Why Budget Airlines are Suddenly Failing

Here's a take. People hate Spirit Airlines. People put up with all their BS with bag checks, extra fees, and horrid customer service when they had no choice. With literally any reasonable competition in the market, people are going to bail on them.

I mean the real issue with budget airlines is the prices really aren’t cheap

When you add up fees the budget airlines aren't really much cheaper.

Honestly, I’m tired of being loaded with fees. A round trip from Boston to Atlanta was $75 on Frontier, but with all the fees it came out to $180 just to hav3 a bag. Flying American was $200 and that came with a checked bag, choosing my seat, and snacks on board. Plus comfier and bigger seats.

Fixed title: Why American Budget Airlines are Suddenly Failing

Two elephants in the room not mentioned - and they're related: 1. Air travel on the whole is historically cheap. It's possible to find airfares on "legacy" airlines that rival "low-cost" airlines, once items like checked bags are factored in, and the "legacy" airlines also started offering reduced-fare "basic economy" "no-frills seats" - only there ARE more frills than the budget carriers offer. 2. Widespread snd severe reputational damage to the "budget" carriers via social media is driving people to check the "legacy" airlines - which people are discovering aren't that much more expensive than the "budget" carriers.

I flew budget when you could bring a carryon/backpack with no extra fees. Budget airlines kept getting more and more stingy with what you could bring, seats got worse, no infotainment systems. Delta got very competitive price wise and if you have their credit card you get a free checked bag per ticket. I fly with golfclubs/snowboards/mountainbikes most of the time I fly and delta treats them like any other bag and its free if you book with the delta card. If you add the fees and extra costs you have to pay when you fly budget, its almost the same price as delta, but, delta planes are more comfortable, you can pick your seats, have movies/screen. Overall I just fly delta now because the cost is prettymuch the same. Yea if I'm flying with just a backpack, alone, with no need for a checked bag, from 2 major airports (denver to JFK) I might still fly spirit, but, sometimes the delta flight is competitive enough that I'll just fly delta. also, frontier and spirit often times have 10-12+ hour "travel times" with stops in places.... for example denver => JFK I can pay 67$ more on delta to have a better flight experience while also having a 3hr 47min "Travel time" non stop... Or I can save 67$, fly frontier, have a 6-8hr layover in dallas... Frontier/spirit don't have as many non stop flights.

Something I love about watching Wendover + other similar channels for so long is seeing the world change, I remember watching the old video on how budget airlines work and being so fascinated by it and, eight years later, now we're here

"Elliott doesn't understand what makes Southwest Southwest" private equity doesn't understand a damn thing.

A Wendover plane video? Never seen this before

8:50-8:55 well that's Spirit's own fault. They treat the customer like an inconvenience. If you treat your customers terribly, they will stop accepting being treated terribly. There are two airlines I refuse to use, Spirit and United. Spirit is uncomfortable and wants to nickel and dime me for everything. For United, I've had way too many cancelled and delayed flights, and they don't do a good job of accommodating me when they screw up.

i feel like nebula letting sam make another airline video is the equivalent of zookeepers throwing a pumpkin full of steak into the tiger exhibit (i do not know how zoos or nebula works)

Part of the reason why u.s. budget carriers are less succesful then the European ones is that full service airlines in the u.s. operate lots of hubs, so often times the routes that u.s. budget carriers operate compete with full service airlines. Combine this smaller differences in price, and budget carriers in the u.s. are struggling.

Budget airlines use to be budget, they would have 100% full flights because they were so cheap. Now the budget airlines increased their prices so their demand dropped, people will fly Delta/United when its the same price as the budget airline

I took a frontier flight back from PR recently. There were two layovers that both got delayed several times. Then when I boarded the last flight back home, that flight got canceled while I was on the plane after another delay. Frontier offered a replacement flight with a layover for the next day that I didn't take. That flight was delayed 20 times, then ultimately canceled. I didn't even get a 50% refund for my flight. Its obvious why a budget airline would fail. Their prices are too high and their service is shit. Why wouldn't I pay $100-$250 more for reliable service that's better?

Southwest is often just as expensive as legacy carriers.

Not in Asia... It's booming there.

Because when you add up all the paid options you need, the price isn't so different from conventional airlines.

I would like to add-Southwest will stop service from Houston (IAH) on August 4, 2024. They will still have service from Houston (HOU). For a few years they had continuous service from both.

The older I get the less attractive budget airlines are. I don't want to stress over ridiculously odd sizing requirements and carry on restrictions. If I have to pay a bit more to avoid that I would, especially if I end up needing checked bags or other extras that end up equalizing the price with standard airlines anyway. What I would like is to pay a bit more for more comfort/space. Being pretty tall my knees are jammed up in normal seats, makes it hard to adjust. I want a little more space, but don't need extra services of higher class tickets. The cost difference between an economy sardine seat and business class is pretty extreme.