Spirit Airlines Adds Extra Legroom Seats, Upgrades, And More: So What?
Spirit Airlines has just unveiled what it’s calling its next major guest experience enhancement. However, the whole thing just gives me very strong ”rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” vibes.
Spirit Airlines has just unveiled what it’s calling its next major guest experience enhancement. However, the whole thing just gives me very strong “rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic” vibes.
Spirit Airlines changes a bunch of stuff, again
Spirit has today announced changes to both its onboard product and Free Spirit loyalty program, as part of an effort to elevate the guest experience. So, what’s being updated?
To start, Spirit is “reimagining” its Go Comfy product. Currently, this consists of seats toward the front of the cabin, with a blocked middle seat. The plan is for Go Comfy to no longer include a blocked middle seat, but to instead include extra legroom. The extra legroom seating will offer 32″ of pitch, 4″ more than the airline otherwise offers (*whimpers*).
Go Comfy will include seven rows of seats toward the front of the plane, for a total of 42 seats. As far as the timeline goes, this will be installed across the “majority of the fleet” in June and July 2025, and then “remaining installations” will be completed at some point in 2026. This new product is available for bookings as of May 15, 2025, and for travel as of July 9, 2025.
Spirit is also improving its Free Spirit loyalty program, both for those with elite status, and for those with a co-branded credit card:
- Members can now redeem points for all travel options, including premium options like Go Big and Go Comfy seating
- Free Spirit elite members and Free Spirit credit card members can enjoy complimentary upgrades to a Big Front Seat and Comfy Seat at boarding, based on availability and status level, with benefits extending to one guest on the same reservation as of June 2025
- Later in 2025, Spirit and Bank of America will roll out two free checked bags for those with the Free Spirit Travel More Mastercard
Here’s how Rana Ghosh, Spirit’s Chief Commercial Officer, describes these changes:
“Spirit’s new premium options offer travelers exceptional value, and we’re creating even more opportunities for Guests to experience them with our new extra-legroom seating option. We’re also adding more value and perks for our loyalty members at a time when others are taking away benefits, giving our most loyal Guests even more reasons to choose Spirit.”
My take on Spirit Airlines’ latest changes
These changes seem… whatever? Objectively, I’m not sure trading an empty middle seat for an extra 4″ of legroom is a good deal. But I guess when we’re talking about 28″ of pitch, maybe it is a good deal. I dunno. And the loyalty changes sound nice, for those who have status or want to pick up the carrier’s card.
But my bigger takeaway is how Spirit is just basically changing everything every several months, and I imagine the clock is continuing to tick.
In late 2024, we saw Spirit file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a process that was completed within months. This helped Spirit’s debt issue, but it did nothing to help Spirit with its problem of losing money by actually flying planes. The airline didn’t renegotiate any labor or fleet contracts.
The airline has been lighting money on fire faster than ever before, and that’s not even factoring in the current situation we’re seeing. In 2024, Spirit’s financial performance was downright horrendous. The airline had a negative operating margin of 22.5%, and had an operating loss of $1.1 billion. With Spirit emerging from bankruptcy, the airline got help with its debt issue, and bondholders injected $350 million into the airline. That’s not going to last long.
In the past, Spirit was an airline with a huge amount of cost discipline, and that’s important when you’re competing with full service airlines. But seriously, what’s Spirit’s strategy at this point?
In mid-2024, the airline eliminated change fees on all fares, only to quietly reimpose change fees several months later. Then the airline introduced Go Comfy with blocked middle seats, only to change it several months later.
Essentially Spirit is just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. The issue is that nothing is going to stick. Like, even the profitable US carriers don’t make much money flying passengers (especially if you take out premium and long haul revenue), so it’s not like any of this is going to work for Spirit.
Sure, it’s nice to invest in the loyalty program, and to try and get people to sign up for Spirit credit cards. But let’s be honest, Spirit doesn’t exactly the most lucrative customer base, and the airline doesn’t have a scaled or concentrated enough network to make major inroads there.
I’m not trying to be a jerk, and I guess the thing is, I don’t actually have a better idea for the airline, other than either giving up or finding someone to acquire the company. But I feel like so many of these “guest improvements” have just worsened margins. Like, Spirit becoming more premium has caused the carrier’s average revenue per passenger to decrease materially.
If there’s any chance of Spirit succeeding, the airline needs a differentiated business model. Instead, the airline is trying to become like everyone else, without the upside.
Bottom line
Spirit has announced some significant changes. The carrier’s Go Comfy product will go from having an empty middle seat, to instead having 4″ extra of legroom. On top of that, we’ll see the airline introduce seat upgrades for elite members and credit card holders. Later this year, we’ll see Spirit add two free checked bags for select card members.
What do you make of these latest Spirit changes?
