US DOT $Spirit Airlines has stopped flying: what happens to your ticket and your money

Checked 15 Sep 2026·14 min read

Spirit Airlines cancelled every flight on 2 May 2026 and began an orderly wind-down; its customer service went with it. What you can still get back now turns on one thing, how you paid. Card purchases, agency bookings and voucher bookings went down three separate routes on the day, and one of those routes ends in a bankruptcy court rather than in a refund.

• US DOT $Refundno fixed cash for a delay; refund after a significant change

Key facts: Spirit Airlines after 2 May 2026

Source: SEC Form 8-K, Spirit Aviation Holdings, 2 May 2026 Ex. 99.1 and 29 August 2025 item 1.03 — sec.gov; Consumer Credit Act 1974 ss. 75, 187(3A) — legislation.gov.uk; 11 U.S.C. 507(a)(7) — govinfo.gov, checked 2026-09-20.

#US DOT $What happened to Spirit Airlines on 2 May 2026?

On 2 May 2026 Spirit Aviation Holdings told the SEC that the company had started an orderly wind-down, effective immediately. The filing says that all Spirit flights were cancelled and that guests should not go to the airport. The group had filed for Chapter 11 eight months earlier, on 29 August 2025.

Source: SEC EDGAR, Form 8-K of Spirit Aviation Holdings (CIK 0001498710), period 2 May 2026, Exhibit 99.1; Form 8-K of 29 August 2025, item 1.03 — sec.gov, checked 2026-09-20.

The wind-down statement is not a press report. It is Exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K, headed “Spirit Airlines Begins Orderly Wind-Down of Operations / All Flights Have Been Cancelled” and datelined Dania Beach, Florida, 2 May 2026.

The bankruptcy it refers to began the previous summer. The 29 August 2025 filing records that Spirit Aviation Holdings and Spirit Airlines, LLC filed voluntary petitions under chapter 11 of title 11 of the United States Code, and the accompanying release names the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The filing we read states no case number, so none is printed here.

Save two documents before you do anything else: the booking confirmation showing what you paid and how, and the cancellation notice. Every route below asks for both.

#Who was supposed to refund your Spirit ticket?

Three routes, split by payment method. Spirit said on 2 May 2026 that it would process refunds automatically for flights bought from Spirit on a credit or debit card, that guests who booked through a travel agent should contact that agent, and that bookings paid with a voucher, a credit or Free Spirit points would go through the bankruptcy process.

Source: SEC EDGAR, Form 8-K of Spirit Aviation Holdings, period 2 May 2026, Exhibit 99.1 — sec.gov, checked 2026-09-20.

Read that table as a statement of intention made on the day, because that is all it is. The exhibit records what the company said it would do; it is not evidence that any particular refund reached a card. Nothing we have read from the court, the claims agent or the regulator confirms the outcome.

The middle row was where passengers got stuck first. On 2 May 2026 u/summerx145 posted on Reddit’s r/spiritair, after calling the agency that sold the ticket: “I called them last night and they said to go through Spirit and that there’s nothing they can do.” That is one passenger report and the thread does not say how it ended.

#How do you ask for the money back now?

There is no airline desk left to ask. Work out which card paid for the ticket, put the booking confirmation next to the 2 May 2026 cancellation, and take both to the card issuer in writing; the section 75 and chargeback steps set out which route to try first. If an agency sold you the ticket, ask the agency first and keep its answer: a refusal in writing is the document your bank will want.

#Do the US refund rules still give you a route?

None that the rules themselves describe. 14 CFR part 260 sets the federal refund duty, 7 business days for a credit card purchase and 20 calendar days for other payment methods, but the words “cease”, “insolvent” and “bankrupt” appear nowhere in its eleven sections. The rule assumes a carrier still there to pay.

Source: 14 CFR part 260 (current text) — ecfr.gov; US DOT, Fly Rights (last updated 26 September 2025) and Honoring tickets of insolvent airlines (last updated 6 December 2012) — transportation.gov; 49 U.S.C. 42303 — govinfo.gov, checked 2026-09-20.

