Are US Low-Cost Airlines in REAL Trouble?!

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After a lot of furloughs and staff shortages at the airlines and airports, the airline industry in the United States and elsewhere is finally showing some promising signs of recovery – even if some problems remain.

But what about Low-Cost and Ultra Low-Cost Carriers? Are they recovering in the same way, or… are they actually in trouble, and if so… why?

Stay tuned!
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Below you will find the links to videos and sources used in this episode.

[jenniferdysert]

For me, ULCCs aren’t worth it because of the extra fees that make it just as expensive, and the insanely bad customer service. Frontier ruined all of them for me around 10 years ago when they cancelled our flight with no notice and gave us absolutely zero help getting on another flight. We wound up paying $400 extra per ticket to get on the last seats available on an American Airlines flight 8 hours later, with an additional layover. I spent a good portion of those 8 hours on hold with Frontier trying to get a refund. They were super rude and definitely did NOT want to give any money back. Never again. AA was amazing, and if we had booked with them in the first place, the fare wouldn’t have been that high. I will gladly pay more for a better experience, flexible and refundable fares, honest pricing with no hidden fees, and decent customer service.

[Gltch-ekln]

Im not a pilot, but these videos are always educational and you never loading the videos with useless data. Thank you for always getting straight to the point. I've learned a lot from your channel. Keep up the work.

[mobeus]

I think these carriers need to realize is that passengers do not enjoy being nickle and dimed, offered restricted flight schedules, and then herded into uncomfortable aircraft, and treated like crab by staff.

There is a difference between not offering snacks and meal service, and oh, your bag is 1mm too big GOTCHA, pay $99.

[The_ZeroLine]

I own a low cost airline. My fleet includes me, a two-seat ultra light for “long haul” flights and, for regional travel, a paraglider w/a paramotor and a tandem harness for pilot & passenger. I charge by the pound and mile. The upside is I can pick up and drop off from almost anywhere.

[johniii]

I don't consider Southwest really an LCC anymore. Their costs are are very close now to the big 3 and now it's referred to as the big 4 with them in the US.

[frankpinmtl]

LCC's and ULCC's were also thought to recover quicker because they cater mostly to vacation travelers, which everyone wanted to do, after lockdowns. Legacy carriers, with more space devoted to business pax, also got hurt as people learned to work remotely.

[UTarcher]

I would not consider Southwest a low cost carrier anymore. Whenever I shop them, their fares are almost always greater than Delta, American and United. Sure maybe they sell a few cheap seats, but they are hard to find. To me, SWA is a full cost carrier. Spirit and Frontier are lower cost carriers, but they play all kinds of up-charge games with luggage, food, wi-fi etc so they aren´t much cheaper than the majors.

[SatheeshKuppusamy]

Similar issue faced in Indian aviation by P&W now GoAir is bankrupt, Air India Vistara merger, Spicejet has ownership issues and INDIGO is dominant a whopping 65% of Indian Domestic aviation market

[MaxPower-]

It’s important to understand that in the USA, you really have two very different types of ultra low cost carriers - Allegiant and Breeze which concentrate on flying routes where the origin and/or destination is usually a smaller market vs. Spirit or Frontier which tend to mostly fly between mega metro areas. The latter compete directly with the legacy carriers’ nonstop services while the first two only compete with majors indirectly. As such, they have very different business models and equipment needs. In any case, the low cost carriers have definitely benefited from the overall shift from business to leisure travel post-pandemic. Business travelers were the majors’ most lucrative customers and now a lot of that business is gone forever.

[alexanderordinary]

Me: "The sky is blue"
MentourNow: : "The real answer is actually more complicated"...

[rebeckylee]

Flying Frontier tomorrow from a small airport (TTN) to a large hub (MCO). To me, Frontier makes up its cost in its baggage and individual pricing. I don’t want Discount Den, because sometimes I fly Spirit from ACY to FLL, or MCO. Depends on who has the better arrival schedule time to the destination that I want. Anyway, baggage costs used to range $30-45USD, but now it’s $80+ for a carry-on. Seats were once priced $20, but now they range $35 USD for the rear seats. So, it’s either the club, or pay individually for everything. Or in my case, pay for two clubs. I don’t- but those little things drive the price up fast.
Anyway… did you know Frontier offers “All-You-Can-Fly” passes seasonally and yearly now? Just like Amtrak’s rail pass.

[eduardosanchez]

My very personal take is that the Low Cost airlines lowered the service quality at a faster rate than their prices so many potential customers prefer to pay a little extra for the lowest air ticket in a regular airline. The other view is that the general quality of the flying experience went down so much that many customers are actually paying more frecuently for the Premium Economy and even Business seats (while most airlines actually ditched entirely the First Class approach)

[Joepacker]

I've flown Spirit a lot because of the ultra low fares. This past holiday season I flew back from Orlando on a flight that was only 20% full. It was the fewest number of people on a flight I have ever been on and it only cost me $20 one way. No way they made money on that flight.

[jtcx]

I don't fly Spirit or Frontier. First, they are not as cheap as people think after you add on all the extra costs that you need. Second, the lack of the space on the plane is brutal and doesn't work for my family all over 6 feet tall.

[aviationclipz]

Awesome video again by you and your team Peter! Would love to see one done on the Canadian aviation industry in the future ! Take care 😊

[history_leisure]

Roller coasters do have distinct parts called block zones, so the metaphor is very true since only one train can be in a given block zone at any time

[alexbeuerman]

I once tried to price out the exact same trip on Frontier and United. Frontier charged me $160 for the flights but nickel and dimed me up to $250 to choose my own seats and bring a carry-on bag whereas United included all of that from the get-go for $220 total. The start and end of my openness to flying on a ULCC.

[DRthistle]

It's important to note that the major US carriers make a huge amount of money on their affinity credit cards/frequent flyer programs- so much so that some say they are now as much banks as airlines. Also Delta especially due to being the most technology savvy probably gets the most add-on to fares by tempting with affordable upgrades. I am someone that would never pay full for first class yet I have been upgrading frequently now for additional payment.

[maximusg]

I hope so... As a European I flew with frontier once and never again
.. how they treat their customers is absolutely disgusting

[persjofors]

I find this interesting as Petter talks about the business side of airlines. A couple of things from my own experience. I live in the Los Angeles area and used to commute frequently to The Bay Area (around the San Fransico Bay, for those who are not used to the term.) Most of the time, the only thing that mattered was convenience, i.e., between which airports and what schedule. But occasionally, price became a factor. Surprisingly, I found that the "low cost" alternative (Southwest) was rarely the lowest cost, and legacy airlines often had lower-priced seats. But having been a very frequent traveler for many years, eventually, the severe discomfort of flying means that for any travel with a flying time of less than about 75 minutes (that includes Los Angeles area airports to the Bay Area), I now always drive. It takes about the same time as getting from door-to-door as flying and is a lot more comfortable. It is cheaper, too, since I don't have to pay for expensive parking or rideshare at the departure airport and rental car or rideshare at the destination airport. For longer US domestic flights, I always fly 1st class and international, always business. No matter if it is business or leisure. There is an emerging market of all-you-can-fly membership airlines. You pay a monthly fee and can fly as much as you want. These small airlines operate business jets or turboprops and typically serve general aviation airports. This, in turn, means that passengers can show up 10 minutes before the flight, and all the discomfort and inconvenience of large airports are virtually eliminated.