JetBlue absolutely cares about the aircraft and the pilots. A320 NEO engine series are huge fuel savers. Also, the majority of the pilot group is already type rated on the aircraft.
@@user-ew3dm1jq6j I would say more along the lines of political correctness over affiliation with one party. To an extend I completely understand but from the things I've heard they can take it too far and fire people for what seems like the smallest politically incorrect things. I guess you could categorize them as a "woke" company.
This is probably just a dumb idea off the top of my head, but hear me out: what if JetBlue acquired Spirit, but left them as seperate entities, allowing them to not only get the LAX slots they covet, but also get a chunk of the coveted ULCC pie, *and* allowing them to keep the two cultures seperate (maybe transferring some planes or staff who want to over)?
Virgin America was supposed to be protected from integration/phase-out after being purchase by Alaska, and everyone believed that would be the case, because not only was that one of the key terms of its sale (to anyone) but there were even key legal provisions baked into the purchase contract to ensure this. However, instead of honoring the agreement, Alaska quickly sought to eliminate overlap and reduce costs so they doubled down on legal trickery to get out of that obligation; hence killing what was America's best airline. There's no reason JetBlue can't do something similar to make things so work if they purchased 🗑Spirit
@@josiaevans Reading this comment breaks my heart. I still love and miss Virgin America to this day. I was a loyal customer and flew them often. I refuse to fly Alaska as a (admittedly completely ineffective) silent protest. If Virgin America had to go, I really wish it had been JetBlue that got them.
JetBlue is by far my favorite airline, I even prefer them to American and Delta. I flew Spirit for the first time this year and I absolutely hated it. My only concern is that Spirit’s integration would bring down the quality of JetBlue’s product.
What did you hate? The only issue I have with JetBlue is that it literally cost 2x+ even when you consider all the other cost. At least for me 99% of the free things are not work 2x the price.
Spirit planes would be reconfigured with JetBlue interiors. It would take some time, but there would be no ULCC product left except the unbundled fares that B6 sells.
Even though I fly out of SFO I'm a big fan of JetBlue and prefer them over United when going to the East Coast. I'm concerned that buying Spirit could bring down JetBlue in the long run like Pan Am buying National did. Not to mention does JetBlue even have the money to retrofit Spirit's cabins to JetBlue standards quickly? At least Alaska could phase in the cabin retrofits on the planes they got from Virgin America because Virgin America's cabins were better than Alaska's. JetBlue passengers would revolt if they fly on a former Spirit plane still with the cabin still in Spirit configuration which means JetBlue will have to change the planes over quickly.
Spirit will no longer be spirit. It will take the name of JetBlue and be upgraded to become a first class carrier like JetBlue. Also, spirit will see alot of head chopping.
@@barbaracameron5610 Yes, by all of the 3rd party contractors Spirit uses outside of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport hub. Spirit has way too many contractors at other airports that are not true Spirit Airlines employees doing the work Spirit Airlines employees should be able to do themselves. They are definitely going to be going for sure because JetBlue will replace contractors with actual company-owned employees to do the work with full pay and full benefits. 3rd party contractors are notorious for mishandling luggage, losing it, and damaging it. JetBlue will end that and make sure actual employees that work for the company do it right like it's meant to be.
I'm from the Midwest and we need more direct flights to Cancun. Spirit's service is terrible and they cancel flights at the drop of a hat, even though they offer more flights. Frontier has good service, they don't cancel flights, but they only have a few flights a week direct to Cancun. I'd like to see JetBlue team up with Frontier for more direct flights per week to Cancun from Pittsburgh or Cancun.
Small Low cost airlines are still the most popular choice for most passangers, I will still have faith in Jetblue because of their outstanding service offerings , even if the merger doesnt happen
As a Spirit gate agent I would like to add a comment. It is ABSOLUTELY devastating to morale that our disloyal corporate heads are even considering selling the company at all, worst of all to Frontier who we see as having lower customer service standards. How can we go to work happily knowing our bosses are plotting to gut the company and run off with millions while the rest of us are left in limbo?? I understand shareholders and board members want to cash out, but they’re destroying a company that they did not built, they inherited. They’re disrupting all of our lives and peace and the most frustrating thing is if Spirit just stays independent, they will be a US top carrier within a decade. But no, corporate just wants to kill the golden goose. Honestly, I see my CEO, Ted Christie, and his heartless members as money hungry traitors. They are not leaders. I’ve met the man several times and his narcissism and self interest proceeds him. You know you’re dealing with a questionable person when instead of introducing himself to his employees, he hit me with the “Don’t you know who I am?”. To add on top of all that, it is becoming increasingly obvious that maintenance is being reduced to save expenses. During the lockdown recession, our AirBus fleet was undergoing thorough maintenance/inspections regardless of 20 passenger loads in planes that carry 182. Ever since the Frontier merger was announced, I have witnessed disgusting conditions inside the cabins, an increasingly large amount of INOP stickers in the flight deck when it was uncommon before, and things that can be kicked down the road are. The most noticeable is the APU’s are not being repaired on time like they use to. By FAA regulation, we cannot board a plane if it’s above 85°F, however Spirit won’t repair this issue anymore and I’ve had to board planes at almost 90°F because it was either cancel the flight and strand the 200 passengers or let them suffer in heat for an hour until pushback. Morale is at an all time low. do you guys understand how stressful it is as a $15 an hour gate agent to tell 200 pissed off strangers that we canceled the flight due to a broken plane or missing staff??? I can’t do it anymore, I’ve already accepted a position at Delta operations management. I prefer a company that cares. This is all building up to disaster. Do I think a plane will crash? No. What I do think will likely happen will be massive amounts of cancellations as flight, cabin, and gate crew call out sick. This is what happened in December by the way. It wasn’t weather, flight crew didn’t want to work the holidays for a company that plans to sell us to any dollar. They’re not loyal, we’re not loyal. In the end, the stranded passengers suffer and no one is happy. Spirit should stay independent and fire our useless and inept “leadership” team. Ted, Lania, Debra, gone. Replace them with people who actually care. Hell, replace them with random passengers, they would do a better job. I could keep going on, what I said was just the tip of the iceberg. The internal systems at Spirit are an absolute nightmare. Spirit is opening an Atlanta and Miami base on 4th of July weekend (expect massive amounts of delays for fake sick callouts). Flight crew ABSOLUTELY HATE those airports and have such refused to transfer there. Spirit is supposed to have 200 employees at ATL and 200 in MIA. So far they have 100 for Atlanta and 60 for Miami. You think you’re going to NOT get canceled at those airports on Spirit? Better start packing your sleeping bag for the airport now. After watching this video and learning Spirit is grabbing up gates they cannot even begin to dream of having flight crew to work, it has become clear that Spirit is defrauding buyers by purchasing gates they cannot operate. They just announced they’re opening a Houston base as well? How? They’re 270 flight attendants and 100 pilots lacking already. Now they’re adding IAH that will require another 200 FAs and 50 pilots?? Get outta here. But not literally, your flight will be canceled. This is how upset I am at Spirit, I don’t care if they read this as this username is fake and I already accepted a position at Delta. I hope those traitors get fired, but either way my last day is Monday and Delta knows I’m serious about good customer service and reliability.
As a frequent flyer of spirit airlines ..I have had a feeling since the beginning that the merger was a bad idea and I’m so sorry as an employee that you have to face all of that. Thanks for shedding some transparency on the situation also. I wish you the very best on your new job 😃 Working for a dishonest company is a terrible experience..been there myself ..
I never thought the route network would be the reason for the merger. If they don’t acquire Spirit, they would be a target for acquisition themselves. They already have the northeast agreement with American.
They can’t be bought without be put up for sale though. But, yeah, if they fail here, they are not getting another chance and remain that small airline in the northeast
They should merge with American, but operate as their own entity as they do now with the services they have. Only thing is for American that's probably a no go
I have never been given a harder sell on a credit card than on a Frontier flight. As a former retail worker, I could feel the pressure the flight attendants were under to sell their credit card with what is probably an absurd interest rate.
I actually think it’s a great idea bc they will hold the cheap end of the ticket. Frontier is stupid they’re not even in ewr . I’ll be using it in august but I’m not too happy I kno they’ll increase all the prices bc spirit already has frontier is still low
spirit are worse IMO, having flown both extensively due to the cheap fares and having also been stranded on several occasions, the constant delayed flights cause missed connections by both... i tend to find the spirit flight attendants to be friendlier, but what good does that do if they show up 2 hours late and cause you to miss your connection
It’s crazy that you mentioned JetBlue feeling larger than it actually is. In my mind, I often forget they exist because I do a lot of east coast to west coast travel, which has never put them on my radar. Probably why they are so pressed to get the Spirit deal.
