Spirit Airlines is the latest carrier to do away with cancellation and change fees, as more and more airlines get rid of the extra charges.
The policy change, first reported by SimpleFlying on Sunday, allows customers to modify and cancel their flights at no extra cost. “Change fees are now gone for all,” and “cancellation fees are canceled for everyone,” reads Spirit’s website.
Before getting rid of the fees, passengers had to pay $119 to change tickets within 6 days of departure, $99 for changes made between 7 and 30 days before departure, and $69 for changes made 31 to 59 days prior.
The low-cost carrier has had a tough year, after a judge approved a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit aimed at blocking Spirit’s $3.8 billion merger with JetBlue over antitrust concerns. The airlines scrapped the deal, and Spirit’s dismal balance sheet has investors worried about its future prospects.
In a call with analysts following the company’s first-quarter earnings report, CEO Ted Christie called the airline industry a “rigged game,” particularly against smaller, non-legacy carriers that were particularly affected by the pandemic.
The elimination of change and cancellation fees at Spirit follows a similar move by low-cost rival Frontier Airlines. On Friday, Frontier announced several changes aimed at improving price transparency.
During the pandemic, major airlines including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines permanently did away with change fees on standard economy and premium cabin tickets.
The changes come on the heels of new U.S. Department of Transportation rules announced last month, which will require airlines to notify consumers upfront about fees for checked and carry-on bags, along with costs for reservation changes or cancellations, as part of the Biden administration’s crackdown on junk fees in the airline industry. The agency estimated that consumers will save more than $500 million each year that they currently pay in airline fees.
In October, the White House announced a new proposed rule to prohibit these so-called junk fees — hidden and misleading fees — and require companies to show full prices upfront. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that junk fees cost American consumers tens of billions of dollars each year in unexpected costs.
Industry trade group Airlines for America, alongside a coalition of major U.S. airlines, including American, Delta, United, JetBlue, Alaska and Hawaiian, filed a lawsuit last week against the Transportation Department in an effort to overturn the rule — a move that U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said left him “speechless.”
