Originally Posted by
Bluedriver
They also raised the fees for pre-paying for carry-on bags online and at the kiosk. Was that also to change behavior and get people to pay for their carry-ons ahead of time online or at the kiosk?
Neither. It was likely to change the behavior to get more people to check bags - management doesn't run decisions by the line pilots first, so none of us know for sure why it was done.
I take delays for passengers (with their expensive carry-ons which slow them down) much more often then late bags. Maybe this fee change will change behavior, maybe it won't. It will likely increase Spirit's ancillary revenues, helping Spirit's industry leading RASM to CASM spread grow. That in turn rewards our shareholders by increasing the price of our stock, which is management's job.
Spirit is a business, and, as a public company, it exists to reward its shareholders. Only time will tell if Spirit's focus on ultra low ticket costs and profitable ancillary revenue opportunities (at the expense of customer amenities and service) will be a successful long-term strategy, rather than a 'happy employees = happy customers = happy investors' strategy, though, as our CEO has pointed out, a growing airline keeps most seniority based employee groups happy. As line pilots, we provide the best service we can to our customers, but can't control what happens when the door is closed or the decisions of our senior management.