Very nice video with detailed explanations on all of the aspects of both airlines. I'm a dispatcher for JetBlue and honestly I really haven't been reading the company emails regarding the merger so based on that what you said makes the most sense with me having little knowledge of why they are doing this. When I plan my flights for the trans on tonight so that's we honestly just have everything going into Los Angeles San Francisco and then a few other airports such as Vegas Burbank and San Diego so it actually be nice to have more flight setting to the West Coast and in the general area. I remember when we used to have more of the Seattle and Portland flights heading down south with Dad dwindle down a lot and the only thing that I really see right now is Los Angeles to salt lake and Las Vegas and that's about it based on the shift that I do during the day. We'll see who knows how it's going to go if it does happen all I know is that there will be a lot of changes and we'll have to adapt just like anybody else
First sight would tell Spirit to go with Jet Blue because they are offering more money, BUT, strategically, Spirit would do better going with Frontier. Why? Because if Spirit and Frontier agree to partner up with Frontier being the leading company and Spirit's CEO becoming the COO, that merger would dominate Jet Blue and eventually put them out of business thus eliminating a competing Airline. I think Jet Blue knows this and is desperately trying to stop it. I don't think Jet Blue even wants Spirit, it just doesn't want Spirit and Frontier to merge.
@@TheConservativeTraveller Jet Blue's offer is All-Cash. That means Spirit stockholders will cash out and have to re-invest in Jet Blue at a much higher rate. All-Cash deals only benefit substantial stockholders with a min of 5 % in a company. As a stockholder, you would want to merge with Frontier and have the company grow. Your stock merges too and grows.
No way. It's an all cash offer. In this market condition, getting cash at a much higher premium is no brainer. There will be 2000 better companies than any of these three to invest with that money.
Coby, I believe you missed two major reasons JetBlue wants Spirit.... aircraft fleet and their Airbus orders. With the A320 family being so popular, it will accelerate their deliveries. Additional, trained and experienced Pilots.
Thanks Coby. After watching, it makes a lot more sense why JetBlue seems so hell-bent on acquiring Spirit. However, If JetBlue really wants to splash the cash, maybe they should buy frontier post-merger😆. As to OAK, at least it's somewhat connected into BART with that glorified peoplemover to Coliseum Station, for easy transit into SF
In Summary: JetBlue needs to buy Spirit, if they don't... The ULCCs (Frontier+Spirit, and the new ones) will bite off what's left of the leisure market which is still JetBlue's most common customer base. Without scale they can't compete in the Business market with the "big 4" so that's not an option for them either if they lose their leisure customers. They pinned themselves in a corner by staying "in the middle". The middle may have worked for JetBlue 20 years ago when they started, but the landscape has been changing towards the ULCC model since the Great Recession, so the reasons as to why JetBlue didn't see this coming is sort of astounding to say the least. I think the writing was in the wall when Delta and United came in with the "basic economy" fare tier back in 2012-2014. You can see how that simple move by the majors started affecting JetBlue's leisure market because a "basic economy" ticket at the big 4 on paper is a better value proposition in terms of operational reliability, network, and other things and the airline's financial performance started taking a hit because it forced JetBlue to bring their prices down a bit to stay competitive (although on the same token JetBlue did that with the majors, however to the major's benefit they already had economies of scale and higher cost structure experience to manage the profitability of these lower fare tickets, both of which JetBlue presently lacks). This got compounded in 2014 and 2018 when work groups at JetBlue started organizing (rightly so!) and new collective bargaining agreements increased labor costs as JetBlue used to undercut a lot of their costs with employee pay and benefits (compared to the majors) rather than seeking operational efficiencies elsewhere. I totally get why JetBlue is looking to buy Spirit and its eagerness in doing in so, it's about their survival rather than anything else... Their marketing will say otherwise but they knew if Frontier and Spirit were to merge, overnight the airline would find itself irrelevant. Whatever happens, I think the outcome will be the same higher fares for the consumer, less choices, and perhaps less service in some cities (these mega mergers should have been stopped years ago but that's another conversation). For JetBlue the question is not whether or not they can get Spirit (it is clear they can), the question is can they execute the merger correctly and keep it up afterwards. The jury is out on that one and JetBlue is known for being an airline whose success is measured by their timing than their execution (with some big blunders along their history). Watch this space...
I think jetblue is smarter to lean into “mainline” pricing as they are more expensive than major flag airlines on say the new nyc to London routes but offer a product not worth the increased cost compared to their competitors they would be smarter to go all in as “the best us airline” making their product feel better and more competitive against international airlines and say a brand like southwest than to waste so much time buying spirit to try and be something they are not and will only make us pay more overall! Jetblue will never be a ULCC if they were jetblue would become spirit in this scenario and that’s not going to happen ever! It makes so much more sense to see frontier and spirit merge to offer the same or a better ULCC product that jetblue will never be. Sprit and frontier merged could be a real competitor for allegiant who is dominating medium markets that frontier and spirit used to be major players in that jetblue has 0 intention of ever going to! Jetblue is not trying to expand competition or service it is looking to further solidify its position as a virtual monopoly.
@@damnimloomin I have to disagree. JetBlue is not going to be able to price itself as if they were a major legacy carrier until the millennials are occupying the c suites of the majority of the multinational corporations. The legacy carriers have a higher cost structure than the ULCCs and the middle market airlines like JetBlue and Southwest because of the vastly different service offerings and decades of relationship building. The top 10% of a major airline's customer base accounts for nearly 50% of passenger revenue for reasons JetBlue can't compete with. Corporations are willing to pay big money to get people where they need to be under the right conditions, and JetBlue isn't in the same league. Flights can be delayed routinely and the company and the staff won't care..... as long as the delay is regularly around the same amount of time so that it can still be planned for. There can be occasionally missed connections if when deplaning from the first flight there is someone greeting the customer with a new itinerary so they don't have to stop thinking about business to waste the day trying to get to the destination. Customer service and airport lounges with all the amenities for conducting business, eating, and resting go a long way. If a passenger is traveling from the US to India for meetings and a change of plans requires a stop in Japan, the airline needs to be able to make the experience for the traveler as thoughtless as asking the waitress for a napkin. JetBlue is far from being able to earn the business of the most valuable airline customers. That being said, there is a generational shift coming with the millennials. They have spent most of their lives penny-pinching for the sake of the immediate numbers. They don't grasp that paying a little more for better service and options can lead to better decisions and more long-term profits.
I have learned that for certain travel plans Spirit, EasyJet et al. have their place. Whenever we go to Vegas for the weekend we pay the extra money on top of the cheap tickets and get the big comfy Spirit seats and checked bags. When we had to make an emergency trip from Italy to Greece, we went with EasyJet and threw down an extra 10€ for snacks and a drink. I don't always need great service; sometimes I just need to get from here to there and save some $ even with paying for the extras.
Because Bill Franke is involved with both Spirit and Frontier He’ll never let one or both fail. (Even if it’s right by the market) He’ll merge them both to try and squeeze as much profit out before he moves on to his next prey, I mean venture.
First, JB is thriving at LAX,. Their transcon flights are lucrative and competitive. JB made a wise choice in leaving Long Beach, where Southwest swooped in and grabbed those slots. LGB is a far easier airpot to reach depending on where you are located and LAX is a pain to get to due to traffic. At SFO, JB is NOT at the international gates, but shares a concourse with Southwest where it is similarly doing well. Living in the Bay Area, I can tell you that many locals fly JB as well as many New Yorkers. Regardless, LAX and SFO were never designed to be hubs, so not sure about your point about breaking into the California market. JB is already there and has been for many years. As for Mint, I avoid it. The seats face away from the window and accordingly their premium product did not receive universal "rave reviews". Virgin Atlantic installed the same aisle facing seats, but customer dissatisfaction compelled VA to pull them out. Not sure why JB thinks flying sideways is fun, but it ain't. JB also lacks airport lounges and their food catering is skimpy and limited in Mint. United's Polaris, sold as business class domestically, offers lounges, better seats, larger planes and superior catering. United also has the edge with frequency. But their JFK flts, which are being temporarily suspended until the FAA provides permanent slots, now use tired 757's as opposed to the Polaris product. All the more reason to fly to Newark, which is also closer to Manhattan than JFK and easier to access. American has dedicated A321's for transcon flights and their BC product is very good. Alaska is making inroads, although they have abandoned their LAX transcon flights. Alaska's F class is old school and not in the same league as competitors, but perfectly acceptable for a five to six hour flight. The fact that you don't fly sideways is enough for me to opt for Alaska over JB. I don't fly Delta, because their union busting tactics are in opposition to my principles. Regardless, all airlines have issues when merging cultures and fleets. The UA/CO merger went comparatively smooth, again not sure where you are getting your information. The DL/NW, conversely, not so much due to NW being unionized and DL vehemently ant-union. Many unionized NW employees were retaliated against and terminated. Terrible situation that you seem to ignore. AA/US no better of worse than UA/CO. Interestingly, US bought AA and kept the AA name for brand recognition. Prior, America West bought US, so you could say AA is really America West. Frontier and Spirit have similar cultures and Airbus fleets, a merger would be relatively smooth. A JB/Spirit merger would also work due to fleet commonality, albeit with cultural hiccups. The loser in said merger is the flying public, due to less competition which leads to higher fares and reduced service. What JB really wants is to remain relevant, eat or be eaten. The routes are secondary. I personally prefer Frontier over Spirit, but they both provide inferior flight experiences, but significantly cheaper fares. It's a model that works and fills a niche with the flying public. Lastly, when you showed the airline logos merging, it should have been the United tulip (not the globe) and the Continental globe (not the jet swirl). United adopted the globe from CO, which had already abandoned the jet swirl. Details matter.
