Cranky Talk – Spirit and Frontier Merge!
We had a whole plan for this week’s Cranky Talk, and then Frontier and Spirit had to ruin it with this whole merger thing. Ok, so maybe they didn’t ruin it, but Dave gets fired up about corporate mergers, so we decided to do a last minute pivot and talk about the merger… even though we don’t know much about it yet.
This was the least structured Cranky Talk yet. We just decided to start talking. Or really, Dave would ask me questions and then I’d drone on and on. It was a good time.
Email Dave here and tell him how you feel about mergers.
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2 comments on “A New Cranky Talk is Live – Spirit and Frontier Merge!”
Good luck flying Spirit, Dave. I can’t wait to hear your review of it.
I have a similar opinion to yours regarding ULCCs. Despite that, I flew Spirit for the first time a few months ago, and did what you’re doing, paid extra for the exit row seat but not the BFS. I too was flabbergasted at the upcharge that Spirit wanted (something like $150-200 each way, if memory serves) for the Big Front Seat at the time of booking. From the multiple emails / alerts that I received in the week before the flight (and on the day of the flight itself), however, it seems that Spirit tries to maximize revenue by intentionally charging a ton for the BFS when booking, then (closer to departure) get pax to bid against each other by specifying what they will pay for the upgrade to the BFS. It’s actually a pretty clever strategy, and not one that I’ve seen used (at least not that blatantly, or to that extent) a ton by other (non-ULCC) airlines.
As for the seat, I didn’t have any problem with legroom or the hip room in the Spirit exit row. However (and my Spirit flights were the only time I’ve ever experienced this), the chest/shoulder room seemed extremely tight compared to other plane configurations I’ve flown, much tighter than normal for a barrel-chested guy like myself. Very odd.
I’m listening with interest, and I don’t hear you referring to Spirit’s reputation for meanness. Frontier used to be a conventional carrier rather than low cost, and I feel as if the class is still there.
The stories are legion of Spirit flights being canceled while people wait in the gate, and the gate agents hiding. And no rebooking, just tough luck .