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This has been reported as US Internal news, but Spirit did service Mexico, the Caribbean and other places in Central and South America.
Their closure has a wide impact.
it’s clear that the non-US services are just spokes and not hubs, though. like news about the subway that brings NJ people to Manhattan would be reported as NJ news, not NY news
Still going to suck for anyone trying to leave Bogota or Lima or any of the other service spots. 😞
Don’t worry Trump will buy it and bring back ‘Trump Airlines’ as a nationally owned airline that he gets all the profits from while the tax payer funds it.
Did anyone see that guy who snapped his skateboard in half so it would fit in the carry-on, so he could avoid paying the 89 dollar charge? It got viral enough to gain Tony Hawk’s attention
After all these years, gas prices are what finally does them in…
They spent the last several years trying to keep this from happening but just couldn’t make it happen in the end. I guess you could say, the spirit was willing…
Now you can be a proud owner of Spirit.
People compare them to Ryanair in Europe but that’s a gross mischaracterisation.
Ryanair is a notorious fuel hedger, locking in prices 12+ months in advance. They also have a craptonne of cash balance that Spirit never built up, so they are completely differently positioned to handle the fuel price shock in 2026.
Unions play a big part as well - in the US, there was a single Union negotiation on behalf of crew but Ryanair didn’t even recognise unions until 2017 and they still have a lot of national unions that they can pick and choose from. While I abhor Ryanair’s anti-union stance it does leave them very well positioned for survival compared to Spirit.
Ryanair have been overthrowing a lot of national carriers that had a LOT of inefficiency in it, whereas Spirit were fighting against large, federal/international carriers with much more heft to them, both to accept price wars and the handle connecting flights (something Europeans generally loathe and Americans accept). It means a lot of the international flights were fed by the airlines’ own routes, rather than Spirit.
Overall, completely different market place. Man, it would be interesting to see Ryanair enter the US.
it would be interesting to see Ryanair enter the US.
Every landing ends with U.S.A. U.S.A.
I hate corporations as a baseline.
That being said, Spirit was cheap and acceptable to me. The customer service was the same I experienced in the “nicer” airlines because they only start caring about you when you aren’t the low class tickets. Sometimes it was a little entertaining because it felt like “NYC Subway in the sky” in regards to weirdos taking the flights, but nobody cared or judged, maybe I was one of them. You were there because you had to be, and they got you where you needed to go. They were the only airline I used to send my son back and forth to his mom’s for vacations, and it was always straight-forward and simple.
Also the Black on Yellow color scheme is nice.
Never heard of Spirit Airlines until yesterday. Seems people liked it due to the cheap flights.
Here in Europe we have Ryanair for that, but I always feel bad when the only decent price I can find is from Ryanair; they treat their employees like disposable garbage. They were banned from landing in Kastrup for some time because of this.
Usually if I have to pay a little extra to avoid Ryanair, I’ll do it. I hope Spirit Airlines has a better reputation.
Kastrup
Copenhagen, for anyone wondering
Okay, that’s kind of funny. Because I’ve flown Spirit Air, and fuck Spirit Air (the seats are deliberately designed to be more uncomfortable than usual).
But also, it’s kinda sad because it disproportionally impacts people with lower income who need to travel on a budget.
But also, where can I buy their planes? I don’t have any money, or a place to park them. I’m just curious…
They’re not for sale. They just put new lipstick on all of the planes and a new airline will start up in 6 months or so.
Nah, that’s what usually happens but they straight up ran out of money and credit. It’s all for sale right now.
THat is pretty much the MO for AMerican companies during financial crisis. They change name and carry on with business.
I liked Spirit. Flew an evening flight from DFW to BOS once and sat in the back. Someone had a full sized hoola-hoop. People were crazy. It was fun.
Spirit was always good with me, RIP
Sorta of a blind shot, but does anyone here know where to look for their asset liquidation & auctions?
I can’t afford an A320 but I’m sure they have some good tools, equipment, servers, etc.