As someone who lives in a small town on the west coast, JetBlue merger is appealing. Without JetBlue having the 1 hour connection flights I can't fly them without booking two separate tickets, which always is more expensive. Having spirit would let them do this. I'd rather fly JetBlue over delta/united.
Coby, could you do an update on the plane graveyards where the airlines parked their grounded jets at the beginning of the pandemic? I’m curious how many of them have returned to service, if they’ve changed flags & how that’s affecting the new plane market.
I’m an AA member, and the partnership with JetBlue has seriously benefited myself. If the merger doesn’t happen, I can see JetBlue becoming more of a proxy for American
@@linearswitchguy9593 Well nothing really in the past few years but personally I don’t like airbus I think they are too automated and make lazy pilots. I also feel AA in the past has had a bad track record in the 90s and early 2000s. Lots of accidents that were pilot errors
@@linearswitchguy9593 Delta, JetBlue, southwest all have a better track record on safety and pilot errors. And all planes are automated, but airbus prides itself on being an easy drive plane to fly and it’s auto pilot and I think that makes for lazy pilots. Many pilots themselves have said airbus compared to Boeing is an easier plane.
@@LeolaGlamour So you think the airbus is a poor product and makes lazy and/or dangerous pilots. But then choose the airline that exclusively flies airbus airplanes as your favorite. Good work.
@@jimwarden6419 Yeah it sucks they like went with airbus but delta has a decent Boeing fleet. Southwest also has some Boeings but I know they mostly fly airbus. I’m not too concerned with airbus on US carriers anyways. I’ll still always try to not fly UA and AA.
4:27 Speaking regarding SFO it's not just slot restricted, but it's a fortress hub for United Airlines/Star Alliance and the lynchpin for their transpacific operations. Most passengers flying in from Star Alliance hubs in TPE, PEK, NRT, and SIN will just hop onto a United Airlines domestic flight if they need to go further into the USA.
It was nice seeing JetBlue making their flights to Hawaii from the Long Beach city base or station for them. That was nice because Hawaii is serious revenue dollars for the west coast!! To me that was hard to close Long Beach and yes, the highway traffic in L.A. is crazy!! But JetBlue should have stayed there in Long Beach. And now for this year hearing JetBlue from New York flying to London, UK! Well, that is really nice and great revenue dollars. You are right we will see about this merger. And yes, in order to fly long haul coast to coast or over the ocean, having a least Business Class seating cabin is so needed!!! The business travelers men/women and leg room needs a good aircraft cabin space!!!!!!
The merger appears to work well for both airlines. JetBlue and Spirit has its main base in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, so it will be a plus to handle airport operations.
Your logic is flawed in this aspect my friend... Orlando is a base for Frontier too. Frontier will very soon have a presence that Spirit does not...Frontier is building a maintenance hangar there where as Spirit has no plans...
IMO JetBlue wants Spirit not for its route network (although slots in LAX are an obvious plus) but for its planes. Spirit has a large orderbook and simply put, JetBlue is spread too thin. They need new planes and they need them fast. They can't wait for Airbus delivery slots to open up soon enough, considering all of their expansion plans.
if that's the case they have a lot of retrofitting to do considering Spirit aircraft are not generously layed out. I just want the monopoly of American at DFW to end but that's their hometown. They made flights into and out of Dallas more expensive than it needs to be
@@greymcwhirter6753 I used to fly southwest a lot but now they're getting just as expensive. Plus I'm from the Caribbean and only American has direct flights to my country so Southwest would create more expense. It socks. My family in NY boast $100 tickets while here the average is 5 - 600
@@greymcwhirter6753 I got excited when Jetblue and American formed a partner ship cause now that jetblue flies here o have another option and they're my favorite airline :)
See, part of me thinks that it could definitely ruin JetBlue, but at the same time, if they pull it off in the typical amazing JetBlue way, they could make it work, and get the expansion they need. I say, that I hope that they do manage to buy spirit 👍
JetBlue they have an amazing employees/ professionals, responsible reliable and VERY SAFETY They care about safety of passengers, they value safety… In San Diego CA JetBlue it’s amazing
Good Analysis. I've been following this with much interest (I fly both fairly often). I believe that JetBlue is "buying the routes" for sure. Like you state, it's either that or JetBlue as a little fish gets bought up itself. I hope this makes for a better flying experience once the merger is approved and done (Approval in 2024?). You are spot on about the Continental-United merger screwing up both airlines. I loved United back in early 2000's but it is not good now. Like your channel! keep it up!
Spirit adds not only LAX slots but difficult to acquire aircraft and crew members as well. You make a good point about mergers and cultures clashes. If successful in acquiring Spirit one of JetBlue’s greatest challenges will be spreading its culture to the Spirit crew members while avoiding a clash of cultures between the two employee groups.
In a market like this, diversification is a good thing! I love JetBlue and it’s consistency among all of the airlines. I have yet to encounter a crappy plane which I’ve experienced with American and Delta (even in first class).
Several analyst predict the Justice Dept will not allow the sale of Spirit to either airline due to the small number of airlines competing in Spirit's no frills/no service space.
Alaska airlines overpaid for Virgin America and actually dropped lots of the transcon that virgin America had like LAX to MIA,FLL,BOS,EWR,BOS,JFK and SFO,FLL,JFK,BOS EWR, MIA do to it Alaska couldn’t compete with MInt.At the time Virgin America only had about 60 aircraft which were most lease. versus 174 that spirit has. Alaska pay almost 2.5 billion. So at the end JetBlue made the correct choice. Also you mentioned that JetBlue only cares about routes but is actually the aircraft orders, spirit work force that is most important. Since the pandemic happened jetblue deferred lots of their orders while spirit didn’t. It would take 8 years to get where a combine JetBlue/Spirit would be today.
There are similarities, though. At the time Alaska is facing tough competition from Delta in SEA or West Coast in general, and they were the small fish. They were desperate. Jetblue wasn't (it's still not much smaller than post-merger Alaska), and they knew they could easily win Virgin America's customer. This time Jetblue is in Alaska's position. OK Spirit's A32X aircraft and personel have more synergies to Jetblue than Virgin's assesses to Alaska, thoguh. Interestingly, it's also Delta that puts pressure on Jetblue.
The real dark horse here is an Alaska / JetBlue merger. Same dedication to customer service, and each has a foothold on half the country. Sure there are a ton of logistical issues (B6 being all Airbus, AS being mainly all Boeing just to start) but it would make the most sense from a competitive edge standpoint. Unfortunately, with the OneWorld entry, I am sure that Alaska's Big dAAddy won't want a new national network airline on their heels.
I KNEW it was because JetBlue wanted to expand. I usually fly from ORF,PHF, or RIC but I don’t think JetBlue flies to any of those. Which is a bummer cause I wanted to fly the mint class. I am actually rooting for this!!
I wouldn't recommend Frontier or Spirit for more than 3-hour flight. They are comparatively inexpensive but you pay the price in discomfort JetBlue wants a chunk of the market that those Airlines have.
More than a 3-hour flight? I'd say more than a 90-minute flight. The discomfort isn't worth it unless you're desperate. I've had some very poor customer service interactions with Frontier as well when they've lost my bags and wouldn't even get them to my house, but required I travel back to the airport (and still pay the checked baggage fees). People complain about the big airlines, but it's pretty nice to have a huge network of routes, partner airlines and overall positive experience. I traveled 75% for work for years, and I learned to value comfort and consistency.
They definitely seem to want to expand. I noticed they started flying the New York to London route that Norwegian pulled out of during the pandemic. Although their fares don’t seem much less than the major carriers like British Airways.
Simple. It’s got godly margins. The instant you have two bags you’ve just paid what you would have for a regular plane ticket as opposed to a budget one but they don’t have to give you any of the extra amenities that come with that regular plane ticket aside from space for your bags. They can nickel and dime you without damaging the main companies brand while giving revenues to the budget airline entity in order to aggressively advertise so they can nickel and dime even more people. The margins are insane.
Also don’t forget Florida. Outside the Northeast Florida is their biggest market, in particular Fort Lauderdale, their third biggest hub. Which also just so happens to be Spirit’s single largest hub. And they both use Fort Lauderdale as a connecting hub, in particular to connect all of the USA with the Caribbean and Latin America. With both of their hubs combined they could create a major and viable source of competition with American’s hub in Miami.
You are misusing the term "slots" here. The term is for restricted take off and landing times that you have to have slot to operate a given flight . Only JFK, DCA, and LGA in the US have such slots that the airline has to to have to operate a given flight. The actual constraint here you were referring is gate availability. That's a separate thing than "slot" availability for an airline. JB has no shortage of slots as the largest holder of them at JFK, their largest hub.
As noted the culture blend could be a catastrophic event and represents the greatest risk in any merger. A merger ALWAYS creates a lot of anxiety at the merging companies thus even the "winning" company can see a morale hit. For my money I would hate to see a Frontier-Spirit merger because the competition reducing strategy is plain as day.
its not a merger as far a Jetblue goes. Jetblue is looking to BUY spirit so all planes and staff will be remodeled and retrained to fit Jetblue's culture, eventually.
