Travelers are yet to process the impact of the departure of Spirit Airlines, which has a large network in the Caribbean.
For some routes, Spirit was the only airline operating them, and repairing these gaps will take time and require leadership from existing carriers.
But for others, Spirit was the cheapest. At least that’s how it was perceived.
If you look closely, you’ll see that Spirit doesn’t always have the cheapest fares, and cheaper fares are still available on other airlines.
What’s the best example? From New York-LaGuardia to San Juan.
Last week, a Spirit fare from New York to San Juan was about $320 round trip.
Today I found a nonstop flight from New York to San Juan, Puerto Rico on JetBlue for just $257. And United was $257 and Delta was $297.
This corresponds to late May and early June, based on Google Flights portal data.
Fares on Spirit’s LGA-SJU route continued to increase over the next few months, mostly around $300, according to what is still shown on the extant portion of Spirit’s website.
That said, it’s not necessarily a huge change from an affordability standpoint, and some great rates still persist. Whether that’s still the case is another question without Spirit’s ability to set a floor on airfare pricing.