Spirit Airlines delay compensation was never a federal entitlement in the first place. DOT’s Fly Rights guide, last updated on 26 September 2025, says that for domestic itineraries airlines are not required to compensate passengers whose flights are delayed or cancelled, and that compensation is required by law on domestic trips only when a passenger is bumped from an oversold flight.

Two sections show the assumption plainly. Section 260.10 requires the refund to be made in the original form of payment. Section 260.11 makes a contract of carriage inconsistent with the part an unfair and deceptive practice under 49 U.S.C. 41712. Both are addressed to an airline that exists, and neither survives its disappearance by its own terms. The routes that still work once a carrier has gone are compared on airline stopped flying or went bust.

The Department’s only page about insolvent airlines was last updated on 6 December 2012 and is about Vanguard Airlines, which stopped flying on 30 July 2002. Whether DOT still processes a complaint against a carrier that has ceased operating, and whether it could extract a refund from one, we could not confirm from any current DOT document. So this page does not tell you that a DOT complaint will produce money, and the DOT refund rules page describes a duty that needs a live carrier to bind.

One myth is worth killing while you are here. 49 U.S.C. 42303 circulates as an emergency provision for stranded passengers. In the United States Code it is headed “Use of insecticides in passenger aircraft”.

Not your situation? This card is about a carrier that stopped flying. For a flight still in the schedule, find which law covers your flight; federal rules for carriers still operating sit in the US DOT hub and the delayed and cancelled flight rights guide, and departures from the UK fall under UK261.

#Can your UK credit card issuer pay under Section 75?

Above £100 and not more than £30,000 is the window. Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 gives the cardholder the same claim against the card issuer as against the supplier, and makes the two jointly and severally liable. Debit cards sit outside it, and only the cardholder can use it.

Source: Consumer Credit Act 1974 ss. 75, 75(3)(b), 75(4), 187(3A) — legislation.gov.uk; Cooper v The Freedom Travel Group Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1557; Steiner v National Westminster Bank plc [2022] EWHC 2519 (KB) — caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-20.

Section 75(3)(b) removes the claim “so far as the claim relates to any single item to which the supplier has attached a cash price not exceeding £100 or more than £30,000”, so it is the cash price of the item that counts, not the sum that went on the card.

Debit cards fail on structure, not on policy. Section 75 needs a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement, which needs arrangements between the creditor and the supplier, and section 187(3A) makes arrangements for the electronic transfer of funds from a current account count for nothing.

Two judgments narrow the section further. In Cooper v The Freedom Travel Group Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1557, the Court of Appeal held that “debtor” in section 75 means the contractual debtor alone, so a travelling companion named on the booking who is not a party to the credit agreement has no claim; the decision binds courts in England and Wales. In Steiner v National Westminster Bank plc [2022] EWHC 2519 (KB), a payment routed to a trustee company that was itself the card merchant created no section 12(b) agreement with the supplier, and the High Court dismissed the appeal.

Two questions this page cannot answer. No judgment we have read decides whether a ticket bought through an online travel agency acting as merchant of record satisfies the section 12(b) test, and no authority we have read says how the section treats a supplier outside the United Kingdom. Put the claim to your issuer in writing anyway, and ask it to name the condition it says fails.

#How is a chargeback different, and does it cover a debit card?

A chargeback is not law: section 75 is a statute, while Visa’s rulebook describes its own rules as a binding contract between Visa and each member bank. The Financial Ombudsman Service tells consumers that a bank does not have to raise a chargeback. It does reach debit cards, which section 75 cannot.

Source: Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, edition 18 April 2026, s. 11.10.2.4 and s. 11.1.2 — usa.visa.com; Mastercard Chargeback Guide, 19 May 2026, chapter 2 — mastercard.com via Internet Archive capture of 24 July 2026; Financial Ombudsman Service consumer and business guidance — financial-ombudsman.org.uk, checked 2026-09-20.

