Everyone Complained About Spirit Airlines But It Accomplished Something Most Carriers Never Achieve

With its bright yellow planes and budget-friendly fares, Spirit Airlines took the brunt of a lot of jokes over the years. For several years, Spirit actually received more complaints than any other major airline in the U.S.

Although people loved to complain about Spirit, now that it has had to shut down, aviation experts are reflecting on the fact that it actually had a pretty great track record. Flying Spirit might not have been the height of luxury, but there were other advantages that made the airline stand out.

Spirit Airlines’ record for safety was almost unmatched in the industry, even though it was considered a B-list airline.

Aviation Circle, an air travel news outlet, shared some stats about Spirit Airlines in a Facebook post that a lot of people will probably find surprising. “When Spirit Airlines ceased operations at 3:00 a.m. EST on May 2, 2026, the airline closed the door on a 34-year history of scheduled passenger service with one of the cleanest safety records in the U.S. industry,” they said.

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Apparently, since Spirit opened for business in 1992, there was never a major safety issue for the airline. Every passenger who boarded one of their planes was able to get off safely at their destination. There are only 49 other major airlines that can boast the same.

Aviation Circle noted that the only real “tragedy” Spirit ever experienced occurred on July 17, 2015. When one of the airline’s flights was preparing to land in Boston, there was a “serious fume incident” which sickened both of the pilots. The captain unfortunately passed away 50 days later from what was believed to be “contaminated cabin air,” but the passengers were all completely fine.

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Air travel is pretty safe in general, but the magnitude of the loss when accidents do happen makes it seem extra horrific.

Plane crashes are depicted so much in movies and TV that it almost feels like they’re being romanticized, but they aren’t very common. From 2003 to 2023, U.S. car passengers sustained 47 million injuries, but only 675 injuries were recorded during the same period from flying.

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Still, plane crashes are what make headlines for days, and sometimes weeks and months, after they happen. Knowing that hundreds of lives were lost all at once is traumatizing, and it can make people rethink any plans they have to fly soon after.

Recent events have complicated people’s perception of air travel as well. It feels like there is a report of a new plane incident almost daily, from aircraft nearly colliding on the runway to emergency landings on highways. Still, the data shows that there have not been more fatalities from flying, and that the number of incidents reported to the National Transportation Safety Board has remained pretty steady.

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You could easily assume that Spirit’s clean safety record isn’t all that impressive when flying is pretty safe overall, but that’s not accurate.

The fact that the airline never lost a single passenger is still a very big deal. A 2025 study actually named Spirit the best overall airline, as well as the most affordable and the safest. Many people knew they could turn to Spirit for lower prices without having to worry about their safety in the process.

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Tisha Savage, CEO of the nonprofit Crowns for Change, told USA Today that she was a frequent Spirit customer and always trusted the airline to be mindful of her invisible disability. “Their crews have always brought a sense of ease, humor, and humanity to flying,” she said. “Despite the noise, they showed up, stayed consistent, and continued serving travelers like myself who depended on their affordable and real accessible travel.”

The loss of Spirit Airlines might not seem all that terrible to people who are used to traveling with bigger names, but Spirit gave many people an affordable option when they couldn’t have traveled otherwise. Knowing that the cost of their ticket never meant they were compromising in any other area gave them peace of mind they might not have had.

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.