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Spirit Airlines is shutting down, marking one of the most significant airline collapses the U.S. travel industry has seen in decades. In this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down what finally pushed Spirit over the edge, from rising fuel costs and failed merger attempts to the growing dominance of the major U.S. carriers.
They also explore what the shutdown means for travelers, JetBlue, Fort Lauderdale, and the future of the low-cost airline model in America. The conversation then shifts into Skift Research’s new report on destination loyalty and why travelers return to certain places again and again. Surprisingly, the data shows that repeat visits are not driven primarily by how much travelers enjoyed a destination. Instead, comfort, familiarity, affordability, and emotional ease play a much bigger role in building long-term destination loyalty.
Sarah and Seth also unpack why repeat travel changes as people get older, how family travel shifts consumer behavior, and why destinations may need entirely new strategies if they want visitors to keep coming back.
Watch This Episode
Transcript of This Conversation
This transcript is generated by artificial intelligence.
Welcome back, everybody, to the Skift Travel Podcast, and the number of the week is zero.
That is right, zero Spirit Airlines airplanes will be flying around after the bankruptcy that rocked at least everybody in the travel world’s weekend, this past weekend. And I am sad, Seth.
I am a Michigander, and Spirit had one of its hubs in Detroit. And I was a frequent flyer, man. I was a member.
I had loyalty points that went away.
I agree with you. I, Spirit got so much more hate than it deserved. It’s just not fair.
It’s just not fair. Ryanair thrives on the hate. They feed on the hate and people love them for it.
And poor Spirit Airlines, they just do the same thing and they got killed for it.
Yeah. And it was so perfect for me too, because like, so I live in New York, my parents are the ones that live in Detroit. That’s where I was raised.
But so like, I still have like more stuff than my parents would probably like me to have at their house, right? So I didn’t need that checked bag, right?
Yeah, totally.
They secretly kind of like it, like up in like the upstairs loft, like over the garage, there’s like a little card pinned up that says that my dad has pinned up that says something like, you know, it’s not an empty nest until your kids get their shit
out of the garage. None of which has actually happened.
It’s amazing. I’m just glad. Yeah.
They can just be happier on your own phone plan now, though. You know, that’s the true Marko.
There you go. There you go.
2:09
Bag Fees and Cheap Fares
And so anyway, I never needed that checked bag, so I enjoyed my $79 round trip to Detroit.
I mean, that’s the whole thing. They get in charge for the bag is the game now. Like that’s not like they.
It was more than the flight sometimes.
Yeah.
But where, you know, I mean, you only had yourself, come on, I don’t want to blame customers here, but you only had yourself to blame if you showed up for a Spirit Airlines flight and you’re like, oh, there’s a booking fee, there’s a baggage fee.
Correct. Come on, you know what you’re flying.
Correct. Exactly. Exactly.
2:41
A Rare US Airline Collapse
So yeah. So, you know, it’s kind of a big one. This was the first, like Europe seems to be kind of okay with or used to airlines shutting down, coming and going.
This is a big one for the US. The US hasn’t had a major airline liquidate. And what was it?
Like, do I hear 25 years? Something like that.
It’s been a long time.
It’s been a while.
I don’t know the exact number, but it’s certainly, I mean, we certainly had consolidation, right? Yep. We’ve had Alaska.
People have bought each other.
Alaska and Virgin, now Hawaiian, are merging.
I mean, even back in the day, Northwest, Delta, like we’ve had plenty of airlines, great airlines that ceased to exist because they were merged or subsumed or evolved into something else.
But to have an outright failure where they just put the clothes on and stop flying. Yeah.
Left people where they were.
Yeah.
3:39
LaGuardia Marine Terminal Fallout
Did you see the coverage about, this is a hyper local lead in to the Spirit Airlines story. But I am a huge fan of LaGuardia’s Marine Air Terminal. I think we’ve actually discussed that on this podcast before.
Yes.
Yes.
No.
I have what is to happen to the Marine Air Terminal. I also love it because you can get through it like that.
You get through security like that. It’s an Art Deco masterpiece. It’s a piece of Pan Am and aviation history.
So it was always one that I really enjoyed flying through, and that was where Spirit set up their New York City base. And I read a whole story about how basically the terminal is like, I mean, it’s not even open. They didn’t even post TSA there.
It’s literally not functioning right now.
I didn’t realize Spirit was the only barrier.
Spirit was the only client, I think. Yeah. It used to be JetBlue, but now JetBlue is moving operations.
