Spirit Airlines, known for reasonable fees, roomy seats and superior customer service, canceled all flights effectively immediately and shut down.
And only part of that is a joke.
The reality is that Spirit went out of business amid rising fuel costs and shut down not only flights, but their own customer service.
That means that unfortunately for passengers whose flights were canceled, there's no one to call.
“For more than 30 years, Spirit Airlines has played a pioneering role in making travel more accessible and bringing people together while driving affordability across the industry,” Dave Davis, Spirit’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “The sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company. Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted.”
But there is hope if you had booked and paid for a flight on an airline that no longer exists. You can get a refund.
Supposed to fly Spirit? Here's how to get a refund.
And several major U.S. carriers sweetened the refund with discounted "rescue fares" to assist Spirit passengers. United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, and Southwest Airlines are specifically capping ticket prices for impacted travelers who need to rebook canceled flights, USA Today reported.
"United Airlines has set its one-way economy fare caps at $199 for nonstop flights and $299 for connecting trips on competing routes through May 16. Delta is offering reduced rescue fares for domestic and Latin American routes through May 6, while American Airlines has reduced fares on 67 overlapping routes and is considering adding extra capacity," USA Today found.
To qualify for these discounts, passengers must provide their Spirit flight confirmation number and proof of payment.
While many were angry that a proposed bailout from the Trump Administration didn't manage to get off the ground, others gave a chef's kiss to the airline that once offered $9 flights.
Austin Gafner, a musician and educator in Appleton, Wisconsin, told USA Today he had only good words for the airline. "I've taken this airline many times myself and always enjoyed it!," he wrote on Instagram. "Never had a bad experience with you guys. You almost always had the best prices, which will certainly be missed, especially now," he wrote. "Thanks for the bachelor party flights to Vegas, Disney World flights in the winter, and most importantly of all, thanks for getting my parents to my wedding! I'll miss the yellow Airbusses in the skies!"
Even the Internet's most famous dog, Clarence the chaotic black lab, lamented its passing on behalf of his human.
