Spirit Airlines customers began the mad scramble to rebook flights home from Las Vegas Saturday after the upstart discount air carrier that had been flying for 34 years abruptly shut down just after midnight.
At Harry Reid International Airport on Saturday morning, the Spirit ticket counter was abandoned and the electronic boards showing scheduled flight arrivals and departures listed all Spirit flights as canceled.
While the shutdown was expected — several publications on Friday reported the airline’s demise was imminent — the closure still caught some customers by surprise.
A Spirit passenger who only identified himself as Bill and wouldn’t say his last name arrived at the Spirit ticket counter at Reid with his suitcase Saturday morning but was surprised when he discovered no one there to help him. He said he was scheduled to fly home to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, but didn’t realize Spirit was on the verge of shutting down.
He made a beeline to the Southwest Airlines ticket counter when he saw no one from Spirit.
Because Spirit has reduced its presence in Las Vegas over the past year after filing its second petition for bankruptcy protection in a year, the damage to customers wasn’t as bad as it could have been a year ago when the airline was the second-busiest commercial air carrier at Reid.
Spirit has had competition on every route from Las Vegas, so customers should be able to find a way home on another carrier. It’s now a matter of how quickly the other airlines can accommodate Spirit customers.
Rival airlines have lined up with “rescue flights” for Spirit passengers.
Frontier’s ‘rescue flights’
Frontier Airlines on Saturday announced on its website systemwide rescue fare discounts and is also offering a $199 GoWild All-You-Can-Fly Summer Pass to support travelers affected by Spirit Airlines’ end of operations, helping customers maintain access to low fares.
Frontier currently serves more than 100 routes previously flown by Spirit and will expand further this summer with nine additional routes, plus 15 additional daily flights across 18 former Spirit markets, giving customers more options to rebook their travel plans.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air on Saturday announced a special offer to assist passengers affected by Spirit’s closure. Through May 12, Spirit customers can receive 50 percent back in Allways Rewards points on qualifying itineraries rebooked with Allegiant using code ALLWAYSTHERE.
“We recognize that uncertainty like this can be stressful for travelers, and while our current flight schedule only overlaps with some of the affected routes, our priority is to help reaccommodate passengers as much as we possibly can,” Drew Wells, Allegiant’s chief commercial officer, said in an emailed release announcing the plan. “Providing reliable and affordable service to travelers is what we do best, and our team is ready and able to assist.”
Earlier Saturday, Colombia-based Avianca announced it would help accommodate Spirit customers on Florida routes.
Effect on leisure markets
Some analysts have said Spirit’s shutdown would be most impactful on leisure markets like Las Vegas and Florida, where Spirit has had its greatest presence. Customers have been drawn to Spirit’s low-fare model to fill its planes without offering passenger perks.
According to airline flight data, an estimated 50,000 passengers flew Spirit on its last day of operation Friday. In Las Vegas, passengers flying to or from Reid on round-trip tickets were bound for the 10 remaining destinations served by the airline from Las Vegas, which were Detroit; Dallas-Fort Worth; Houston; Reno; Kansas City, Missouri; Nashville, Tennessee; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Los Angeles, Orange County and Burbank, California.
It’s unclear how many of the company’s 17,000 employees were based in Las Vegas or whether Spirit subcontracted some of its ramp and customer service positions to other companies.
“The impact of the shutdown of Spirit will be particularly acute for not only these employees, but also for the varied regions served by the airline, particularly in Florida and the Caribbean,” said Brian Tyrrell, a professor of hospitality, tourism and event management at Stockton University and who on July 1 will become the new faculty director of the Lloyd D. Levenson Institute for Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism at Stockton’s School of Business.
‘Negative impacts’
“The institute expects immediate negative impacts to travelers currently at their destinations, though this will be somewhat mitigated by multiple airlines offering somewhat discounted airfare for stranded Spirit passengers,” Tyrrell said.
Tyrrell said there would be significant competition for the millions of passengers Spirit formerly serviced at major airports to and from the state of Florida, particularly Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Miami and Tampa.
“The reduction in supply will, in the near-term, likely lead to higher ticket prices and increased profitability for airlines servicing these airports,” Tyrrell said. “The 10 airports with a previously large base of Spirit customers are airports across the country, including Las Vegas, Detroit, Newark, Houston Intercontinental, Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Chicago and New York LaGuardia. Those who intend to travel to these destinations should expect to pay more for transportation in the near term.”
The Spirit shutdown also unexpectedly affected other Las Vegas visitors caught in the middle of the rush to rebook flights.
Port Huron, Michigan, residents Jerry and Sharon Guzdziol were scheduled to fly on Delta Air Lines on Saturday to Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport, but when they arrived at Reid to check in, discovered their flight had been canceled. Delta instead put the Guzdziols on a connecting flight through Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, that was scheduled to arrive in Detroit late Saturday night instead of within four hours. They were told there was another nonstop flight to Detroit, but that it had already been sold out to accommodate stranded Spirit Airlines customers.
“I feel for the Spirit customers, I really do, but why wouldn’t Delta take care of one of their own customers before selling seats to those bumped by Spirit?” Jerry Guzdziol asked.
He said he sought compensation from Delta for the long delay, but the airline wouldn’t give him transport back to their hotel or any meal money.
“We’ve got to sit here for 12 hours and we can’t even check our bags for six hours,” he said. “I don’t understand why Delta gave priority to those Spirit customers instead of their own customers.”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
