Spirit Airlines filed for bankruptcy protection Monday morning as the holiday season approaches. The Thanksgiving weekend is expected to welcome nearly 80 million travelers, including nearly 6 million by air.
The bankruptcy filing comes after quarterly losses, failed merger attempts and looming debt. Spirit’s problems intensified after the collapse of its planned $3.8 billion merger with JetBlue Airways in January and the impact of problems with RTX and Pratt & Whitney turbofan engines that grounded many of its planes.
Although Spirit Airlines does not fly out of OKC Will Rogers International Airport or Tulsa International Airport, some area travelers with connecting flights on Spirit should still be safe for Thanksgiving.
Here’s what passengers need to know if Spirit goes bankrupt.
Most, if not all, flights will still go according to plan in the short term.
Robert W. Mann Jr. told USA TODAY that Thanksgiving travel is unlikely to be affected, but schedule changes and cancellations later in the winter are possible.
Mann is a former airline executive officer and current president of RW Mann and Co., an independent aviation consulting firm.
“It’s very possible that after 45 days, which is about the end of the year, we’ll have some other changes,” Mann said.
Mann warns that travelers with reservations should watch for notifications about changes to Spirit’s itinerary as their departure date approaches.
“Their best notice is the notice they get from the carrier, such as time changes or rebookings or inability to rebook, cancellations. Then, of course, they’re subject to the new (Department of Transportation) rules about how travelers should be treated, so understanding that is probably important,” Mann said.
The Department of Transportation recently issued guidelines requiring airlines to give passengers a full refund if their flight is canceled. Passengers can receive a full refund if their flight is delayed by more than three hours on a domestic flight or six hours on an international flight.
Generally, airline loyalty points or miles are not transferable, but Mann said frequent flyer programs are valuable assets that often survive bankruptcies.
“That’s a plus, at least from the standpoint of the people who might acquire them. You also build a customer base,” he said. “That could even be a source of funding in the future.”
