AIRLINE INDUSTRY

So long, Spirit Airlines. Should the government have saved you?

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Spirit Airlines has begun an orderly wind-down of operations, effective immediately. Every flight has been canceled and customer service is closed. The shutdown comes after the Trump administration’s $500 million rescue plan, which would have given the federal government an unprecedented 90 percent stake in the carrier, fell apart over the weekend. After blocking Spirit’s merger with JetBlue on antitrust grounds in 2024, the federal government spent the past several days weighing whether to essentially own the airline instead. In the end, it did neither, leaving summer ticket holders to fight their credit card companies for refunds.

Editorial cartoon showing a smiling passenger with glasses holding a rolling suitcase at an airline check-in counter, where the agent's computer screen displays the word "FREE," illustrating the proposal to make checked bags free as a condition of any Spirit Airlines government bailout

If Spirit Airlines gets a government bailout, bags should fly free

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Spirit Airlines has reportedly asked the Trump Administration for $360 million in emergency funding as jet fuel prices doubled following the Iran conflict. After 9/11, Congress provided $5 billion in grants and $10 billion in loan guarantees to airlines. The COVID-19 Payroll Support Program delivered over $50 billion with conditions including killed change fees, capped executive pay, and restricted buybacks. Any new bailout should require Spirit to include one free checked bag in every fare for a minimum of five years, making taxpayer support deliver tangible passenger benefits.

Cartoon of a shepherd watching sheep branded with airline logos (Delta, American, JetBlue, Southwest) jump off a cliff, illustrating airlines following each other on fuel surcharges

Your airline is lying to you about fuel surcharges

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Airlines sure have a funny way of saying thank you. 

After you spend years obsessively funneling every purchase through their co-branded credit cards and sitting in its cramped economy class seats, you finally go to redeem your “free” flight—only to find a $1,400 bill waiting for you at checkout.

Editorial cartoon illustration of shocked and panicked travelers running away from an enormous airplane featuring both American Airlines red-white-blue livery and United Airlines globe logo, symbolizing consumer anxiety about the proposed United-American Airlines merger that would control 40% of the U.S. market

Should we allow United and American to merge?

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The United Airlines–American Airlines merger everyone feared may actually be happening.

United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby reportedly met with administration officials at the White House in February to float an audacious proposal: a combination with American Airlines.

Are airline tickets too expensive?

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If you haven’t looked at airfares lately, you might want to sit down before you read this. The numbers on the screen aren’t a glitch. They’re the shocking new reality of a Middle East conflict.