Update 3/4/24: JetBlue and Spirit came to an agreement to drop their antitrust appeal and terminate their merger agreement.
JetBlue will pay Spirit $69 million to end their merger and all claims. I guess even JetBlue couldn’t get away without paying ancillary fees to Spirit! š
The airline said the odds of winning the appeal to merge were extremely low.
Update 1/20/24: JetBlue and Spirit will appeal and continue to fight for the right to merge.
Update 1/16/24: A federal judge has blocked JetBlue’s purchase of Spirit, handing a win to the Biden administration’s DOJ. The airline will now have to decide if it wants to spend the funds appealing the decision or whether to give up. Last year, JetBlue gave up on fighting to keep its Northeast Alliance with American in order to salvage its merger with Spirit.
This ruling also likely puts the Alaska-Hawaiian merger in jeopardy.
If only the DOJ fought so hard to keep Airtran, America West, Continental, Northwest, and USAirways around, there might still be competition in the industry….
Update 7/28/22: After Spirit’s shareholders rejected a merger with Frontier yesterday, Spirit will now be acquired by JetBlue. The merger will need to clear shareholder approval and will face an uphill battle against federal regulators that don’t want more industry consolidation which will further raise airfare.
Update 6/21/22: JetBlue has indeed not given up, and they have increased their offer by an additional $2 per share.Ā
Update 5/2/22: It seems nothing is going right for JetBlue these days. Spirit has rejected their merger offer and plans to move forward with their Frontier merger. JetBlue says it is not giving up on the merger and will try to win over Spirit shareholders.
Originally posted on 4/5/22:
JetBlue has made an offer to buy Spirit Airlines for $3.6 billion.
The offer comes 2 months after Frontier offered to merge with Spirit, with Frontier controlling 51.5% of the merged airline.
Spirit’s board will have to decide which path they want to go down.
Earlier this year, JetBlue was ranked by the WSJ as the worst airline and Spirit was ranked as the 2nd worst airline in the US by overall 2021 performance:
JetBlue and Spirit have gone through a number of operational meltdowns of the past several years and they are both just starting to climb out of another meltdown that started this past weekend and continues through today, with thousands of delayed and cancelled flights between the 2 airlines.
Over the past couple years JetBlue has gone downhill with operations and policies in a race to the bottom. They introduced the harshest basic economy class in the industry, with no free carry-on bag or pre-boarding even if you have their credit card. But to their credit, JetBlue does still offer free live TV, WiFi, and much better seat pitch than Frontier and Spirit.
I alwaysĀ Say, Friends DonātĀ Let Friends Fly Spirit. But I guess JetBlue doesn’t want to get left behind and become irrelevantly small if Spirit and Frontier are to merge.
No matter what Spirit decides, the merger will have to clear regulatory hurdles, but given that Delta, American, United, Southwest, and Alaska have all gone through recent mergers, it would be surprising if the merger was rejected. Then again, regulators may feel that they have approved too many airline mergers, which have caused higher prices and less meaningful market competition. The DOJ under the Biden administration has also acted more aggressively against airline partnerships, challenging previous approval for American-JetBlue Northeast cooperation, so we’ll have to see if they will challenge future mergers as well.
Spirit will likely ask Frontier or JetBlue to guarantee that the merger will clear antitrust hurdles or pay Spirit a penalty if it’s denied.
What do you think of the merger news? Do you think JetBlue will become even more like Spirit or will Spirit become more like JetBlue. Will Frontier sweeten their offer for Spirit? Will Spirit opt for Frontier or JetBlue?
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79 Comments On "[JetBlue And Spirit Terminate Merger Agreement] JetBlue Makes Offer To Buy Spirit And Create An Airline That Will Never Get You To Your Destination On Time"
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Late April Foolās post?
If only.
My first thought was āitās a little late for Purim Torahā
You, @zow, and I clearly need another DO at Lenny’s. š
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Over the last few years JetBlue has already shown that it’s Spirit in spirit.
The only thing they still have going for them is their seat pitch, which I guess will shrink when they merge.
Seat pitch has gone down of later as well. But you’re probably right that it will go down further if they merge.
