Spirit Is Back in (Monkey) Business

I've written at length about Spirit's dissembling and obfuscation during the just-ended pilots strike.

Now that flights have been resumed, the airline is scrambling to regain traction with travelers.

According to the airline's website:

We want to thank you for supporting us during this time by giving you an unprecedented offer. Jump start your travel plans with $50 off your next flight AND 5,000 FREE SPIRIT bonus miles. We want to thank you for your loyalty, and we hope you accept this gift on behalf of the entire Spirit family.

Of course, this being Spirit, there's more, or less, to these inducements than the promotional copy would suggest.

1. $50 Flight Discount

The terms of that $50 discount:

Just book by 11:59 PM ET on June 18, 2010 and enter 50OFF (all caps, no spaces) in the Promotion Code box on the home page when booking your flight to save $50 off your roundtrip purchase for travel from June 18, 2010 through November 17, 2010.

The strike ended on Thursday and the discounted booking must be made by end-of-day Friday.  So this "thank you" gift will have been offered for all of 36 hours.

2. 5,000 Free Spirit Miles

Sign up by June 30 to receive 5,000 Spirit frequent flyer miles "posted to your Free Spirit account within 45 days of registration."

Spirit called this offer unprecedented.  What is certainly unprecedented is an airline taking 45 days to post miles to frequent flyer accounts.

Jump Through Hoops, or Hurry Up and Wait

So, a snooze-you-lose discount and a long-time-in-coming mileage bonus -- these are Spirit's marketing tactics to restimulate business.

Draw your own conclusions.  And book your air travel accordingly.

Comments

[luluus]

Said promotion's stinging name: *Strikingly* Low Fares. (My asterisks for emphasis.) I would not have believed it if I didn't see it myself.