Spirit Airlines tried to be the Dollar General of the skies. Then the big airlines beat it at its own game

Spirit Airlines is having trouble Justin Sullivan/ hide caption toggle caption Justin Sullivan/ About a month ago, Aran Darling booked a cheap red-eye flight from Los Angeles to New York for a work event. Darling and his significant other, Izzy de la Meme, own a small business named Froot Stand . They buy avocados, tangerines, passion fruit, and other more exotic fruits I've never heard of — like " Finger Limes " — from growers around Ventura, California, where they live, and sell them around the country. A big client had invited him to a food event in Manhattan, and it offered a chance to network and grow their business. Darling felt good about the flight he chose. But, as the days passed, he began seeing some alarming headlines. And he got worried. The problem? The carrier he chose was… Spirit Airlines. Dun Dun Dunnnnnnnnn ! News reports were saying that Spirit, after filing for bankruptcy — for the second time in recent years — was experiencing serious financial turbulence and now might have to be grounded. Any day, it seemed, the airline could go into liquidation. As in sayonara, Spirit — and maybe all of its scheduled flights? Darling anxiously checked online to see whether his flight was canceled. He called the carrier multiple times. He shared his dilemma with Froot Stand's followers on Instagram , telling them he had a Spirit flight in 48 hours with a screenshot of foreboding headlines about the airline's imminent demise. …