Spirit Airlines apologized to the American public during a last minute bankruptcy hearing Tuesday morning just days after its shock shutdown.

The budget-friendly airline shut down with immediate effect Saturday, impacting thousands of passengers who became stranded and nearly as many employees.

Marshall Huebner, an attorney for the former airline, took the stand in front of Judge Sean H. Lane in a White Plains, New York, courtroom to discuss the hardship it encountered that led to its shutdown, including a dramatic rise in fuel prices resulting from the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran.

  • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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    2 days ago

    Frankly, I’m surprised it took this long. Like most of America, they’ve been paycheck to paycheck for a long time, just waiting for that inevitable disaster that makes them homeless, and it finally happened.

    High gas prices are going to destroy a lot of companies, and a lot of lives. Gas was $2.79 on the day they started bombing. It was $4.59 yesterday.

    We have reached the stage where they simply don’t care if it hurts us.

    The next stage will be inflicting pain on us to make us submit.

    Then it we’ll move to the stage where they inflict pain, just because it’s entertaining.

    • Pyr@lemmy.ca
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      18 hours ago

      It’s kind of surprising to me that fuel prices in the US seem to have been affected the most by it.

      I’m above the border and gas was typically $1.30 and now it’s closer to $1.90-$2.00

      Still a big increase but no where near double like some places in the US

      • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.cafe
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        17 hours ago

        American oil companies ALWAYS exploit any situation on which they can rationalize price increases. Even a rumor of a supply problem, even if it doesn’t affect America, will cause a 50 cent spike in prices.

        Something like this? Time to cash in! I guarantee that at the end of the year, the oil companies will have record profits, proving that the increases weren’t due to the increased price of supply, but corporate greed-flation caused by profit-gouging.

        • Pyr@lemmy.ca
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          12 hours ago

          I live on West coast so I think we do actually import a lot of gas from washington

    • Joelk111@lemmy.world
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      Crazy how Biden is still making gas prices go up so long after he left office.

      I would hope it’s obvious, but /s.

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    2 days ago

    Clearly they should have rebranded themselves “Spirit AI” for an influx of investor cash.

    • Pickleideas@lemmy.world
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      Editing to reword this since a lot of people who’ve read this have an elementary school reading level or are intentionally misunderstanding the point repeatedly:

      The minumum wage needs to be tied to a living wage. No company that can’t pay their employees a living wage has a special divine right to exist. Increasing the minumum wage will hurt some people—mostly the rich, but this will absolutely hurt some poor people too. There’s no economic policy that will have zero consequences for people at the bottom. We’ve seen in the past that exploitative companies go under when wages increase and I think that’s actually a good thing & I’d love to see many employers and landlords lose their wealth. Our goal as a society shouldn’t be to increase jobs and profits numbers, but to strive to increase the quality of living for everyone, especially those near the economic bottom.

      H̶o̶t̶ t̶a̶k̶e̶, b̶u̶t̶ I̶ t̶h̶i̶n̶k̶ a̶ m̶a̶s̶s̶i̶v̶e̶ r̶e̶s̶e̶s̶s̶i̶o̶n̶ w̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ u̶l̶t̶i̶m̶a̶t̶e̶l̶y̶ b̶e̶ g̶o̶o̶d̶ f̶o̶r̶ t̶h̶e̶ a̶v̶e̶r̶a̶g̶e̶ p̶e̶r̶s̶o̶n̶ i̶n̶ t̶h̶e̶ l̶o̶n̶g̶ r̶u̶n̶—e̶s̶p̶e̶c̶i̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ c̶o̶u̶p̶l̶e̶d̶ w̶i̶t̶h̶ a̶ m̶i̶n̶u̶m̶u̶m̶ w̶a̶g̶e̶ i̶n̶c̶r̶e̶a̶s̶e̶. I̶’m̶ s̶o̶ t̶i̶r̶e̶d̶ o̶f̶ b̶u̶s̶i̶n̶e̶s̶s̶e̶s̶ a̶n̶d̶ p̶o̶l̶i̶t̶i̶c̶i̶a̶n̶s̶ b̶r̶a̶g̶g̶i̶n̶g̶ a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ j̶o̶b̶ c̶r̶e̶a̶t̶i̶o̶n̶. A̶l̶m̶o̶s̶t̶ e̶v̶e̶r̶y̶o̶n̶e̶ I̶ k̶n̶o̶w̶ w̶o̶r̶k̶s̶ 5̶0̶+̶ h̶o̶u̶r̶s̶ a̶ w̶e̶e̶k̶ j̶u̶s̶t̶ t̶o̶ m̶a̶k̶e̶ i̶t̶ b̶y̶. W̶h̶a̶t̶ w̶e̶ n̶e̶e̶d̶ i̶s̶n̶’t̶ m̶o̶r̶e̶ j̶o̶b̶s̶, w̶e̶ n̶e̶e̶d̶ b̶u̶s̶i̶n̶e̶s̶s̶e̶s̶ t̶o̶ c̶l̶o̶s̶e̶ d̶o̶w̶n̶ i̶f̶ t̶h̶e̶ o̶n̶l̶y̶ w̶a̶y̶ t̶h̶e̶y̶ c̶a̶n̶ a̶f̶f̶o̶r̶d̶ t̶o̶ s̶t̶a̶y̶ o̶p̶e̶n̶ i̶s̶ s̶t̶a̶r̶v̶i̶n̶g̶ t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ e̶m̶p̶l̶o̶y̶e̶e̶s̶.

      • spaghettiwestern@sh.itjust.worksOP
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        2 days ago

        You think it will help? The first thing that’ll happen when a recession hits is people will be laid off en mass and there will be no jobs available to apply for. It will take months or years for things to get better, and if AI starts replacing people it will take even longer.

