Ashley Owens expected Saturday to be stressful. She was, after all, the maid of honor in her friend’s wedding in Las Vegas that evening.
But when she woke up on Saturday, she discovered that her Spirit Airlines flight home on Sunday to Texas had been canceled because the company had shut down for good.
Mrs. Owens and other members of the bridal party suddenly had to make new plans. They were almost late to their hair and makeup appointments for the wedding because they were figuring out how to get new flights.
“We were scrambling,” she said. “It’s insane.”
Mrs. Owens and three others in the bridal party snagged a 1 a.m. flight to Dallas on Frontier Airlines. Other alternatives were too expensive or had extremely long layovers, she said.
As a result of the canceled Spirit flight and because she had to make other travel arrangements, Mrs. Owens said she would have to leave the wedding early.
“I’m the maid of honor and I have to be like, ‘Sorry guys, I have to leave. Congratulations,’” Mrs. Owens said.
Mrs. Owens was among the many Spirit Airlines travelers who found themselves stranded on Saturday morning after the airline permanently ceased operations in the early morning hours.
In a statement just after 2 a.m., Spirit said it had canceled all flights and told passengers not to go to the airport.
On the airline’s homepage, a bright yellow banner declared that the airline was “winding down all operations.”
The budget airline had lost billions of dollars in recent years as it struggled with intense competition at its most important airports — Las Vegas, Florida and New York among them — along with rising labor costs and aircraft maintenance needs.
The airline, which prided itself on being a no-frills option, had filed for bankruptcy in 2024 and 2025.
The company hoped to emerge as a new, smaller operation this summer but those plans fell apart as jet fuel prices rose dramatically in recent weeks, a consequence of the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran.
Kevin Cuba, 27, of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, arrived at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida on Saturday morning, where a law enforcement officer told him his flight was canceled.
Mr. Cuba and his wife had come to the United States for a two-week vacation.
“The expectation was to go back today,” Mr. Cuba said. Instead they will spend five extra days in Florida and $1,200 on a return flight, he said.
Some airlines offered discounted “rescue fares” for travelers affected by the Spirit closure.
Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines have all capped ticket prices for Spirit passengers who need to rebook, the U.S. Department of Transportation said on Saturday. Other airlines offered $99 flights or discounts.
Avianca, which serves many destinations in the Caribbean and Latin America, said on Saturday that it would offer stranded Spirit passengers return flights to their original destinations at no charge, subject to availability and other terms, for travel through May 16. Passengers would still need to pay taxes and other fees.
Spirit said it safely flew more than 50,000 passengers on Friday.
Oslayda Johnson, 34, of Manchester, Conn., was on one of the last Spirit flights to the airport in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., after a vacation in Jamaica.
Ms. Johnson said that the restrooms on the plane had no water, that there was no ice for drinks and that the Wi-Fi available for purchase didn’t work.
She didn’t know that the last part of her trip was canceled until she saw it on the news.
Spirit said it would automatically issue refunds for tickets purchased on credit or debit cards. Ms. Johnson said she received a partial refund from Spirit and was told to take up any refund disputes with her bank.
“Even if they go back into business, never again,” she said.
In Las Vegas, Mrs. Owens said that her group had booked through Priceline, and that Spirit Airlines wasn’t helping with refunds for bookings made through a third-party site. Contacting Priceline is on her to-do list, after she walks down the aisle for her friend.
She had one more complaint about Spirit: Why did it announce it was ending operations after midnight?
“I just don’t understand,” Mrs. Owens said. “Why not shut it down the evening before instead of while everybody is sleeping?”
David Minsky contributed reporting.
Rylee Kirk reports on breaking news, trending topics and major developing stories for The Times.
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