Update, 11/16/24: After Frontier declined to merge with Sprit, Spirit has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The airline has slashed its route network and will likely further do so in bankruptcy.
Spirit hasn’t made a profit since before COVID, as passengers have splurged for airlines offering more space and comfort. After the government rejected a merger with JetBlue earlier this year, Spirit has experimented with more passenger-friendly policies, though those weren’t able to stave off bankruptcy.
Spirit hopes to cut costs and emerge from bankruptcy in Q1 2025, though anything can happen in bankruptcy court. The last US airline to file for bankruptcy was American Airlines in 2011. USAirways management merged and took over the combined airline by the time American exited bankruptcy in 2013, though they kept the more well-known name.
Do you think that Spirit will emerge from bankruptcy as a standalone carrier? Or will Frontier or another airline try to pick them off or purchase their assets while in bankruptcy?
Update, 10/22/24: After the Biden administration’s DOJ successfully fought to kill off the Spirit-JetBlue merger, the WSJ reports that Frontier and Spirit have once again revived merger talks that were originally proposed in early 2022.
Post-COVID systemic travel restructuring, basic economy fares, and free changes on non-basic fares with the network carriers have dramatically harmed the ultra-low carrier business model, causing Spirit and Frontier to make major changes. Spirit is busy cutting routes and hurtling toward bankruptcy, and hopes a merger will save the airline.
Stay tuned…
Update, 7/27/22: After nearly 6 months of back-and-forth offers as Frontier and JetBlue improved their bids to acquire Spirit, Frontier refused to improve their last offer and Spirit shareholders have rejected Frontier’s merger offer. Spirit’s board, which has strongly preferred merging with Frontier, will now consider whether to merge with JetBlue or remain an independent airline.
Update, 2/8/22: The Chicago Tribune’s editorial board references this post’s headline and recommends a federal approval of the merger.
Originally posted on 2/7/22:
Frontier and Spirit announced today that they plan on merging to create the 5th largest US airline. Frontier will control 51.5% of the combined company. The airlines hope to complete the merger in the second half of this year.
The ultra low cost carriers are famous for their poor customer service and customer unfriendly policies.
I always Say, Friends Don’t Let Friends Fly Spirit (Or Frontier).
Yes, their flights will often get you to where you want to go. But when things go bad, they go spectacularly bad. If things go wrong on United you can get moved to American or Delta. But when you book travel on an ultra low cost carrier, they won’t rebook you on another airline.
Just last week, Frontier announced they would match Spirit in only allowing 40 pound checked bags, even after you pay for their pricey checked luggage.
The ultra low cost carriers have created a culture of racing to the bottom that other airlines have felt the need to copy, which has spawned awful products like basic economy.
Only Southwest seems immune to that race to the bottom, while once proud airlines like JetBlue go down a rabbit hole of product devaluations to the point that they no longer resemble anything close to what they were originally created to do. No wonder David Neeleman is trying again.
JetBlue was just ranked by the WSJ as the worst airline in the US by overall 2021 performance at number 9, while Frontier and Spirit came in at number 6 and 8. Frontier was tied with American at number 6. There is a noticeable difference in operational performance between the top 4 and the bottom 5:
The merger will have to clear regulatory hurdles, but given that Delta, American, United, Southwest, and Alaska have all gone through recent mergers, it would be surprising if the merger was rejected. Then again, regulators may feel that they have approved too many airline mergers, which have caused higher prices and less meaningful market competition. The DOJ under the Biden administration has also acted more aggressively against airline partnerships, challenging previous approval for American-JetBlue Northeast cooperation, so we’ll have to see if they will challenge future mergers as well.
On paper, the merger does make sense as the airlines have similar fleet compositions, will create economies of scale, and will allow the airlines to stop competing with each other and focus on attacking the major network carriers.
