Spirit Airlines has become the most hated airline in the United States. What events have led to this infamous status?
Revenues at Spirit Airlines have never been better, seeing strong growth year-over-year. Behind its raving revenue figures, are its abysmal ratings, haunting Spirit wherever it takes-off. The runway leading up to America’s most hated airline is riddled with hidden fees and uncomfortable seats. Spirit Airlines is an interesting business case, as many will argue that a negative brand image can only spell disaster. However, for this particular airline, it became the golden ticket.
The troubled airline industry
A pivotal moment in Spirit’s history was the appointment of Ben Baldanza, who became the mastermind CEO behind the record breaking revenues at the airline. From 2006 onward, Spirit would fly a different strategic route. Through an aggressive ticket fee overhaul, stripping the ticket price to the bare minimum, leaving out any modern luxury known to men, out of the equation, Spirit was put on a revenue escalator to the top. But before Baldanza was to become the savior of Spirit Airlines, major challenges would sweep through the US commercial airline industry during the early 2000s.
These turbulent times coincide with one of America’s biggest tragedies, the 9/11 attacks. Before the 9/11 attacks, commercial airlines enjoyed record breaking passenger numbers, where the sky was the proverbial limit. The month before the events that would drastically reshape aviation around the world, the available seats peaked at 90.6 million. After the attacks, fear crept in amongst passengers and the amount of seats dropped significantly, falling to 67.5 million. It would take up to four years, when in July 2005, the available seats returned to the level of August 2001. During that time, many commercial airlines throughout the United States had to file for bankruptcy with some forced to merge to stay afloat.
One of these bankruptcies that sent ripples throughout the industry was Delta Airlines, who, in September 2005, entered Chapter 11. This ominous legal status, better known as a reorganization bankruptcy, allowed Delta to restructure its operations, which succumbed under the burden of increased fuel prices, high wages and pension expenses. Northwest Airlines also entered Chapter 11 the same month as Delta. It would take Delta almost two years to emerge from its Chapter 11 status.
While established premium airlines like Northwest and Delta were trying to recover from their organizational shocks, both saw market shares decline, falling prey to low-cost carriers such as Southwest Airlines. At the time. Southwest Airlines was set on a trajectory to become one of the United States’ largest carriers, surpassing 3,000 daily flights by July 2005, developing a healthy profit margin that would further accelerate its dominance in the market. The Texas based commercial airline proved that there was money to be made in the low-cost market, even when the going got tough for many premium carriers. Something Spirit Airlines had to bank on.
Baldanza’s vision for Spirit Airlines
When Baldanza became the CEO at the low-cost airline in January 2005, the company already had a tainted reputation, Flight Global noted. Being home to numerous complaints and multiple leadership changes in its short history, it was never positioned for a bright future within the industry. The company was also burning through cash. Losing tens of millions of dollars annually. Drastic change was necessary, otherwise it would go down under as many have done before it.
In order to revitalize the struggling commercial airline, Baldanza had devised a three-phase plan that had to put Spirit on a growth trajectory to profitability and build a cult following that would keep flying with the airline. Something Spirit had struggled to accomplish since its inception. Baldanza’s plan was simple. The airline would need to add popular destinations to its portfolio, transform and replace its aging McDonnell Douglas fleet with new planes and reorganize its team. Baldanza wanted for the company to be laser focused, sending a clear message to customers, making them want to choose Spirit over its competitors.
In rapid succession, Spirit started adding new destinations to its network. In 2005 alone, it added 22 new destinations, strengthening its presence in the Caribbean to cater to its domestic audience who became wary of flying to international destinations due to tightened security measures. The dollar was also weak compared to the Euro, which made international travel an expensive endeavor for many Americans. Through its hub in Fort Lauderdale, Spirit had a strong position to service the Caribbean, banking on leisure travelers.
Spirit Airlines Fees
Before Spirit would start its radical shift to a new ticket pricing scheme, it launched its own loyalty program to keep passengers returning to the airline. In March 2006 the company launched its “Free Spirit” frequent flyer program, a collaboration with Mastercard that enabled customers to redeem their collected miles for discounts at various partners. Frequent flyer programs (FFPs) are an essential part of an airline’s marketing program to increase brand loyalty and keep passengers engaged during the various steps of customer journey.
Fees have become a staple for modern day flying. Paying for extra legroom, seat upgrades, lounge access. It’s all part of a well orchestrated effort to maximize profits. Spirit Airlines however, has brought the art of additional fees to another level. Adding these fees was a conscious effort from Spirit to lure-in customers with its super flat base rates, but try to maximize revenue per passenger by creating a complex web of additional fees. The years after Baldanza took over leadership at the company, Spirit Airlines would start stacking fees at every turn.
In 2007, Spirit added a fee to check in any bag, charging $10 per checked bag at the airport. Juan Arbelaez, spokesperson for the airline, explained that by adding the bag fee, it would be able to reduce its base fare an upward of 40 percent. Flying with Spirit would become an a-la-carte experience, he added. Giving customers the flexibility to customize their own travel experience.
