The near-unbearable experience of flying on one of Spirit’s bright-yellow sky buses sticks with passengers long after they’ve reached their destination. Countless traumatized souls have vowed to boycott the airline as they sip a $4.49 ginger ale in a way-too-small plane seat, but the dirt-cheap ticket prices always threaten to reel them back in.
Soon, Denverites will no longer have to suffer that temptation.
Spirit Airlines is discontinuing service at Denver International Airport beginning January 9 — ending the daily routes between Denver and Fort Lauderdale, Miami and Las Vegas.
In the airline’s announcement, it blamed the cut on issues with the engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney, which have caused limited engine availability and grounded some of Spirit’s existing jets for inspections.
“We're forced to make some tough choices,” a Spirit spokesperson said in the announcement. “After considering those constraints and the underperformance of our routes through Denver International Airport (DEN), we've made the difficult decision to discontinue service at the airport.”
Underperforming in the third-busiest airport in the world could be more the fault of the airline than the engines.
Long before its engine woes began in August, Spirit’s passenger traffic made up only 0.8 percent of DIA’s market share in 2022 — down from 2.1 percent in 2019, according to airport reports. As of September this year, the number was down to 0.7 percent.
It's clear that many people would rather walk than fly Spirit at this point, so here are five things Denverites likely won't be missing about the Waffle House of the sky.
Flight delays
With its no-frills approach to air travel, Spirit Airlines’ appeal rests solely in getting passengers from point A to point B. But often, Spirit doesn't even manage to do that.The Florida-based carrier had the top three lowest on-time arrival rates for seven out of the first eight months of 2023, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
At its worst — in June — only 58.8 percent of Spirit flights arrived at their destination on time.
On top of that, Spirit had the top three highest rates of flight cancellations for three of the eight months, peaking in April, when 3.6 percent of all flights ended up canceled.
Fees, fees, fees
While Spirit boasts ultra-low prices for plane tickets, the airline quickly makes up for the cash saved by charging passengers for everything but breathing. Whether travelers check a bag or carry on, they’ll be paying at least $79 per item for anything much larger than a laptop. There are no free options for selecting a seat, so families must pay between $1 and $200 per seat to sit together.
Travelers can’t even get a courtesy cup of water, and are forced to fork over $4.49 for a bottle; a bag of pretzels costs $5.49.
Printing a boarding pass at the counter? That'll cost $25.
Modifying a booking thirty days in advance? $99.
Perhaps a little wi-fi to make up for a lack of in-flight entertainment? As high as $19.99.
And the fees go on and on.
Uncomfortable seats
Sure, Spirit passengers have the option to book trips earlier in the day to offset delays or pack snacks to avoid some of the food fees. But there is no escaping the sheer discomfort of a Spirit flight. The seats are smaller than those of most other airlines, with only 28 inches of space between rows and chairs less than 18 inches wide. That’s narrower than the airline’s permitted personal item.
To make matters worse, the damn things don’t recline and headrests are immovable, so good luck counting sheep on Spirit flights.
Table trays? We'd be better off without them. They're too small to comfortably hold a smartphone, let alone a laptop or meal.
Also, don't expect to keep any electronics charged, seeing as how there are no power outlets in any of the seats.
Consumer dissatisfaction
Even those who willingly subject themselves to the torturous experience of flying Spirit are rarely happy about it: Spirit Airlines has the lowest customer satisfaction rate of any U.S. airline, according to the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index. On average, passengers ranked their experience with the low-budget carrier as a 64 out of 100.
Last summer, Spirit received the most customer complaints out of all U.S. airlines; more than half of them were because of flight cancellations and delays, followed by refund issues.
Hopefully, the refund process goes smoother for Denverites with flights booked after January 9.
Public shame
With Spirit gone from DIA, local travelers will be free of the shame they've felt for years when telling someone they’re flying with the infamous airline. Spirit has long been considered one of the worst carriers in the world, if not the worst. So judgemental stares and comments are commonplace, whether coming from Uber drivers dropping passengers off at the Spirit door or from the workers at the ticket counter.
No longer will Denverites have to lie to friends or people on the tram about going to Concourse C to get a Root Down veggie burger when they're actually catching a Spirit flight.
The airline has been a blight on DIA since it returned in 2012 from its last Denver discontinuation in 2004. With any luck, it will stay gone for good.
