7 ms·

This is a bad ruling, Spirit is likely to go under without acquisition. Neither firm had particularly large share of market.

apapapa 3y ago
So its a good decision ... For the large airlines.
eganist 3y ago
If this is true, then this is probably a great ruling for JetBlue; they can buy up the scraps at bankruptcy if Spirit liquidates.
- personjerry 3y ago
  Why would they have offered to buy them in the first place then?
  - hamburga 3y ago
    They didn’t want to wait.
  - kingkake 3y ago
    Frontier made an offer for Spirit.
    - rezonant 3y ago
      This. As best I understand, JetBlue is interested in the airport slots that Spirit currently holds across the country, because those are pretty much entirely locked up. To become a major national airline (which seems to JetBlue's goal specifically), you need these slots.
brightball 3y ago
This is the only thing that ever happens in my brain when I hear Spirit airlines now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkr2AxC2eI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkr2AxC2eI
- thsksbd 3y ago
  I'm about to board my first spirit flight after Southwest ruined my return flight
  - bb88 3y ago
    I'm sure it'll be fine. Uncomfortable, but fine.
    - bozhark 3y ago
      That’s the Spirit!
      - grepfru_it 3y ago
        Protip: if you pretend to be asleep after you request non-free water, the flight attendant will give up and give you the water for free (Observed next to me on the one and only spirit flight I’ve been on)
jdksmdbtbdnmsm 3y ago
[flagged]
- squigz 3y ago
  Probably the people who work there, and their families.
  - stackskipton 3y ago
    Sure but is that a reason to allow two competing airlines to merge? Alot of AntiTrust is trying to look at big picture that says in long run, these mergers tend to end up much worse for the consumer and generally the employees since it takes away bargain power.
    - squigz 3y ago
      I'm not saying it is or is not a good reason, only that these people probably care about the decision either way.
  - jdksmdbtbdnmsm 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - squigz 3y ago
      I'm so confused by this comment
joelhaasnoot 3y ago
I think the sticking point was city pairs served - significant overlap there
dkjaudyeqooe 3y ago
Besides that it's a bad ruling because the US spent years allowing mergers between large players that were clearly anti-competitive, and now in the environment of dominant airlines, it's applying the rules that it should have to the big players, but to smaller airlines who are now at a disadvantage due to their size. It's an utterly feckless uneven application of the rules to everyone's detriment. You couldn't have designed a worse airline industry if you tried.
- rezonant 3y ago
  Yes this is terrible. All it does is ensure Spirit will continue to be terrible until it goes under and prevent a major competitor from arising for the big 3 airlines. The doublespeak required to say that keeping Spirit as it is pushes air ticket prices down is baffling, unless we are to assume that the quality that you get with Spirit is in any way comparable to the large airlines (it's not). It's almost like saying we need to keep this bike company around so that it can drive car prices down.
  - dtnewman 3y ago
    1) The “quality” of spirit is just fine. They explicitly market themselves as a budget airline and that’s what you get. A lot of people just want the cheapest ticket to go from A to B and they provide it. Personally, I have enough disposable income to pay more for another airline, but sometimes the difference is so dramatic that I will take spirit. When I’m traveling with my two young kids, having a reclining seat and better flight attendants makes a marginal difference to an already difficult situation. 2) Their ticket prices are often a fraction of the others. Even if service quality is lower, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t pushing down overall prices.
  - luuurker 3y ago
    Don't make the mistake of assuming everyone requires the same level of quality as you do. Some people just want to go from A to B as cheap as possible. Want more quality? Pick a different option.
- ohashi 3y ago
_fat_santa 3y ago
The issue I always saw with a Spirit / JetBlue merger is while JetBlue offers "low cost", Spirit occupies the "ultra low cost" niche, and a merger between the two would very likely mean the elimination of the "ultra low cost" segment to places Spirit operates. I feel like this is a great opening for Frontier to come back and try to buy them again, and some have said that deal would be approved, because Frontier operates in the same "ultra low cost" niche that Spirit operates in.
ramesh31 3y ago
> Neither firm had particularly large share of market. Yeah, exactly. Spirit competes with JetBlue on multiple routes which would otherwise be monopolized by the big three (American, United, Delta). This merger would have given JetBlue an almost total monopoly on the east cost low fare market. An unconditional win for the consumer.
thereddaikon 3y ago
Sometimes I wonder if we should go back to the days of regulated airways. Yeah the cheapest ticket will be $500 but these things wouldn't be a problem anymore.

