Why Spirit Airlines’s Stock Is Spiraling Down 60% | WSJ What Went Wrong
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- čas přidán 11. 06. 2024
- Budget airline Spirit was soaring earlier this year as Frontier and JetBlue engaged in a bidding war to buy out the smaller airline. But now, Spirit is struggling to stay aloft - and a judge has blocked its merger with JetBlue citing antitrust issues.
WSJ’s Alison Sider explains how the ultra low cost carrier went from the most profitable, fastest-growing U.S. airline to a company whose future is up in the air after announcing narrower losses for last quarter. .
Chapters:
0:00 Spirit’s situation
0:38 Overview of Spirit
2:13 The turning point
3:38 The downfall
6:04 What’s next?
What Went Wrong explores the challenging conditions and decisions that led to a company's downturn.
#Spirit #Travel #WSJ
Funny how the DOJ by trying to prevent Spirit from going out of business made it go out of business 😂
When the cure is actually poison in disguise. Sad.
I don't feel bad for this woke DEI airline. They rather higher diversity pilots and not the best pilots for the job. Same goes for their maintenance crew.
@@DroneStrike1776 that makes absolutely no sense
@@DroneStrike1776Learn how to spell “hire”, and then come back and continue your whining.
@@DroneStrike1776literally has the least number of BIPOC pilots in their company. You just wanted a way to call out 50-year-old DEI agendas in any post to highlight how you don’t want the buddy system and boys club hiring practices replaced with making leaders understand everyone should have a far shot
Nice job DOJ, just ignore huge monopolies like Amazon while slapping down mergers between two tiny airlines. I swear this is malicious and had nothing to do with protecting consumers.
Please DOJ please ignore Microsoft Activision Blizzard Zenimax
spirit being tiny? lol
@@J-wm4ssA company worth billions is "tiny" lol
@@J-wm4ss Market cap is like nothing.
Should we short Spirit? Believe in it's future?
I'm under pressure to grow my reserve that currently holds about $200k. I'm down by 20% already following the spirit stock crash and I fear I could lose more.
Everyone needs a Margin of Safety in their portfolios and just remember, It's time in the market versus timing the market. Certain Ai companies are rumoured to be overvalued and might cause a market correction, i think it’s best you reach out to a proper fiduciary for guidance
De-risk your portfolios, shore up your core holdings, and take some profits while balancing your portfolio allocations. I’d also suggest you go with a managed portfolio, but even those don’t perform so well, so it’s best you reach out to a proper fiduciary to guide you, that’s what works for my spouse and I. We've made over 80% capital growth minus dividends.
That's truly remarkable. I hope you don't mind pointing me towards their direction.
She goes by ‘’Natalie Marie Gentry” I suggest you look her up. To be honest, I almost didn't buy the idea of letting someone handle growing my finance, but so glad I did.
I just love this way of marketing ‘’Natalie Marie Gentry” by creating this script. Very creative marketing
If Spirit Airlines goes out of business, then the reasoning used to block the merger with JetBlue is flawed. Assuming that the reasoning is that prices will rise after the merger, and there are no other super cheap airlines, then blocking a merger would insure the current price of Spirit’s tickets. By blocking the merger, however, the reasoning of the DOJ didn’t take into account that Spirit’s business plan is, in the long-term, unsustainable and it can only exist as an entity of a larger airline.
Exactly. A frontier/spirit merger might be the best chance for a ULCC
Yea that got me - like it’s stock tanked after the justice department blocked it, so now they are at risk of dissolving. Catch 22
Jet Blue just wants the planes. Buying Spirit is the fastest way to increase their fleet. The low fare model will be gone, but Spirit is a gamble to use for travel.
@@na195097the route structure could be advantageous for Jetblue as well, unserved fields, free slots, various routing options.
@@na195097 NO they want Spirit Gates/Slots at the aiport, example JB has 2 gates at Las Vegas, Spirit has about 8 or more gates, by taking over spirit they can fly more routes, JB can not expand if they don't have slots to fly into airport, If i fly from LA to Atlanta i'll have to fly from LA to NY to Atlanta, how stupid is that..? now if JB had those Spirit gates in Vegas they can use Vegas as a hub, etc.
From boston to orlando is 18.00. I flew Seattle to San Diego for 15.00. I absolutely do not care if I don't get peanuts and only get to take a personal item.