I have always wanted to try JetBlue, but I fly from DEN, and they only offer Economy seats here. There are 26 daily non-stops between DEN and NYC; of these, 18 have a First class cabin, and F is always full. While lie-flat seats are a must for international travel, I think it is overkill for domestic travel, even on transcon routes. If JetBlue would consider a standard domestic F seat, they could generate lots more revenue on many routes. United uses a mix of narrow and wide-body jets on their transcon routes, but the fares are generally the same, so they are not getting extra revenue for the planes with lie-flat seats.
The fleet commonality must help also JetBlue will break into new markets in the Midwest for example IND so a merger for airplanes will probably be doable in a year or two
Missed something between east and west coast… The TEXAS hub route market thats booming with the massive East and west coast influx of people moving there. Dallas and Houston have enormous markets Spirit has established that JB would love to get their hands on. In fact Spirit just announced a Houston crew base to accommodate the booming demand in that city.
Is there any way that JetBlue could acquire Spirit but keep the brands separate? Additionally, if they are separate brands but still owned by the same company (JBU in this case), could routes be swapped between the two? End goal being that JetBlue acquires Spirit, takes their routes in the West, but keeps Spirit alive as a separate brand so as to not harm their own premium brand. I feel like this would be ideal. Tantamount to Air Canada and Rouge, Lufthansa and Eurowings, IAG and Vueling, etc.
I’m wondering what if they go three-way? Spirit gets split in half. Jetblue will take one half (west coast hubs, and planes), while Frontier takes the other half (east coast hubs)
Love video answer! I would love to fly into Oakland from NYC vs using a partner plane such as American 🙃. I avoid those options when they presented themselves.
This is an excellent summary. Spirit was JetBlue’s last opportunity to survive. ps Frontier should be fine. In fact, either way, they’ll thrive. Now, they’ll be the only player in the market (Allegiant kinda fits in here too I suppose)
Why would two LCC’s in any way be good? I think it fits JetBlue more than Frontier or Virgin ever could. Exact same fleet and engines (besides A319s). The JetBlue footprint can be expanded to the whole country instead of being a East coast thing. And Frontier will fill the ULCC void Spirit had. Win win win win for all.
great my ticket from NJ to Orlando will double now. I don't care about wifi, sat tv, etc. Just want to get from point A to B on time and cheap. Spirit's prices are excellent. never had a problem
Jet Blue may not be a bottom basement discount airline, but backin the mid 2000's I flew Jet Blue several times because it was the lowest priced non-stop(or single momentary stop in Phoenix) between SoCal and Atlanta. In fact, just to be able to fly a non-stop at a reasonable price, I was willing to drive the 70 miles or so from San Diego to Long Beach for Jet Blue flights (Jet Blue service to San Diego was either non-existent or wasn't to Atlanta). In those days, Jet Blue offered leather seating standard (not just in first class), in flight entertainment and blue corn chips and a meal included in the price. For a 6 hr flight, the leather seating was nice compared to typical fabric seats. The only time I flew another airline (typically Delta which is HQ'd in Atlanta) is when the flight got bumped, delayed or canceled. Unless things have changed, I wouldn't consider Jet Blue faires anywhere close to the price at Delta, United or American (did I forget any other major domestic carriers?).
I like jetblue. I flew them a couple days ago and it was a really good experience. I'd like to see more of them in the future. They could buy them and let them keep flying but use some of their slots spaces
This was a great vid. I was puzzled why JetBlue is fighting so hard to buy spirit. They are trying to win the future. I like Jet Blue so I hope they win.
In the U.S. of A, How complicated or otherwise is it for am airline to expand to international ops.? I mean, either do that, routes like central or south America or go across the Pacific. Or better to cash out and sell.. while JetBlue still has good value in itself. To go around shoppinglike this might just make 18-20 months more complicated..at the very least. (Assuming the marriage succeeds).
I kind of disagree about the routes being the focal point for the buyout... It's actually the planes and pilots... A lot of recent cancellations are due to lack of flight crew and out of service aircrafts and not having any spares
Wow. I had no idea why jetBlue was so fiercely going after such a different airline to itself, nor why they responded so quickly and strongly to Frontier’s bid. After watching this, it’s clear the stakes are *much* higher for jetBlue than for Frontier. Frontier is an established LCC in the regions it serves, while jetBlue serves a niche that relies heavily on premium airport slots. And you’re right, while Frontier could well survive from losing this as they wouldn’t exactly have a competitor in Spirit anymore, this is quite literally jetBlue’s entire future in the hands of a few Spirit executives. It’s kind of ominous that we could well see the first major US airline acquisition in a while if Frontier emerges victorious. I definitely don’t want to see jetBlue fail, so I’m all on their side so they can get those vital slots!
I think the planes have a lot to do with it as well. Being the same aircraft type, you wont have to do any retraining. One fly in the ointment would be having to retrofit all the Spirit planes since it would harm the JetBlue brand to fly them as is, so that would mean taking every plane out of service for that to happen. I dont know how long this takes per plane, or if you could do it quicker per plane since you would have such a large number to do, but it will take time. Slots a re a big reason for them to want Spirit, but you have to have the added aircraft to expand, and Spirit's fleet is fairly young. As with all mergers, you will have to blend seniority and some employees will be very happy with this and some who are senior now will be lower on the list. This happens with every merger, but I believe both airlines are Union represented, so it will fall to them to work most of that out.
6:48 Although United bought Continental, they adopted Continental's globe design. On the right you’re showing two Continental logos, the newest one (1991 - takeover by United) on top and an older one (1967 - 1991) on the bottom.
hey Coby.. i have been thinking about an A380neo since i thought about it till now.. can you Explane about it in another Video? just do it even if they're not in production :)
6:50 I don't know how else you could represent it, because yeah, that's the logo United went with for some reason, but seeing one Continental logo eat the other one to represent United was jarring.
I was wrong. I really should have invested in Spirit but I thought JetBlue's bid was just to encourage Frontier to pay more. A 5.6% increase in stock. I hope this doesn't bring JetBlue down because I like the A320 and JetBlue hires some really good pilots.
JetBlue absolutely cares about the aircraft and the pilots. A320 NEO engine series are huge fuel savers. Also, the majority of the pilot group is already type rated on the aircraft.
Ehhhh if you align with their political views. If not, good luck as an employee.
Only thing is once you combine the seniority pools that's when things get spicy
@@benderandownz What are JetBlue’s political views?
@@user-ew3dm1jq6j I would say more along the lines of political correctness over affiliation with one party. To an extend I completely understand but from the things I've heard they can take it too far and fire people for what seems like the smallest politically incorrect things. I guess you could categorize them as a "woke" company.
Jetblue doesn't really give a crap about its pilots. We are treated as a commodity here. You are fooling yourself my friend.
This is probably just a dumb idea off the top of my head, but hear me out: what if JetBlue acquired Spirit, but left them as seperate entities, allowing them to not only get the LAX slots they covet, but also get a chunk of the coveted ULCC pie, *and* allowing them to keep the two cultures seperate (maybe transferring some planes or staff who want to over)?
This actually is not allowed per JetBlue's pilot contract. The airline contractually cannot operate Spirit as its own brand and must integrate it.
Virgin America was supposed to be protected from integration/phase-out after being purchase by Alaska, and everyone believed that would be the case, because not only was that one of the key terms of its sale (to anyone) but there were even key legal provisions baked into the purchase contract to ensure this. However, instead of honoring the agreement, Alaska quickly sought to eliminate overlap and reduce costs so they doubled down on legal trickery to get out of that obligation; hence killing what was America's best airline. There's no reason JetBlue can't do something similar to make things so work if they purchased 🗑Spirit
Virgin Australia did something similar with TigerAir and it lost a lot of money
@@josiaevans Reading this comment breaks my heart. I still love and miss Virgin America to this day. I was a loyal customer and flew them often. I refuse to fly Alaska as a (admittedly completely ineffective) silent protest. If Virgin America had to go, I really wish it had been JetBlue that got them.
@@jvmehta6057 Legal contracts can be changed.
JetBlue is by far my favorite airline, I even prefer them to American and Delta. I flew Spirit for the first time this year and I absolutely hated it. My only concern is that Spirit’s integration would bring down the quality of JetBlue’s product.
What did you hate? The only issue I have with JetBlue is that it literally cost 2x+ even when you consider all the other cost. At least for me 99% of the free things are not work 2x the price.
Spirit planes would be reconfigured with JetBlue interiors. It would take some time, but there would be no ULCC product left except the unbundled fares that B6 sells.
Even though I fly out of SFO I'm a big fan of JetBlue and prefer them over United when going to the East Coast. I'm concerned that buying Spirit could bring down JetBlue in the long run like Pan Am buying National did. Not to mention does JetBlue even have the money to retrofit Spirit's cabins to JetBlue standards quickly? At least Alaska could phase in the cabin retrofits on the planes they got from Virgin America because Virgin America's cabins were better than Alaska's. JetBlue passengers would revolt if they fly on a former Spirit plane still with the cabin still in Spirit configuration which means JetBlue will have to change the planes over quickly.