In 2010, the commercial airline announced it would charge passengers $30 for any carry-on luggage that had to be stored in the overhead storage-bin. Members of its “fare club”- program, would enjoy a discount, having to only pay $20 to store their luggage. These fees would apply when booking the flight in advance. Passengers who don’t register their carry-on luggage will have to pay an eye-watering $45 when checking in for their flight.
Charging $5 to print a boarding pass at one of its service desks was introduced in 2011. Again, Spirit Airlines claimed it could reduce the base ticket fare by $5. The fee would go into effect in November the same year. If a passenger opted for printing a boarding pass at one of its kiosks, a service fee of $1 would be applied.
No Spirit in Customer Service
Hidden fees are just one part of the equation that makes Spirit such a detestable airline in the eyes of many passengers and industry experts. A large part of the story is the poor customer service and tainted customer experience that comes along with it. Spirit Airlines was raking in countless complaints since its radical overhaul, performing worse than any commercial airline operating in the United States. In a 2014 report published by the independent U.S. Public Interest Research Group, Spirit Airlines was one of the top offenders. This trend followed the same growth trajectory as the airline’s revenue.
The organization analyzed thousands of complaints collected by the Department of Transportation between 2009 and 2013 across several categories, including flight problems, baggage handling and disability. The top three complaints filed over this period were flight problems, which accounted for 33 percent of all recorded complaints, clocking in it at a little over 15,000 cases. Second came baggage handling, with 15 percent of all complaints, followed by customer service issues, representing 13 percent. Within flight problems, delays and cancellations were among the most frequent. Delays saw the steepest rise, coming from almost 600 complaints in 2009, to over 1,400 by 2013.
Diving into the data, the rapid growth at Spirit is the primary cause that drove the huge spike in customer complaints with the airline. The researchers discovered that passengers at Spirit were three times more likely to file a complaint about their experience compared to the second worst performer. At Spirit, complaints per 100,000 enplanements were already high in 2009, sitting at 6.75. This figure grew exponentially to 9.43 complaints per 100,000 in 2013. No other airline has come close to the low-cost carrier over the period. Results at Spirit were so bad in fact, researchers had to remove the company from some of its graphs to properly display the other airlines mentioned in the report.
Per category, the low-cost carrier received the most complaints related to flights. In the latest data available in the report (2013), flight problems were among the most common issues. From the 1,019 recorded complaints for Spirit, 318 (31.2 percent) were related to flight problems. The second category was during boarding and ticketing, which totaled 199 (19.52 percent) complaints. Baggage mismanagement came in third, with 148 complaints being filed (14.52 percent). Customer service issues accounted for 10.7 percent of all complaints, with 109 complaints submitted.
A new Spirit
Accompanying its radical approach to flying, was a complete overhaul of its brand in May 2014. In industry jargon, this rebranding was meant to part ways with a complicated style that emanated unnecessary spending. Instead, a simple brand guideline would be more adjusted to the company’s core mission, delivering flights at the lowest cost possible. Its fleet of planes, sporting a bright yellow and black font, would become the company’s flying billboards, grabbing attention of passengers and potential customers.
No need for expensive advertising Baldanza argued. The rebranding followed after low-cost competitors Southwest and Frontier revealed their new color schemes. The bold paint job will help the airline standout and by reducing the brand to just two colors, the company can save up on painting. Adjusting the typeface to a hand drawn aesthetic allows the low-cost carrier to communicate with a more welcoming attitude. Travel industry news site Skift wondered how long this black and yellow color scheme, in combination with the new font, can last.
What the rebranding didn’t do, was decouple the airline from its tainted reputation. But Baldanza wasn’t too bothered by the poor ratings, commenting to CBS that its customers were price conscious, wanting to spend their money elsewhere, instead of wasting it on their flights. Baldanza, who compares Spirit Airlines to McDonald’s, caters to this savvy audience. An audience who is willing to compromise on comfort, to get the cheapest airline tickets.
Spirit started to embrace the image of being the most hated, stingy airline, embodied in its State Of Hate campaign, where it fully embraced its image as one of the most hated airlines in the United States. Baldanza’s confident stance can be traced back to the soaring revenues the company has been enjoying since its initial public offering (IPO), when operating revenue sat at a modest $1.07 billion, soaring to over $2 billion by 2015. Spirit Airlines had found a target audience who wasn’t willing to spend the extra dollar for reclining seats and a bottle of water at one of the premium airliners.
Problems persist
Years after the report published by the Public Interest Research Group, aircraft problems and poor operations kept plaguing Spirit Airlines. In August 2016, a Spirit jet was forced to divert back to Orlando International Airport shortly after takeoff after a failure was detected at an air condition unit. The faulty unit, according to the airline who spoke with Fox 35 Orlando, caused a foul odor. Whether it posed a safety hazard was left unanswered.
In June 2022, a jet from the airline caught fire after landing in Atlanta due to brakes overheating, sparking a fire at the tires. Passengers left the plane safely after the fire was extinguished by first-responders at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Mechanical failures can occur at every airline, but the poor handling by the available crew, who instructed the passengers to remain seated whilst a fire was raging underneath the aircraft, raised eyebrows.
