Hadn't thought about that... A couple years ago my company sent me to a supplier's plant in Illinois near Springfield, and rather than a nonstop on Delta to STL (only an hour's drive away), our travel agent booked us on United to SPI via ORD. Our morning flight out of DTW was canceled due to a mechanical problem, and the rest of the flights out were booked. We ended up delayed 8 hours, but it would have been a full day if they hadn't been able to rebook us on Delta that afternoon. When you need it, it's nice to have that flexibility. So it sounds like Spirit might not be worth the risk after all.