Insolvency is the word that moves the clock. Visa’s dispute 13.1, Merchandise/Services Not Received, normally makes the issuer wait 15 calendar days, and a footnote to the table removes the wait: “The waiting period does not apply if the Merchant is insolvent or bankrupt.” Mastercard is more explicit still, allowing the issuer to charge back immediately rather than wait 30 days “upon learning the merchant will not provide the goods or services (for example, for the merchant is no longer in business)”.

The outer limits stay. Both schemes work to 120 calendar days from the transaction or from the date you expected the service, and neither allows a dispute more than 540 calendar days after the original transaction. Mastercard carries a separate ground for travel services arranged through an online travel agency or tour operator that “is no longer in business”, which is the agency’s failure, not the airline’s.

The ombudsman’s consumer wording is deliberately softer: “You usually have around 120 days to raise a chargeback about goods or services”, and time limits “might be longer or shorter depending on the circumstances”. Its guidance to firms adds the limit that matters most here: a chargeback only covers the amounts paid by card, while a section 75 claim is the whole claim you had against the supplier.

Write the date into the dispute itself. One line saying the merchant stopped trading on 2 May 2026 is what takes the waiting period off your case.

#What if you paid with a voucher, a credit or Free Spirit points?

$3,800 per person is the ceiling on priority. Spirit said that compensation for bookings made with a voucher, a credit or Free Spirit points “will be determined at a later date through the bankruptcy process”, which means a claim in the Chapter 11 case rather than a refund.

Source: 11 U.S.C. 507(a)(7) and 104 — govinfo.gov; Judicial Conference adjustment notice, 90 FR 8941 (4 February 2025) — govinfo.gov; CAA, What does ATOL protection mean and What ATOL doesn’t cover — atol.org, checked 2026-09-20.

The priority exists and it is small. Section 507(a)(7) of the Bankruptcy Code gives seventh-place priority to an individual’s claim arising from a deposit made before the case began, for services for personal, family or household use that were not provided. The printed figure is $1,800, adjusted every three years under section 104; the Judicial Conference notice of 4 February 2025 took it from $3,350 to $3,800 with effect from 1 April 2025, and that adjustment does not reach cases commenced before that date. Spirit’s case was commenced on 29 August 2025, so $3,800 is the number. Anything above it ranks as a general unsecured claim.

ATOL does not fill the gap, and the CAA says so in terms: “If you purchase an airline ticket from an airline or travel company and you receive a valid e-ticket in exchange for payment, the ATOL scheme does not cover this flight.” Its exclusions page is blunter still: “You will not be able to submit an ATOL claim for a cancelled flight.” The e-ticket that landed in your inbox is the tell.

Keep the voucher number, the original payment and the dates together in one file. A bankruptcy claim is proved by paperwork, and nobody will reconstruct yours.

#Where do you escalate if your bank says no?

8 weeks is the first deadline that is yours rather than the bank’s. The FCA’s Handbook requires a firm to send a final response by the end of eight weeks from receiving your complaint (DISP 1.6.2R), and you then have six months from the date of that response to take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Source: FCA Handbook DISP 1.6.2R and DISP 2.8.2R — handbook.fca.org.uk; Limitation Act 1980 s. 5 — legislation.gov.uk; Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 s. 6 — legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-20.

DISP 2.8.2R sets the outer edges. The Ombudsman cannot consider a complaint referred more than six months after the final response, or more than six years after the event complained of, or, if later, more than three years from the date you became aware that you had cause for complaint.

In England and Wales an action founded on simple contract cannot be brought more than six years after the cause of action accrued, under section 5 of the Limitation Act 1980. Scotland runs a five-year prescription under section 6 of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973. When the six years start running on a section 75 claim is not settled by anything we have read, so count yours from the payment, the earliest date it could run from.