Cheaper than Greyhound!
@Patrick-yh5yd for real. The uber to the airport costs more.
How?? All flights I check are in the 200-300 range
How do you Find cheap deals like that
@@davidparra7635 They did not say when they flew. Most likely 1965.
Why do people think they must be constantly fed for a two-hour flight? Come on. Seven-hour flight, a different story
Even on a seven hour flight, if you eat before hand and bring water you'll be okay. It's like going a day at work without eating. I mean TBH we eat too much any way LOL. 7 Hours won't kill anyone. Unless they're diabetic perhaps :$
A meal is always nice and makes time go by faster
There's enough options in the terminal for purchase to bring your meal on the flight.
*True. I always bring my own snacks anyhow.*
food doesnt drop tickets prices, also doesn't bankrupt companies
"Why would one still choose Spirit?" - because they don't have Boeing 737 of any generation including the MAX in their fleet. This is why I choose them. I arrive early to the airport with nothing but a backpack, have a meal, buy a large bottle of water, and off I go.
To be fair, 737s of other generations like the NG are safe
@@Blank00 Watch "On a wing and a prayer".
I buy lunch before I get to the airport an carry a backpack an drink can soda
737’s are incredibly safe. You are paranoid.
!! Short squeeze coming soon…maybe.
I used to fly to Atlanta a few times a year from New York, for the weekend. At the time, I discovered Spirit flew out of Atlantic City. I once got a round trip ticket for $78. I packed what I needed in a back pack, so I didn't have to pay for luggage. At the time, it did the trick.
The combination of ATL and Spirit sounds like a nightmare.
Try Frontier, Spirit is actually nice. However, if you need a last minute flight, and don’t pay for anything, and just have a backpack, it is worth it.
No its not, they don’t have customer service call center, no one to talk to if things go wrong. Literally no one.
Agreed, actually love spirit for any flight under 4hrs. If you know what you're doing and what to expect, they're great.
Spirit airlines is like signing up for torture, I tried it for the first and last time to DC cherry blossom festival. I was charged $100 for my Carry on twice for each segment, which ends up costing more than my return ticket. The agents seemed to enjoy watching passengers being blackmail. How could anyone take pride working there
@___beyondhorizon4664 it seems like you might not have done your research beforehand. The rules are on their website, you can't blame them.
Frontier canceled my flight 2 hours before hand and didn't have another flight for 5 days i ended up driving to disneyworld
5:14 PRATT & WHITNEY engine. AIRBUS doesn't make engines.
“We are not going to get anywhere if you win, the merger isn’t approved, and Spirit goes belly-up,” the judge said to a Justice Department lawyer during closing arguments in December.
Weeks later he blocked the merger, possibly bringing about the very situation he had described as getting us nowhere.
Brilliant.
I had purchased two tickets to Orlando for me and my wife right after our wedding. Not a honeymoon, but more a spur-of-the-moment, "let's go to Disney!" They tickets were somewhat cheaper (when adding price of carry-ons) and we weren't on a tight schedule. I figured it's ok if the plane is delayed a little, so long as we get there.
1 week before, they moved our flight from 12pm noon to 9pm at night so we missed an entire day of our vacation, they also changed our flight from direct to a 2hr layover. So instead of 12pm-3pm landing in orlando, now we were doing 9pm-3am. And for what? To save $80 across 2 tickets?
I bought Delta tickets on the spot. Spirit lost a customer for life before I even got on the plane, and god knows what other BS they would pull. THIS is why Spirit is failing. Their ruthless cost cutting cuts (heh) into their ability to reliably travel at all. Their offers are extremely poor value for money and make the flying experience more stressful and way worse than it has to be.
This issue is not limited to Spirit. I had a Southwest flight to SFO and onward an International flight. Southwest kept delaying my flight and my original buffer of 5 hours kept cutting short. Eventually, Southwest cancelled my flight which meant I couldn't make my international flight. I lost money for that flight and had to book an on the spot one way international flight which was more than the return ticket.
I have flown with spirit 50 times and they have been an hour late twice. Rest of the flights I have taken with them have been fantastic.