Maybe we could all chip in? I’d like a Fediverse A320.
I’m not so sure.
The right wing would be instantly defederated from the rest while the left wing builds three identical versions that all say they wanna go forward while pulling the plane in different directions.
Everybody hates the huge central fuselage but can’t disconnect from it without falling from the sky.
Most of the discussion focuses on snide comments between the slightly different wing designs while all the critical tail components are held together by 3 single selfhosting admins. Then one of them goes on holiday and the tail fin just disappears.
And then the flight attendant gets on the speaker and is like:
HI IT’S ME NICOLE, I’M THE FEDIVERSE CHICK
Then the plane erupts in a giant argument over if the flight attendants are being scammed, trafficked, or if they are the scammers or the traffickers.
Serving beans on an international flight sounds like a fucking nightmare as well.
This is one of the single most accurate and succinct analogies of a tech space I have ever read, save possibly for the one that Neal Stephenson wrote about operating systems being car dealerships.
The two wings entirely forgetting that the point of their existence is to support the massive population in the centre of the airplane just trying to get where they’re going is pretty peak political commentary
And the pilots debate nihilism while the flight attendant asks if there’s a doctor on the plane.
I’ll chip in as long as I can fly it – I have 1000+ hours in flight simulator
I can vouch for this individual, I’ve watched them successfully complete most of those hours
Real shit though, a fediverse-based co-op would be sick!
I have an Ace combat license. I would love to fly one
I could imagine us mounting a huge effort to get the fediverse jet and even have an instance based on the thing. We would always have a bird in the air, so that the fediverse would belong to no nation and would survive any conflicts.
But then somebody would mention how bad flying the plane is for the environment, and calculate that it breaks down to multiple kg of CO2 per post, and we’d all be like “shit, you’re right” and shut it down.
The taylor swift memes would return
i remember she was supporting " some sort of progressive " initiative, but immediately turned around and complained about her plane being tracked and looking like a hypocrite she is by being polluting. Also hanging out Magat/friends fans.
Just an FYI
‘Sorta’ is a slang contraction of ‘sort of’ You don’t need an ‘of’ after ‘sorta’
I blame my crappy Samsung android keyboard lol
I’ve noticed it’s especially bad on lemmy for some reason.
It’s sorta of a problem, I agree.
Well in any case. RIP in peace Spirit Airlines.
I bet your sorta blast at partys.
Sorta of uh a blast ish
Usually these are auctioned of at industrial/buiness auction houses. So check out the various bancruptcy auction houses or find out who is their liquidator and ask them. But be warned, it’s rarely worth it.
If you live near one of their hubs thete probably will be some interesting stuff that can be had for cheap. I’ve gotten pretty good deals at industrial auction before.
a380 or gtfo
Those are about to be on the market as well.
They will contact one of the larger auction places on your country and let them handle it. Here in Australia it’s Slatterly for cars and vehicles, and Ross’s for other stuff. I’ve bought catering equipment, servers, printers and office furniture from auction. But they sell anything from jewelry and wine to Komatsu mining dump trucks the size of my house.
I’m still salty that my gf stopped me from buying that massive box of rolls of tape from the airport seized items auction. I could have secured so many things!
As if you and me are allowed to benefit from the “free” market like that lol. No. Don’t worry, everything that isn’t already spoke for or owed to someone will go to someone who already owns things for a living.
Learn your place
If you were willing to play the game, Spirit was an effective way to fly cheap. I have a backpack that’s the maximum size permitted for “personal item”, never carried luggage to check in and brought my own snacks and drinks.
The leg space was atrocious but I’d get their emails to bid on exit row seats, bid the lowest amount ($5-$15) and often win.
I had enough points for a free one-way flight, but alas.
Same experience here. They were treated like a joke, but I never had a bad experience on Spirit. Out of the handful of times I flew with another airline, I had a couple bad experiences (and paid more for it). Fewer options is rarely a good thing so it’s weird to see so many people celebrating.
