Originally Posted by BobSacamano

You can’t say “the problem is that Spirit isn't offering a product people want to pay enough for” and simultaneously deny that ULCCs have a scale problem. People will pay more for a larger network: business travelers and others with the sort of discretionary income that can fund Spirit’s higher-than-2015 costs require frequency and the operational resilience that comes with a larger operation.

Furthermore, the attractiveness of the credit card (and thus its value to the company) is tied to the airline’s scale. What good are points if all I can use them for is a twice-weekly redeye to MCO? People want cards that enable them to actually go places. You need scale for that.

Fact is, the airline graveyard is full of small carriers who tried to offer a nice product without network/scale. You can offer me all the niceties in the world but if I can’t count on going where I want to go (direct) and when I want to go, I’ll choose the other guy.