Anymore? This has been the American way for at least 40-50 years. Those who were heads of household or older children in the Great Depression stopped being in the financial driver's seat in the 60's and 70's, and their children and grandchildren who mistook post-WW2 prosperity for third world deprivation decided that spending like there was *literally* no tomorrow was their birthright and prerogative.

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The big front seat had so much value with the amenities that were included, compared to pricing for basic economy seats on a legacy carrier.

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In my opinion, spirit had the best value for the big front seat. You get all of the amenities and more for the price of a legacy basic economy seat. In addition to having the best on-time ratings among all carriers. This is a huge loss for budget travelers. Prices will only go up across markets spirit operated in.

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The safest airline of all time (zero fatal incidents on record) and the absolute cheapest way to get squished into a too small and questionably clean middle seat for a too long flight, all wrapped in a beautiful yellow livery. You will be missed.

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Flew on Spirit once, from Houston to Vegas round trip and paid for ‘upgrade’ to their big seat . All-in was about $300ish. it was totally worth it with my hangover from Vegas. No issue whatsoever. I surely miss them.

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You’re getting a ton of downvotes, but honestly I agree. I’ve taken spirit a few times because they happened to have nonstop routes that would have been convenient for me in theory. In reality, my experience on Spirit was so bad that I’d rather have a connection on AA, UA, or DL. The staff seemed to delightfully try to make the experience as unpleasant as possible, at every step of the journey on the handful of times i flew them. And, as far as price goes… once you start paying for the upgrades like an assigned “extra space” seat or whatever they called it … compared to what I’d pay on another airline, the value prop disappeared. I’d assume the airline algorithms for AA, DL, UA do consider each other as peers … and to some extent JetBlue, Alaska, and Hawaiian. But spirit and the like were probably mostly seen as pests who were not competing in any sort of sustainable, fair, or rational way… and assumed passengers would either opt in to Spirit and just not be mainline customers… or opt out and never consider them either way.

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*RIP* Lucky Seat IYKYK

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I flew them often. Bought tickets straight from the counter with no fees and flew up and down the east coast under $20 a few times a year. I flew them with kids, had the credit card, and hit the lucky seat. They got us where we needed to go.

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I am a tall person. Small seat pitch from row to row fucks up my knees. I don’t want to pay a “tall tax” to enjoy basic comfort especially with how stingy spirit was.

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I travel with a purple brand seat cushion/lumbar support. I tried it once years ago, and I’ve never looked back. Changed my whole life honestly. (I fly once a week year round pretty much) I tried it once without a few weeks ago, good lord, I don’t know how anyone flies without it at this point. Needless torture.

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