Spirit will no longer be spirit. It will take the name of JetBlue and be upgraded to become a first class carrier like JetBlue. Also, spirit will see alot of head chopping.
@@barbaracameron5610 Yes, by all of the 3rd party contractors Spirit uses outside of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport hub. Spirit has way too many contractors at other airports that are not true Spirit Airlines employees doing the work Spirit Airlines employees should be able to do themselves. They are definitely going to be going for sure because JetBlue will replace contractors with actual company-owned employees to do the work with full pay and full benefits. 3rd party contractors are notorious for mishandling luggage, losing it, and damaging it. JetBlue will end that and make sure actual employees that work for the company do it right like it's meant to be.
Great video. Don’t forget spirit’s large Latin American presence and Midwest markets.
I'm from the Midwest and we need more direct flights to Cancun.
Spirit's service is terrible and they cancel flights at the drop of a hat, even though they offer more flights.
Frontier has good service, they don't cancel flights, but they only have a few flights a week direct to Cancun.
I'd like to see JetBlue team up with Frontier for more direct flights per week to Cancun from Pittsburgh or Cancun.
Nobody gives a shit about the Midwest market
Greedy decision by Spirit
Hope the gov doesn't push it through
Small Low cost airlines are still the most popular choice for most passangers, I will still have faith in Jetblue because of their outstanding service offerings , even if the merger doesnt happen
As a Spirit gate agent I would like to add a comment. It is ABSOLUTELY devastating to morale that our disloyal corporate heads are even considering selling the company at all, worst of all to Frontier who we see as having lower customer service standards. How can we go to work happily knowing our bosses are plotting to gut the company and run off with millions while the rest of us are left in limbo??
I understand shareholders and board members want to cash out, but they’re destroying a company that they did not built, they inherited. They’re disrupting all of our lives and peace and the most frustrating thing is if Spirit just stays independent, they will be a US top carrier within a decade. But no, corporate just wants to kill the golden goose. Honestly, I see my CEO, Ted Christie, and his heartless members as money hungry traitors. They are not leaders. I’ve met the man several times and his narcissism and self interest proceeds him. You know you’re dealing with a questionable person when instead of introducing himself to his employees, he hit me with the “Don’t you know who I am?”.
To add on top of all that, it is becoming increasingly obvious that maintenance is being reduced to save expenses. During the lockdown recession, our AirBus fleet was undergoing thorough maintenance/inspections regardless of 20 passenger loads in planes that carry 182. Ever since the Frontier merger was announced, I have witnessed disgusting conditions inside the cabins, an increasingly large amount of INOP stickers in the flight deck when it was uncommon before, and things that can be kicked down the road are. The most noticeable is the APU’s are not being repaired on time like they use to. By FAA regulation, we cannot board a plane if it’s above 85°F, however Spirit won’t repair this issue anymore and I’ve had to board planes at almost 90°F because it was either cancel the flight and strand the 200 passengers or let them suffer in heat for an hour until pushback. Morale is at an all time low. do you guys understand how stressful it is as a $15 an hour gate agent to tell 200 pissed off strangers that we canceled the flight due to a broken plane or missing staff??? I can’t do it anymore, I’ve already accepted a position at Delta operations management. I prefer a company that cares. This is all building up to disaster. Do I think a plane will crash? No. What I do think will likely happen will be massive amounts of cancellations as flight, cabin, and gate crew call out sick. This is what happened in December by the way. It wasn’t weather, flight crew didn’t want to work the holidays for a company that plans to sell us to any dollar. They’re not loyal, we’re not loyal. In the end, the stranded passengers suffer and no one is happy. Spirit should stay independent and fire our useless and inept “leadership” team. Ted, Lania, Debra, gone. Replace them with people who actually care. Hell, replace them with random passengers, they would do a better job.
I could keep going on, what I said was just the tip of the iceberg. The internal systems at Spirit are an absolute nightmare. Spirit is opening an Atlanta and Miami base on 4th of July weekend (expect massive amounts of delays for fake sick callouts). Flight crew ABSOLUTELY HATE those airports and have such refused to transfer there. Spirit is supposed to have 200 employees at ATL and 200 in MIA. So far they have 100 for Atlanta and 60 for Miami. You think you’re going to NOT get canceled at those airports on Spirit? Better start packing your sleeping bag for the airport now. After watching this video and learning Spirit is grabbing up gates they cannot even begin to dream of having flight crew to work, it has become clear that Spirit is defrauding buyers by purchasing gates they cannot operate. They just announced they’re opening a Houston base as well? How? They’re 270 flight attendants and 100 pilots lacking already. Now they’re adding IAH that will require another 200 FAs and 50 pilots?? Get outta here. But not literally, your flight will be canceled.
This is how upset I am at Spirit, I don’t care if they read this as this username is fake and I already accepted a position at Delta. I hope those traitors get fired, but either way my last day is Monday and Delta knows I’m serious about good customer service and reliability.
As a frequent flyer of spirit airlines ..I have had a feeling since the beginning that the merger was a bad idea and I’m so sorry as an employee that you have to face all of that. Thanks for shedding some transparency on the situation also. I wish you the very best on your new job 😃 Working for a dishonest company is a terrible experience..been there myself ..
@CapnKirk55 the word to summarize your reply is corporatism.
In our capitalist system there is absolutely no such thing as loyalty. Betrayals are rewarded as long as they make money for the top dogs
To say Frontier has lower customer service standards is not the best comparison. Spirit is kind of down there too
🤣 I love that you think Delta is going to be better. It's only a matter of time before you cry about working there too. Grow up.
I never thought the route network would be the reason for the merger. If they don’t acquire Spirit, they would be a target for acquisition themselves. They already have the northeast agreement with American.
The NEA with AA will likely be revoked regardless of a NK merger or not. Many lawsuits against it.
The partnership with American is considered unfair by other airlines and they are suing American over it. Just saying
They can’t be bought without be put up for sale though. But, yeah, if they fail here, they are not getting another chance and remain that small airline in the northeast
They should merge with American, but operate as their own entity as they do now with the services they have. Only thing is for American that's probably a no go
@@SAMann729 that would be blocked by the fdc
I don't think Frontier gets enough hate. They truly are awful.
I have never been given a harder sell on a credit card than on a Frontier flight. As a former retail worker, I could feel the pressure the flight attendants were under to sell their credit card with what is probably an absurd interest rate.
I actually think it’s a great idea bc they will hold the cheap end of the ticket. Frontier is stupid they’re not even in ewr . I’ll be using it in august but I’m not too happy I kno they’ll increase all the prices bc spirit already has frontier is still low
spirit are worse IMO, having flown both extensively due to the cheap fares and having also been stranded on several occasions, the constant delayed flights cause missed connections by both... i tend to find the spirit flight attendants to be friendlier, but what good does that do if they show up 2 hours late and cause you to miss your connection
@@bodaciousbeebee thank god they're not in EWR, they're the last company I want to see there 😂
it is a budget airline for a reason
It’s crazy that you mentioned JetBlue feeling larger than it actually is. In my mind, I often forget they exist because I do a lot of east coast to west coast travel, which has never put them on my radar. Probably why they are so pressed to get the Spirit deal.
Very nice video with detailed explanations on all of the aspects of both airlines. I'm a dispatcher for JetBlue and honestly I really haven't been reading the company emails regarding the merger so based on that what you said makes the most sense with me having little knowledge of why they are doing this. When I plan my flights for the trans on tonight so that's we honestly just have everything going into Los Angeles San Francisco and then a few other airports such as Vegas Burbank and San Diego so it actually be nice to have more flight setting to the West Coast and in the general area. I remember when we used to have more of the Seattle and Portland flights heading down south with Dad dwindle down a lot and the only thing that I really see right now is Los Angeles to salt lake and Las Vegas and that's about it based on the shift that I do during the day. We'll see who knows how it's going to go if it does happen all I know is that there will be a lot of changes and we'll have to adapt just like anybody else
Breeze has the widest seating now in the cheaper class (three levels: NICE, NICER, and NICEST). Excellent video.
Nice video!, Love ur channel!
First sight would tell Spirit to go with Jet Blue because they are offering more money, BUT, strategically, Spirit would do better going with Frontier. Why? Because if Spirit and Frontier agree to partner up with Frontier being the leading company and Spirit's CEO becoming the COO, that merger would dominate Jet Blue and eventually put them out of business thus eliminating a competing Airline. I think Jet Blue knows this and is desperately trying to stop it. I don't think Jet Blue even wants Spirit, it just doesn't want Spirit and Frontier to merge.
yes
Spirits primary duty is to shareholders, I want the deal that gives me an extra 15,000 gain on my spirit stock
@@TheConservativeTraveller Jet Blue's offer is All-Cash. That means Spirit stockholders will cash out and have to re-invest in Jet Blue at a much higher rate. All-Cash deals only benefit substantial stockholders with a min of 5 % in a company. As a stockholder, you would want to merge with Frontier and have the company grow. Your stock merges too and grows.
This is probably the most intelligent comment in these postings. However, I do think this video makes a honest and trustworthy point.