So sad! Jetblue was once a great airline.
It was in the David Neeleman days. But they dumped him and he’s back with Breeze, which should be a real disruptor once they scale.
I can’t wait until they fly from an airport near where I live.
Rofl. Just from the title. Didn’t even read the post yet. But I probably won’t be laughing after I do.
What would the merged company be called? Spew?
Hermione would be proud.
Nice one!
Jet Blue-it
On Frontier recentlyā¦now not even snacks or drink offeredā¦purchase by cc/debit only AND attendant asked for tip, then adds āif you pay me tip in cash even better, I donāt have to pay taxes on it!.
Passenger next to me and I looked at each other mouth agape while in total shock each gave him few dollars in tip. Delayed reaction set in laterā¦Unbelievableā¦and weird!
But Frontier (and Spirit) have never offered free drinks or snacks (if that’s what you’re referring to); they’ve always sold those.
The request for a tip is certainly strange though.
Was on Frontier in Jan out of Stewart Airport in NY and specifically remember getting a drink & snack, asked my husband to confirm and he said yes, he clearly remembers also, although, he did mention, it was when Frontier had just started flying that route from SWF-Tampa, so maybe it was a limited time treat, who knows!
This past week was definitely strange and off putting with the tip thing though!
Definitely a race to the bottom!
I flew Spirit for the first time lately (it was the only flight at that timeā¦), I was disgusted, Matzah thin plastic seats without an option to recline, horrible is an understatement.
Whatās the reason for these delays now?
āJetBlue Makes Offer To Buy Spirit And Create An Airline That Will Never Get You To Your Destinationā
FTFY
Curious if the AA partnership would survive post merger.
Love your headline.
I think it’s time for Elon Musk to start an airline
JetBlue Airways made a $3.6 billion all-cash offer for Spirit Airlines. is spirit really worth 3.6 billion?
Over the past few years, it’s been harder and harder to really tell the difference between Spirit and Jet Blue. What a drop for Jetblue!
It wasn’t that long ago that JetBlue had a very good on time performance. They also had good friendly service and snacks and were far ahead of Spirit as far as flying experience went.
Given that jet blue has become / is becoming a low quality airline, wbat do folks recommend for domestic? Delta? Who are ppl investing loyalty with?
I will drop my JetBlue Plus card if they merge with spirit, I will be embarrassed to show my JetBlue card if it’s in anyway shape or form associated with spirit
Unless I’m mistaken several years ago the CEO of Jetblue was replaced by the Ceo who used to run Spirit. That explains everything in regard to the decline of services and quality. They killed their own airline with that move.
Dan, I haven’t flown Jet Blue in years. Are you really saying it won’t be much of an improvement over Spirit? I like to fly out of Atlantic City to Ft Lauderdale or Miami. Spirit is the only airline that does that. It is quite an amazing experience if all goes well. So easy to park at the AC airport and walk into the terminal. It’s has the feel of parking at a mall and walking into the stores. Fees for overnight parking are among the lowest I’ve seen at an Airport. Low volume airport with short lines. Board the plane, and you’re in the air in 10 mins, instead of taxiing around the airport for 45 mins waiting to takeoff like at Newark Airport. I wonder if the atlantic city routes will be preserved after any merger.
I remember hearing an interview with the former CEO of Spirit and he noted how if you asked the other airlines which retail store they were most like, they’d probably all claim Nordstrom. But they don’t live up to that. “But Spirit, we don’t claim to be Nordstrom. We’re like Dollar General. We aren’t claiming to have the best service, but we’ve got fair prices.” I admired his willingness to say this.
I’ve flown spirit a few times recently. They are definitely not a pleasure to fly, but I haven’t had any major problems and they’ve gotten me where I need to go (reasonably) on-time. When I used to fly solo, I cared more about the seats and the experience. Now that I usually fly with young kids, the only thing I care about is getting from point A to B without any meltdowns. Travelling is so bad anyway, that a seat that leans back a little bit really doesn’t make the experience much better for me!