Spirit airlines, the cargo hold is our first class
Spirit airlines is like signing up for torture, I tried it for the first and last time to DC cherry blossom festival. I was charged $100 for my Carry on twice for each segment, which ends up costing more than my return ticket. The agents seemed to enjoy watching passengers being blackmail. How could anyone take pride working there
@@___beyondhorizon4664 spirit airlines, we r like Abu Ghraib, @ 30,000 ft
Flying with Spirit while in the military is the ultimate cheat code
If Spirit goes bankrupt, then JetBlue can buy them outright.
End of story.
Exactly or Frontier.
If spirit goes bankrupt, then it has to go to liquidation.
Except that’s not how bankruptcy worksc
why do you say that they would necessarily go to them? Couldn't other airlines buy them?
The original goal of JetBlue was to expand to west coast and spirit had most of airport gates deal their fore all its made saved money for JetBlue.
I hope they use this as an opportunity to repair their customer service, their app, and their services
Maybe get pilots based on performance and not diversity.
With what money?
The pilot dei conspiracy is tarded and so are you, flight school doesn't have dei, so whoevers getting hired by airlines is qualified.
Instead you *need* to be worried about the older pilots that have health issues (both mental and physical) because *many* will hide them just so they don’t get fired.
Also as another thing spirit is one of the *few* american airlines, that have never had a fatal crash. So clearly pilots and their air craft mantaince aren't the issue.@@DroneStrike1776
@@bg1379that’s what investors are for
@@bg1379exactly
I wish them luck.
Folks need super cheap flying options
And that judge's reasoning was self-defeating. The merger was the only way for Spirit to continue to exist, and by blocking the merger Spirit won't be able to serve lower-income passengers in the future if they go bankrupt.
@GnomaPhobic Frontier, JetBlue are still cheap. Southwest is still cheap as well.
Folks need to stay home to help reducing emissions.
@@TinLeadHammer we need high speed trains
Southwest is cheap if you book in advance, 2 free check baggage
Having worked for four now defunct airlines in the 70’s and 80’s, I have experienced the good and bad in the industry. People’s Express tried the low cost thing in the 80’s and it didn’t work. The DOJ should have let the Spirit deal go through, now they’ll probably go under.
Also. It’s hard to get the economics of low fares, especially flight, right. Spirit problem was non transparent fees and bad service.
I dont get how the government can basically force a company to go bankrupt cuz they dont want to lose access to below market prices. At that point just implement a price celing.
Price ceilings/price controls are just a faster way to bankrupt an industry.
Spirit doesn't sell tickets at below market price, lol.
@@elli6220 base ticket costs for spirit are below market price. Average total flight cost for the end user probably isn't though.
@@inspiraPaz you say that but rent is still obscenely high for no reason cuz of slumlords.
@@aidanderson53X - The main reason rents are super high is because when 45 had the eviction moratorium, landlords were still required to pay their lenders for the property even though their renters weren't paying the landlords. So now, if they didn't sell their properties to Blackrock or the banks to get out of that debt they are charging current tenets to make up what some people got for free but they had to pay for.
Ryan air does just fine with $12 international flights across Europe. Why is it such a problem in America?
No mention was made about what is actually wrong with the airline. This is because nothing is. The share price plummeted after the court blocked the JetBlue deal because the market had to re-orient itself to adapt to the fact that the JetBlue deal wasn't happening. Spirit will be fine, I'm more concerned about JetBlue.
Each person has different experiences. I have flown Spirit 7 times across the country (Vegas several times, Seattle, Chicago, Detroit), and they work pretty well for me. Now the caveat is that I only fly them for 2-3 weekend trips and only need a backpack of clothes that I put under the seat at no charge. And I always have snacks with me already...not just on Spirit but any airline. So I have never paid for anything but the airfare. And of the 20 flight legs, only one was more than 35 minutes late. I guess I have been lucky.
Sale and Lease back never works, the business model is sound. Like Wizz Air the engine issues will be a big headache when trying to grow when capacity is tight and fares are above average across the industry
Short term gain for long term pain.
Wizz air? Is that an actual name of a company? 😂
Sprint Cellular had similar issues.
Spirit Airlines had similar issues.
Both Black and Yellow colors.
That would be a shame. The big front seats on a spirit flight are always a great deal.
