Spirit Airlines shuts down, cancels all flights

Spirit Airlines, the pioneering discount airline that shook up the budget travel business, is shutting down its operations. Its demise has stranded thousands of passengers who have to adjust plans and millions who have tickets for future dates — Spirit canceled all flights, shut down its customer service and instructed customers not to go to the airport. Customers with Spirit tickets will be issued refunds, and they have been instructed to rebook travel on other carriers.

The decision will put 17,000 workers out of a job, including 14,000 Spirit employees and thousands of contractors and other people whose jobs depend on Spirit. Eliminating the airline’s flights may also result in higher fares across the entire US airline industry.

0:00 Spirit Airlines halts all flights, begins to shut down operations
0:34 Air traffic controllers wish Spirit pilots well
1:14 CNN correspondent Gloria Pazmino reports from New York's LaGuardia Airport
5:49 ThePointsGuy aviation reporter Sean Cudahy on how travelers can get home and pursue refunds
10:27 Gloria Pazmino speaks with frustrated passengers