NEW YORK – Spirit Airlines announced on May 2 that it was suspending operations after years of financial hardships, compounded by a recent spike in fuel prices.
The historic Marine Air Terminal, where Spirit’s operation is housed at LaGuardia International Airport in New York, was largely deserted on Saturday morning. There were few passengers, but a plethora of signs explaining that the airline had shuttered its operations. Airport employees directed the one or two passengers who did still show up to head to other terminals where they could rebook themselves on other airlines.
All flights have been canceled, and the line’s customer service is no longer available.
“For more than 30 years, Spirit Airlines has played a pioneering role in making travel more accessible and bringing people together while driving affordability across the industry,” Dave Davis, Spirit’s president and CEO said in a statement. “The sudden and sustained rise in fuel prices in recent weeks ultimately has left us with no alternative but to pursue an orderly wind-down of the Company. Sustaining the business required hundreds of millions of additional dollars of liquidity that Spirit simply does not have and could not procure. This is tremendously disappointing and not the outcome any of us wanted.”
The airline had gone through multiple bankruptcies but had been unable to balance its books. A proposed bailout by the Trump administration also failed to materialize in time to keep the airline flying. 
Now, passengers are left scrambling as flights were immediately canceled across the airline’s network.
Amanda Daniel of Murfreesboro, Tenn., and her family of four had planned to fly Spirit out of Nashville on Sunday to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then board a Disney cruise on Monday. When they got the news at 2 a.m. Saturday that the family’s flight was canceled they quickly booked a Delta flight out of Atlanta for Saturday.
“The ones from Nashville were all $1000 + more. We didn’t wait for the news of any discounts,” she said. “We hope we get our money for our flight. … I’m just happy that it all seems to be working out for us because I know it’s not for others.”
Tisha Savage, who described herself as “a huge supporter of Spirit,” was finding it particularly hard to get a flight home to Nashville from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, which had been a Spirit hub.
While looking for a ticket she did see evidence that other airlines were offering lower one-way fares for stranded Spirit travelers. Still some cost $400 to $650. Meanwhile an Allegiant flight was $59 but wasn’t flying until May 24. That left her looking for return flights from other Florida airports including Orlando and Miami. She considered herself lucky because she has family in West Palm Beach (mom, stepdad and brother). “It was the most affordable way to see family and visit Florida clients … and just an easy way to travel.”
Some like Austin Gafner, a musician and educator in Appleton, Wisconsin, had only good words for the airline lamenting its closure in response to its Instagram post. “I’ve taken this airline many times myself and always enjoyed it! Never had a bad experience with you guys. You almost always had the best prices, which will certainly be missed, especially now,” he wrote. “Thanks for the bachelor party flights to Vegas, Disney World flights in the winter, and most importantly of all, thanks for getting my parents to my wedding! I’ll miss the yellow Airbusses in the skies!”
Spirit was trying to come out of its second bankruptcy filing in recent years before rising fuel costs pushed it over the edge.
“Spirit, for all the talk about how small the (ultra low cost carriers) are individually, it’s a pretty big route map,” William J. McGee, senior fellow for aviation and travel at the American Economic Liberties Project, told USA TODAY. 
Unfortunately, for passengers whose flights were canceled, there’s not much help available to them immediately. By ending its operations, Spirit was effectively acknowledging it was incapable of getting people to their destinations.
“It is with great disappointment that on May 2, 2026, Spirit Airlines started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately. To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available,” a statement on the now-defunct airline’s website says.
Even getting rebooked on other flights is likely to be a challenge. A statement from Spirit on social media said it would not be able to assist with rebooking.
“It’s a really awful situation. You could be stranded on the road. We often think of it, of those who are about to depart on a trip. What about those who are already on a trip?” McGee said.  
He warned that across the board, flights are fuller than ever, meaning other airlines have limited ability to accommodate Spirit passengers who are stranded. 
Spirit Airlines said it would automatically process refunds for flights purchased through a card to the original form of payment. But those who booked flights through a voucher, existing credit, airline points, or another means will be determined through the bankruptcy court process.
