Spirit Airlines flying above the radar

[humveedriver]

I remember Spirit when they were flying MD-80s held together with model glue. About 2 or 3 paint liveries later they are starting to nudge into some battlefield territory. Spirit recently added DEN to ORD, DFW, LAS and FLL. They are also increasing their presence in DFW with flights to LGA, MCO, BOS, PHX and ATL. They have the lowest CASM flying A320s in the US and recently ordered 75 new aircraft. Should be interesting to see the response from AA, SWA and UAL in that order.

 

[Flyby1206]

Spirit is the new Southwest, in terms of low cost carrier. SWA has moved up the ladder to just below the legacy status, which created some room at the bottom for the Spirit and Allegiant type carriers. They will continue to grow for sure

 

[humveedriver]

The DFW move is impressive. AA was quick to dispatch Legend an AirTran from Love and DFW respectively. Specifically AT's LAX and LAS service. I think a bankrupt AA will offer free flights on the competitive routes until Spirit backs off. We shall see.

 

[madjack]

The emergence of the Ultra LCC

 

[madjack]

Don't Spirit pilots get a pretty big raise soon?

 

[transpac]

Spirit totally screwed the pooch with their ham-fisted response to the vet who asked for a refund because he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This is the worst publicity an airline has ever received. I'd guess the $197.00 they refused to refund will end up costing them tens of millions. And, I'd guess the CEO ought'a be looking over his shoulder.

 

[ackattacker]

Yup they're the new model. We hate our customers. We hate our employees. We feed you salty pretzels free and charge you $3 for a glass of water. We charge you $100 to book your "free" reward ticket, and we believe there's no such thing as bad publicity.

I can't say its not working. I don't think they're the next Southwest, though. It's a niche product, there's a large percentage of the flying population that simply won't put up with that kind of abusive behavior.

 

[BLUE BAYOU]

Yeah, but you gotta love their Secret Service campaign for Colombia... "MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCK", love it!!!

 

[Dornier 335]

Remember their MILF promo? More Islands Low Fares, not quite what I .... nevermind.

 

[Grandpa +65]

All I can say is the Spirit Airlines is a PAY TOILET airline
The seats do not have enough leg room for a 2 year old
They charge you for everything – like I said coming soon is PAY TOILET or bring you toilet paper And yes their call center must be in India. Some of the hardest people to understand and they are totally useless!!!

 

[rettofly]

The emergence of the Ultra LCC

Ultra LCC? What about the $100 tab for carry-ons?

 

[SMcC]

In the airline industry the letters LCC stand for "low cost carrier." Among the flying public this is commonly misunderstood to mean "low fare." Low cost refers to the company's cost to bring their product to the market. I think Baldanza coined the term "ULCC" in 2007 to emphasize how he intended to re-invent the airline. The $100 carry on fee is not something they expect anyone to elect to do. It is cost prohibitive on purpose and not intended as a new revenue stream. It is all about keeping costs down and efficiency up. Unfortunately the opposite has been reported by the press.

 

[Dewey Oxberger]

Remember their MILF promo? More Islands Low Fares, not quite what I .... nevermind.

Yeah, they also had a MUFF Diving sale shortly later...

 

[Juniority]

Spirit might seem to be on an upward trajectory, but it's an illusion.

All their expansion was based on being allowed to continue fooling this nation full of stupid people looking on the internet for the cheapest airfair.

Now that the airlines are being forced to reveal/include all of their various up-charges in their internet fares it's like Spirit has had their feet swept out from under them. Yeah, they still appear to be going along great but in reality the air has just been let out of their balloon.

 

[Dan Roman]

Spirit might seem to be on an upward trajectory, but it's an illusion.

All their expansion was based on being allowed to continue fooling this nation full of stupid people looking on the internet for the cheapest airfair.

Now that the airlines are being forced to reveal/include all of their various up-charges in their internet fares it's like Spirit has had their feet swept out from under them. Yeah, they still appear to be going along great but in reality the air has just been let out of their balloon.

Seems to me the old axiom, any publicity is good publicity may be in play.
Spirit is just doing what SWA did. Get a lot of publicity anyway they can as they try and establish themselves.

There are going to be 3 legacies left, DAL UAL AA when the dust settles. That leaves the VA, JetBlue, SWA's etc to fight for the LCC type traffic. The more they get their name out there the more people will remember them when it comes time to buy a ticket.
SWA says they don't charge for bags, fine, but more and more, you are hearing people complain about them and saying you can get a cheaper ticket on a legacy.

 

[ROSWELL41]

Spirit might seem to be on an upward trajectory, but it's an illusion.

All their expansion was based on being allowed to continue fooling this nation full of stupid people looking on the internet for the cheapest airfair.

Now that the airlines are being forced to reveal/include all of their various up-charges in their internet fares it's like Spirit has had their feet swept out from under them. Yeah, they still appear to be going along great but in reality the air has just been let out of their balloon.

Look at the financials. You couldn't be more wrong. Like Ryanair in Europe, Spirit is the future of the industry like it or not.