Spirit Airlines shutdown: How other airlines are helping stranded passengers

The abrupt shuttering of Spirit Airlines left passengers and crew members stranded.

Some airlines jumped in to help get people home or to their destinations.

Reuters reported that before the shutdown on Saturday morning, the budget airline had more than 4,000 domestic flights scheduled through May 15.

Spirit had declared bankruptcy twice before Saturday’s closure, The Associated Press reported. But the company cited high oil prices, due to the war in Iran, as the reason for it to close for good.

All flights were canceled, and customer service is no longer available, according to the Spirit website.

The company said that most customers who booked using credit or debit cards had been refunded by Saturday evening, according to Reuters.

The company had set up a reserve fund to pay for refunds for flights booked directly through them, while those booked through third-party vendors such as travel agents would have to get refunds from them, the AP said.

But not everyone said they received their refund in that timeframe.

Jessica Stanton, who was in Boston for her college graduation, was told on Friday that her trip home to Myrtle Beach was canceled, and as of Saturday afternoon, she had not received her money back.

Spirit warned that some refunds may take time to show up in bank accounts.

Still, money in the account doesn’t necessarily help everyone who had to scramble to find ways home.

Several airlines offered discounted rates to customers, and now former Spirit employees, who needed to fly.

Frontier Airlines

Another low-cost carrier, Frontier Airlines, offered up to 50% off base fares with promo code “SAVENOW” the airline announced on social media.

The airline said it already serves more than 100 routes that had been flown by Spirit and is expanding to nine additional routes and 15 daily flights across 18 previous Spirit routes.

American Airlines

American Airlines is offering “rescue fares” or “here to help fares” in the main cabin for select routes, the company said on X.

American said it serves 70 of the 72 airports that Spirit had covered and 67 of the routes that Spirit operated. It was looking at increasing capacity, including using larger aircraft or adding additional flights.

In addition to helping passengers, American was also looking to help Spirit employees who were on work travel at the time of the shutdown, including “welcoming qualified Spirit team members to American,” and will hold recruiting events in the near future.

Delta

Delta also offered reduced fares that are nonrefundable for the five days after Spirit’s shutdown, "with availability even on flights that are close to full to provide more options even when space may be limited."

As for crewmembers, the company offered Spirit employees standby travel on Delta for 10 days, and is encouraging them to apply for open roles.

JetBlue

JetBlue announced it was expanding its schedule at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport to help Spirit passengers and increasing frequencies on existing JetBlue routes.

Southwest

Southwest offered special fares to those with Spirit reservations at Southwest ticket counters at their departure airport through May 6. The fares would be based on mileage from $200 to $400.

But as noted, it wasn’t just passengers whose plans went awry when Spirit shut down. One pilot was supposed to have his ceremonial final flight before retirement, but Spirit’s collapse canceled that. Instead, Captain Jon Jackson flew home as a passenger on a Southwest flight, which was crewed by his son, Chris, The Independent reported.

Chris Jackson is a first officer for the airline and he “casually mentioned to the flight’s Pilots that this would have been his dad’s retirement flight,” Southwest said on social media.

“They seized the opportunity to change the course of the day for Capt. Jackson.”

Jon Jackson disembarked from the plane at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to claps and cheers from airport employees and travelers as the Southwest crew put together a “proper retirement party” complete with a traditional water cannon salute from the Baltimore Airport Fire & Rescue department.

He also had a bottle of champagne waiting for him, The Independent reported.

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