Southwest extended its schedule into the summer recently, and the biggest winner was clearly Ft Lauderdale. Southwest is adding six new cities and beefing up its schedule as its new terminal expansion prepares to open. While many airports would feel lucky with one low cost carrier, Ft Lauderdale is trying … Read the post
Category: Spirit
When Bob Fornaro took over as President and CEO of Spirit earlier this year, we knew there would be changes to the airline. What we didn’t know was to what extent Bob would be channeling his former employer, AirTran. The answer: a lot.
Up until … Read the post
If you missed yesterday’s post, the new logo you see above is just a part of something bigger happening at Cranky Concierge. Read more.
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Spirit has been an extremely consistent company since former CEO Ben Baldanza piloted it into being an ultra low … Read the post
We had a little surprise to start the new year when Spirit announced that the architect of its low cost strategy, Ben Baldanza, was leaving his perch. In his place, former AirTran chief Bob Fornaro will be stepping in as President and CEO. There are a lot of reasons … Read the post
It’s a relatively new tradition here on the blog, but I like it. At the end of each year, I ask for your thoughts on the year ahead. Now, it’s time to review how you said for your 2015 predictions to see how they panned out. Let me first say … Read the post
Today’s featured link:
American AAdvantage 2016 Changes (Including Award Chart Devaluation) – One Mile at a Time
American announced it was going to a revenue-based program starting next year. You might expect me to have written about it in more detail, but when an airline is the third-mover, it’s not … Read the post
At the Boyd conference this week, Spirit gave a long presentation about its efforts to educate people about its unbundled strategy and why it’s good. I buy that, but other than a bullet point talking about how people value “reliable” service, not once did the airline mention its operational woes. … Read the post
Frontier is doing away with its toll-free number as part of its transition to being an ultra low cost carrier (ULCC), and when I heard the news, I didn’t think much of it. But USA Today published a story (for which I was interviewed) in its paper edition yesterday talking … Read the post
Spirit Airlines lifts fortunes of Arnold Palmer Regional Airport – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Latrobe is booming thanks to Spirit’s presence at the airport, and this is apparently news. I chimed in to add that the airport shouldn’t get too carried away. Spirit doesn’t have to stay if things turn south.
This month, for the first time, Spirit’s operational performance is included in the Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer Report. The results aren’t as bad as you might expect, but they certainly aren’t great. Spirit, however, celebrates the good news while giving a reason for the bad news. Some … Read the post
You know this question has been asked in US airline headquarters for years. Spirit is growing, so when is it a real threat? We’ve just seen a massive expansion in Atlanta with 9 new destinations announced. LA is getting a few more too. Sure, some airlines are already … Read the post
On Wednesday, Spirit announced it would fly from Boston to Vegas and seasonally to both Cleveland and Detroit. About 10 seconds later, JetBlue said it would fly from Ft Lauderdale to both Cleveland and Detroit, both Spirit markets. That’s a swift response, but is it worth it? Should … Read the post