Spirit was the fucking shit. I booked a round trip cross country flight day of for $160. I knew the get down, backpack, pack light. Anyone else would have been $500+ I also got bumped into their BIG seats on one flight and it was phenomenal. I have nothing but good things to say about them which people are always surprised to hear. All the major airlines have become Spirit anyways with the whole basic economy being a thing and charging for carry-ons. Everyone nickels and dimes you, at least Spirit had a low base price. I will miss them.
I genuinely appreciated being able to do a round trip for under $100 all in including train tickets. Like you I had my own backpack, snacks, water and wore extra clothes. Going to miss those deals.
You can still pretty much do this with frontier
I have a backpack that’s the maximum size permitted for “personal item"
I hate that air lines made this happen. Every flight people with 2 huge bags taking up the bins, taking extra time loading them, bringing all sorts of nasty food and making a mess. It used to be easy, a small bag under the seat (because there was room), and a bigger bag in the hold.
People are really stretching the limits of “one plus a personal item” where personal item should be about the size of a medium to small purse.
one last flight to flavortown…
bye bye~! let this happen to the rest too. i hope the airline industry crashes and has to be nationalized or some shit idk. better than this. anything would be better than the current mess we have.
I suppose there is a lot to get better, like making airlines actually enforcing the “personal item rule”, its one of my biggest annoyances with flying in the US. So many huge bags and people trying to stuff them everywhere. Let people have luggage in the hold again for free.
On the other hand, adjusting for inflation, I have continually paid less to about the same for similar length flights (including luggage fees) since the early 90’s. I miss meals, but the box o’ sandwhich and a free drink hasn’t been horrible. Maybe its sticking with one airline.
Outside the US, I still get served drinks in a glass and a hot cookie or pastry, and often a free alcoholic drink on some of the smaller airlines, so US: you could do better.
Presenting: TrumpAIR
In reality they will consolidate to 2 companies that collude on price fixing but don’t get broken up, and you’ll eat shit and smile like a good consumer.
I think there will be a time in the future where people will look at how frivolously we travelled around the world with a level of disgust.
Only the rich have the money for frivolous travel
Why does it have to be in the future? I feel that way right now.
There’s nothing wrong with travel. It’s airplane emissions that’s the problem
Its billionaires emissions that are the problem…
what do you mean? just because there were like 200 private aeroplanes at some billionaire’s wedding, doesn’t mean the billionaires are at fault!
just in case
/s
Per passenger per mile, the emissions are less than cars and ships…
Every source I’ve ever looked at has flights pegged as the most polluting form of passenger travel. Plus the pollutants are deposited directly into the upper atmosphere, which no coal rolling asshole in a dually can ever accomplish. That further magnifies their impact. I’d interested in where you’ve drawn your conclusion from.
I can’t seem to find the post that had the chart because Lemmy’s search function is ass, but I found this one that’s similar:
The one I was thinking of listed different types of rail, and a couple of them were more polluting than airliners.
Don’t get me wrong, I love trains and most of them are among the lowest-emitting options. But the notion that commercial airlines are the most polluting seems to be a misconception on a per-passenger basis. Private jets, maybe, because they have fewer passengers.
A single plane emits a lot, but if you are not using a private jet - it enjoys the same benefit as other forms of ‘public transport’: emissions are shared among multiple passengers. Especially if you are in economy, in a packed plane there are a lot of people to correct for that.
Furthermore, emissions for planes are far from uniform for the distance travelled: a disproportionate amount of emissions occurs as take-off.
A short or long haul flight is more efficient than an ICE car [source]. This concerns efficiency though - not total emissions - so if you use a car, but travel a shorter distance, emissions will still be less. Also, this source is from 2023, things will probably have shifted around a bit.
What’s the alternative though? High speed rail would be nice, but since that won’t happen, you’d just have all those people driving cars instead.
What’s the alternative?
Names existing, tried and tested alternative that has been working well for 200 years
Naw, can’t do that, it’d be hard.
