It’s been nearly five months since Spirit Airlines shuttered, leaving travelers with one less option for cheap flights.
Meanwhile, airfares have continued to rise amid higher fuel costs and other factors.
“August marked the ninth consecutive month of rising airfare, according to the latest CPI data, with prices moving up another 2.7% from July. “Fares are now running 23% higher than a year ago,” David Krauter, CEO of flight deals site Going told USA TODAY by email. “Right now, Thanksgiving fares are running about 13% higher year-over-year, and winter holiday fares are close behind at roughly 11% higher.”
USA TODAY reconnected with several former Spirit customers to see where they’re
turning and trying to save now.
Fewer deals
Matthew Cappucci used to take quick weekend getaways when he found cheap deals on Spirit.
“Nowadays, I'm just not really doing that as much,” he said. “It's disappointing. I know that's true for a lot of people.”
A recent survey from travel insurance marketplace Squaremouth.com found more than 1 in 10 travelers would reconsider a trip due to rising airfares and nearly 1 in 4 travelers have already scaled back a trip this year.
Cappucci remembers setting off on many adventures on Spirit.
“I'd go anywhere I could, and if the airline ticket was $50, $100, I’d do it. I would sit in a cramped seat for however many hours it took to get someplace exciting,” said the senior meteorologist at MyRadar.
“With Spirit being gone, not only is that no longer an option, but all the other airlines can become progressively greedier,” Cappucci added. “Seems like everything's starting at $300 or $400.”
Other airlines rushed to fill in gaps left by Spirit, with JetBlue and Frontier in the lead, according to Cirium. The aviation analytics company said competitors fully replaced or surpassed Spirit’s capacity on 104 routes and partially replaced it on 95 by August.
Cappucci mostly flies basic economy now and says he feels nickel-and-dimed.
“In the past, Spirit charged extra for add-ons, but its base fares were very low. Now other airlines can charge higher base fares and still tack on fees,” he said. “Spirit’s presence helped keep that in check.”
Fewer options
Joshua Sheats, host of the podcast Radical Personal Finance, appreciated that Spirit let him pick and choose what to pay for.
“If you wanted to travel cheaply, you could travel on Spirit very, very inexpensively. If you wanted all of the perks that you get with a full-service carrier, you could go ahead and purchase those perks,” he said.
He was once able to check in 40 pieces of luggage for a big move with his family of eight pay for a carry-on with the free personal item for each person.
“Now the Spirit has gone out of the marketplace, if you wanted to repeat that … about the best you can come up with is purchasing business class seats that can give you two 70-pound (checked bags),” he said.
These days Sheats flies a mix of airlines.
“If I have a direct flight, just point-to-point, where I don't need the reliability of the network that a full-service carrier has, I'll use a low-cost carrier,” he said. “If I have multiple connections and I'm worried about travel disruptions or delays … I will choose a full-service carrier because of that stability, knowing that they might have another flight or two that same day to get me on where I need to go.”
The Department of Transportation requires all airlines to offer refunds if a flight is canceled for any reason and travelers choose not to fly. Airlines offer various accommodations for significant delays within their control.
As another alternative, Sheats takes trains, noting that while Amtrak’s network is relatively limited, it has less surge pricing.
Less recognition
Tisha Savage has tried other low-cost carriers like Frontier and Allegiant and said prices were pretty comparable, but still preferred Spirit’s affordability and accessibility.
Savage is the CEO of the nonprofit Crowns for Change, founder of Revolutionary Pageants, and a travel advisor specializing in traveling with disabilities at Cruise Brothers.
As a traveler with psoriatic arthritis, she appreciated Spirit’s recognition of the Hidden Disabilities Sunflower, an initiative that started in the U.K. and encourages people with invisible disabilities to wear a sunflower to discreetly let others know they may need more time or help.
“I feel like every single agent or employee I ever came across with Spirit knew what it was immediately. You didn't have to explain yourself,” she said. “Now with other airlines, they have no idea what it is. They think you just are wearing a (sunflower) lanyard for fun on your trip … In my experience, it's been pretty cold and no one's really helping you with overhead bins.”
She shared how hard it is to lift her luggage when she has a flare-up, and everyone is in a rush. “Like my fingers are not even working right now,” she said.
More than one in four U.S. adults has a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Savage is comfortable speaking up if she needs help, but said, “I know that the average person has a hard time doing that or they (would) rather just not say anything.”
She encourages travelers with disabilities and access needs to advocate for themselves.
“You know your body more than anyone else, so definitely speak up and being vocal about what you need to travel safely and efficiently,” she said.
How to save
“There are still plenty of deals out there, they are just harder for the traveler to find on their own,” Going’s Krauter said, directing travelers to the company’s services.
Sheats uses online tools like Google Flights, Kiwi, Skyscanner, and Skip Lag, but says flexibility also goes a long way.
It may not work for business trips and other occasions when travelers have to be in a certain place on a certain day, but for vacations, he said, “The key is to look for cheap tickets and look for cheap dates and then think about how you can arrange a trip. So I always figure out where is it inexpensive for me to go and when is it inexpensive for me to go there?”
He also advised looking into one-way tickets.
“It used to be that you would always get your cheapest tickets if you traveled round trip on a single carrier and on- way tickets were expensive,” he said. “That has really changed.”
Krauter also advised not waiting too long to book.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: With Spirit Airlines gone, where are loyalists getting cheap tickets?