Well, somebody can take that over and make it into a wonderful thing.
I mean, you’re not kidding about the Art Deco. For anyone who has come through LaGuardia and gets to go through that terminal, it really is like a, I don’t know, it’s like a blast from the past. It’s a bit of a little museum in and of itself.
4:50
What Killed Spirit
So our crack aviation reporter, Magnum Maharishi and I was on a live or oh yeah, a live reaction podcast with her last week.
You may have listened to that if you’re a real airline, airline weekly nerd, but she wrote the obituary for Spirit. But the truth is she wrote that obituary five times. She had pre-written it and pre-written it and revised it.
What do we think in the final estimation, what killed Spirit? What’s the cause of death?
I think the cause of death was gas prices, oil prices. I mean, it just has to be that because I think that that’s the thing that changed. That, you know, because it’s been going on forever.
I mean, when did this really start in earnest? 2022, maybe? I mean, it’s been going on for years.
5:37
DOJ Merger Block and Bailout Debate
It started under Biden because we knew that Spirit wanted to merge with First Frontier and then old JetBlue outbid Frontier, and Spirit was open to either, then it really wanted to merge.
And under President Biden’s Department of Justice, they objected on antitrust grounds, which is certainly going to be a source of sore spot. It got to be a sore spot. I think it’s interesting.
The question is, did the DOJ kill Spirit Airlines or set up the setup, set them up for this? Or did they prevent Frontier and JetBlue from getting dragged down by an airline that was going under anyways?
That’s another topic of conversation that I’ve been thinking about a lot.
Well, one of the interesting things that I’ve been reading, and I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this one, is just the kind of disagreement between Secretary Duffy and Secretary Letnick about whether Spirit deserved a bailout or
not. And yeah, and Sean Duffy just saying basically, no, if it’s going to fail, it’s going to fail. And Howard Letnick wanted the Trump administration to give them that $500 million lifeline right at the end there, but it was not to be.
And it’s interesting with airlines, it’s like if the government’s going to get involved. We’ve talked about this before too. It’s like airlines and like electric companies, right?
Like they’re the biggest of the institutional, you know, if you’re public private type things that we’ve got going on here in the United States of America anyway.
And I don’t know though, I just, I kind of wonder what would have happened if all three of the big low costs in the United States would have like gotten together and joined up and tried to do a thing.
Well, one will hope that they will fill this vacuum. I mean, one of our day two stories is that JetBlue has been adding flight capacity into Fort Lauderdale, which was Spirit’s other major hub.
I mean, Spirit basically had three hubs, Detroit, New York, and Fort Lauderdale. And JetBlue has been trying to grow at Spirit. Spirit’s loss is their gain, their hope.
They’re similarly, they’re not ultra low cost, but they are similarly positioned more budget-friendly carrier. They do have more premium seat in accommodation, and they are the second-largest carrier into Fort Lauderdale.
By a long shot, for context, and I’m rounding the numbers, Fort Lauderdale last year was served by about 20 million airline seats in terms of airlift.
Spirit was 5 million, JetBlue was 4 million, and whoever is number three, I don’t remember, is like 2 million. So it’s like, and the list just goes down from there. So between those two airlines, they are 50% of the traffic into Fort Lauderdale.
So they may not formally merge, but their planes are going to be up for sale. Their routes are going to be open for competition. Their gates are going to be up for sale.
So maybe JetBlue actually picks up. Maybe they will get to do their merger after all and just do it on the cheap and in parts instead of as a whole.
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, what do you think if you’re reading the tea leaves from this, both from a government perspective and from an airline perspective, what does it tell you?
What does it tell you anything about, at least this administration’s capacity or appetite to let things fail, to let capitalism do its thing?
I don’t know. We are talking about the bailout. So I think that it’s just such a fascinating saga, right?
Because we’re alluding to Spirit has basically, I’ve watched a lot of The Pit, so I’m like a real emergency doctor room.
Yeah. So I’ve seen season one, not season two. No spoilers.
No spoilers.
But you have been watching, so I think I’m in medicine. So I think they actually call them frequent flyers.
This patient has been a frequent flyer in and out of the emergency room for a long time now, which is I guess part of the saga is that this is finally coming to an end. But this has been a long time.
Oil prices was the nail in the coffin, but it’s not like it was the only thing. There was multiple contributing factors.
And what’s so interesting is that how the government has played a role consistently in the story, back with the DOJ antitrust case and now with the decision to bail them out and then ultimately not bail them out.
