Spirit Airlines News
Posted November 11, 2008 by Carl Unger
With a new administration coming to the White House this January, many are wondering how the world will look under a new president. Will the economy recover? Will the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan be resolved? Will wind farms and solar panels start popping up all over the country?
Well, here at the BookingBuddy blog, we're curious to see how a new administration changes the travel landscape. Shortly after Barack Obama was elected last week, we gathered in an undisclosed location, ordered about 50 pizzas, a few cases of energy drinks, and put Airplane! on the DVD player. Our task: Draft a list of ways the President-elect could improve the travel industry. We pored through Department of Transportation reports, highly classified TSA documents, and thousands of anecdotal reports from travelers like you, looking for problems and finding answers. We emerged a few days later with a list of suggestions so wise that the printed words actually glowed with what can only be described as a shimmering light of hope.
Much to our dismay, however, we quickly learned that Salon.com had already published a list of its own, and while Salon's list isn't luminescent exactly, it is pretty darn good.
So, back to the drawing board. We split a five-pound bag of M&Ms and a few gallons of Mountain Dew and this is what we came up with. Mr. President, you can thank us later.
1. Onboard seat upgrades for all. We like AirTran's idea for first-come-first-served business-class upgrades on the plane. Let's see more airlines adopt similar policies. Bonus points if you can convince airlines to give upgrades away for free (like, say, if you do a top-notch tap dance routine, you get the empty business-class seat).
2. More airlines realizing their food isn't really good enough to sell. United got the hint, will other airlines follow suit? Methinks a gentle nudge (or a sharp elbow to the ribs) from you may help clarify the picture, if you get my meaning. Alternately, good food for sale would be acceptable.
3. More free helicopter rides. Nothing says "executive" like landing on top of a skyscraper, and Continental is making the dream of a high-flying luxe lifestyle a reality for all. So even if you're just a bored hamburger-flipper (or an underpaid travel news blogger), you can fly like some of the richest folks in the world (except Bill Gates, who probably has some sort of teleportation device).
4. Better advertising. Spirit's amusing political play on words and United's surreal animations notwithstanding, this wasn't a great year for airline ads. Never mind that airfares are usually displayed without taxes and fees, which borders on outright deception by making them seem lower than they really are, but the ads just aren't that good. Southwest took a wrong turn and ended up in creepyville, and Spirit—well, Spirit just does its own thing, doesn't it?
5. Stop the a-la-carte revolution. Sure, it's good for business. Sure, most people don't seem to mind too much. But pretty soon you'll have to pay to buckle your seat belt! I don't want to point any fingers (and certainly not at American, US Airways, or United!) but a few airlines have been leading the charge. I think a stern talking-to would set them straight.
Well folks, there are the five ideas I can print. There were more ideas, trust me, but I mean it when I say these are the ones I can print. What ideas do you have? Any suggestions for our President-elect? Leave a comment below with your thoughts. I'm pretty sure he reads this blog regularly, so he'll see them. Thanks
(Photo: CNN.com)
Posted November 4, 2008 by Carl Unger
Well folks, we made it: It's election day. A year (two years, really) of mudslinging, name-calling, mavericky-ness, "change," hockey moms, ACORN, Bill Ayers, and $150,000 wardrobes is finally coming to an end. With all we've seen and heard during this long and arduous campaign, you'd think the candidates and their surrogates couldn't have left anything out. But they did. And fortunately for us, we have Spirit Airlines to pick up the slack.
So what, pray tell, could Spirit offer that neither Barack Obama nor John McCain, Joe Biden nor Sarah Palin could provide? Puns. Lots and lots of horrible puns. Read:
"Spirit, a Maverick in airline sales, brings you Ochobama! He's built his platform around bringing you low fares, from only $8* each way for $9 Fare Club** members. We're also offering many more great fares for everyone. We've been Biden our time to bring you this sale. Check out the low fares and save big today! All other sales Palin comparison. But hurry, the polls close on the best fares on November 4, 2008 at 11:59 PM ET! All fares are based on roundtrip purchase and taxes, fees & restrictions apply."
This comes from the airline's "Ochobama" sale, which features fares starting at $8 one-way (hence the "ocho," get it?). Now, if you're not familiar with Spirit's advertising schemes, you should know the airline tends to make up characters to represent its sale, and writes a blurb that is somehow thematically linked to its character. In this case, the ad came with a number eight adorned with a set of large, Obama-esque ears and a red tie.
Sometimes Spirit's ads are just plain silly and corny and sometimes they're downright offensive. This one obviously falls in the corny category. My guess here is that Spirit's ad folks, like the rest of us, are borderline delirious after months upon months of intense campaign coverage.
(Photo: www.kvlc.talstar.com)
Posted September 25, 2008 by Heather Gilbert
OK, the whole airline isn’t for sale. But advertising space on seat backs, window shades, overhead bins, tray tables, and drink carts is.
Starting last week, if you’ve got the dough, Spirit Airlines ' Mile High Media wants to hear from you. Touting itself primarily as advertising your audience can’t get away from, Mile High Media is debuting with a campaign from the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism.
What might I see aboard my next flight on Spirit? Signage on my seat back? Beats looking at old pilly fabric. Flip-flop decals on the overhead bins? I only see them as I shove my now-oversized-to-avoid-checking-it roll aboard in there. And on the window shade? I’ve only pulled that down to try and get some shuteye, so go ahead.
