Cranky Weekly Review Presented by OAK: Spirit Reaches a New Chapter, Allegiant Adds On

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Spirit Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

Spirit Airlines surprised no one when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The carrier accepted a $29 Chapter 11 submission acknowledgement fee from the court as part of the filing. Spirit plans to continue business as usual in the immediate future, which means its customers can continue to count on Spirit’s traditional on-time service, friendly passengers, and rock solid customer experience as it reorganizes.

Spirit has been dogged by its failed merger with JetBlue, ongoing engine issues with Pratt & Whitney, Boeing delivery delays, the CrowdStrike outage, mean late night talk show hosts, yellow paint shortages, starving children in Africa, the phase of the moon, and its insistence that its BuzzBallz offerings are certified as good for gut health by the USDA.

It reached a deal with bondholders for $350 million in equity, while its stock was delisted from the NYSE as a part of the bankruptcy filing. It delayed its Q3 earnings report while working out a deal with creditors that would eliminate most of its existing equity.

Spirit becomes the first major U.S. carrier to file for bankruptcy since American in 2011, unless you count Expressjet and the mighty Aha! brand in 2022. (We don’t.)

Allegiant Announces Additions

Allegiant’s largest expansion in its history was announced this week, as the carrier introduced 44 new nonstop routes and three new destinations to its route map, at least two of which appear to be real places.

Colorado Springs (COS), Columbia (CAE), and Gulf Shores, AL (GUF) are the three newest members of the Allegiant family, with service beginning next year. Colorado Springs will see flights beginning in February to Phoenix/Mesa, Orange County, and St. Petersburg, while Columbia will see flights beginning in May to both Orlando/Sanford and Fort Lauderdale. Gulf Shores has been without commercial service since Southern Airways Express left the airport last decade, but it will come roaring back in May with Allegiant flights to St. Louis/Mid-America (BLV), Cincinnati, Houston/Hobby, Kansas City, Knoxville, and NW Arkansas.

Sarasota was the big winner in the expansion, adding flights to eight world-class destinations including Albany, Elmira, Greenville/Spartanburg, Knoxville, Lexington, Moline, Omaha, and Roanoke. Plattsburgh, Grand Rapids, and Niagara Falls all are adding flights to Myrtle Beach, while that Nashville – Shreveport non-stop you’ve all been waiting on will begin on May 22.

Frontier Adds New Frontiers

Frontier Airlines announced 16 new routes this week that include the carrier returning to three airports it previously operated to: the beach haven of Antigua and Barbuda, the gateway to Lake Tahoe — Reno, and another place that has an airport — Tucson.

The return to ANU is not overwhelming, as it’ll start with just once-weekly service to San Juan, but it’s something. Reno will start with flights to both Denver and Las Vegas, both beginning March 7 and operating 3x weekly while Denver is the loser winner of the Tucson lottery with 3x weekly flights beginning March 3.

Each of the 16 new routes will operate 3x weekly or less — with the exception of Orlando to Los Angeles, which will fly daily. In terms to destinations added, Austin was the big winner in that it’s adding four: Chicago/ORD, Cincinnati, Orlando, and Phoenix… but not Tucson.

American ExpAAnds Gate Lice CrAAckdown

After limited tests in Albuquerque, Tucson, and Washington/National, American Airlines plans to roll out its boarding group enforcement technology at more than 100 airports across the country before eventually expanding to every airport it serves as soon as next year.

The system is simple in its execution — when a customer scans a boarding pass, one tone sounds if the passenger is boarding in the proper zone, and if someone is trying to cut ahead of the line, the system plays this sound, while giving the gate agent a visual alert in the form of a giant red X. If that person is booked in Basic Economy, a hole will open at the boarding gate where the offending passenger will fall into a dungeon beneath the terminal to never be heard from again.

The carrier says that the penalty of separating offenders from their families for the rest of their lives may seem harsh at first, “but just picture how serene the boarding process will be just a couple weeks after this system is implemented.”

Alaska Expands Bag Tag Scheme Offer

Alaska Airlines is expanding its $89 electronic bag tag offer to all its fliers after a trial run that included 2,500 elite members of its Mileage Plan program. Here’s the rub — you pay $89 per device for the right to check your bags with an electronic bag tag. The $89 doesn’t cover the checked bag fee (if applicable), and only works on one bag at a time — so if you’re checking multiple bags, you’re SOL.

What’s the advantage? Beats us. Alaska says it saves time by allowing you to go straight to the bag drop with your ID, but isn’t that basically what happens now anyway? Maybe you print the tag at home, or print it at a kiosk? Occasionally one might have to see an agent for a thorny issue, or to check an oversized item, and presumably that doesn’t change with this electronic tag.

One advantage is that anyone who pays the $89 will surely be the only person on the block with one, so it could be a great conversation topic at the neighborhood holiday potluck. If anyone is taking Alaska up on this generous offer, we’ve got some non-voting stock in Cranky Weekly Review we’d like to sell you. Please have your people contact ours.

• Aer Lingus is strengthening its relAAtionship with AA.
• Air Arabia made money.
• Air Canada is ending service from Toronto to Baltimore, Hartford, Kansas City, and Portland (OR). BWI, BDL, and MCI are market exits for the carrier.
• Air Tahiti Nui‘s Seattle – Paris flight is no more. The carrier will continue to fly between Seattle and Papeete.
• American settled its suit with Sabre. Better hope those printers were turned on, or they’ll have to redo the whole thing.
• Avelo‘s second international destination is a good one — Cancún. The carrier will fill in a major gap in the U.S. – Mexico route map, as the CUN airport is wildly underserved to the U.S. market.
• BA‘s IT meltdown earlier this week shows its IT system is working, according to the guy whose weekly paycheck relies on the the system working because he’s in charge of the system.
• Copa turned a $140 million profit in Q3.
• Delta is going to serve Shake Shack in first class on flights of 900 miles and more out of Boston beginning December 1.
• easyJet is adding 26 new routes next year.
• Etihad is adding three more A350 freighters.
• Ethiopian made a decision on what aircraft it plans on adding — and that decision is that its not ready to make a decision.
• Fiji Airways will begin nonstop flights to Cairns on April 10.
• Finnair did a thing that seemed like a parody but apparently is real.
• Hawaiian offered a sober reminder to the people of Austin that aloha also means goodbye.
• JetBlue is feeling a little purple.
• Norse Atlantic is launching the route you never knew you needed between Stockholm and Bangkok.
• Qantas opened its new training facility in Sydney.
• Royal Jordanian will begin 2x weekly service from Amman to Washington/Dulles on March 23.
• Ryanair is amongst a group of emails being sued by the Spanish government over bag fees. Ryanair is expected to take this reasonably and not freak out. At all.
• SAS says it has 8 million members in its EuroBonus program.
• Saudia transported 9.1 million passengers in the last year.
• SWISS has a new skincare line its offering in first class. Both of you who find this interesting are free to comment.
• TAAG is it, if it means taking delivery of its first Dreamliner in February.
• TAP‘s profit went down.
• Thai is headed back to Brussels.
• United seems displeased WestJet added an Edmonton – Chicago/ORD flight.
• WestJet‘s first crack at a summer 2025 schedule shows a 10% increase in capacity.