upper management has another problem. They always said nobody paid any attention to Spirit blah blah blah. We are so small, blah blah blah.
Here's a telling snippet from a recent Air Transport World Article
Pricing wars: Ultra-low cost carrier Spirit Airlines is no longer being ignored. US mainline airlines are aggressively matching Spirit’s low fares on routes on which they are going head-to-head with the fast-growing ULCC. American is “all-in now in matching ultra-low cost carriers everywhere,” president Scott Kirby said. Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza conceded that the airline’s 14.8% second-quarter year-over-year RASM drop is 40% attributable to “very aggressive” moves by mainline US airlines to match its low fares. American chairman and CEO Doug Parker said, “Customers care a lot about the price of a ticket and we have to compete on price. That’s what we’ll continue to do.”