The merger would leave JetBlue in 7th place and the smallest of the major US airlines, which will further hinder their ability to compete. If a Spirit-Frontier merger is approved, it wouldn’t surprise me to see JetBlue merge or get bought out by another airline. I’d say that United and American would both be prime candidates to buy and merge with JetBlue.
What do you think of the merger news?
Some tweets from our readers:
Working Name: Air Greyhound https://t.co/caOIjUDQIJ
— Haz (@Michael_Haz) February 7, 2022
watch out Aeroflot https://t.co/0uU34uR3YJ
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) February 7, 2022
The $2.9 billion #frontierairlines deal doesn't include an additional $1 billion in fees to buy the seat belts, armrests and cushions on all the #spiritairlines airplanes.
— Joel M. Petlin (@Joelmpetlin) February 7, 2022
People that fly with Spirit and Frontier believe that you have to do 1% Hishtadlus and the rest 99% is pure Siyata D’Shmya https://t.co/9FdpvAiqCi
— Joseph Singer (@JosefSinger1) February 7, 2022
This is the headline I wish I could write 😂 https://t.co/QprUVBlSKB
— JT Genter (@JTGenter) February 7, 2022
HT: Leon F.
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68 Comments On "[Spirit Files For Bankruptcy After Frontier Declines To Merge] Frontier And Spirit Plan To Merge And Create An Even Larger Terrible Airline"
All opinions expressed below are user generated and the opinions aren’t provided, reviewed or endorsed by any advertiser or DansDeals.
Have never flown either one…and never will.
I hate broccoli, I hate cauliflower, if I make them into one salad I’m pretty sure it only makes it worse.
You say Spirit or Frontier won’t rebook you on another airline. Would JetBlue or Southwest do that?
JetBlue rebooked my BIL this week onto AA.
Southwest is not likely to rebook on another airline, but they typically have more flights, redundancies, and operations to rebook than Spirit and Frontier.
Spirit re-booked my P2 on UA in early January, so it can happen
Wow! Did P2 also buy a Powerball ticket that day?
did he have to call up spirit or was it done at airport counter
airport counter in LAX
What’s a P2?
Spouse
Ya know what they say, two wrongs don’t make it right. This will be a disaster ….
Bad news for consumers. Will give them more power against legacy carriers which means legacy will be forced to get worse… or better?
Or would it force legacy carriers to drop their fares? I don’t know…
It’s not just fares, standards of service and amenities get copied by the legacy carriers. Unless people refuse to fly them and vote with wallets
There are two different “Dave’s” here which is annoying lol. When you say “vote with your wallets”, does that really mean paying double, triple, quadruple on another airline? Believe me, I know what you are saying; it’s that I’m comfortable paying less on Spirit, in a Big Front Seat, with the purchase of wifi and baggage— and still paying less than a Basic Econ on Jetblue.
I recently went on Alaska Airlines. I find them to be average or below average airline. All the way from New York to LA with one drink. The staff is also extremely pareve and not friendly at all that is until you are leaving the airline. They also have extremely outdated aircrafts. I would say that southwest is considerably and fare more friendly and United is definitely an upgrade to Alaska. I would rate them as 3.5 out of ten.
ya cant judge based on 1 flight. it could be the staff had a hard day or sumthin like that.
Oy vey
Coming from someone with a billion miles, yet has been stuck in Miami for four days because United and American can’t get you home.
All airlines are terrible these days and they all give you the same seat.
No, they’re not all terrible. Look at the WSJ rankings for more detail.
The bottom of the pack are particularly bad at getting you where you want to go on time with your bags.
Everyone cancelled last Thursday in CLE. How they recovered has been very different. Other airlines recovered on Friday. AA has been a mess and continues to be a mess. After cancelling my flight to CLE yesterday morning they had their infamous rolling delays last night for hours and are delayed again this morning. My friend on the AA flight last night said they waited over an hour for their bags after landing, only getting home at 4am. Happy I didn’t get rebooked on that.
