Audio By Carbonatix
Spirit Airlines announced it was closing for good on Saturday, May 2. The move leaves thousands of travelers scrambling to find replacement flights before or even during their trips. Rewards holders are suddenly left without any points. Budget flyers now have one less option when making travel plans, which is never good for our leverage as buyers.
Laugh at the demise of a cheap airline all you want — it’s easy to be dismissive after successive flight delays or surprise $50 bag fees at the gate — but I’ll be forever thankful, and it’s not just for cheap airfare.
I met the love of my life on Spirit Airlines, flight NK 720.
It was 2018, and I was heading to a bachelor party in Las Vegas. Still in my mid-twenties with an identity no self-respecting financial scammer would touch, the only way to make this trip happen was with a $110 roundtrip with Spirit, stuffing three days’ worth of clothes into my “personal item” that fit under the seat, and staying far away from $20 aluminum Budweisers at pool parties.
It worked. By the end of a long weekend, I was running on seven hours of cumulative sleep and had not ruined my life with gambling debt. By all means, it was a great success. Then I hit the jackpot on my flight home to Denver.
For whatever reason, the universe blessed me with an aisle seat next to a goddess. I could barely see my own hands after 72 hours of night-crawling through sports books and clubs that never stopped playing The Chainsmokers. My face was a well-seasoned catcher’s mitt, and my voice sounded like Marge Simpson’s.
But my game? My game had never been better.
We talked the entire flight home, laughing about how many empty Wahlburgers we’d seen on the strip (remember those?), exchanging hot takes on music and TV, and going over our favorite teams.
She was a Chiefs fan, I rooted for the Packers…different enough to stay spicy without making things weird on Sundays. We both loved hanging out in Vegas, but disliked most of the people we met. She hated loud clubs with seizure-inducing lights and so did I; the downtown oddities and buffets were more our pace.
Seeing her laugh and smile for two hours made me forget I was deathly hungover and dehydrated on a rickety Airbus. Eight years later, we’re engaged to be married.
When swapping stories among couples, meeting on a plane is an ace in the hole, especially in the 2020s. I’ll never take it for granted. But our meeting was more than the movie-like origin. I never felt pressure to act like I had over three digits in my bank account — because when you’re on Spirit Airlines, all financial fronting goes out the window.
Our ensuing conversations and dates sprouted from that mindset, even as we’ve pulled ourselves out of student loans and credit-card debit.
Spirit pulled all routes and operations out of Denver International Airport over two years ago, and multiple merger attempts with other airlines have failed since. The writing has been on the wall for a while now, but it’s never fun to see an old friend fade away.
There are plenty of horror stories you’ll hear about Spirit Airlines, and I get it. I’ve been pushed around by the Frontiers, Spirits and Southwests of the world a dozen times over. But when I think of those yellow planes, I think of how one moment and seat assignment can change your life.
And now others will be robbed of the same magic — and a $110 roundtrip to Vegas.
Rest in peace, Spirit. My story was never cute enough to land free tickets (trust me, I tried), but I’ll forever be in your debt.