apapapa 3y ago

So its a good decision ... For the large airlines.

eganist 3y ago

If this is true, then this is probably a great ruling for JetBlue; they can buy up the scraps at bankruptcy if Spirit liquidates.

personjerry 3y ago
Why would they have offered to buy them in the first place then?
- hamburga 3y ago
  They didn’t want to wait.
- kingkake 3y ago
  Frontier made an offer for Spirit.
  - rezonant 3y ago
    This. As best I understand, JetBlue is interested in the airport slots that Spirit currently holds across the country, because those are pretty much entirely locked up. To become a major national airline (which seems to JetBlue's goal specifically), you need these slots.

brightball 3y ago

This is the only thing that ever happens in my brain when I hear Spirit airlines now. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkr2AxC2eI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTkr2AxC2eI

thsksbd 3y ago
I'm about to board my first spirit flight after Southwest ruined my return flight
- bb88 3y ago
  I'm sure it'll be fine. Uncomfortable, but fine.
  - bozhark 3y ago
    That’s the Spirit!
    - grepfru_it 3y ago
      Protip: if you pretend to be asleep after you request non-free water, the flight attendant will give up and give you the water for free (Observed next to me on the one and only spirit flight I’ve been on)

jdksmdbtbdnmsm 3y ago

[flagged]

squigz 3y ago
Probably the people who work there, and their families.
- stackskipton 3y ago
  Sure but is that a reason to allow two competing airlines to merge? Alot of AntiTrust is trying to look at big picture that says in long run, these mergers tend to end up much worse for the consumer and generally the employees since it takes away bargain power.
  - squigz 3y ago
    I'm not saying it is or is not a good reason, only that these people probably care about the decision either way.
- jdksmdbtbdnmsm 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - squigz 3y ago
    I'm so confused by this comment

joelhaasnoot 3y ago

I think the sticking point was city pairs served - significant overlap there

dkjaudyeqooe 3y ago

Besides that it's a bad ruling because the US spent years allowing mergers between large players that were clearly anti-competitive, and now in the environment of dominant airlines, it's applying the rules that it should have to the big players, but to smaller airlines who are now at a disadvantage due to their size. It's an utterly feckless uneven application of the rules to everyone's detriment. You couldn't have designed a worse airline industry if you tried.

rezonant 3y ago
Yes this is terrible. All it does is ensure Spirit will continue to be terrible until it goes under and prevent a major competitor from arising for the big 3 airlines. The doublespeak required to say that keeping Spirit as it is pushes air ticket prices down is baffling, unless we are to assume that the quality that you get with Spirit is in any way comparable to the large airlines (it's not). It's almost like saying we need to keep this bike company around so that it can drive car prices down.
- dtnewman 3y ago
  1) The “quality” of spirit is just fine. They explicitly market themselves as a budget airline and that’s what you get. A lot of people just want the cheapest ticket to go from A to B and they provide it. Personally, I have enough disposable income to pay more for another airline, but sometimes the difference is so dramatic that I will take spirit. When I’m traveling with my two young kids, having a reclining seat and better flight attendants makes a marginal difference to an already difficult situation. 2) Their ticket prices are often a fraction of the others. Even if service quality is lower, I’d be surprised if it wasn’t pushing down overall prices.
- luuurker 3y ago
  Don't make the mistake of assuming everyone requires the same level of quality as you do. Some people just want to go from A to B as cheap as possible. Want more quality? Pick a different option.
ohashi 3y ago

_fat_santa 3y ago

The issue I always saw with a Spirit / JetBlue merger is while JetBlue offers "low cost", Spirit occupies the "ultra low cost" niche, and a merger between the two would very likely mean the elimination of the "ultra low cost" segment to places Spirit operates. I feel like this is a great opening for Frontier to come back and try to buy them again, and some have said that deal would be approved, because Frontier operates in the same "ultra low cost" niche that Spirit operates in.

ramesh31 3y ago

> Neither firm had particularly large share of market. Yeah, exactly. Spirit competes with JetBlue on multiple routes which would otherwise be monopolized by the big three (American, United, Delta). This merger would have given JetBlue an almost total monopoly on the east cost low fare market. An unconditional win for the consumer.

thereddaikon 3y ago

Sometimes I wonder if we should go back to the days of regulated airways. Yeah the cheapest ticket will be $500 but these things wouldn't be a problem anymore.