Spirit Airlines Is Gone – Here’s the Complete Guide to Cheap Flights Now That the Budget Landscape Has Changed
The absence of the yellow planes and the quiet at Fort Lauderdale’s Gate H7 reveal nearly everything. Families arguing over carry-on dimensions, overhead bins being snapped, and someone at the counter discovering a boarding-pass fee for the first time were all part of the unique chaos that only Spirit Airlines could create two weeks ago. A janitor is pushing a cart past a row of empty chairs on the now-empty jet bridge. Even those who vowed they would never fly Spirit are beginning to understand what they truly lost when the airline closed on May 2.
We might have misjudged Spirit’s impact on the prices of everyone else. Yes, the airline claimed to have innovated by charging for water. However, a CBS News analysis of Cirium data found that its presence on a route kept fares about 23% lower than they would have otherwise been. That is a substantial amount. It’s the difference between a vacation and a conversation about why we’re driving instead for a family of four traveling by plane from Detroit to Orlando.
The official narrative is that it was caused by the war in Iran. Fuel prices increased, Spirit’s second bankruptcy restructuring stalled, and bondholders rejected a last-minute offer from the Trump administration—a $500 million taxpayer loan in exchange for a 90% government stake—apparently believing the airline was worth less than that. It was deemed disappointing by CEO Dave Davis. He used the term “orderly wind-down,” which is what executives use when there is no order to the situation.
As you watch this happen, you get the impression that the bigger carriers had been waiting. JetBlue gave former Free Spirit Silver and Gold members a status match and announced almost immediately that it would increase to 130 daily departures from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood, including new nonstops to Baltimore, Indianapolis, and Charlotte. Frontier moved on to Orlando, launching its Go Wild summer pass at $199 and adding 15 daily flights to the 18 cities Spirit previously served. Yes, it is helpful. But in a way that is difficult to overlook, they are also opportunistic.
The situation is uneven for travelers whose reservations are still in effect. On Spirit-operated routes, some carriers introduced “rescue fares,” which are flat or frozen rates that are only good for travel within the next few weeks. After that window, you have to wait for a refund and make new reservations, most likely at a higher cost than what you paid in February. Depending on where you fly, you should check the names Frontier, JetBlue, Breeze, Avelo, and Allegiant right now. They are all not ideal substitutes. When combined, they are nearly identical.
The crowdfunding initiative is the most peculiar turn of events. LetsBuySpiritAir.com was created by Instagram user Hunter Peterson, who proposed that the airline could be relaunched as “Spirit 2.0,” run by the people, if 20% of American adults pledged roughly $45 each, which is the average Spirit fare. According to reports, the pledges have exceeded $88 million. It remains to be seen if that turns into a legitimate airline or merely an expensive bit of online legend.
The big three airlines’ basic-economy fares, which were created especially to compete with Spirit, are clearly here to stay. According to reports, Delta internally referred to some of its cheapest tickets as “Spirit match” fares. The match is no longer relevant. The costs remain. The legroom doesn’t come back. For essentially the same stripped-down experience, you pay a little bit more, which might be the most subtly Spirit-like result of all.
The inexpensive flight is still available as of right now. Simply put, it’s more difficult to locate, and those who sell it know exactly how much you’ll put up with before giving up.
