As most of you may already know, Spirit Airlines ceased operations and has filed for bankruptcy. They had done this due to the rise of fuel prices according to NBC Chicago, after the start of the war with Iran.
They had filed for bankruptcy twice within the past three years, once in November of 2024 and again in August of 2025.
Spirit Airlines decided to cease all operations on May 2nd, leaving attendees stranded on their trips, and leaving many unemployed without notice.
Ms. Thompson said, “tens of thousands of people lost their jobs. This includes not just people who worked for Spirit, but employees at airports across the country.”
As I’m sure most of us know, some employees resorted to GoFundMe and Tiktok posts to get help from the public in between jobs. James Charles, decided to weigh in on the situation with a great lack of sympathy and common sense.
This brought backlash to James Charles, which is nothing new to anyone, telling someone who had lost their job at the airline to just simply “get another job” instead of begging for money on the internet.
Anywho, a few other airlines have decided to implement “rescue fares” to allow people to come back home.
The myth, the legend, queen of flight disasters, Ms. Thompson was affected by this abrupt shutdown…
“We woke up Saturday morning to notifications that Spirit had shut down completely,” said Ms. Thompson. “The message from Spirit said not to call or show up to the airport because no one would be there to help.”
Ms. Thompson was out on a trip to Myrtle Beach that weekend when the airline shut down.
To add onto the disaster this has become for everyone involved including other airlines: the Trump Administration, before the inevitable shut down of Spirit Airlines, had tried to make a deal with them to keep the airline afloat.
According to PBS News, the Trump Administration would only go through with this deal if it benefitted the government. To save the airline, it would have had to be funded by tax-payer dollars to get them out of their debt.
Spirit had the cheapest fares one could hope for, and now without Spirit, many are concerned that other airlines have lost a major competitor and fare prices may rise.
“Some other airlines offered discounts to stranded passengers but others raised the prices and took advantage of the situation,” said Ms. Thompson. “There were many, many angry faces at the airports.”
On the other hand, if the Trump administration or in some other unimaginable way Spirit could have been saved, then they’d be trying to save a sinking ship given that they’ve filed for bankruptcy twice as previously mentioned.
“I know that Spirit was kind of a joke of an airline, but it allowed many, many people to travel long distances without breaking the bank,” said Ms. Thompson.
It’s safe to say that as much people dislike the airline, it will be missed for their cheap flights and keeping other airline prices somewhat fair given Spirit was their competitor.
“Never travel with me,” said Ms. Thompson, “It will only end in disaster. Shout out to my girl, Mrs. Krista West! #RIPGAPP #munichsnowstorm2023”