Upgraded my wife to their Barcalounger LAX-CMH for $20 couple years ago, such a deal
The DOJ judge that blocked the merger with JetBlue didn't consider the poor financial status of Spirit to stay in business. This wasn't a secret, because it was a reason for the original merger proposal with Frontier Airlines. On the other hand, the JetBlue merger was a hostile takeover. Initially, Spirit's CEO and board members opposed the merger. The union for flight attendants also opposed the merger, fearing it'd cause job losses. But the story is not over. JetBlue is required to pay a $470 million breakup fee to Spirit, for the merger failure. The breakup fee was a clause in the merger agreement, which JetBlue is disputing. Spirit says it has enough funds to continue alone in 2024. But not sure about debt payments in 2025 and 2026.
JetBlue is still appealing. If an appellate court or SCOTUS overrules the decision (or if the process goes into 2025 and Trump wins the election), then the merger can go thru.
United is the crazy one. Hiring pilots for reasons, besides Qualifications. The biggest Qualifications are "What do they look like?"
Living out of the Fort Lauderdale area, Spirit is the best! They do a lot for the community and they are cheap/easy to fly. In fact, I have had more problems on the other major airlines out of the FLL airport than spirit
I personally won’t fly any longer than maybe a 1-hour short trip on these bargain airlines. It’s not cuz of peanuts and sodas…it’s simply that it’s too painful to sit in their tiny seats. Also I have experienced too many delays. Cheers.
Never had a single Spirit flight depart the day it was intended to. In all occasions, I had to pay the premium to fly through a different carrier last minute. I’d never risk booking with Spirit again
I flew to Ft Myers for $41 RT on Spirit while it was over $300 RT ound trip on Delta and Southwest.
Cant beat a Spirit batefare!!!
The issue is folks want Spirit prices with Delta benefits and this is where the complaints arise.
Flown on Sprit only one time. Bought a roundtrip ticket and Sprit was so bad I actually flew home on a different airline to avoid flying with Sprit again. Cramped cabin, extra charge for everything, pay toilets etc. etc.
I bought a ticket from NY to Austin to be with my family last Christmas. I knew these tickets would be pricey so I bought months in advance. 1 week before the flight I get an email from Spirit saying that they've cancelled all direct flights to Austin and they put me on a flight with a 12 hour layover in Orlando, with the NY flight touching down at 1:30am.
Of course at that point I could have asked for a refund but I had no other options- since it was only a week out the tickets for other airlines had skyrocketed.
I hope Spirit realizes that there are limits to how badly they can treat customers. Avoid if you can.
Ultra cheap prices only matter if the flight is reliable. You might not care about prices, but when time and getting you to the destination get compromised, that's not a frill.
Spirit airlines, if u didn't want 2vb treated as self loading cargo, u should hav flown delta
Honestly I had found air travel to have become actively unpleasant before COVID; now post-COVID when most airlines that canceled hundreds of flights from their regular schedule and have not replaced those flights, it has gotten worse. Delays, canceled flights, getting stranded in a connection city, etc. etc. has become the norm and I've experienced it on so-called "higher end" airlines like United and American as well as lower-cost like Southwest. I travel mainly for business so my company is usually paying for the flight but even without having to pay the cost of the ticket, air travel has become a misery. All the airlines keep shrinking the number of cubic inches of space for each seat to the point where now I find myself feeling cramped and I am a pretty small guy 5'6" with short legs. I truly pity folks with long legs as I don't know how they don't have blood clots by the time they land. All that to say that, since flying has become so unpleasant I am not going to do anything to make it even more unpleasant such as pick the absolute lowest cost airline when doing so is going to likely exacerbate all of the issues listed here.
I flew Turkish airlines from LAX to Cairo with layover in Istanbul on September 1st 2021, the trip was just like pre pandemic service.
My flight from TJ to Mexico City was surprisingly pleasant. Free snacks, drinks, no Carry on bag fee, free movie and free one time used ear plugs. Si, free movie 😁 maybe September tickets are cheaper
Spirit and low budget airlines are only for when you need to get somewhere fast within 2 or so hours for the cheap. If you're gonna bring a luggage, then book another airline.
Nobody is surprised that cutting corners everywhere isn’t popular. They have bad customer service, bad planes, flight delays, unskilled workers, lazy workers etc. the entire company didn’t care and it shows. This is coming from someone who actually likes spirit bc of the low fares, but I know not to ask for a sip of water
It was all those CZcams shorts showing them take off in a hilarious way 😭
Cheaper flights, zero comforts, nickel and diming customers , what could go wrong?
