Spirit Airlines is no longer flying: the ultra-low-cost carrier ceased all operations on 2 May 2026 and is being wound down in bankruptcy court.
Its last hub was Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL), and carriers including JetBlue and Frontier have absorbed much of its former network.
Latest Spirit Airlines updates
Last updated: 13 August 2026.
Refunds and your Free Spirit points
Start with your card issuer, not the court. The US Department of Transportation’s own advice for a carrier that has stopped flying is to ask your credit card company for a chargeback for services not rendered.
Under the Fair Credit Billing Act you generally have 60 days from the statement the charge appeared on. Visa and Mastercard rules are more generous for a flight you never took: the window normally runs 120 calendar days from the date you were due to fly rather than the date you paid, with an outer limit of 540 days from the transaction. Debit card protection is weaker and varies by bank. Standard travel insurance usually excludes an airline going out of business, so check whether your policy specifically covers supplier insolvency or financial default before relying on it.
Spirit said it would automatically process refunds for cancelled flights bought directly with a credit or debit card. If you paid with Free Spirit points, a travel credit or a voucher, Spirit stated that compensation “will be determined at a later date through the bankruptcy process.”
Be aware of the timing.
The court’s general deadline for filing a proof of claim passed on 27 January 2026, before the airline stopped flying, and the deadline for administrative expense claims passed on 27 July 2026.
A supplemental deadline covering claims created by the May 2026 wind-down is expected to be set by the court and has not been widely publicised. Check the official claims agent docket at dm.epiq11.com/case/spirit/dockets, under case number 25-11897 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, and file as soon as one is posted. If you booked through a travel agency rather than with Spirit directly, contact the agency.
Set your expectations honestly. Passengers holding unflown tickets are general unsecured creditors, which puts them behind secured lenders and aircraft lessors in the queue. In past airline liquidations that class has recovered a small fraction of face value, sometimes nothing, and the process runs for a year or more. A bankruptcy claim is worth filing, but it should be your last route to your money rather than your first.
Free Spirit points cannot be redeemed or transferred, and there is no mechanism to do either. As the 9 July entry above shows, the loyalty programme was sold as a bankruptcy asset alongside the aircraft and slots, and no buyer committed to honouring existing member balances. A buyer can take the customer database and the co-brand relationships without taking on the points liability, and nothing obliges one to honour them. Treat any Free Spirit balance as at risk unless a buyer says otherwise in writing.
What actually happened to Spirit Airlines
Spirit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection twice in less than a year: first in November 2024, then again in August 2025 after emerging from the first case.
A restructuring support agreement filed in March 2026 aimed to cut Spirit’s debt and lease obligations substantially and have the airline exit bankruptcy by early summer. That plan collapsed when a spike in jet fuel prices, linked to the escalation of the conflict with Iran, pushed fuel costs well above what the restructuring had assumed. Between 1 March and 30 April 2026 the airline burned roughly $100 million in extra fuel cost alone, more than the liquidity it had left.
The last attempt to save the airline was a proposed $500 million federal rescue from the Trump administration, which would have handed the US government a roughly 90% equity stake. Spirit’s bondholders, among them Citadel and Ares Management, rejected the terms, because the government’s claim would have ranked ahead of theirs in a carrier still expected to lose money. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy put the failure down to “a creditor issue.”
With no deal in place, Spirit cancelled every remaining flight in the early hours of 2 May 2026 and began winding down, converting a reorganisation into a liquidation. It is the largest US airline to be shut down by financial failure in around 25 years. Notably, it is liquidating inside Chapter 11 rather than converting to Chapter 7, which the debtors’ own counsel argued would be worse for every creditor.
This was a financial collapse. Flight safety played no part in it. For how US carriers are actually rated on safety, see our guide to the safest airlines in the US.
Fleet and network, before the shutdown
Spirit’s entire fleet was Airbus A320-family aircraft (A319, A320 and A321, including A320neo and A321neo variants), numbering roughly 172 jets at the point of closure, of which about 95 were still in service and 77 already parked in storage.
The fleet was grounded and is being sold off through the bankruptcy rather than simply parked. Around 20 A320s and A321s went to auction with a $533.5 million floor price, and the wider aircraft asset sale has been valued at roughly $630 million. At its peak the airline served 73 destinations across the US, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central and South America, with Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood as its largest base.