There are also worse places to be than Miami, where we have grandparents and 3 sets of siblings to hang out with. So not exactly urgent to get back home at all costs, just an inconvenience to deal with.
There’s a Sunny Isles condo (or Century Village, it’s that’s your thing lol) waiting for you when you and your wife retire 🙂
So appreciate the service that Dan provides. I always appreciate the honesty and the facts. I also understand that the WSJ ratings say what they say, and they’re pretty accurate based on my experience. I’m just not understanding why you advise so strongly against Frontier and Spirit, but not as strongly against AA. You’ve clearly had spectacularly bad experiences (as I and others who WSJ polled have) with AA, but they don’t get the “friends don’t let friends fly AA” treatment.
I don’t work for Frontier, nor do I care if anyone else flies them. I did decide over a year ago (when Frontier offered a status match from other airlines) to give them a shot. I took over 50 flights with them this past year (as an “elite”, bags/seats/refundability were free for myself and entire family). I simply can’t even come close to their fares using anyone else. Yes, their policies and customer service stink. Yes, their options for rebooking are practically nonexistent. I had BH absolutely no issues with any of the flights. I have flown each of the legacy airlines (when schedule/price made sense) numerous times this past year and have had issues on each.
All in all, the WSJ ratings are accurate. I am just writing to say that I have saved many thousands of dollars on using Frontier this year, and it has BH worked for me and actually saved me aggravation due to the fact that I was able to cancel for cash refund, which I didn’t even get on Southwest. Keep your awesome blog coming!
“In efforts to combat climate change, effective on xx/xx/xxx we will be lowering our luggage allowance to 40lbs”. I guess it’s cute to blame it on climate change. —- You have a well written article. I agree Jetblue will eventually be merged with a larger “animal”. The path B6 has been going down, I don’t know how sustainable it is. They certainly have an identity crisis. Do they want to turn into Spirit? Do they enjoy steadily racing to the bottom of charts for on-time performance, amenities, status benefits, obnoxious fares $$. My airport (PHL) has 3 airlines to FLL (AA, Spirit, and Frontier). I’m sure a merger will make AA happy in that particular segment. Even people that hate Spirit, admire having Spirit as a competing player in their market- as it provides a drive for the other players to somewhat compete with those fares. In other words, I can fly PHL to CVG on AA for $600, or PHL to FLL or MCO for $175 on AA. A Spirit/ Frontier merger will be a win for legacy carriers, and a loss for Jetblue.
Thanks.
Agree with pretty much all of that!
How about their safety standards?
Look it up. Neither airline ever had a fatal planne crash.
BH I’ve only had good experiences with frontier. Very cheap tickets, always left on time and never issues with carry-ons
Its like a joke that someone made up!
I’m no expert but this merger may turn out better for consumers, offering more flights and a better network. Plus, competing head on with Delta/United etc. will force those carriers to either offer distinctly better product, pricing, or both.
In regards to JetBlue, don’t know if it makes sense strategically, but would like to see Alaska buy them out and restore them to their old time glory.
I disagree. Let’s look at LGA. If you want to fly to South Florida or Orlando- you have several options. Delta, Spirit, Frontier, Jetblue, etc. Combine Spirit and Frontier together, and you have 1 less competitor for the budget airliners, resulting in 1 less competitor for legacy and Jetblue. It’s even more pronounced where an airport has 3 options- a legacy, Spirit, and Frontier. Well, now that Spirit and Frontier wouldn’t have to “butt heads”, they can up their fares. I hate the budget airlines, but I wouldn’t have ever been able to fly United for $60 RT without them!
Will they merge their mileage programs? 🙂
Dan, why all the hate for these airlines? Not everyone has thousands of extra dollars to fly an entire family at regular prices and most people don’t have your millions of points. To many, these airlines are their only hope of a family vacation.
+1
So open some more credit cards and fly better airlines for free.
Or don’t, but that doesn’t make them better. The WSJ quantifies all the problems.