Believe or not this goodbye very good for Jerblue. This merger would give it landing spots that it is missing. I personally still fly JetBlue and will continue. They will turn it around. Covid did a number to all the airlines
Actually they will have to give up on a lot of space and slots in NYC and FLL to get this approved.
They will probably even have to give up on the AA alliance to get approval.
Is it possible that in a decade or two, we are left with 2 or 3 total domestic carriers in the US?
Bring back People Express Airlines!
Not likely to affect me. after a post Pesach fiasco i said never again. The issue was weather related delays which might happen to any carrier. The breaking point was when, in order to announce a longer delay, JetBlue brought palm Beach Police to stand by. The female officer held her gun out of holster which is a huge NO-No. Any airline that uses police to cover their mess is an airline one should avoid.
PS. I later filed a serious FAA complaint about the seatbelt self opening. The outcome was that the FAA asked JetBlue to verify if the seat belt was working, lol. I assure you it was sliding and not secure but the FAA reported that their appointed representative (JetBlue maintenance said it was working after repair).
JetBlue has a bad case of Schizophrenia
Mint & Neo Mint on one end and
worse Then spirit on the other end
Well i guess things ARE working out for jetBlue these days!:-)
So spirit is worth 40X more than El AL apparently…
What will happen with my spirit points? Will they convert into jetblue?
You will loose them
This is what Jetblue is saying about the Loyalty Programs……..
Today, JetBlueās and Spiritās loyalty programs remain distinct, with nothing changing in the short-term, including no changes to the status of JetBlue Mosaic members and Free Spirit Silver and Gold members. After closing, the programs will be merged, and we look forward to welcoming Free SpiritĀ® members into TrueBlue. Loyalty points accrued with Spirit will be transferred and honored.
Dan is angling for the headline retweets
I don’t know why people hate on Spirit – I never had an issue with them. I flew them multiple times in the last year (and many many times beforehand). Never had a significant delay with them (under 1 hour). They never lost my luggage. I sit in big front or emergency rows, so never had a legroom issue.
On the flip side, I flew JetBlue multiple times in the last year, and I had 3-4 hour delays on each flight (except for one, which was only 1 hour delay, because it was first flight out of JFK…)
I have to agree. If I ever had a issue with Spirit it was because I tested their rules. If you stay in their guidelines or buy the upgrades when you need to, then they’re alright. I’ll typically pay extra to fly Delta or AA, but sometimes Spirit will undercut the competition by so much that it would be a sin to pass up. They also have the latest and earliest flights which is sometimes super convenient. Often buy the package deal with the 50 lbs suitcase, carry-one, seat selection and it still comes out a lot cheaper. Also, now they have $5 wifi, which is great too.
Understandably, Spirit is a easy target for travel snobs, but they’re nowhere near as bad as Dan makes them to be. Frontier on the other hand, I agree, not an option.
I flew Spirit a couple of months ago for the first time, I got on the plane and I couldnāt believe it, the seats where made like one inch thick, hard plastic back, soft plastic front, it could not be reclined as it was made of one piece, it was disgusting, it was an 3.5 hour flight, and I couldnāt recline even a bit, just had to sit in this uncomfortable hard seat straight up, It felt like a prison transport, it was my worst flight everā¦
How much did you pay for the flight, $45?
$271 for two tickets, BWI – MIA, if you must know…
I only used them because they had the latest flight.
So that’s $135/ticket, or $68 each way. How much was the competition? It’s not that I *Love* Spirit, it’s just been such a wonderful opportunity to fly the whole family for prices like those. I’m thinking Pesach in Florida, a wedding in Chicago, a Bar Mitzvah shabbos in Atlanta. Jetblue, United, American were often quadruple the price. Did you think about upgrading to the Big Front Seat?
I hear you, it was a one way flight, and it wasn’t much cheaper then the competition, as i said, i only booked it because of the timing, i believe under no circumstances do you put humans on seats like that, i can only imagine how to heavier people felt like.
This is disappointing to me. In the past few years I’ve grown to prefer Spirit over Jetblue. Spirit has the non-stop flights from my airport, they have improved to have better on-time performance than Jetblue, and I can often fly cheaper in the Spirit Big Front Seat than in Basic Economy on Jetblue. Big deal if I forgo a free can of Pepsi.