Who’s flying Spirit’s old routes now
No single carrier replaced Spirit outright. Per the capacity data in the timeline above, Frontier picked up the largest share of the vacated capacity, followed by JetBlue, with American, United, Southwest, Avianca and Breeze all adding flights on former Spirit routes to varying degrees.
Searching any of those routes on Wego now returns zero Spirit itineraries, as you would expect of an airline that has stopped flying.
The same Fort Lauderdale to Cancun search without an airline filter returned 3,359 live options, cheapest at $289 on JetBlue and American, sampled 13 August 2026.
What this means for your trip: if you need one of Spirit’s old routes, JetBlue, Frontier, American, Avianca and Breeze have all added capacity into those markets. Search the route directly on Wego, for example flights to Cancun, San Juan, Las Vegas, Detroit or Bogota, and compare which carrier is currently cheapest.
Source: Wego, sampled 13 August 2026, USD. Fares move constantly, so check current prices before booking.
If you are planning a stay at the other end, our Fort Lauderdale hotel search covers the departure side. And if a flight on one of these replacement carriers is delayed or cancelled, US passenger rights apply the same way they always did; see our guide to US flight delay compensation for what you can actually claim.
Frequently asked questions
Is Spirit Airlines still flying?
No. Spirit ceased all flight operations on 2 May 2026 and is being wound down through bankruptcy court. There is no active booking system, and its website redirects to a restructuring notice.
Why did Spirit Airlines shut down?
A jet fuel price spike broke the assumptions behind its March 2026 restructuring plan, costing it roughly $100 million more than budgeted across March and April. A proposed $500 million federal rescue then collapsed when Spirit’s own bondholders rejected the terms. With no financing left, the airline stopped flying and moved into liquidation.
Can I get a refund for a Spirit ticket I already paid for?
Your best route is a credit card chargeback for services not rendered, which is what the US Department of Transportation itself recommends for a carrier that has stopped flying. Visa and Mastercard generally allow 120 days from the date you were due to fly. If you paid by card directly with Spirit, the airline also said those refunds would process automatically. Points, voucher and travel-credit bookings fall to the bankruptcy claims process, where the main filing deadlines have already passed.
What happened to my Free Spirit miles?
They cannot be redeemed or transferred, and there is no mechanism to do either. The loyalty programme was sold as a bankruptcy asset on 9 July 2026, and no buyer publicly committed to honouring existing balances. Nothing legally obliges a buyer to honour them.
Is Chapter 11 the same as Spirit going out of business permanently?
In Spirit’s case the reorganisation failed and became a wind-down. It is liquidating inside Chapter 11 rather than converting to Chapter 7. Its aircraft, airport slots, headquarters and loyalty programme have been sold off piece by piece since May 2026, with no relaunch announced.
Will Spirit Airlines fly again under a new owner?
Nothing confirmed as of this update. Spirit’s assets, including its LaGuardia slots and aircraft, have gone to separate buyers such as JetBlue rather than to a single buyer relaunching the airline as a going concern.
What did a Spirit “Bare Fare” actually include?
One seat and one personal item that fit under the seat in front of you. Carry-on bags, checked bags, seat selection and a printed boarding pass at the airport were all separate paid add-ons, charged per flight segment and priced higher the later in the journey you bought them.
Sources
- Epiq (court-appointed claims agent docket and bar dates, case 25-11897)
- Skift (LaGuardia slot auction result)
- Bloomberg Law (court approval of the slot sale)
- Chapter11Cases (9 July asset auction, including Free Spirit)
- Bloomberg Law (aircraft asset sale)
- Straight Arrow News (fleet at closure, citing Cirium)
- CBS News (shutdown and the failed federal rescue)
- CNN (halt of all flights)
- The Detroit News (hangar lease acquisition)
- CBS News Miami (Fort Lauderdale recovery)
- Aviation Week (replacement capacity analysis)
- US Department of Transportation (chargeback guidance for a ceased carrier)
- Published Visa and Mastercard dispute rules (chargeback windows)
- Wego fare data, sampled 13 August 2026
The information in this article is accurate as of 13 August 2026. Bankruptcy proceedings, claim deadlines and asset sales change frequently, so confirm details with the court’s claims agent or your card issuer before acting.
