After 34 years, Spirit Airlines closed

MikeNY

MikeNY

Pre-takeoff checklist
PoA Supporter
Joined
Dec 1, 2011
Messages
181
Display Name
Mike
I've watched airlines fail over the years from Pan Am and Eastern to ValueJet. You can often see these things a long time coming. Eastern was going in a bad direction long before Texas Air got them though Lorenzo usually gets saddled with most of the blame (not that he didn't deserve a lot of it). Spirit has been circling the drain since right after covid.
 
flyingron said:
I've watched airlines fail over the years from Pan Am and Eastern to ValueJet. You can often see these things a long time coming. Eastern was going in a bad direction long before Texas Air got them though Lorenzo usually gets saddled with most of the blame (not that he didn't deserve a lot of it). Spirit has been circling the drain since right after covid.
Click to expand...
You forgot Hooters Air. LOL
 
Flocker said:
You forgot Hooters Air. LOL
Click to expand...
Well, Hooters Air was never exactly an airline. It was a marketing concept created by Hooters of America. They chartered flights from Pace Airlines, a North Carolina charter airline. Pace continued operating, for several more years, as a charter airline after Hooters ceased in the spring of 2006. Pace eventually shut down in the fall of 2009.
 
Flocker said:
You forgot Hooters Air. LOL
Click to expand...
It wasn't an exhaustive list. I also was there to pick up the pieces of Independence Air, and then there was Braniff and ValuJet and several that were merged into oblivion.
 
flyingron said:
I've watched airlines fail over the years from Pan Am and Eastern to ValueJet. You can often see these things a long time coming. Eastern was going in a bad direction long before Texas Air got them though Lorenzo usually gets saddled with most of the blame (not that he didn't deserve a lot of it). Spirit has been circling the drain since right after covid.
Click to expand...
Value Jet never failed. They merged with AirTran and kept the AirTran name. Then, as AirTran, they eventually merged with Southwest.
 
I was flying commercial saw a spirit plane Friday morning. I thought of snapping a photo but didn’t have time. In retrospect, it was one of the last flights of the airline
 
I still have my TWA FF Number with American Airlines.
 
What happens to all the tickets that people bought? Do they get refunds or is the money lost? I know that other airlines are offering lower fares to people who are stuck in certain places.

How much did the increase in the Price of oil contribute to their demise?
 
I actually liked their big-dumb-seat upgrade. I thought that was better than most domestic first-class seats.
 
francisco collazos said:
What happens to all the tickets that people bought? Do they get refunds or is the money lost? I know that other airlines are offering lower fares to people who are stuck in certain places.

How much did the increase in the Price of oil contribute to their demise?
Click to expand...
They get refunds. Which doesn't get you home....
 
They may have survived if they were allowed to merge with jet blue.The theory at the time was the merger would cost the price of a ticket to rise.
 
Spirit failed twice (Chapter 11). That says something. JetBlue has been losing money since 2020 despite revenue growth. Not good. Not sure why they thought taking on Spirit would have helped.

We flew Spirit once because it was the only flight to get us home after another flight was cancelled last minute. It was not a good experience and we never considered them again. We fly a lot too.
 
It was a race to the bottom and Spirit won. I feel sad for all the employees who are now out of a job. I flew spirit twice over the past few years and said never again. The only good thing I can say about my experiences with them is that the ticket was cheap.
 
francisco collazos said:
How much did the increase in the Price of oil contribute to their demise?
Click to expand...
They entered bankruptcy once long before the increase in oil. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin. But that's about it.

A shame because by all accounts they had one of the best pilot cultures
 
Initial Fix said:
I was flying commercial saw a spirit plane Friday morning. I thought of snapping a photo but didn’t have time. In retrospect, it was one of the last flights of the airline
Click to expand...
I saw the last Spirit airbus land and taxi to its gate. This would have been late Friday/Saturday AM. There are two there, just sitting. Someone is paying the bill for AC and ground power.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top