‘Fewer choices = higher prices’: Elizabeth Warren laments Spirit shutdown she helped cause

Last Sunday morning, after 34 years of service, Spirit Airlines announced it's shutting down operations effective immediately after failing to secure a $500 million government bailout amid financial struggles and high fuel costs. All flights are canceled, passengers are stranded and seeking refunds/rebookings, and thousands of people are out of a job.

BlazeTV hosts Stu Burguiere and Dave Landau were not surprised to hear the news.

But Stu says pricey jet fuel isn’t why the company collapsed. “There's been a lot of things that have caused the problems ... for Spirit Airlines over the years,” he says.

The hosts then play a humorous video montage of Spirit Airlines' lowlights, which include several passenger fights, a Spirit Airlines employee angrily yelling vulgar insults at a co-worker, and a baggage handler violently throwing passengers’ suitcases.

All jokes aside, the collapse of Spirit Airlines is bad news for everybody — even people who never flew with the airline.

“The best thing about Spirit was not necessarily flying Spirit; it was the competition of Spirit's prices,” says Stu. “Other airlines had to deal with them, and if they kept prices too high, people would say, ‘Well, you know, Spirit might not be the best airline in the world, but I'm going to take that because I'm saving so much money.’ These other airlines can now be like, ‘Well, we can let prices slide up."’

“It’s already going up,” says Dave, noting that he flies constantly for his comedy tours.

“I want to know where the points are going. I had a lot of Spirit points. You think they'll put them back on my EBT card?” he jokes.

Stu says that according to the sources he’s been listening to, people who booked flights with Spirit points are essentially out of luck.

“If you booked stuff with points, you're basically wiped out. You can put in a claim ... for bankruptcy proceedings to get value for your points. You'll be at the very bottom of the list of people getting stuff back,” he explains.

Some people may have to kiss traveling goodbye altogether.

“A lot of people who the only way they could go on vacation is fly a Spirit Airlines ... now they won't be able to go,” says Stu. “There’s a lot of negatives here.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) apparently agrees.

In response to the news of Spirit’s shutdown, she wrote, “The Big Four airlines (American, Delta, Southwest, United) control 75% of the U.S. market. Fewer choices = higher prices for you.”

“Elizabeth Warren's upset because she's always upset. Everything that's happened is somehow a personal affront to her. And it's always capitalism's fault every single time,” says Stu.

“Four airlines splitting 75% ... is not a monopoly,” he corrects.

“That would be the opposite of a monopoly. That would be a competing market,” quips Dave.

But Warren’s faulty economics isn’t Stu and Dave’s biggest issue with her. In 2024, Warren strongly supported blocking the JetBlue-Spirit merger that many critics say would have saved the airline.

“The reason why Spirit doesn't exist is Elizabeth Warren!” exclaims Stu.

To hear more, watch the episode above.

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