Seems like a lifetime ago when you could fly Midwest Express non stop MCI-PIT all business class with (the smell of) warm cookies.
Wow qt by burge? Nice!
I found frontier not as bad as spirit..
Same. For the right price I would fly Frontier. Spirit not so much. Frontier attracts a more normal crowd than Spirit, which usually results in less dogfights onboard.
Any likely affect on Allegiant Air? I could see them disappearing in a few years.
what a suprise – Jetblue rated worse then both Spirit and Fronteir
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/06/worst-us-airline-is-jetblue-not-spirit-or-frontier-wsj-ranking.html
I say regulators should require airlines to book people on other airlines in cases of delays/cancellation like used to t be required.
https://twitter.com/TheAviationBeat/status/1490715112579215364?s=20&t=R41fgmRp83HUT4SAiQtVSQ
I’ve flown both and they weren’t worse than Jetblue was this winter. They all stink.
I know Spirit and Frontier have issues with customer service. In fairness though I have flown places that would never have been possible with any other airline. Most recently, I was able to purchase 8 tickets to a Bar mitzvah in Las Vegas with each ticket costing $40 round trip. This is only one of about 5 trips I have taken over the past few years. If that is the price I do not mind paying for a bag and for a drink. I know there have been others with issues but each of my flights have been corteous, professional, and friendly and have literally opened up vistas of travel that would absolutely not exist otherwise.
That’s like when you and your neighbor flush your toilets at the same time, and both of your piles of crap meet in the same sewer pipe.
Ha ha
I consider this a plus, now when I search on Kayak, I will only have to filter out one airline
+1
Lol
I have been flying Spirit for years and have zero complaints. I have never had any major delays, I have had only positive experiences with the crews, and I have been able to fly places that I could not otherwise afford. Yes, you get what you pay for, but then again, you only pay for what you get.
Most recently, I flew with my family to Miami for just $55/person round trip (and that is not even the second cheapest I have paid for flights to Miami with Spirit). My original flight was canceled, along with flights from every other airline, due to inclement weather. Spirit allowed me to choose any flight to rebook on and allowed me to rebook my return flight as well. In addition, Spirit gave me and each of my family members a travel voucher (and yes, it needs to be used on Spirit ) for $50.
Also, given that I fly with little children, Spirit has always graciously reserved seats for my entire family to sit together despite my being cheap and opting not to pay to choose seats.
All in all, I will be very sad to see Spirit go—especially if those travel vouchers are no longer honored!
So appreciate the service that Dan provides. I always appreciate the honesty and the facts. I also understand that the WSJ ratings say what they say, and they’re pretty accurate based on my experience. I’m just not understanding why you advise so strongly against Frontier and Spirit, but not as strongly against AA. You’ve clearly had spectacularly bad experiences (as I and others who WSJ polled have) with AA, but they don’t get the “friends don’t let friends fly AA” treatment.
I don’t work for Frontier, nor do I care if anyone else flies them. I did decide over a year ago (when Frontier offered a status match from other airlines) to give them a shot. I took over 50 flights with them this past year (as an “elite”, bags/seats/refundability were free for myself and entire family). I simply can’t even come close to their fares using anyone else. Yes, their policies and customer service stink. Yes, their options for rebooking are practically nonexistent. I had BH absolutely no issues with any of the flights. I have flown each of the legacy airlines (when schedule/price made sense) numerous times this past year and have had issues on each.
All in all, the WSJ ratings are accurate. I am just writing to say that I have saved many thousands of dollars on using Frontier this year, and it has BH worked for me and actually saved me aggravation due to the fact that I was able to cancel for cash refund, which I didn’t even get on Southwest. Keep your awesome blog coming!
I personally do think the merger will be rejected, as it creates a monopoly…
…of world’s largest bad airline.
But on the positive side, I actually think the merger is a good thing, as there won’t be any competition down.