No way. It's an all cash offer. In this market condition, getting cash at a much higher premium is no brainer. There will be 2000 better companies than any of these three to invest with that money.
Great video coby!
Tyty
great video as always
Very informative video! EXCELLENT!!!!!!!
Coby, I believe you missed two major reasons JetBlue wants Spirit.... aircraft fleet and their Airbus orders. With the A320 family being so popular, it will accelerate their deliveries. Additional, trained and experienced Pilots.
i am an oakland resident and i have flown a321 neo sfo to bos economy and it was really nice
Thanks Coby. After watching, it makes a lot more sense why JetBlue seems so hell-bent on acquiring Spirit. However, If JetBlue really wants to splash the cash, maybe they should buy frontier post-merger😆. As to OAK, at least it's somewhat connected into BART with that glorified peoplemover to Coliseum Station, for easy transit into SF
In Summary: JetBlue needs to buy Spirit, if they don't... The ULCCs (Frontier+Spirit, and the new ones) will bite off what's left of the leisure market which is still JetBlue's most common customer base. Without scale they can't compete in the Business market with the "big 4" so that's not an option for them either if they lose their leisure customers. They pinned themselves in a corner by staying "in the middle". The middle may have worked for JetBlue 20 years ago when they started, but the landscape has been changing towards the ULCC model since the Great Recession, so the reasons as to why JetBlue didn't see this coming is sort of astounding to say the least. I think the writing was in the wall when Delta and United came in with the "basic economy" fare tier back in 2012-2014. You can see how that simple move by the majors started affecting JetBlue's leisure market because a "basic economy" ticket at the big 4 on paper is a better value proposition in terms of operational reliability, network, and other things and the airline's financial performance started taking a hit because it forced JetBlue to bring their prices down a bit to stay competitive (although on the same token JetBlue did that with the majors, however to the major's benefit they already had economies of scale and higher cost structure experience to manage the profitability of these lower fare tickets, both of which JetBlue presently lacks). This got compounded in 2014 and 2018 when work groups at JetBlue started organizing (rightly so!) and new collective bargaining agreements increased labor costs as JetBlue used to undercut a lot of their costs with employee pay and benefits (compared to the majors) rather than seeking operational efficiencies elsewhere.
I totally get why JetBlue is looking to buy Spirit and its eagerness in doing in so, it's about their survival rather than anything else... Their marketing will say otherwise but they knew if Frontier and Spirit were to merge, overnight the airline would find itself irrelevant. Whatever happens, I think the outcome will be the same higher fares for the consumer, less choices, and perhaps less service in some cities (these mega mergers should have been stopped years ago but that's another conversation). For JetBlue the question is not whether or not they can get Spirit (it is clear they can), the question is can they execute the merger correctly and keep it up afterwards. The jury is out on that one and JetBlue is known for being an airline whose success is measured by their timing than their execution (with some big blunders along their history). Watch this space...
You call this a simple comment ?
@@4evertrue830 Maybe I over did it… 😂
I think jetblue is smarter to lean into “mainline” pricing as they are more expensive than major flag airlines on say the new nyc to London routes but offer a product not worth the increased cost compared to their competitors they would be smarter to go all in as “the best us airline” making their product feel better and more competitive against international airlines and say a brand like southwest than to waste so much time buying spirit to try and be something they are not and will only make us pay more overall! Jetblue will never be a ULCC if they were jetblue would become spirit in this scenario and that’s not going to happen ever! It makes so much more sense to see frontier and spirit merge to offer the same or a better ULCC product that jetblue will never be. Sprit and frontier merged could be a real competitor for allegiant who is dominating medium markets that frontier and spirit used to be major players in that jetblue has 0 intention of ever going to! Jetblue is not trying to expand competition or service it is looking to further solidify its position as a virtual monopoly.
@@damnimloomin I have to disagree. JetBlue is not going to be able to price itself as if they were a major legacy carrier until the millennials are occupying the c suites of the majority of the multinational corporations. The legacy carriers have a higher cost structure than the ULCCs and the middle market airlines like JetBlue and Southwest because of the vastly different service offerings and decades of relationship building. The top 10% of a major airline's customer base accounts for nearly 50% of passenger revenue for reasons JetBlue can't compete with. Corporations are willing to pay big money to get people where they need to be under the right conditions, and JetBlue isn't in the same league.
Flights can be delayed routinely and the company and the staff won't care..... as long as the delay is regularly around the same amount of time so that it can still be planned for. There can be occasionally missed connections if when deplaning from the first flight there is someone greeting the customer with a new itinerary so they don't have to stop thinking about business to waste the day trying to get to the destination. Customer service and airport lounges with all the amenities for conducting business, eating, and resting go a long way. If a passenger is traveling from the US to India for meetings and a change of plans requires a stop in Japan, the airline needs to be able to make the experience for the traveler as thoughtless as asking the waitress for a napkin. JetBlue is far from being able to earn the business of the most valuable airline customers.
That being said, there is a generational shift coming with the millennials. They have spent most of their lives penny-pinching for the sake of the immediate numbers. They don't grasp that paying a little more for better service and options can lead to better decisions and more long-term profits.
Ummm….
That’s quite a summary
I have learned that for certain travel plans Spirit, EasyJet et al. have their place. Whenever we go to Vegas for the weekend we pay the extra money on top of the cheap tickets and get the big comfy Spirit seats and checked bags. When we had to make an emergency trip from Italy to Greece, we went with EasyJet and threw down an extra 10€ for snacks and a drink. I don't always need great service; sometimes I just need to get from here to there and save some $ even with paying for the extras.
Because Bill Franke is involved with both Spirit and Frontier He’ll never let one or both fail. (Even if it’s right by the market) He’ll merge them both to try and squeeze as much profit out before he moves on to his next prey, I mean venture.
He's still around? 😳
Dude must be past or creeping up on 90.
First, JB is thriving at LAX,. Their transcon flights are lucrative and competitive. JB made a wise choice in leaving Long Beach, where Southwest swooped in and grabbed those slots. LGB is a far easier airpot to reach depending on where you are located and LAX is a pain to get to due to traffic. At SFO, JB is NOT at the international gates, but shares a concourse with Southwest where it is similarly doing well. Living in the Bay Area, I can tell you that many locals fly JB as well as many New Yorkers. Regardless, LAX and SFO were never designed to be hubs, so not sure about your point about breaking into the California market. JB is already there and has been for many years. As for Mint, I avoid it. The seats face away from the window and accordingly their premium product did not receive universal "rave reviews". Virgin Atlantic installed the same aisle facing seats, but customer dissatisfaction compelled VA to pull them out. Not sure why JB thinks flying sideways is fun, but it ain't. JB also lacks airport lounges and their food catering is skimpy and limited in Mint. United's Polaris, sold as business class domestically, offers lounges, better seats, larger planes and superior catering. United also has the edge with frequency. But their JFK flts, which are being temporarily suspended until the FAA provides permanent slots, now use tired 757's as opposed to the Polaris product. All the more reason to fly to Newark, which is also closer to Manhattan than JFK and easier to access. American has dedicated A321's for transcon flights and their BC product is very good. Alaska is making inroads, although they have abandoned their LAX transcon flights. Alaska's F class is old school and not in the same league as competitors, but perfectly acceptable for a five to six hour flight. The fact that you don't fly sideways is enough for me to opt for Alaska over JB. I don't fly Delta, because their union busting tactics are in opposition to my principles. Regardless, all airlines have issues when merging cultures and fleets. The UA/CO merger went comparatively smooth, again not sure where you are getting your information. The DL/NW, conversely, not so much due to NW being unionized and DL vehemently ant-union. Many unionized NW employees were retaliated against and terminated. Terrible situation that you seem to ignore. AA/US no better of worse than UA/CO. Interestingly, US bought AA and kept the AA name for brand recognition. Prior, America West bought US, so you could say AA is really America West. Frontier and Spirit have similar cultures and Airbus fleets, a merger would be relatively smooth. A JB/Spirit merger would also work due to fleet commonality, albeit with cultural hiccups. The loser in said merger is the flying public, due to less competition which leads to higher fares and reduced service. What JB really wants is to remain relevant, eat or be eaten. The routes are secondary. I personally prefer Frontier over Spirit, but they both provide inferior flight experiences, but significantly cheaper fares. It's a model that works and fills a niche with the flying public. Lastly, when you showed the airline logos merging, it should have been the United tulip (not the globe) and the Continental globe (not the jet swirl). United adopted the globe from CO, which had already abandoned the jet swirl. Details matter.
As someone who lives in a small town on the west coast, JetBlue merger is appealing. Without JetBlue having the 1 hour connection flights I can't fly them without booking two separate tickets, which always is more expensive. Having spirit would let them do this. I'd rather fly JetBlue over delta/united.
Coby, could you do an update on the plane graveyards where the airlines parked their grounded jets at the beginning of the pandemic? I’m curious how many of them have returned to service, if they’ve changed flags & how that’s affecting the new plane market.
I’m an AA member, and the partnership with JetBlue has seriously benefited myself. If the merger doesn’t happen, I can see JetBlue becoming more of a proxy for American
I hate American so having JetBlue add American flights is a pain for me because I have to double check if I’m truly flying JetBlue or not.
