Spirit Airlines has issued refunds for most customers who had flights booked with the airline, representatives for the bankrupt company said Monday — that is, passengers who paid with a credit or debit card.
Flyers who booked Spirit flights with points or vouchers will likely face an uphill climb toward a refund, after the airline abruptly grounded all its planes and halted all operations over the weekend.
Meanwhile, travelers were still working to get home Monday, and other airlines began to swoop in with new routes, filling a void left by Spirit — after transporting its workers and passengers over the weekend.
And some 17,000 now-former Spirit employees entered the new week without jobs.
Here’s the latest on what to know about the biggest collapse of a U.S. airline in a generation.
Spirit Airlines refund status
For months, as rumors swirled about Spirit’s financial woes, one big question remained: What would happen to consumers’ money if they booked a flight and then the airline shut down?
That question seems to have been answered.
Spirit on Monday confirmed it had automatically processed the vast majority of refunds for passengers who had booked their flights via a credit or debit card.
Because those refunds were processed over the weekend, though, the defunct airline’s website said it “may take time” for refunds to appear on card statements.
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Multiple TPG staffers who had future Spirit flights booked for spring and summer have yet to receive refunds.
If days (and weeks) pass without seeing the refund processed, it might be time to consider backup options via your credit card company.
Read more:
Bags and other add-on fees
The airline claims it will also process refunds for add-on items like baggage, seats and inflight Wi-Fi paid for prior to May 2.
Bad news about points and vouchers.
Unfortunately, the news is far less promising for passengers who booked flights with vouchers or made reservations with Free Spirit points.
Spirit’s official online guidance said decisions on making customers whole for those bookings would be determined at a later date via the bankruptcy court process.
But according to sources familiar with the proceedings, it’s highly unlikely those customers will receive reimbursement.
That’s bad news for both award redemptions and voucher bookings, as well as for customers who earned Spirit points through flights and spending on the airline’s cobranded credit card.
Prior to the wind-down of Spirit operations this weekend, TPG valued its points at roughly 1.1 cents apiece.
Passengers scramble to get home
While Spirit executed what it called an “orderly wind-down” of its operations over the weekend, passengers in the middle of their trips faced chaotic conditions as they tried to get home.
Vanessa Jimenez had flown with her family from Texas to Florida for a dance competition, only to learn early Saturday morning that her return flight had been abruptly canceled, along with every other Spirit departure.
She’d pondered driving home to the Houston area before learning that other carriers were offering rescue fares to help stranded flyers get home.
“I jumped on United and got us a one-way flight for $200 each,” Jimenez said. “Little more than we were planning to spend and a little bit more than what Spirit charged us, but it was the easiest way to get home versus having to drive a 15-hour drive.”
She’s not alone.
In the first 12 hours after Spirit shut down early Saturday, United Airlines, for one, said it helped the budget carrier’s passengers book 14,000 tickets.
A host of other U.S. carriers were offering price-capped backup options, too.
Long-term worries
Even after every passenger and Spirit employee returns home, the implications for consumers remain, with the loss of a budget airline that long helped keep fares in check across the industry.
“Spirit’s Big Front Seat was the best deal in the sky,” shared Alex, a reader in our TPG Lounge on Facebook, calling Spirit’s demise — and that of its popular first class-ish product — a “huge, huge loss.”
Another reader, Seth, recalled how the airline’s affordable last-minute fares helped him fly during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and again when his daughter was born.
“They enabled so many people to travel who couldn’t otherwise on other U.S. carriers,” a third reader, Greg, shared.
Jimenez, for her part, wasn’t optimistic about getting a refund — “probably not,” she said — but what struck her most was the end of an airline that, for all its add-on fees, was the ticket to the sky for so many.
“I think it was affordable for a lot of people, and a lot of families,” she said. “I’m sad and irritated for myself, but I think I’m more sad for the thousands of people that are losing their jobs.”
TPG’s complete coverage of Spirit Airlines’ shutdown:
