I recently took a one-day trip to Disney World. To save as much money as possible, I flew from New York to Orlando and back in one day so I wouldn’t have to pay for hotels — and I chose to fly Spirit Airlines.
In a time when airfare is seemingly getting more expensive, I couldn’t resist trying out an ultra-low-cost carrier (ULCC) such as Spirit for the first time.
But even though demand has remained high and ticket prices aren’t getting any lower, budget airlines are struggling to turn a profit.
Spirit alone lost $193 million from April through June of this year, according to the company’s Q2 earnings release — even though, as CEO Ted Christie said, “Summer demand remains robust and load factors have been strong.”
To combat this, Spirit is changing the way it sells tickets starting August 16, for flights taking off on August 27
“Our new travel options range from elevated to economical to meet the needs of all travelers,” Spirit told Business Insider in a statement.
Instead of choosing every extra amenity — such as snacks, WiFi, and extra legroom — à la carte, travelers will now have to pick between tiers of extras bundled together, with names such as Go, Go Savvy, Go Comfy, and Go Big. The problem is that customers have already indicated they’re annoyed by fees and aren’t paying for extras.
I’ve never flown Spirit or any low-cost carrier in the US before, so I didn’t know what to expect. I now understand why Spirit is making this change … but I suspect some passengers might not like it.
