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Every airline is Spirit Airlines now

How Spirit changed the way we travel.

This story appeared in Today, Explained, a daily newsletter that helps you understand the most compelling news and stories of the day. Subscribe here.Anyone booking on Spirit Airlines kind of knew they were taking their flight into their own hands. America’s original ultra-low-cost airline has been on death’s door since the pandemic.

First, it tried to merge with JetBlue. Then it declared bankruptcy twice in a single nine-month period. In recent weeks, Spirit had hoped to persuade the Trump administration to float it a $500 million bailout that would have given the government a majority stake, but President Donald Trump ultimately didn’t go for it.

On Saturday morning, many travelers arrived at the airport to find flights canceled and check-in kiosks vacated. “Spirit Airlines died as it lived: lots of angry customers and no one picking up the phone,” wrote Saahil Desai in The Atlantic.

Amazingly, it wasn’t Spirit’s famously terrible product that ultimately did it in. Most people hated flying Spirit, to be sure — but they tolerated the poor service and extra........

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