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Wendover Productions 16 Jun 2026 14 here now

The Problem With Spirit Airlines’ Business Model

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Most Wendover video to ever Wendover
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@fr3shSwag From YouTube ↗ 22 Jun 2026 43
I wasn’t a frequent Spirit flyer by any means, and I only flew with them twice, but I never had a bad experience. This shutdown is a big deal. People who never flew Spirit may not realize it, but their presence helped keep airfare competitive across the industry. With one less low cost carrier in the market, airfare will increase drastically.
What’s most unfortunate is the impact on the 17,000 employees who lost their jobs so abruptly. Regardless of what people thought about the airline, those employees worked hard to keep it running. And love them or hate them, Spirit maintained an exceptional safety record throughout its history, which is no small accomplishment in the airline industry.
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The one aspect you forgot/overlooked is the K-economy the world is in, especially America. The budget traveller companies like Spirit used to target has been squeezed out by the cost of living crisis, so they can't afford travel any more, and the rest of the market has a higher income so premium offerings are more affordable to them, and wildly more appealing! They're who target demographic basically doesn't exist any more!
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Why would the Spirit shareholders want to go ahead with the JetBlue acquisition if they were aware the probability of the DOJ allowing it was low? They still would’ve made decent money from merging with Frontier. Did greed really blind them to common sense, meaning they lost out on money in the end rather than making money?
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@aviadam11 From YouTube ↗ 22 Jun 2026 115
Sucks to see Spirit go. Despite the negative criticism, they were integral to reducing ticket prices for consumers.
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Stopping the bleeding with a beheading is a hell of a vivid metaphor.
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@maartena From YouTube ↗ 22 Jun 2026 146
Kinda sad to see: A bunch of Spirit Airlines jets, still carrying the Spirit Airlines identification tags..... flying across the Atlantic from Bangor, Maine to Dublin, Ireland for refueling, and then onwards to Istanbul, Turkey to begin their new life (after re-painting and new seats installed) as planes for Turkish Airlines. The A320s that Spirit used were often less than 15 years old, some as new as 5 years old..... so they still have a long life ahead of them as passenger planes. If you have FlightRadar24, you can sometimes spot a Spirit Airlines jet going from A to B, as other airlines are vulturing over their assets, and getting some cheap planes and/or cheap lease deals on former Spirit assets.
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Never understood the Spirit hate, it was always the cheap-o airline and if you flew strategically you never had to deal with fees. Was great in college, never flew with more than a backpack and was always happy to spend way less at the cost of a few uncomfortable hours
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I loved Spirit. I really did. I felt like it was the only airline that was completely transparent.

You bought exactly what you needed and got nothing else. You knew exactly what your money was buying you. It wasn't good, but it was honest and I appreciated that.
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Frontier offered to buy spirit 2 times after their first bankruptcy. Spirit rejected both deals. This a management and shareholder issue.
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oh boy i hope this video doesn’t involve planes
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Huh. That map in the beginning explains why, for all that I heard about Spirit Airlines on SNL, I never actually saw a flight here in Seattle - they literally didn't server this area.
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@Juan2Soto23 From YouTube ↗ 22 Jun 2026 547
JetBlue’s offer was what is known in Business class 101 as a hostile takeover. Even if you don’t complete it, you’ll see that the company you’re acquiring will collapse. Something Spirit Airlines should have seen.
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I know Wendover was so excited when Spirit fell apart because it meant he can make more airlines videos
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@kenxclout From YouTube ↗ 22 Jun 2026 485
I do Uber from time to time and one corny way to lighten the mood for a week after Spirit shut down was to ask people headed to the airport “you aren’t flying Spirit are you”? Always got a chuckle haha.
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Damn man, corpse ain't even cold and you're already summoning their spirit back from the grave
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@maikerumoto From YouTube ↗ 22 Jun 2026 1700
Losing Spirit really hurts everyone. Losing affordable fares overnight (with a great safety record) will only make it harder to fly
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@brickieclash From YouTube ↗ 22 Jun 2026 1600
it’s always a good day when sam uploads an airplane video
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Not a single fatal accident in their entire history. Epic airline if you ask me
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damn bro the body's still warm