@@linearswitchguy9593 Well nothing really in the past few years but personally I don’t like airbus I think they are too automated and make lazy pilots. I also feel AA in the past has had a bad track record in the 90s and early 2000s. Lots of accidents that were pilot errors
@@linearswitchguy9593
Delta, JetBlue, southwest all have a better track record on safety and pilot errors. And all planes are automated, but airbus prides itself on being an easy drive plane to fly and it’s auto pilot and I think that makes for lazy pilots. Many pilots themselves have said airbus compared to Boeing is an easier plane.
@@LeolaGlamour So you think the airbus is a poor product and makes lazy and/or dangerous pilots. But then choose the airline that exclusively flies airbus airplanes as your favorite.
Good work.
@@jimwarden6419
Yeah it sucks they like went with airbus but delta has a decent Boeing fleet. Southwest also has some Boeings but I know they mostly fly airbus. I’m not too concerned with airbus on US carriers anyways. I’ll still always try to not fly UA and AA.
Awesome review.
4:27 Speaking regarding SFO it's not just slot restricted, but it's a fortress hub for United Airlines/Star Alliance and the lynchpin for their transpacific operations. Most passengers flying in from Star Alliance hubs in TPE, PEK, NRT, and SIN will just hop onto a United Airlines domestic flight if they need to go further into the USA.
Thank you for sharing..
It was nice seeing JetBlue making their flights to Hawaii from the Long Beach city base or station for them. That was nice because Hawaii is serious revenue dollars for the west coast!! To me that was hard to close Long Beach and yes, the highway traffic in L.A. is crazy!! But JetBlue should have stayed there in Long Beach. And now for this year hearing JetBlue from New York flying to London, UK! Well, that is really nice and great revenue dollars. You are right we will see about this merger. And yes, in order to fly long haul coast to coast or over the ocean, having a least Business Class seating cabin is so needed!!! The business travelers men/women and leg room needs a good aircraft cabin space!!!!!!
The merger appears to work well for both airlines. JetBlue and Spirit has its main base in Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, so it will be a plus to handle airport operations.
Your logic is flawed in this aspect my friend... Orlando is a base for Frontier too. Frontier will very soon have a presence that Spirit does not...Frontier is building a maintenance hangar there where as Spirit has no plans...
But screw O'hare airport right?
IMO JetBlue wants Spirit not for its route network (although slots in LAX are an obvious plus) but for its planes. Spirit has a large orderbook and simply put, JetBlue is spread too thin. They need new planes and they need them fast. They can't wait for Airbus delivery slots to open up soon enough, considering all of their expansion plans.
if that's the case they have a lot of retrofitting to do considering Spirit aircraft are not generously layed out. I just want the monopoly of American at DFW to end but that's their hometown. They made flights into and out of Dallas more expensive than it needs to be
@@denziiey then just fly from Dallas love field with southwest? Though yea the monopoly at Dallas fort worth is sad I would want it to end.
@@greymcwhirter6753 I used to fly southwest a lot but now they're getting just as expensive. Plus I'm from the Caribbean and only American has direct flights to my country so Southwest would create more expense. It socks. My family in NY boast $100 tickets while here the average is 5 - 600
@@denziiey oh that makes sense hope that It could become cheaper you to fly there.
@@greymcwhirter6753 I got excited when Jetblue and American formed a partner ship cause now that jetblue flies here o have another option and they're my favorite airline :)
Logan (Boston) airport has a lot of JetBlue so it makes sense that it’s hub is there.
If JetBlue buys Spirit let's hope they do something about those hard seats. JetBlue has the most leg room and comfortable seats.
Don't worry, the current seating will be the first to go lol
Not now, the new interiors made things much worse
See, part of me thinks that it could definitely ruin JetBlue, but at the same time, if they pull it off in the typical amazing JetBlue way, they could make it work, and get the expansion they need. I say, that I hope that they do manage to buy spirit 👍
If Alaska is any hint, no chances Spirit way would left in the post-merger company.
JetBlue they have an amazing employees/ professionals, responsible reliable and VERY SAFETY
They care about safety of passengers, they value safety…
In San Diego CA JetBlue it’s amazing
Good Analysis. I've been following this with much interest (I fly both fairly often). I believe that JetBlue is "buying the routes" for sure. Like you state, it's either that or JetBlue as a little fish gets bought up itself. I hope this makes for a better flying experience once the merger is approved and done (Approval in 2024?). You are spot on about the Continental-United merger screwing up both airlines. I loved United back in early 2000's but it is not good now. Like your channel! keep it up!
Spirit adds not only LAX slots but difficult to acquire aircraft and crew members as well. You make a good point about mergers and cultures clashes. If successful in acquiring Spirit one of JetBlue’s greatest challenges will be spreading its culture to the Spirit crew members while avoiding a clash of cultures between the two employee groups.
In a market like this, diversification is a good thing! I love JetBlue and it’s consistency among all of the airlines. I have yet to encounter a crappy plane which I’ve experienced with American and Delta (even in first class).
Several analyst predict the Justice Dept will not allow the sale of Spirit to either airline due to the small number of airlines competing in Spirit's no frills/no service space.
Alaska airlines overpaid for Virgin America and actually dropped lots of the transcon that virgin America had like LAX to MIA,FLL,BOS,EWR,BOS,JFK and SFO,FLL,JFK,BOS EWR, MIA do to it Alaska couldn’t compete with MInt.At the time Virgin America only had about 60 aircraft which were most lease. versus 174 that spirit has. Alaska pay almost 2.5 billion. So at the end JetBlue made the correct choice. Also you mentioned that JetBlue only cares about routes but is actually the aircraft orders, spirit work force that is most important. Since the pandemic happened jetblue deferred lots of their orders while spirit didn’t. It would take 8 years to get where a combine JetBlue/Spirit would be today.
There are similarities, though. At the time Alaska is facing tough competition from Delta in SEA or West Coast in general, and they were the small fish. They were desperate. Jetblue wasn't (it's still not much smaller than post-merger Alaska), and they knew they could easily win Virgin America's customer.
This time Jetblue is in Alaska's position. OK Spirit's A32X aircraft and personel have more synergies to Jetblue than Virgin's assesses to Alaska, thoguh. Interestingly, it's also Delta that puts pressure on Jetblue.
The real dark horse here is an Alaska / JetBlue merger. Same dedication to customer service, and each has a foothold on half the country. Sure there are a ton of logistical issues (B6 being all Airbus, AS being mainly all Boeing just to start) but it would make the most sense from a competitive edge standpoint. Unfortunately, with the OneWorld entry, I am sure that Alaska's Big dAAddy won't want a new national network airline on their heels.
I KNEW it was because JetBlue wanted to expand. I usually fly from ORF,PHF, or RIC but I don’t think JetBlue flies to any of those. Which is a bummer cause I wanted to fly the mint class.
I am actually rooting for this!!
I wouldn't recommend Frontier or Spirit for more than 3-hour flight. They are comparatively inexpensive but you pay the price in discomfort JetBlue wants a chunk of the market that those Airlines have.
More than a 3-hour flight? I'd say more than a 90-minute flight. The discomfort isn't worth it unless you're desperate. I've had some very poor customer service interactions with Frontier as well when they've lost my bags and wouldn't even get them to my house, but required I travel back to the airport (and still pay the checked baggage fees). People complain about the big airlines, but it's pretty nice to have a huge network of routes, partner airlines and overall positive experience. I traveled 75% for work for years, and I learned to value comfort and consistency.
They definitely seem to want to expand. I noticed they started flying the New York to London route that Norwegian pulled out of during the pandemic. Although their fares don’t seem much less than the major carriers like British Airways.
Simple. It’s got godly margins. The instant you have two bags you’ve just paid what you would have for a regular plane ticket as opposed to a budget one but they don’t have to give you any of the extra amenities that come with that regular plane ticket aside from space for your bags. They can nickel and dime you without damaging the main companies brand while giving revenues to the budget airline entity in order to aggressively advertise so they can nickel and dime even more people. The margins are insane.
Super intersting! Seems like JetBlue has pulley dit off! They are confident the FCC will sign off on the deal.
Also don’t forget Florida. Outside the Northeast Florida is their biggest market, in particular Fort Lauderdale, their third biggest hub. Which also just so happens to be Spirit’s single largest hub. And they both use Fort Lauderdale as a connecting hub, in particular to connect all of the USA with the Caribbean and Latin America. With both of their hubs combined they could create a major and viable source of competition with American’s hub in Miami.
Looks like Jet Blue got their wish! I just got the email with the news. A day before I’m due to travel with JB 😄
JetBlue and Spirit would be amazing!!!
I really miss JetBlue over at Long Beach. Wish they'd come back and make it a base too.
You can blame the local government for that.
@@JasonParker98 I forgot what happened actually. Maybe you have time to explain again.
All these mergers are destroying competition.
You are misusing the term "slots" here. The term is for restricted take off and landing times that you have to have slot to operate a given flight . Only JFK, DCA, and LGA in the US have such slots that the airline has to to have to operate a given flight. The actual constraint here you were referring is gate availability. That's a separate thing than "slot" availability for an airline. JB has no shortage of slots as the largest holder of them at JFK, their largest hub.
