Spirit or a zombie

Spirit airlines has shut down. I have mixed feelings about this. I only flew Spirit a few times. Cheap flight yes, customer service, no. But I also see the promise that Spirit once held. And that was air travel for everyone. But it is time for Spirit to give up the ghost.

As a worker, it pains me that so many people (estimate are at 12-14 thousand) are suddenly out of a job. Most with as little warning as the folks expecting to fly that morning. It’s a shifty thing to do to people, and for that none of the c-suite people should ever be allowed to work in the industry again.

But they did their thing. They changed the aitline industry, and bought cheaper fares to the people. Even at the cost and result that everything became a fee. Now fees are everywhere.

But it did make people become lighter and more frugal travelers. More people probably got converted to one bag travel due to Spirit than Rick Steves could ever have hoped for. And for that we should thank them.

Plus the company gave regular folks a better chance to head off to tropical vacations, or just connect to loved ones. Regardless of how bad customer service, or other customers were, they really changed things, and the other airlines, for good and bad

but I doubt we will see the end of everything being a fee. The airlines, hotels, and so many other areas of the travel industry have gotten used to them. You might get a discount on the fare, but you never get a discount on the fees. Sometimes you don’t even get a refund on fees. It’s a shifty way of doing business, but it makes them a lot of money.

But in the end, Spirit was dying a slow death. Down from 50k passengers a day to less than 20k in 6 years. (?) In reality, they only flew about 2 percent of the domestic market. Out of Denver, they only flew 15 to 20 flights a day. A few hubs like Orlando and Detroit will feel more of a hit. But it sounds like other airlines might fill those routes.

It’s safe to say that the ultra cheap fares of even a decade ago are not coming back. All this might lead more of us to travel lighter and travel local. Some place a few days drive away, suddenly looks like a road trip. If your trip is under 400 miles, it might take just as much time to drive as to fly.

So farewell Spirit Airlines. Thanks for making everything a fee.