In August 2023, a Spirit plane with passengers on-board, was left unattended on the tarmac for a mind boggling 7 hours, after a no-show from one of its pilots. The flight itself, which was bound for Richmond, Virginia from the airlines’ hub at Fort Lauderdale would only take 2.5 hours, less than half of the time the passengers had to spend grounded at the airport. The airline told People Magazine the long delay was caused by directives from air traffic control and weather conditions. The airline claims it had tried to coordinate an appropriate departure, but bearing no fruits. The statement provided by the airline contradicts the experience from passengers, who, through TikTok, documented their part of the story.
Stacking fines
Despite collecting bad reviews like baseball cards, Spirit Airlines has been mostly riding the wave of good fortune. In 2018, Consumer Reports ranked Spirit Airlines, together with United and American, among the worst airlines in the United States. Its good fortunes however, would take a turn. In June 2020, The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) fined Spirit Airlines $350,000, for failing to comply with federally mandated protections for passengers on oversold flights, a practice called bumping or denied boarding.
The Department of Transportation highlights that the practice isn’t illegal, as airlines use the mechanism to compensate for no-shows. In most instances, passengers won’t notice the airline has overbooked their flight. In some cases however, when all passengers do show up for a flight, and the airline has sold more than the available seats, a casino scenario unfolds. Airlines cannot simply force passengers to abandon their seats. A request to voluntarily give up a seat is mandatory.
Bumping on the other hand, uses an involuntary system. While not illegal if airlines abide by set procedures, passengers cannot be denied boarding when they’ve checked-in before the flight’s check-in deadline. Spirit failed to meet requirements that allow for involuntary denied boarding for flights that were overbooked. Furthermore, the low-cost carrier failed to provide reporting related to denied boarding, the DOT found.
In August 2023, Spirit Airlines was forced to settle as a result of a class action lawsuit brought forward by passengers who felt blindsided by unexpected carry-on bag fees. The settlement package of a meager $8.25 million was peanuts in comparison to the multi-billion revenue. Nonetheless, it reveals that Spirit is testing how far it can go to generate additional profits.
Why people choose Spirit
Many might wonder why so many passengers still opt to fly with the low-cost airline. The reasons differ from passenger to passenger. The plethora of fees that Spirit Airlines has introduced under Baldanza might suggest it’s all a smoke screen to create confusion and increase ticket prices as much as possible, which is undeniable the case. However, budget airlines, despite all their additional fees, remain a cheaper alternative than legacy airlines.
There’s a substantial target audience that is willing to sacrifice some of the comforts that come with premium airlines to get a better deal. This rings especially true for airlines that have strong domestic networks. Southwest and JetBlue have shown that massive growth can be achieved by combining a strong domestic network with low fares. On transcontinental, or long-haul flights, this effect is less present, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania found. A shifting attitude of consumers is observed in certain markets.
The Aviation Index 2019, surveyed flyers in the UK, about their perceptions of airline and airport experiences. While Spirit is an American airline, the survey results give a glimpse as to how the public perceives airlines and where they are willing to compromise. The survey starts out by stating that 71 percent of respondents would never choose an airline with a bad reputation. However, paradoxically, 38 percent were willing to spend extra to pick an airline to their liking. The unwillingness to fly with airlines with a bad reputation, mostly stem from bad experiences. The survey revealed that 42 percent of respondents, who’ve indicated they wouldn’t fly with a particular airline again, originated from a negative travel experience.
Price remains an important factor in flight selection. While the numbers have come down slightly, coming from 82 percent in 2019, to 79 percent in 2019, a large majority still factors in price as one of the primary criteria. The time of the flight meanwhile, has taken a backseat. A minority of flyers prioritize reputation above all else, with 32 percent stating that it’s the most important factor when selecting an airline. The surveyors point out that despite these findings, each group of passengers weigh each factor differently. External factors such as proximity of the airport at the final destination, plays a role in determining which airline gets the sale.
Spirit Airlines through its strong domestic network has positioned itself to cater to a price conscious domestic, and short to medium-haul, traveler. While it is true that a portion of the consumer segment will be reluctant to fly with low cost airlines like Spirit, willing to spend the extra dollar for a better service, a large cohort remains who is willing to compromise on the flight just to get to their destination. May it be the proximity of the airport or the fast food like menu low cost carriers offer. Allowing customers to pick and choose just what they need, instead of paying for services they will never use at legacy airlines.
Spirit takes to the skies
Spirit Airlines has come a long way. Under the leadership of Baldanza, the airline became one of the fastest growing low-cost airlines in the United States. Being a worthy competitor to industry giants such as Southwest. A radical ticket fee overhaul, network expansion and branding simplification have resulted in a competitive package that is tough to match for even the most seasoned commercial carrier. Behind this aggressive reorganization, lies a trail of poor ratings and traumatic tarmac experiences for millions of passengers. Experiences edged into the internet archives till the end of time, turning Spirit into the nation’s most hated airline. But, as bad as these ratings are, many of its customers are willing to make sacrifices to get the cheapest, most curated, deal.