The airlines pointed customers to claims agent, Epiq, which can be reached by email: SpiritAirlinesInfo@epiqglobal.com, or phone: (855) 952-6606 (for toll-free U.S. and Canada calls) or (971) 715-2831 (for international calls).
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement that travelers who booked with a credit card should consider filing for a chargeback with their issuer.
The statement also said that travelers should check if their travel insurance covers “insolvency” or “service cessation.”
For those who choose to file for compensation through the formal bankruptcy process, Duffy warned that the process would take time and may not result in a full refund.
Free Spirit points are no longer valid, according to the airline.
“Given Spirit Airlines’ immediate wind-down of operations, Free Spirit points are no longer redeemable, and there are no flights available for purchase. Plans for the loyalty program will be determined at a later date through the bankruptcy process,” a statement on the restructuring website says.
Every airline liquidation is different, according to McGee, so it’s hard to say exactly what will happen with co-branded credit cards, which are issued by Bank of America. 
Most likely, the cards will continue to work for purchases but will no longer generate airline points or miles. 
Bank of America may offer cardholders the option to convert their points to another of its partner programs or could let future purchases on Free Spirit credit cards generate points in the bank’s own reward ecosystem, but the bank has not yet released a statement on its plans. 
Spirit Airlines has had financial issues for years, compounded by engine problems that kept many of its planes grounded and an uneven recovery across the travel industry following the pandemic. 
The airline had gone through two bankruptcies in the last two years, partly caused by a slower recovery in budget travel since the Covid pancemic. Airlines including competing budget carriers have doubled down on trying to appeal to more premium travelers, but Spirit’s bare bones business model and reputation for basic service made it hard for the company to capture higher-spending passengers.
That was compounded by an engine recall that affected dozens of jets in the airline’s fleet, which forced the company to scale back its flying even as it was trying to grow its revenue.
Spirit was in talks into 2022 to merge with ultra-low-cost rival Frontier Airlines, but Spirit’s shareholders were poised to reject the proposal in favor of a merger with JetBlue.
Spirit and JetBlue did plan to merge, although analysts at the time warned that it was unlikely to be approved by regulators, and would likely lead to higher prices for consumers in a way that the Spirit-Frontier merger may not have.
The Biden administration ultimately blocked the merger with JetBlue in 2024. At that point, Spirit was already struggling financially and had few prospects for a turnaround or corporate assistance.
Although the Trump administration floated the idea of the government receiving warrants for a 90% stake in the airline in exchange for $500 million, Spirit’s existing shareholders balked and the deal never came together.
“In the end, this was a creditor issue,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said during a May 2 news conference. “They have the final say of whether they want to do a deal with the government, but also from the government’s perspective, we oftentimes don’t have a half a billion dollars laying around in a spare account that we can put into a bailout of an airline. So, there was creative thinking on how it could happen. … In the end, a deal couldn’t be reached.”
Spirit Airlines was losing ground in the U.S. market, with sharp declines in passengers, market share and future capacity, according to preliminary domestic data from Cirium, an aviation analytics company.
In February 2026, Spirit carried about 1.7 million domestic passengers, giving it a 3.9% market share, down from 5.1% a year earlier – a 24% drop in share. Year over year, the airline flew roughly 500,000 fewer passengers domestically compared with February 2025. Meanwhile, competitors including Southwest Airlines and American Airlines either grew or held steady, underscoring Spirit’s relative decline.
Spirit had scheduled just 1.65 million seats for May 2026, representing 1.77% of total U.S. capacity – far behind the largest carriers. That figure marked a 51.6% year-over-year reduction in capacity, the steepest drop among major airlines tracked by Cirium, even as overall U.S. airline capacity is set to rise slightly.
The airline’s network remains concentrated in major leisure markets like Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Las Vegas, where passenger demand is generally strong year-round, so vacationers are more likely to be affected by its shutdown than business travelers.
Other low cost airlines including Avelo and Frontier recently asked the Trump administration for a $2.5 billion bailout package, but Duffy said that’s unnecessary at this point.
“They do have access to cash,” he said during the news conference.
Contributing: Reuters
This story was updated to add new information.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter and writes the Cruising Altitude column for USA TODAY. He is based in New York, and you can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com.

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