Spirit and Frontier are merging into one terrible airline and no one is admitting it

By now, you’ve probably heard more than you can stomach about the Spirit/Frontier merger. You’ve read through the numbers, legalities and the PR bullet points about how great this will be for consumers. You’ve heard that this merger will create the fifth largest airline in the U.S.

I’m not going to regurgitate that here or make a snide comment about Spirit being worth $2.9 billion (don’t say mediocrity isn’t rewarded). Instead, I’ve come out of semi-retirement to point out the obvious: Spirit and Frontier are merging into the worst domestic airline, which is bad news for everyone. Yet no one reporting on this is saying the latter part out loud. The coverage I’ve seen is either neutral or positive. The repercussions won’t be.

5th in size but 1st in sh****ness. https://t.co/dZ6Kqwafxt

— Ariana Arghandewal (@PointChaser) February 7, 2022

Why the Spirit/Frontier merger sucks

The Spirit/Frontier merger is a big deal because two low-cost carriers are joining forces. Yes, I’ve seen the press release claiming the merger will create “$1 billion in annual consumer savings”, increased competition, the most fuel-efficient fleet in the U.S. and “better opportunities and more stability” for 15,000 staff. It paints a rosy picture and the canvas looks nice, but you know what isn’t? The new airline that will result from this merger.

Because when two terrible companies merge, you rarely get a better product. You get one sh***y airline. With the competition eliminated, the new Spirit doesn’t have much incentive to provide the only thing it did well: Ultra-low fares. Higher fares are a given after any merger. The notion that two low-cost carriers merging will mean otherwise is laughable.

What it means for consumers

With substandard soft and hard products (Big Front Seats aside), the new Spirit may begin competing with legacy carriers on price. That’s nothing new.  We might keep seeing lower fares than American, Delta, and United can offer. But you can be sure it spells the end of $20 Cyber Monday deals. It will mean a decline in service and probably a few operational hiccups.

Maybe I’m wrong and the legacy carriers will drop their fares and we’ll see their passenger experience plunge to new lows. Either way, it’s bad news for travelers. Few mergers have ever resulted in an improved travel experience. It didn’t happen when Alaska took over Virgin America (we lost the pretty moonlighting and the snazzy safety video) and it didn’t happen when U.S. Airways merged with American. Imagine the end result when the two airlines merging are two of the worst in the country.

Of course, this could also play out very differently. We could see the new Spirit competing more aggressively with last-low-cost-man-standing, Southwest. This could spell out lower fares on competing routes and leave West Coast-based travelers happy. Though I, for one, will gladly pay a premium to fly Southwest over Spirit anywhere, any time.

Bottom line

At the end of the day, the Spirit and Frontier Airlines merger will benefit Spirit and Frontier. If the new airline is terrible enough, it might even work out nicely for the legacy carriers who will become its newest competition and draw customers in with a slightly better experience. But what it won’t do is benefit people who will continue to fly Spirit Airlines. Expect downgrades to its frequent flyer program, operations, service, and in-flight experience.

But if you’re loyal to either airline, you’ve probably made peace with that.