
Apparently there is a hgtv show about some parts of upstate NY they watch and some YouTube / tiktok people that go around to towns and show them.
Could be a buffalo situation in a few years. Though with the market correction / whatever it turns into, who knows where the chips will fall.
Someone else will come along and take their place, nobody heard of Avelo until like 4-5 years ago
You mean the Preferred Airline of ICE Deportations to El Salvador?
No thanks.
I’ve never flown them, but I figured their colors being the same as Waffle House’s was no coincidence.
I’ve been in their hubs it’s bad. But not as bad as a smaller airport with allegiant. Police and TSA standing by to arrest people and catch the people that come right off the plane to steal from airport stores.
You can teleport to Wafflehouse though.
I like their airbuses, though. They just refresh the fleet! What a waste.
See if David will let you buy Spirit on the company card and rename it Cheapskate Air
Cheap Bastaird has a better ring to it.
Nope, no self-dealing going on here!
Jet blue should have been allowed to buy spirit. They launched breeze Spirit could have been integrated into that and called it a day. I fly frontier often as they are one of the the only ones going where I’m going and definitely the cheapest. They have been getting worse. When they changed their personal item policy a few years ago to be smaller then industry standards there was fall out and should have been more. If frontier was allowed to buy spirit then surely bad things for consumers higher prices even if it was just in fees. But jet blue with breeze are compentiton for frontier and the only real path forward for spirits assets.
Yeah. I’m normally very against the rubber stamping of acquisitions that has been going on but it felt like rejecting the B6-NK merger was about trying to make a statement, not good governance. The result is/will be NK is now gone, B6 is going to be absorbed by UA (ignore Kirby talking about AA, he’s just priming the pump to get B6 through the regulators) and F8 and XP are probably going to have to merge. We sure protected competition…
I think jet blue has a stronger shot with Alaskan/ Hawaiian. UA / AA are too big. Avelo is bound to merge or be bought by someone.
Nah, AS bought VX which gave them what they wanted on the east coast. B6 doesn’t offer AS anything but more debt, debt it probably can’t deal with after taking on HA’s. The only thing of real value B6 has is expensive slots and gates at airports UA currently is absent from of limited, like JFK.
If the regulators didn’t approve JetBlues merger with spirit I don’t see how they will approve untied with JetBlue. JetBlue has routes to the Caribbean and Latin America. Probably wouldn’t hurt whatever this Alaska Hawaiian tie up to have those routes.
The problem with flying Spirit is that, if there are any IRROPS issues, it could take far longer to get to your destination than it would flying a major airline that had multiple flights per day on the same route.
The only resource you can’t get back is time.
I had to look up what IROPs meant, but yes that is my thing as well. I don’t really care about bag fees, etc. but my time is valuable and I don’t want my plan disrupted because a crew member exceeded duty time and they can’t pay someone to be on standby.