Really. Take chill pill.

This is a marketing strategy by Spirit. They let out a relatively limited number of seats at ridiculous prices. The word of mouth advertising they get out of that is far cheaper than buying tv time or newspaper and magazine space. If we happen to be the beneficiaries of the strategy, then so be it.

Like Ace said, most people on that plane are paying full fare. And if Spirit gets it's "$9 Club" members to occasionally buy a full fare ticket from them when their travel schedule demands it, Spirit profits.

If you have specific evidence that their maintenance program is below the industry standard, yell it from the rooftops. If your only beef is with the marketing strategy they employ, I don't get your point.

As for the nose gear story, name an airline that hasn't had issues. In my years of flying I have been through half a dozen incidents on planes operated by major airlines. Delta, US Air, Continental, American and a few foreign carriers have all put me on flights that had substantial problems. If I avoided every airline that has had an in-flight situation, I would have to take up hitch-hiking.

If your going to travel, you accept some risk. I don't like it any more than you do, but there's no way around it.

Mountain Dog