(This is you)
Id love to see a bullet train from LA to Tokyo
Okay please point out all these high speed rail projects happening around the country. AFAIK there’s only one in SoCal and its been delayed for years and several orders of magnitude over budget. You people act like its just a matter of snapping your fingers and we suddenly have a high speed rail network, walkable cities, and no need for cars or airplanes.
I’m not opposed to any of this but we’re just as likely to get transporter technology to rid ourselves of cars. Don’t get mad at me for bringing you guys back down to earth.
I mean it’s not like I think trains come from magic. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. If you never start, it will never exist.
There’s one in Texas that seems to have high potential of actually happening.
Why won’t it happen? High speed rail is a mature proven technology
Not in this country. It’s nearly impossible to get the land to make it possible. Then it’s the fact that large districts are far apart. The economics of rail are tough. You take a 4 hour flight, it becomes a 16 hour rail trip.
Because Big Oil doesn’t profit from high speed trains, since those trains don’t run on fossil fuels (at least not directly). And everyone knows Big Oil rules the US in truth. Every president is just more or less a puppet from them.
Thankfully oil’s a dying industry now
Because there’s zero political will to do so, our nation is huge, and there’s no land to build this rail on without lots of eminent domain seizures.
Like the ones they did for the border wall?
The USSR was a lot bigger, less dense, and less developed. They managed rail.
As far as eminent domain goes, half our cities are parking lot and road. You can also simply elevate the rail. Or you can do what the chinese do and not build the station in the city center and instead run subways connecting the rail stations everywhere. IMO this is worse than building the train station near downtown.
Since when do the Chinese build stations outside of the city? I can pick from any 4 stations all centrally located in Shanghai, and get off the train after 4 hours in the heart of Beijing and be in my hotel in 15 minutes. The same goes for any city. Chinese build airports outside of the city. If I would do the same trip with flights, I need travel 1 hour to the airport, be there 1 hour before, 2 hour flight, land 1 hour outside of Beijing. That’s 5 hours if all goes smooth. This is why high speed rail is the preferred option to travel. Especially if you can afford business class.
The communist agrarian country has less issues with eminent domain? You don’t say
I know: Zeppelins.
The alternative is simply not going on a jaunt to Greece. It’s a luxury.
At this point I agree, but solely because I’m from Boeing country, and holy mother of fuck do I hate Boeing and the absolute horseshit they’ve been doing for the last 20 years.
Fuck McDonnnell Douglas, goddamn finance bros wore Boeing like a skin suit and destroyed the company.
People complain video games have too many micro transactions, but they learned from the American airline companies.
I can take a 2hr trip in Asia and get a full damn meal.
God damn son, you commie fuck, won’t you think about the shareholders?
Some guy could buy his 3rd yacht if you weren’t so fucking greedy that you need to be “treated like a human being with a modicum if dignity”
I went to rural Thailand back in 2007 to teach English for a month with a group from my university. Our plane died at the gate in Miami and, in order to make all of our connections to get to Thailand we made last minute changes that put us on Thai Air from LAX. Best damn flight I’ve ever been on and it was in basic, seated in the absolute middle of the middle section and I’m someone who’s unable to sleep on a plane unless I have the window. So I was awake for most of those 17.5 hours. Plane was beautiful, crew was beautiful and friendly. There was framed art on the walls and multiple full meals on the flight.
EDIT: Forgot to finish before I posted. The trip back we took Northwestern Airlines and, hoo boy. Meals were served out of a sense of obligation, stacked at last seat of the row to be passed out ourselves. When we hit the part where they wanted people’s seat backs and tray tables up they just went down the row and grabbed end seats with people asleep in them and pushing them up. Such a stark difference.
Yeah, our airlines suck. Every time I take any airline that’s non American based (i.e EU or Asia) the experience is wild. Hell I got free alcohol on the Dutch airlines they didn’t care lol
asian airlines does comfort over stacking people like sardines for profit, because they see the ROI as a constant revenue, rather to rip off a bandaid like with american ones.
