Alison Sider

Spirit brought to the airline industry the idea that everything is a la carte and customers pick the options they want and pay extra for them. That was kind of an innovation. That's not how airline tickets were sold 20 plus years ago. And now it's increasingly how all airline tickets are sold even at the upper end of the market.

Spirit brought to the airline industry the idea that everything is a la carte and customers pick the options they want and pay extra for them. That was kind of an innovation. That's not how airline tickets were sold 20 plus years ago. And now it's increasingly how all airline tickets are sold even at the upper end of the market.

Yeah. I mean, I think in some ways Spirit was a victim of its own success or, like, the success of its business model.

Yeah. I mean, I think in some ways Spirit was a victim of its own success or, like, the success of its business model.

Yeah. I mean, I think in some ways Spirit was a victim of its own success or, like, the success of its business model.

I mean, the U.S. airline industry, it's really dominated by four huge airlines. United, American, Delta, and Southwest Airlines. They came to their current form after a bunch of bankruptcies and mergers, and they dominate about 80% of the domestic travel market. And it's really hard for smaller airlines to kind of get the scale that they need to really be relevant.

I mean, the U.S. airline industry, it's really dominated by four huge airlines. United, American, Delta, and Southwest Airlines. They came to their current form after a bunch of bankruptcies and mergers, and they dominate about 80% of the domestic travel market. And it's really hard for smaller airlines to kind of get the scale that they need to really be relevant.

I mean, the U.S. airline industry, it's really dominated by four huge airlines. United, American, Delta, and Southwest Airlines. They came to their current form after a bunch of bankruptcies and mergers, and they dominate about 80% of the domestic travel market. And it's really hard for smaller airlines to kind of get the scale that they need to really be relevant.

Because if you are picking what flight you want to take and picking what airline you want to take, if Spirit only has one flight a day in your airport and American has 10, that just makes them a lot more interesting to you. So smaller airlines... all kind of are facing this challenge of like, how do we get bigger? How do we actually take on the bigger airlines?

Because if you are picking what flight you want to take and picking what airline you want to take, if Spirit only has one flight a day in your airport and American has 10, that just makes them a lot more interesting to you. So smaller airlines... all kind of are facing this challenge of like, how do we get bigger? How do we actually take on the bigger airlines?

Because if you are picking what flight you want to take and picking what airline you want to take, if Spirit only has one flight a day in your airport and American has 10, that just makes them a lot more interesting to you. So smaller airlines... all kind of are facing this challenge of like, how do we get bigger? How do we actually take on the bigger airlines?

No, I mean, I think at the time when Spirit was talking about merging with Frontier, the conversation was really about, you know, we're going to create this nationwide low fare competitor that's really going to challenge the big airlines. Spirit is kind of a little more focused in the east and Frontier is kind of a little more focused in the west.

No, I mean, I think at the time when Spirit was talking about merging with Frontier, the conversation was really about, you know, we're going to create this nationwide low fare competitor that's really going to challenge the big airlines. Spirit is kind of a little more focused in the east and Frontier is kind of a little more focused in the west.

No, I mean, I think at the time when Spirit was talking about merging with Frontier, the conversation was really about, you know, we're going to create this nationwide low fare competitor that's really going to challenge the big airlines. Spirit is kind of a little more focused in the east and Frontier is kind of a little more focused in the west.

And they were going to bring it together and just be this big budget presence that was just going to have a lot more scale and a lot more reach.

And they were going to bring it together and just be this big budget presence that was just going to have a lot more scale and a lot more reach.

And they were going to bring it together and just be this big budget presence that was just going to have a lot more scale and a lot more reach.

JetBlue kind of swooped in with a competing offer for a lot more money. And it set off this very fierce bidding war. Drama, drama, drama. CBS News transportation correspondent... What did JetBlue want with Spirit? You know, they sort of wanted the same thing that Frontier did. They really wanted to grow. And they wanted especially Spirit's planes and its pilots.

JetBlue kind of swooped in with a competing offer for a lot more money. And it set off this very fierce bidding war. Drama, drama, drama. CBS News transportation correspondent... What did JetBlue want with Spirit? You know, they sort of wanted the same thing that Frontier did. They really wanted to grow. And they wanted especially Spirit's planes and its pilots.

JetBlue kind of swooped in with a competing offer for a lot more money. And it set off this very fierce bidding war. Drama, drama, drama. CBS News transportation correspondent... What did JetBlue want with Spirit? You know, they sort of wanted the same thing that Frontier did. They really wanted to grow. And they wanted especially Spirit's planes and its pilots.