#If the bank rejects your claim

Make the refusal specific. If the issuer turns down section 75, ask which condition it says fails: the cash price of the item, the identity of the debtor after Cooper, or the arrangements point from Steiner. If it turns down a chargeback, ask whether it raised one at all and under which reason code: the scheme rules leave that to the bank, and the ombudsman reviews how fairly it decided. The refused claims map covers the other regimes.

Cards for three other US carriers: Frontier Airlines, JetBlue and Southwest Airlines, each with its own DOT dashboard values.

General information, not legal advice. For your own case, put the claim to your card issuer first, and take a refusal to the Financial Ombudsman Service or a consumer adviser.

#Sources

• SEC EDGAR, Spirit Aviation Holdings Form 8-K, period 2 May 2026, Exhibit 99.1 (“Spirit Airlines Begins Orderly Wind-Down of Operations / All Flights Have Been Cancelled”) - sec.gov, checked 2026-09-20.
• SEC EDGAR, Spirit Aviation Holdings Form 8-K, filed 29 August 2025, item 1.03 (Chapter 11 petitions) - sec.gov, checked 2026-09-20.
• US Department of Transportation, Fly Rights (last updated 26 September 2025) - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-15.
• 14 CFR part 260 (refunds), current text - ecfr.gov, checked 2026-09-20.
• US Department of Transportation, Honoring tickets of insolvent airlines (last updated 6 December 2012) - transportation.gov, checked 2026-09-20.
• 49 U.S.C. 42303 (use of insecticides in passenger aircraft), US Code 2024 edition - govinfo.gov, checked 2026-09-20.
• 11 U.S.C. 507 (priorities) - govinfo.gov, checked 2026-09-20.
• Judicial Conference dollar-amount adjustments, 90 FR 8941 (4 February 2025) - govinfo.gov, checked 2026-09-20.
• Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 75 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-20.
• Consumer Credit Act 1974, section 187 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-20.
• Limitation Act 1980, section 5 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-20.
• Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, section 6 - legislation.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-20.
• Cooper v The Freedom Travel Group Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1557 (Court of Appeal, 25 November 2022) - caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-20.
• Steiner v National Westminster Bank plc [2022] EWHC 2519 (KB) (High Court, 10 October 2022) - caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk, checked 2026-09-20.
• Visa Core Rules and Visa Product and Service Rules, edition 18 April 2026 - usa.visa.com, checked 2026-09-20.
• Mastercard Chargeback Guide, Merchant Edition, 19 May 2026, chapter 2 — mastercard.com, read from the Internet Archive capture of 24 July 2026 - web.archive.org, checked 2026-09-20.
• Financial Ombudsman Service, goods and services bought on credit (consumer and business guidance) - financial-ombudsman.org.uk, checked 2026-09-20.
• FCA Handbook, DISP 1.6.2R and DISP 2.8.2R - handbook.fca.org.uk, checked 2026-09-20.
• UK Civil Aviation Authority, What does ATOL protection mean and What ATOL doesn’t cover - atol.org, checked 2026-09-20.

#FAQ

Is Spirit Airlines still flying?

No. All Spirit flights were cancelled on 2 May 2026, when Spirit Aviation Holdings told the SEC it had started an orderly wind-down, effective immediately, and said guests should not go to the airport. The group had filed for Chapter 11 on 29 August 2025.

Who refunds a Spirit Airlines ticket now?

It depends on how you paid. The company said on 2 May 2026 that card purchases made with Spirit would be refunded automatically to the original form of payment, that agency bookings should go back to the agent, and that vouchers, credits and Free Spirit points await the bankruptcy process.

Can I claim a Spirit Airlines ticket back from my credit card?

Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974 makes a UK credit card issuer jointly and severally liable with the supplier, for a single item priced above £100 and not more than £30,000. Only the cardholder can use it, and debit cards are excluded by section 187(3A).

What happens to Free Spirit points and Spirit vouchers?

They go into the Chapter 11 case. Spirit said such bookings "will be determined at a later date through the bankruptcy process". A passenger deposit ranks as a priority claim only up to $3,800 per individual under 11 U.S.C. 507(a)(7); the rest is a general unsecured claim.