Originally Posted by
Super Mario
Then when it goes away, there are complaints that the airlines keep cutting service. There legitimately are people who will pay $100+ more for their flight because Spirit/Frontier do not offer free refreshments. These people may not admit or even understand the psychology of their decisions, but they do it. It is not going to go away because of the "value" to some people. People will LOSE THEIR MINDS when a service stops giving away free liquids.
I think a lot of people have a problem when they see the free liquid disappear but their airfare didn't drop. I mean, in the macro sense we get it: airlines remove something and then are able to better compete and at some point, somewhere, offer a lower fare and still make money on that particular route. But passengers mostly don't make the connection. They just know they've historically paid about $100 to fly from X to Y with four ounces of Diet Coke included, and now they're paying $100 to fly from X to Y without the Diet Coke.
Same goes with any fee. Particularly the bag fee - few if any people felt an immediately $25 fare decrease by not checking a bag.
As for me, I love the fact that Spirit exists. I use them about twice a year out of necessity, often because they're $100-200 cheaper than any other option, even after paying for the big front seat. I wouldn't want to fly them *often*, but in a pinch they'll get me from point A to point B on a reasonably new A320 and I can decide whether I can live for a couple hours without a Diet Coke.