It's really great to see all you federal judges and lawyers share your insight on corporate law and how the DOJ works. It is truly dizzying genius...
I often fly Spirit and highly recommend them for the frequent NYC- Fort Lauderdale/ Miami routes. I've very very rarely had any problems and I'm certain those who take the La Guardia/ Newark to Fort Lauderdale/ Miami routes would agree. Now that's the tri state to Florida flights but i don't know about the rest of the country with Spirit..
I did sf to la back in the day for like $15
SAVE Spirit
JetBlue did that strategically to squash the Frontier deal. I'm pretty sure they knew the government would squash it.
You're probably on to something there.
could you explain yourself better? I'm really trying to understand
The Government will bail out Spirit. They can’t in one breath say you can’t merge because ticket prices will rise, and in the other breath let that company go out of business? I have flown Spirit many times and had no issues with them at all. I’m sure people working for the other airlines have a bunch of donations for our politicians.
Recently bought some recommended stocks and now they are just penny stocks. There seems to be more negative portfolios in the last 3rd half of 2023 with markets tumbling, soaring inflation, and banks going out of business. My concern is how can the rapid interest-rate hike be of favor to a value investor, or is it better avoiding stocks for a while?
Just ''buy the dip'' man. In the long term it will payoff. High interest rates usually mean lower stock prices, however investors should be cautious of the bull run, its best you connect with a well-qualified adviser to meet your growth goals and avoid blunder.
Those prices not worth the headache that inevitably comes with them.
I flew spirit once. I had a flat a** after i got up (lol) from the plastic seats but they got me there and they did it on time so it was all good with me. I do prefer to fly delta but if spirit offered me a better deal, I'll fly with them again.
Agree with your comment on the plastic seats. Its a killer especically on the longer cross country flights.
I flew spirit once and swore to never fly it again, even for free. The flight attendants were so unnecessarily rude.
They quote you one price, then charge you for everything else. Checked bag AND carry on. My $58 round trip to and from Vegas ended up being $250. And no, I can't travel with just a backpack. It's sort of deceptive how they advertise the price.
Don’t forget about the fights at the gate. You got one free with each flight!🤣
My experience with spitit has been pleasant so far. Just have to make sure your carry own has everything you need. It also helped me realize i dont really need to pack many things i thought was important. Theu try to make up low prices by making youbpay for checked luggage. Im not falling for that
I feel like some institutions are going after Spirit to short it. They focus too much on this airline. Other airlines have screwed up even more and nobody is going after them. But it's not buried yet. Spirit will keep fighting to stay afloat.
This deal was about access to coveted terminals expanding jet blues service area. Delta United and American probably had a few friends at the DOJ.
more than a few friends. Probably just became friends with the judge
I have never flown Spirit but I avoided it because of all the customer complaints.
Spirit, Frontier and Allegiant, god bless them (you need it).
“Engine Troubles” shows brake fire smh
There is a target consumer for Spirit. They just need to reduce the friction of unnecessary charges. I’ve never flown with them but see videos of people who do wanting consistency
I had travelled in Allegiant from Dulles to Jacksonville FL and back during my trip to USA last year. I paid $ 324 for round trip which is definitely not cheap but I was decided two three days before and it was Christmas week.
Great!!!
$4 per water now. 😊
Also, basic economy tickets on the majors still don't compare to Spirit prices.
Spirit airline's low quality seat designs are preferred for tall people like me, their non bulky design allows for more legroom
Did a round trip from Ric or Orl for $55. I don't care about meals and I only bring a backback. Always a good experience.
Bought a RT from Tampa to Miami a couple weeks back for $67. You know what you get for under $100 and come with low expectations. I'm fine with a trimmed down amenities on short flights and prefer spirit for that.
some people just need to go from point a to point b. You dont see someone taking the subway saying"but... this train didnt give us enough seats!!!"
The problem is spirit isn’t cheap anymore. Paying 300$ on a 2.5 hour flight is not uncommon on spirit. And their flights to the Caribbean are expensive now
I just booked a $43 round trip ticket and have seen cheaper that I am looking to do
Hope they survive so it maintains pressure on the other airlines
I hope that Spirit survives. I would switch to Frontier if Spirit went out of business.
