Originally Posted by
tzskipper1
In cases similar to NK's, the credit card companies routinely increase the "holdback" money (a percentage of the price of a purchased ticket). This is held back money that (I believe) the credit card companies pay the airline once the purchased flight is completed. So in a sense, if the airline shuts down, a ticket purchased with a credit card can be refunded back to the affected passenger.
The "holdback" by the credit card companies cut both ways though; it places limits on a carriers cash flow at a time most needed.
US Bank, Spirit's credit card processor is actually holding most of Spirit's "cash on hand" to do just this, refund tickets in the event Spirit closes doors.
In other news Spirit filed its February operating report and even after all the cost cutting and returning leases is still had an operating loss of $58M in February, over $2M a day. I can't imagine that's not at least $4M a day now with fuel prices where they are.