r/spiritair

Days after Spirit Airlines shut down in the middle of the night, a lawyer for the defunct budget carrier stood before a bankruptcy judge and apologized to the price-conscious customers who might struggle to find affordable flights in its absence.

“We apologize most specifically to those Americans who may now be priced entirely out,” Spirit lawyer Marshall Huebner said in court, thanking all the passengers who relied on the airline during its 34-year run, many of whom, he said, “could not otherwise have afforded air travel.”

Spirit’s May 3 demise is not the only curveball confronting people planning trips a week before the summer travel season has its traditional U.S. launch on Memorial Day. Rising jet fuel costs tied to the Iran war have pushed up airfares and associated fees across the commercial aviation industry. Two of the remaining U.S. budget carriers just finalized a merger.

Read more [paywall removed for Redditors]: https://fortune.com/2026/05/18/spirit-airlines-apologizes-to-all-the-americans-who-cant-afford-any-summer-vacation-flights-as-it-shuts-down/?utm_source=reddit/

Maybe I'm overthinking this, but Spirit's situation feels bigger than just “lol Spirit.”

People clown them, but in some airports they were the cheap option that made every other fare look bad. If that pressure goes away, do prices actually move up, or do other airlines fill the seats fast enough that nothing really changes?

I'm not saying fuel alone did it. Just seems like fuel + thin margins + fees is a brutal combo.

For people who actually fly Spirit: what do you think changes first — fares, routes, bags/fees, or summer trip plans?

I remember seeing that Spirit launched Delta-esque trading cards less than a year ago. I would've loved to get my hands on a couple of them, but unfortunately Spirit had pulled out of my home airport (SJC) before that.

Any ex-Spirit captains that might be willing to send some my way?

I'd pay for shipping of course, or if you're based in the Bay Area and would like to reminisce about your time at the airline, I'll buy you a coffee!

Edit: No I'm not desperate to buy these, thought an ex-NK staffer might enjoy talking about their time, with someone who's genuinely interested. And I'd love a souvenir to remember the bananas.

And if I were going to buy cards from a grifter, I'd just get the new djt national park passes

Where’s the logic?

Gotta admit, the end of this video is hard to not be teary-eyed.

if you try to book a flight, it will it won’t it will say no results like bro it’s been a week since the airline shut down and the website is still active weird if you go to some of the links, it will lead you to the recruiting website