I think DOJ has been woefully absent at antitrust enforcement (and would like to see a lot more of it in tech and other oligopolies), but I fail to see how driving Spirit into bankruptcy will help competition or consumers.
Tickets always seem cheaper on Spirit and Frontier. But after adding up all of the peripheral costs I’d rather just pay for a higher priced ticket with the competition and have a better all around experience. I avoid flying on Spirit at all costs!
You can avoid them I regularly book $20 ✈️ that's a dinner out these days
Basically, Spirit & Frontier is like the movie "Soul Plane."
Investors need to fire the board, the CEO, CFO, and COO.
I flew Spirit once, roundtrip Oakland to NYC. Never again. Delays on top of delays on top of delays lasting hours to the next day... If you need to get to your destination on time, avoid Spirit like the plague. I do like the airline's sense of humor though, I give em that.
I love spirit , I only bring a book bag when I travel so it works great for me
In my country, airlines give nothing more than just free 5 to 20kg luggage.
I doubt they will go out of business
Sale lease back is not exactly deleveraging…
The US based airlines are so badly run and so many hurdles for passengers that soon most customers will stop flying US based airlines.
if you've ever flown spirit, you know why they're failing
So when is spirit going to start focusing on customer service?! I heard it's a new "push" just curious when that's gonna start lol
The intro dude has great eyelashes
Jetblue will be next. How can Jetblue buy Spirit when Jetblue is broke?
I looooove flying spirit. I have never had any issues on the dozens of flights I have taken with them. godspeed spirit airlines.
You got spirit kid, i'll give you that.
I flew Spirit once, and only once. It was $65.00 for a carry-on. By the time I paid for all of the "extras", like luggage, it was no cheaper than any other airline. I wanted to take a shower when I got off the plane.
Competition is great . Shouldn't have switched leadership.
Spirit need to just forget about their shares and focus on juat making profits as a company. The low cost of tickets will still work because american airlines is outrageous with their prices
I've only used Spirit once in my life and that was enough. Never again.
As much as I don't like Spirit, I fo understand that it's necessary in the industry. I wouldn't want to see it go.
How about we look at grocery store monopolies?
I have flown on Spirit. I know they are low fare, charge for everything. But their extra charges are so outrageously priced that I made it a point to not give them one cent more than the price for that lousy seat (and it really was an awful seat but, to be fair, that's their gig and I knew it). I get there is a premium to be paid for this or that but it's too much on Spirit.
I don't understand how it doesn't work here but works in Europe where there are so many low cost airlines
USA biiiig Europe small
@@shawn2108 that's not totally it though because costs vary wildly with similar distances. It's the monopolie.
@@shawn2108 Dear Shawn 2108: You need an *ATLAS.*
Sad...they should have tried to stick with Frontier. Jetblue ran them into the ground before they even had a chance to take over!
Basically, nobody ever flies Spirit again like me, just like budget car rentals. I don't get fooled twice.
Dear Pure-gsr, *Spirit Airlines is the Walmart of the heavens.*
Who would have thought the Greyhound of Airlines wouldn't work.
Best of all they have great inflight snAcks
It is really cheap and a wonderful choice if you don't have any unexpected problems with your trip to take Spirite Airlines. (Last time I changed my shcedule, and Spirite charged me $140 fees for a ticket that coast $200.)
I've been saying this for years. There is no sustainable market for this type of so-called discount airline, because when you throw in what they charge to do things like put a bag in the overhead bin, arrive at a major airport, or breathe air in the plane, it's not a bargain at all. This was always destined to fail. Southwest is the only airline who has the low-cost market figured out.
sprit is like Twitter ( x) on ground
I flew on Spirit with my family once in the mid 2010s and we did not make that mistake again.
It’s pretty great when you consider it’s cheaper than a bus ticket
One and done for me too. Spirit held my plane in Seattle for 1.5 hours to allow 3 passengers to make the connecting flight...end result...an entire plane load (including me) missing their connecting flights.
tough buisness really, good on them for trying to keep prices down
If Spirits goes out of business I can’t afford to travel anywhere lol
Flying spirit airlines reminds me of shopping at Walmart
1:59 the ceo is correct 🤣😂