I only had good experiences with Frontier so far and they have been on time on most of my trips. It’s so cheap I could travel more and spend more on other things especially when it’s just a short < 3 hours flight. Can’t say the same about AA or United. Delta is definitely the best now. Southwest has had a crazy year I used to fly with them a lot out of Lovefield but stopped since early last year.
Their fares are not as competitive as you think they are when you take into consideration that you have to pay for seat selection, carry on, checked bags etc.
Southwest remains my preferred airline domestically. Even though they will not rebook on other airlines, their denied boarding policy is in my opinion fair. Have been denied boarding twice this year. They gave me a 600.00 voucher, rebooked on a next day flight, refunded my airfare and were going to pay for a hotel. Suggested I would accept another 200.00 voucher instead which they agreed on. Booked myself a 8000 point Hyatt Place.
I always experience more on time flights from LCCs, primarily because they don’t do ‘banking’ as the legacy carriers.
Budget airlines are made for people who dont work and dont car sitting around in an airport for hours on end both ways. Also their slots are usually smack in middle of the day, whos interested in flying lax-jfk at 3pm??? kind of burnt your whole day
It’s official https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/07/28/jetblue-airways-reaches-deal-to-buy-spirit-airlines.html
Dan, you failed to mention how new airlines like breeze & avelo are also cutting into spirit & frontier profit as they are considered budget airlines as well but more innovative on there business model
Have to say for all the Spirit haters, if you are flying without the need for extras Spirit is actually a pretty decent airline. I flew Spirit years ago from Chicago and it was so bad I swore I would never fly it again, however after a morning flight for a meeting was delayed and delayed on Jet Blue I was forced to buy a ticket on Spirit and was pleasantly surprised the plane was modern, the wifi was decent and best of all it took off on the minute and landed early. Then my friend Dan told me about the status match a few years back and for $99 and a gold membership it changed my flying game. I still have the status and get a free carry on, a free checked bag, any seat on the plane except the big front seat and now always check spirit first. As a (probably more then most) frequent flyer sure comfort is nice and not being nickel and dimed for everything is great but what’s most important to me is being on time and have almost never had a delay with Spirit, conversely last week I had another meeting with a same day return, flew out on Spirit right on time, and flew back on Jet Blue which had the plane at the gate and the crew on board still managed to leave an hour and a half late.
As a side note most major airlines now charge for everything if you buy a “basic” ticket, so sure Spirit seats don’t recline but if you fly with a family and have to pay for a suitcase or two you will still come out ahead in most cases.
It’s not a perfect airline for everyone but it’s not as bad as you think.
I agree. Best prices , on time, last to cancel
Now 50 lb bags and no cancel fees
My son is Frontiers youngest first officer so it’s the best airline and actually it’s not bad at all 🙂
i think they will get picked up by someone. as a few airlines have tried i think now can be a better time
@dan and JJ it’s about time you guys start a airline, maybe you can takeover spirits fleet for a good deal.
Oldest line, goes something like, “Q: How do you become a millionaire? A: Buy an airline for a billion dollars…”
(I probably butchered it, but something like that.)
LOL
Didn’t Spirit reject Frontier’s offer about a year ago before trying to be acquired by JetBlue (which failed to gain approval)? Frontier probably (and wisely) doesn’t want to acquire a failing airline, and will wait until the price is right from liquidation. As much as I love Spirit, I can’t see them existing much longer. I can also see JetBlue becoming extinct well before the end of this decade.
It costs me $39 to fly Spirit to FLL from LGA and it costs me double to Uber or Lyft to the next boro.
Personally, I am quite pleased with my Spirit experiences. We have flown many times with them over the last 15 years and pretty much we got to where we needed to on time. Last year, our flight to FLL was delayed, so Spirit did a last minute (as in, 5 minutes before the gate closed) rebooking to Orlando, which was actually our intended destination.
My motto is:
It’s twice as nice when it’s half the price.