Spirit Airlines Collapse: Is the Era of Cheap Flights Over?

Added: 2026-05-06

[00:00:00]What other airline could I get off work on a Friday night, race to the airport with a tote bag, buy a last minute roundtrip flight, fly to Vegas for two nights, have a grand ghetto ball, fly back home on a Sunday morning, be ready for work by Monday for $89. Spirit Airlines shutting down is the end of an era.

[00:00:17]The travel industry has been shaken up with some flyers already missing those bright yellow planes. Spirit Airlines has officially come to an end. The carrier's ultra low prices force the major airlines to keep their own fairs competitive. Now that they are out of the sky, some experts warn this could be the beginning of the end for dirt cheap airline tickets. Joining us to talk about it, luxury travel advisor, Tiffany Simple and a frequent flyer, the Queen of Yum.

[00:00:50]>> Okay. Queen of Yum. Okay.

[00:00:52]>> You have been you've been considering road trips. So what what just driving your car or you going to hop on trail waves with me? We going to bring trailways.

[00:01:00]>> We can go together. But the the thing is I've been considering this as well for a while. You know, I've been a frequent flyer for many years with my parents working in the uh airline industry and now I just wanted to do something different. I've lately had the opportunity to transition into logistics. So, I've been on the road for a while. And with this kind of uh increase in price and things like that, it made me consider like starting to actually do this for a lot more pleasure and content. You know, being on the road has has opened my eyes. And there's always going to be a place in my heart for travel and airlines and I mean and and and costly, you know, um I mean, excuse me, costconcious travel. But um you know if if it's no more, it's no more unfortunately.

[00:01:50]>> And of course, Tiffany, this is a result we're hearing from the airlines because of rising fuel prices, jet fuel prices.

[00:01:58]They also point to the war in Iran as well. So I mean, will we see prices go way up?

[00:02:07]Uh yeah, as long as this uh petroleum problem continues, we're definitely going to be able to to, you know, take a seat back and say yikes as far as the prices are concerned. However, I do believe that this is an opportunity for airlines such as Frontier and JetBlue to kind of step in and, you know, intercept that ball and those Spiritiers, the people that were committed to Spirit Airlines. This is JetBlue and Frontier's, you know, opportunity to snag those people up because that's going to be your next in line. Would that be a danger in though falling into the same trap that Spirit Airlines fell into not being able to afford the jet fuel if you keep those ticket prices as low as they were with them?

[00:02:54]>> Well, they're not going to be able to control that part by keeping it as low for sure. But they're the next um to the cheapest as far as you know airlines are concerned. So I do believe that people will kind of transition over there to those airlines especially while they can. And I always say for people who have been you know spirit airline um you know frontier people for the longest this is their opportunity to experience you know a different experience in in travel as far as airlines are concerned pay a couple of extra dollars and get that United flight get that American Airlines flight and you may realize that okay it's not so bad over here >> and do you think any of the big airlines will try to swoop in and say let's take advantage of some of these lowcost flyers out there are there That's your ass. I mean, absolutely.

[00:03:41]>> We just ain't got no room for them.

[00:03:43]>> No, it would be this. It would be very smart to do that because people want to travel.

[00:03:47]>> How likely is that? I'm I'm thinking >> you know what? I'm going to say very likely. I'm going to say very likely because they they want to capitalize on on a moment, you know, even if that looks like uh even if it's a temporary situation, they can make a lot of money in a temporary situation, but this petroleum issue is not going anywhere anytime soon. It doesn't look like. And unfortunately, we're going to be affected in the travel industry when it comes to that.

[00:04:11]>> And and Queen of Yum, why won't people get on a bus anymore? Why won't they take Greyhound or Trailways?

[00:04:17]>> You know, I think I I'm going to be honest with you. I think while the the bigger uh airlines are going to try to capture a lot of that revenue, I think that people are going to start looking for alternatives like myself and like others. But also, if you're going to stay, I think it's also going to be very imperative that you curate consciously where you're going because you want to make sure that the experience is worth your dollars.

[00:04:43]>> All right.

[00:04:43]>> Thank you both for joining us here on The Factor. The Queen of Young.

[00:04:48]>> Thank you.