Reaction to Spirit Airlines' starting to charge for baggage and soda has been generally negative, despite the airline's PR in the guise of "liberating customers from being forced into paying for services they do not desire or use." After all, Spirit is not exactly a household name across the USA. They are going to have a tough time making this stick.
The airline says it will cut fares by as much as 40% and impose the new fee system for all flights operating from June 20. This is straight out of the Ryanair play book. And we agree 100% with Bob Mann who says the idea is "dead on arrival." AP quotes Spirit CMO Barry Biffle saying "As customers have told us over and over, it's all about the fare." Really?
Well of course it is if you're operating an LCC. But that does not mean you can make your ideas stick. The US is a mature LCC market – only if Southwest approves of this idea and copies it, will it stick. Southwest makes the rules, not Spirit. We bet Spirit backs down because Southwest is unlikely to follow this course.
If they don't back down, they might get away with their policies for a while because they do not operate in many highly competitive markets. But by doing this, they invite in competition to any of these markets (hello ExpressJet?). All for the price of a soda and a bag.
