Spirit Airlines has ceased operations. It has canceled all its flights and has shut its customer service.
They are, as they put it, beginning an orderly wind down.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/02/business/spirit-airlines-shutdown.html?smid=nytcore-android-share
Really sad news but it should not come as a complete shock.
Listening to CNN.
Other airlines are saying they will be helping stranded Spirit customers but almost certainly tickets will cost more and it may not be as easy to get from Point A to Point B.
If passengers paid with credit or debit cards, money will be refunded. Nothing was said about how fast passengers might get their refunds.
If passengers went through a travel agent, they need to go back to the agent. And again nothing was said about how fast or easy it will be to get a refund going through a travel agent.
But if passengers used rewards or vouchers, they are out of luck. They are seen as creditors and need to get in line to receive whatever they might eventually receive.
CNN also mentioned that it was not so long ago that Jet Blue and another airline wanted to buy Spirit but were unable to do so.
It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately. To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available. .............
This website contains information about the wind-down process. If you have any further questions, please contact our claims agent, Epiq, by emailing [email protected] or calling (855) 952-6606 (for toll-free U.S. and Canada calls) or (971) 715-2831 (for international calls).
United offering help to stranded passengers;
Today United Airlines launched several new initiatives to help make navigating this uncertain time a little easier.
If you had a ticket booked on Spirit and your flight was canceled, for the next two weeks you can visit united.com/specialfares to find price-capped, one-way tickets from most cities where Spirit flew, including Atlanta, Chicago, Fort Lauderdale, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Newark, New Orleans and Orlando.
Most of these special fares are capped at $199 with limited exceptions, with longer flights priced no higher than $299. To unlock these fares and see additional details, go to united.com/specialfares and give us your Spirit confirmation number, proof of purchase for travel between May 2 - May 16, and your United MileagePlus number. If you're not a MileagePlus member, you can sign up instantly for free.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/united-offers-support-for-spirit-airlines-customers-and-employees-302760589.html
I’m kind of an airline industry geek. I’ve been following this.
I’m amazed that people are shocked but there are some out there who are
Personally, if I had a flight booked I would be contacting my credit card company to do a chargeback. I would not be waiting on spirit, who is not known for customer service, to refund me no matter what they say. They’ve said a lot of things over the last few months that obviously weren’t true.
Unfortunately, spirit seems to have a lot of people who booked through not the most reputable travel agents and use things like afirm to pay their airfare off over a period of time and they’re probably really screwed
But the truth is the model has not been sustainable for quite a while and spirit never adapted. They were still selling $50 airfares, it cost more than $50 to fill your car up with gas. There’s no way an airline can afford to fly you anywhere for $50.
"I would not be waiting on spirit, who is not known for customer service, to refund me no matter what they say. They’ve said a lot of things over the last few months that obviously weren’t true."
This has been their business model for some time. Promise flights, then cancel them. They made other iffy airlines look upstanding. Not sad they're gone.
Does anyone remember the days when the airlines were regulated like a public utility? No minute to minute price changes as the price for any given route was set and stayed the same for quite a while. So long that they even had booklets printed showing the routes and pricing. No nickel and diming to death with extra fees. Plenty of flights available to many small and medium size cities and towns, with plenty of seats available. And most of the airlines were reasonably profitable. Yes, there were a few that didn't make. But, without doing research (which might prove me wrong) I think there have been more lines go belly up since deregulation than before. I just wish we could go back to those days, but one can't put toothpaste back in the tube once it's out. Sad
Yes, I do remember when airline routes and fares were regulated
And if you do a price comparison in today’s dollars what you will discover is, you are paying dramatically less now than you were then so the question is, which would you prefer? most people I think prefer to pay less money
I fear what will happen to the airfares on many routes within the US. Although Spirit was the bane of our existence as passengers, they did manage to keep prices low on many full-service carriers (FSCs). It's quite a far cry from RyanAir's relative success in Europe, although the regional dynamics in Europe are very different to the US market.
FYI Delta Airlines is also offering stranded Spirit passengers fare deals. I don't know the details but there was a message on their page when I logged in this morning.
It is just sad it has come to this with Spirit Airlines and abruptly. I am glad I never flew with these type of carriers, domestic or overseas. The fate of Spirit is just more incentive to reject this travel option.