As noted the culture blend could be a catastrophic event and represents the greatest risk in any merger. A merger ALWAYS creates a lot of anxiety at the merging companies thus even the "winning" company can see a morale hit.
For my money I would hate to see a Frontier-Spirit merger because the competition reducing strategy is plain as day.
its not a merger as far a Jetblue goes. Jetblue is looking to BUY spirit so all planes and staff will be remodeled and retrained to fit Jetblue's culture, eventually.
Great! It really makes sense now, the only issue imo is that with the Northeast Alliance, the merger might get blocked by the DOJ
I have always wanted to try JetBlue, but I fly from DEN, and they only offer Economy seats here. There are 26 daily non-stops between DEN and NYC; of these, 18 have a First class cabin, and F is always full. While lie-flat seats are a must for international travel, I think it is overkill for domestic travel, even on transcon routes. If JetBlue would consider a standard domestic F seat, they could generate lots more revenue on many routes. United uses a mix of narrow and wide-body jets on their transcon routes, but the fares are generally the same, so they are not getting extra revenue for the planes with lie-flat seats.
The fleet commonality must help also JetBlue will break into new markets in the Midwest for example IND so a merger for airplanes will probably be doable in a year or two
Missed something between east and west coast… The TEXAS hub route market thats booming with the massive East and west coast influx of people moving there.
Dallas and Houston have enormous markets Spirit has established that JB would love to get their hands on. In fact Spirit just announced a Houston crew base to accommodate the booming demand in that city.
Is there any way that JetBlue could acquire Spirit but keep the brands separate? Additionally, if they are separate brands but still owned by the same company (JBU in this case), could routes be swapped between the two? End goal being that JetBlue acquires Spirit, takes their routes in the West, but keeps Spirit alive as a separate brand so as to not harm their own premium brand. I feel like this would be ideal. Tantamount to Air Canada and Rouge, Lufthansa and Eurowings, IAG and Vueling, etc.
I’m wondering what if they go three-way? Spirit gets split in half. Jetblue will take one half (west coast hubs, and planes), while Frontier takes the other half (east coast hubs)
I like the idea of spirit being a subsidiary of jetblue
Love video answer! I would love to fly into Oakland from NYC vs using a partner plane such as American 🙃. I avoid those options when they presented themselves.
Could you make a video about Hawaaian airlines?
This is an excellent summary.
Spirit was JetBlue’s last opportunity to survive.
ps Frontier should be fine. In fact, either way, they’ll thrive. Now, they’ll be the only player in the market (Allegiant kinda fits in here too I suppose)
Why would two LCC’s in any way be good? I think it fits JetBlue more than Frontier or Virgin ever could. Exact same fleet and engines (besides A319s). The JetBlue footprint can be expanded to the whole country instead of being a East coast thing. And Frontier will fill the ULCC void Spirit had. Win win win win for all.
I frequently fly Spirit from San Diego to Las Vegas. It’s a cheap ticket and I only have a personal item. I’m not sure if I want that gone.
Spirit announced that they had to turn down Frontier. Now it's all down to whether Jetblue actually wants to acquire and if DOJ will allow
Nice one
great my ticket from NJ to Orlando will double now.
I don't care about wifi, sat tv, etc.
Just want to get from point A to B on time and cheap. Spirit's prices are excellent. never had a problem
Also, if they kept both brands they could have ever more of the overall market. Even better than some of its competitors
I know United grabbed "low profile" passengers from Continental, but they have a very nice fleet and needless to say about their customer service!
Mom the airbus carriers are fighting again
LOL!
Jet Blue may not be a bottom basement discount airline, but backin the mid 2000's I flew Jet Blue several times because it was the lowest priced non-stop(or single momentary stop in Phoenix) between SoCal and Atlanta. In fact, just to be able to fly a non-stop at a reasonable price, I was willing to drive the 70 miles or so from San Diego to Long Beach for Jet Blue flights (Jet Blue service to San Diego was either non-existent or wasn't to Atlanta). In those days, Jet Blue offered leather seating standard (not just in first class), in flight entertainment and blue corn chips and a meal included in the price. For a 6 hr flight, the leather seating was nice compared to typical fabric seats. The only time I flew another airline (typically Delta which is HQ'd in Atlanta) is when the flight got bumped, delayed or canceled.
Unless things have changed, I wouldn't consider Jet Blue faires anywhere close to the price at Delta, United or American (did I forget any other major domestic carriers?).
Is there a good book on such topics like airline mergers, acquisition?
There is no slot restrictions at LAS or LAX
I like jetblue. I flew them a couple days ago and it was a really good experience. I'd like to see more of them in the future. They could buy them and let them keep flying but use some of their slots spaces
The problem is that everyone loves them but everyone flies Spirit because it’s cheaper.
So it wants those premium customers and parking 😏👉 Great breakdown Coby!
This was a great vid. I was puzzled why JetBlue is fighting so hard to buy spirit. They are trying to win the future. I like Jet Blue so I hope they win.
He means gates, not slots. Very informative piece.
that JetBlue leg room and snack boxes!!!
Wonderful
Cheers… now I know which airline to fly when in the US
In the U.S. of A, How complicated or otherwise is it for am airline to expand to international ops.?
I mean, either do that, routes like central or south America or go across the Pacific.
Or better to cash out and sell.. while JetBlue still has good value in itself.
To go around shoppinglike this might just make 18-20 months more complicated..at the very least. (Assuming the marriage succeeds).
Can you make another one about what you think will happen since Spirit and Jet Blue have agreed to merge?
Will you release a vid on spirits choice
I kind of disagree about the routes being the focal point for the buyout... It's actually the planes and pilots... A lot of recent cancellations are due to lack of flight crew and out of service aircrafts and not having any spares
It's airport slots. Pilots come and go and retire. Aircraft can be sold. The reason are the slots!! Very difficult to get.
It’s definitely the slots! I work for one of the legacy carriers. Everyone knows the airlines are fighting for slots.
It's actually quite convenient to fly into and out of Long Beach airport! It's right off the 405 just just like both LAX and John Wayne/Orange county.
Wow. I had no idea why jetBlue was so fiercely going after such a different airline to itself, nor why they responded so quickly and strongly to Frontier’s bid. After watching this, it’s clear the stakes are *much* higher for jetBlue than for Frontier. Frontier is an established LCC in the regions it serves, while jetBlue serves a niche that relies heavily on premium airport slots. And you’re right, while Frontier could well survive from losing this as they wouldn’t exactly have a competitor in Spirit anymore, this is quite literally jetBlue’s entire future in the hands of a few Spirit executives. It’s kind of ominous that we could well see the first major US airline acquisition in a while if Frontier emerges victorious. I definitely don’t want to see jetBlue fail, so I’m all on their side so they can get those vital slots!
At 1:35 was that footage taken at MHT
I think the planes have a lot to do with it as well. Being the same aircraft type, you wont have to do any retraining. One fly in the ointment would be having to retrofit all the Spirit planes since it would harm the JetBlue brand to fly them as is, so that would mean taking every plane out of service for that to happen. I dont know how long this takes per plane, or if you could do it quicker per plane since you would have such a large number to do, but it will take time. Slots a re a big reason for them to want Spirit, but you have to have the added aircraft to expand, and Spirit's fleet is fairly young. As with all mergers, you will have to blend seniority and some employees will be very happy with this and some who are senior now will be lower on the list. This happens with every merger, but I believe both airlines are Union represented, so it will fall to them to work most of that out.
If route network is the priority, the real match would be JB and Alaska. However, they couldn’t be more philosophically opposed on fleet.
In my opinion, it’s routes and fleet similarity
Sounds similar to here in Canada where WestJet would like to buy Sunwing?
Now the meeting is July 8th!
It might get pushed back to July 29th from what I last heard. Let's hope that the deal is July 8th.
JetBlue-Spirit merger > Frontier-Spirit merger.
6:48 Although United bought Continental, they adopted Continental's globe design. On the right you’re showing two Continental logos, the newest one (1991 - takeover by United) on top and an older one (1967 - 1991) on the bottom.
I would like to see how a new JetBlue would compete against the big 4 airline: American, United, Delta, and Southwest in the market. Good luck.
on a side note
8:28
the baggage is going on a slide
hey Coby.. i have been thinking about an A380neo since i thought about it till now.. can you Explane about it in another Video? just do it even if they're not in production :)
6:50 I don't know how else you could represent it, because yeah, that's the logo United went with for some reason, but seeing one Continental logo eat the other one to represent United was jarring.
Let's do it, I own spirit stock and jet blue, get purchase done, im selling both
I have a very bad experience with this company. They didn't give me back the money for the flight that the
company canceled. Very bad
Wow, they keep kicking the can, now waiting until July 27th to find out the next part of the saga.
7:07 makes me wonder who would buy B6 if it were ever come to that?
I was wrong. I really should have invested in Spirit but I thought JetBlue's bid was just to encourage Frontier to pay more. A 5.6% increase in stock. I hope this doesn't bring JetBlue down because I like the A320 and JetBlue hires some really good pilots.