Thereās no way JetBlue will adapt Spiritās cheap bare nothing service, they will acquire their assets and market share and try to be more valuable like they used to be.
Perhaps….. or………….. (not)??
If one were to analyze 1 particular airport and a couple routes PHL to FLL and PHL to MCO, Jetblue has a very small non-stop presence (sometimes 1 flight a day). Spirt, on the other hand, has a larger selection of flights. Will Jetblue do what Delta did to CVG or Continental/United did to CLE, and drastically shrink it’s presence at PHL?
Mark my words. You all will be missing spirit one day!
Mark Mark’s words and see if Mark is on the Mark
At least Jetblue offer free snacks on board (i.e. the famous blue chips).
$250.00 additional for the Jetblue flight…… a free bag of chips and can of soda worth $3.50….. tough choice…..
I hope spirit still runs out of acy still to all Florida airport, very good and cheap option. It would be nice if the jet blue credit card would get free carry on for spirit
Spirit will ultimately follow the path of Northwest, Continental, US Air, as the acquisition becomes more cemented.
I bet you the first thing JB will do is lower the luggage allowance to 40lbs (in order to combat “Climate Change”), variably raise the baggage fees based on time of year, and begin to charge for beverages and refreshments.
I think the perspective on frontier/spirit is that itās a flying city bus. You donāt expect any food, drinks, comfy seats or service on a city bus. Itās a service to get you from point A to point B.
Most people I know who flew Jetblue out of NYC in January got canceled or messed up. I was one of the lucky few who didnāt so I booked them again to Chicago the week of July 4th. It was on American Airlines metal which I will NEVER do again bc you canāt control your reservation online and need an agemt for any change or cancellation.
I noticed it didnāt say free bags on my ticket in my email so I messaged Jetblue to find out bc I didnāt want to sit on the phone for an hour. I had to wait for an hour for an agent anyway who told me I donāt get free bags bc it’s an AA flight and logged out without asking me if I had more questions. Another hour to the next agent and I asked her to cancel and I’ll book on Jetblue metal bc I want free bags. She canceled and again logged out without asking me if I had any more questions. I didnāt have a cancellation number but didnāt think it mattered bc she said it was going to travel bank anway and it was an hour to Shabbos.
Motzei Shabbos, I look and it wasnāt canceled. But the AA flight was. I booked a Delta flight then sat on the phone for two hours to get an agent to be told I need an interline agent and he’ll connect me. Another hour. Eventually I got a competent agent who got me a refund to my credit card.
Lesson- Jetblue said it was AA and AA said it was Jetblue so I couldnāt pull up my reservation on either website even though I had separate confirmation numbers from both airlines. So going forward, I will only book reservations I can control myself. Add Spirit to this mess and it will get even messier.
Maybe JetBlue shouldnāt have pulled out of EWR.
do we think NK and B6 survive ? they both struggling and probably will only be downhill from here
I think that JetBlue will go belly up, and Spirit will try to stay afloat by reopening consideration to merge with Frontier.
Well I hope you are right . I just bought 30 shares of Spirit .
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/18/business/spirit-airlines-bankruptcy-threat/index.html
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/spirit-airlines-drops-further-jetblue-deal-uncertainty-clouds-future-2024-01-18/
Sold out at 25% gain . Thank you chaos .
Itās been reported that JetBlue is pulling out of BWI, and cutting several cross country and regional flights from JFK. I wouldnāt be surprised if this airline is extinct by 2026. Their cross Atlantic attempts are failing and they are losing out on each flight.
@DAN Whats your thoughts in the stock price here around $7.85
I bought JBLU at $18/Share.
The airline is in the toilet.
Dan, what do you think the likely hood of spirit filing bankruptcy is now ?
WaƬt for spirit to file for bankruptcy and then buy it. Jetblue gets a better deal. Spirit shareholders loose
Jetblue temrinates merger
@Dan does this change the odds that the B6/AA alignment could come back. would be best for those based in boston… or is that impossible at this point?