Spirit Goes From No-Nonsense to Nice

A sea change is underway at the carrier, with CEO Bob Fornaro eager to offer both low fares and improved customer service.

While it has long been recognized as the go-to carrier for no-nonsense low fares, Spirit Airlines wasn’t always known for its niceties. In fact, Ben Baldanza, who served as Spirit’s CEO and president from 2005 to 2016, led the carrier at a time when it was renowned for providing customer service as no-frills as its fares. But, Skift reports, there has been a change in attitude at Spirit, and the airline is now on a charm offensive to win over those who look for more than low fares.

Under Baldanza’s tenure, Spirit made no bones about its approach to business. The former CEO, the outlet reports, was even known to go out of his way to disparage those who bemoaned the lack of service provided by his carrier. But for most of Baldanza’s time with Spirit, no other airline could touch it in terms of fares.

However, things have changed within the industry and the likes of American, Delta, United and Southwest are now in a position to offer fares that rival those advertised by Spirit. Additionally, another company, Frontier Airlines, has positioned itself in direct competition with the carrier.

Spirit is keen to keep its frugal image, but Bob Fornaro, the carrier’s current CEO, is eager to improve the airline’s customer service standings.

Commenting on the turnaround in an interview last week, the outlet quoted Fornaro as saying, “We ran a very successful financial business, but we ran a very poor consumer business. For the most part, you can only do that for a short period of time.”

It seems that a kinder, gentler era has dawned at Spirit, and this has ushered in a raft of changes. Cabin crew now receive service training and its Twitter feed, which was once manned by a robot, is now updated by a human. Additionally, Spirit has lowered its fees for carry-ons and has even improved its on-time performance.

Speaking of Spirit’s former incarnation, Fornaro added, “We almost went out of our way to poke the customer in the eye. And once a business gets more competitive, you can’t do that anymore.”