CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — The shutdown of Spirit Airlines has left thousands of travelers looking for other travel plans and employees searching for jobs.
And Channel 2’s Consumer Advisor Clark Howard says it will have an impact on every airline passenger.
“All I know is they told me, lock the company cars pull them onto the airstrip and park them by the hangar,” said former Spirit employee Dylan McConnell about his final night at work this weekend.
He’s one of more than 17,000 Spirit employees nationwide out of a job after Spirit stopped operations over the weekend.
Rising jet fuel costs prevented the airline’s plans to emerge from a second bankruptcy. The shutdown left customers like David Romero scrambling to find another flight home from Central America.
“Basically, I was looking in my app trying to come back right, then it just said out of nowhere it had canceled. So I’m like, ‘Bro, what?’” said Romero.
The implications of Spirit shutting down go beyond the budget airline.
Howard says even if you didn’t fly Spirit, its closure will impact airline fares across the board.
“It relieves pressure for other airlines to offer as many discounts or as cheap of tickets as Spirit was offering,” said Howard. “Other airlines are breathing a sigh of relief. They’re dealing with these huge increases in jet fuel cost because of the Iran war. So they’re going to use this as an opportunity to squeeze more money out of you and me.”
Spirit is sending customers with questions about refunds on baggage to this site for help: spiritrestructuring.com.
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