As long as Spirit doesn’t plan on using the space for its own tasteless ad campaigns, it’s fine with me. I certainly don’t want to spend my whole flight thinking about threesomes and MILFs, thank you very much. And besides, they’re not the first low-cost carrier to go this route. Ryanair practically invented onboard advertising. And if by some teeny chance this lowers my fare by offsetting fuel costs, well they can put ads on my suitcase if they want. Wait a minute here … hey Spirit, wanna buy ad space on my suitcase? Let’s talk!
(Photo: Spirit Airlines)
Posted July 23, 2008 by Zak Patten
In this age of distraction, when new entertainment options are but a mouse click or remote button away, marketers will try anything to capture the limited attention span of potential customers. Sometimes they walk a fine line between what's edgy and what should have never made it out of the marketing manager’s head. Sometimes, as in the case of Spirit Airlines, the line of taste is so far behind them they can't even remember what it looks like.
Spirit, the ultra-low-cost carrier, has its own particular style. We here at BookingBuddy thought it would be fun and educational (but not for kids!) to take a stroll down memory lane with the little airline that could (offend). So without further ado, let's count down the top five most tasteless Spirit airfare sales:
1. M.I.L.F.
This one got Spirit into some hot water, and I don’t mean of the Jacuzzi variety, though that does conjure up the kind of image Spirit would probably endorse. Ostensibly, the airline was promoting the idea of Many Islands, Low Fares with its latest sale acronym. But just as AA stands for both American Airlines and Alcoholics Anonymous, some critics suggested the M.I.L.F. sale was a cheap ploy to gain market share with the Maxim crowd, who might think it was a different, more suggestive acronym.
2. Hunt for Hoffa
Somehow Spirit’s “Hunt for Hoffa” sale, (actually a game that involved digging for long-missing labor leader Jimmy Hoffa’s body by clicking online boxes) went over even worse than the M.I.L.F sale. It seems there was still some love out there for Hoffa, who disappeared in 1975. Hit almost immediately by a deluge of customer complaints, Spirit buried Hoffa and renamed the promotion “Happy Sale.” Eventually, the marketing stunt did prove successful, by at least one measure: It came in eighth on CNN Money’s 101 Dumbest Moments in Business.
3. Threesome Sale
Chalk up another one for overgrown frat-boy humor. Earlier this year, Spirit sent out an email that announced: "We're having a threesome. Join us in the fun." While some recipients of the message took it as a reference to the practice of, well, menage a trois, apparently Spirit was really trying to promote "three sales in one." The misperception was likely amplified by the repeated use of the word “threesome” in the accompanying marketing copy.
4. WTF
Favored by bloggers, instant messengers, and mobile-phone users everywhere, “WTF?” is used to quickly express outrage and disbelief. Typically understood as a vulgar expression of incredulity, Spirit Airlines claims the more family-friendly “World Traveler Fares” as its intended meaning. This sale proved to be a great way for the airline to showcase the international destinations in its route network, if not its sophisticated wit. Seriously, what were they thinking?
5. Oil Falls to Just $9 a Barrel*
Not tasteless in a sexual or morbid way like some of the above, but more along the lines of a cruel hoax, the latest Spirit sale to grace the Internet was an attention-grabbing headline, particularly in these times of four-dollar gasoline. With the nation, not to mention the airline industry, reeling from the effects of astronomical fuel prices, Spirit opted for a phony headline and accompanying fake press release to grab the eyeballs of its potential passengers. Reporting that the oil markets had experienced the “largest one-day drop in history,” and full of quotes from “experts” such as Caut Offguard, Bubbles R. Burstinfast, and Shud A. Nown, the release was clearly a parody, though the nature of the topic may induce a chillier reaction on the part of the nation’s drivers. When it comes to humor (and especially oil-related comedy), Spirit may have proven that it’s best not to go to the well too often.
Honorable mention
These may be the bottom five, but Spirit has had many other low points in its sales over the past couple of years. Who could forget the Mullet sale, with that airline/hairline reference to “business in the front, party in the back”? And of course, there was the spinoff D.I.L.F. sale, which celebrated Father’s Day with its “Dad I'll Love Forever” message, though the more cynical among us might claim that D.I.L.F. was actually a lewd double entendre best not expressed in polite company.
Posted February 22, 2008 by Carl Unger
Those of us who pay close attention to the airline industry
don’t often have much to feel good about. So when an airline debuts a new logo, we get excited, because it’s
likely the new logo will be fun and cool, and won’t make us dread our next
flight. Hey, at least it’s not another
fuel surcharge, right?
However, when we saw Spirit’s new logo, the words “fun” and
“exciting” didn’t exactly leap to mind. Instead, words like “time machine” and “disco” were thrown around,
because frankly, Spirit’s new logo just screams 1970s.
It’s hard to determine exactly why. Is it the bicentennial-era color scheme? The rampant use of italics (hip then, a bit,
well, outdated now)? Is it because the
logo reminds us of those darlings of the late 70s, the Montreal Expos?
Whatever it is, Spirit expects it to work, or has no idea
what they’re doing. Let’s assume the
former. Retro is in, so why not try
it? What we want to know, however, and
what we fear perhaps more than anything, is this: Are polyester seats next?
With a new administration coming to the White House this January, many are wondering how the world will look under a new president. Will the economy recover? Will the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan be resolved? Will wind farms and solar panels start popping up all over the country?
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