Originally Posted by
jsloan
Spirit's business model is entirely different from UA's, and they're doing quite a few things that United can't do themselves, like pay their employees substantially less than UA does. Spirit's cost per available seat-mile is about half of UA's, meaning that they can actually profit on economy passengers -- but most of their profit is coming from ancillary charges. $55 -- each way -- for a carry-on paid at the airport, for example.
How is that different from UA? Look at the amount they took in last year in fees. That doesn’t even include people who paid more for regular economy to be able to carry on a bag or select a seat.