        I think the “stable genius” has already caused a massive recession. We are just seeing the first signs of it but it’s not something to look forward to. It will cause widespread misery before anything improves.

        • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca
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          2 days ago

          Before you blame everything on one guy, let’s not forget the US government is 435 in Congress, 100 in Senate, and 4/10 think POTUS is doing a great job and 90 million don’t want to be in a democracy and do not participate.

          It’s as if maybe the real problem is not one guy, it’s as if maybe the real problem is a country that only cares about a quick buck.

        • Joeffect@lemmy.world
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          2008 never actually ended that while thing just kept getting pushed back by all the bullshit that’s been happening and ever since shit has just gotten worse. Civid helped people with the free money but that only made things worse. The current ai bubble is what is holding whatever is left up. And this “war” is just compounding everything even more.

      • Crackhappy@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        To be clear, I think you’re missing the point entirely. The entire US economy is about to be in freefall.

      • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        “Hot take, but I hope to see the lives of millions of innocents ruined via means I can’t even spell because I lack the basic empathy to understand what true financial struggle is and would probably be basically fine. I am a very smart accelerationist.”

        • Pickleideas@lemmy.world
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          I think you missed the point. I think (as I stated) that companies shouldn’t exist that don’t pay a living wage. Millions of jobs going away is fine by me because I come from the real world where everybody is working 2-3 jobs to make ends meet. I can see why you believe that losing a job would be devastating, but most of us would be glad to be in your position where we depend on a single income to survive.

          • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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            I come from the real world

            Oh, you mean the one where the past two resessions [sic] worked out so great for everyone and didn’t just redistribute wealth even more heavily to the top? That real world? Wow, can I come over there sometime? That sounds incredible!

            • Pickleideas@lemmy.world
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              I remember when the minumum wage was increased under Obama, inflation stopped and actually reversed for awhile. I know you don’t have much to offer other than snark, but I think it’s worth saying for other people who read this that you’re heavily guessing what it’s like to live in poverty. I grew up in homeless shelters—when my family finally got into government housing I had to steal from grocery stores for my family to eat. If you think being jobless or homeless are the most terrifying things that could ever happen to someone you’ve had a very blessed life.

              • TheTechnician27@lemmy.world
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                inflation stopped and actually reversed for awhile

                Oh my god, yup, we’re definitely dealing with someone who doesn’t know how to spell “recession”. I wonder what people trapped in debt (you know, the poor) think of your stupid fucking braindead idea of deflation as apparently a good thing.

      • redsand@infosec.pub
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        2 days ago

        This points anywhere IS the recession. What you’re about to experience will be at best a depression or the 4th collapse.

      • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        Seedlings take years to grow into large fruiting trees. Best tine to have bought them would have been under trump’s first presidency.

  • Kazel@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    Sorry but Kenneth Cordele Griffin from Citadel, who lied to congress under oath, and who throws bedposts at his ex-wife, needed a little bailout. You know: Just one more day. We are coming for you Kenny

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    Everytime I’ve been hearing about Spirit Airlines lately, I hear about how this guy trying to rally people to pledge money to buy Spirit Airlines in the hopes of making it community-owned. The problem is, according to their website:

    "PROPORTIONAL PROFIT SHARES

    Under the proposed Spirit 2.0 cooperative structure, profit-sharing distributions would be allocated proportionally to pledge amount. This is a proposed model only — not a confirmed financial arrangement. The final structure must be reviewed and approved by qualified securities counsel before any binding commitments are made.

    PROPOSED ONLY: Profit shares would scale with pledge amount under the proposed structure. This is not a confirmed financial instrument. Nothing here constitutes an offer of securities."

    So while I want to see them convert Spirit Airlines into a community-owned airline business (which would be amazing), I need to see this as a confirmed structure first. I can’t shake the feeling that maybe they would steal all the pledge money and then keep it privatized.

    Maybe I’m being too skeptical, idk.

    EDIT: There’s a legal notice on the page:
    “LEGAL NOTICE: Non-binding pledge of intent only. No money collected. All profit-sharing, dividends, voting rights and ownership references are proposed concepts only — not confirmed. Nothing here is a securities offering, investment contract, or financial instrument. Subject to review by qualified securities & aviation counsel. Participation does not guarantee ownership or financial return.”

    I went ahead and pledged, confirmed no money was taken out of my account or anything. Hope this is going to happen.

    • Skylordd78@lemmy.zip
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      When I went to pledge I didn’t even have to put a card in, right now I think its just asking “if we get far enough can we count on you to finish this?”

      • JargonWagon@lemmy.world
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        This is a good point:

        “This is a non-binding pledge of intent only. No funds are collected at this stage. This is not a securities offering, investment contract, or financial instrument. Any references to profit-sharing, dividends, or ownership are proposed concepts only — not confirmed arrangements. The final cooperative structure must be reviewed and approved by qualified securities and aviation counsel before any binding commitments are made. Participation does not guarantee ownership, financial return, or membership in any final entity.”

        Still though, I worry that a lot of people are going to be tricked into thinking it’ll be one thing, give money (once they’re actually taking money), and be deceived. Keeping my eye out, just in case, and hopefully others are keeping an eye on it, too.

        If they do solidify it being owned by the people like how they’re advertising, that’s awesome and I’m in.

  • y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    lol

    i don’t think there are any airlines (other than southwest) that have managed to turn a profit without at least one bankruptcy

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    Hey! None of the other banks, other airlines, or other car companies ever said sorry when they were bailed out! Those ingrates.

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    2 days ago

    Damn it, I never got to fly on it! Then again, I haven’t been on an airplane since 1977 so….