I think that we famously from 2008 and 2009, the global financial crisis, we had too big to fail. I think Spirit was too small to save.
Yeah. Well, that’s a good one. That’s a good one, Seth.
It’s like a soundbite right there. Should write that down for next time you’re on TV. Yeah.
Because I mean, if we were talking about American Airlines failing, we were talking about United Airlines or Delta Airlines failing, I think the conversation, the phone call that you want to be on the fly in the wall for between Lutnick and Duffy, if
I also don’t even think it would be a conversation.
You’re right.
It would be a no-brainer.
Yeah. Exactly. They get to continue.
Where poor Spirit charging for water does not.
10:48
Low Cost Model Under Pressure
I think this though does raise this really big question about what’s happening to the low-cost model in the United States.
Is the low-cost airline down in the United States? I have some opinions and I’ll share them, but I want to ask you this, Sarah, what do you think is going on? Don’t people want to deal?
Why are these low-cost airlines? Do you have any thoughts on why these low-cost airlines? Because even though Spirit went under, it’s not like JetBlue or Frontier have been having a great go of it either.
Yeah.
I mean, I think that people would rather fly one of the big three, as long as the price is somewhat competitive. And that’s what I think personally, what I think happened. Like, for example, as a frequent Spirit flyer, I will give you an example.
I don’t know, I had to go to some bachelorette party or wedding or something. I had to get somewhere. I had to get to Michigan.
And my Spirit flight got canceled. And I was panicked. I almost drove through the night to get to where I needed to go.
If I was an American Airlines customer or Delta customer or United customer, they just would have put me on another plane. You know, but like Spirit doesn’t do that.
And I think for many people, the big three, they came in and they were able to compete on price enough where people just chose them. And I see that. So people do want a deal.
But increasingly, Delta United and American have been giving them that deal, that basic economy. No, even on Delta, no pretzels, no water anymore. Right?
And your short little puddle jumper flights, no more snacks.
I think that is exactly precisely right. Because we talk about airlines as infrastructure, as transportation, as critical as part. And what good is infrastructure if you can’t count on it?
What good is your water utility if you turn the taps and no water comes out?
And I think you’re exactly right, which is that as the big airlines have segmented their cabins and started selling basic economy tickets, they get close enough in price, but they are far superior even at the lower price points in, well, we’re going
to have five flights a day, so it’s okay. And it’s not even about the five flights a day, it’s about as it happens to all of them eventually, but like Southwest had this like, do they wind up with pilots and flight attendants out of position and
planes get stranded and people get stranded and that hard reset that’s really hard to do, it’s much easier to do. I actually think you’re right, it’s not even like premium versus low cost, it’s the resurgence of hub and spoke flying because people
want the reliability of knowing if I’m flying out of a hub, I’m happy to take the basic economy, but I know I’m in a hub and I know they’re going to have pilots and planes and all this stuff so that if something goes wrong. Somehow.
Somehow I’m getting out of here.
Yeah.
Because everyone’s like, and it happens in the camp, like even forget like, you know, happens in the camp, forget weather, like if the plane has an issue and you’re in wherever, and this happened to me and you’re in Belize, this happened to me in
Belize, I’m not trying to pick on them, but it did, and the plane breaks down, we’re going to bring another plane, it’ll take six hours to get here. Whereas this has also happened to me in Newark, which tells you a bit about the airline I fly in
Newark. And they’re like, all right, hang on, we got one parked over here, we’ll go grab it. We just got to get the keys. That makes a huge difference.
14:26
Who Wins Next JetBlue
Well, rest in peace Spirit, who do you think is going to be the big winner?
Who’s your call? Is it JetBlue?
JetBlue.
Do you think JetBlue is the one they’re going to reap? What about Frontier?
I don’t know that Frontier has the network. JetBlue has built more, in the low-cost world, they don’t call it hub-and-spoke. They talk about banks, which is when you put a lot of airlines.
Like they have mini-hub. Basically JetBlue has mini-hubs. New York and Fort Lauderdale are two of them.
They have more aircraft, and they’re much farther along in their premium journey. Mint, which is the JetBlue business class, is a product that people really love. They’re building lounges.
So they are starting to look more and more like a Southwest, I mean not a United, but a Southwest.
At the same time that they’re going to have these low-cost passengers, they’re also going to have more premium seats to pay the bills, they’re going to have more low-cost, they’re going to have more network. They’re trying to get that direction.
The question is, can they get there fast enough? Losing one of their strongest competitors in two of their strongest markets probably helps buy them more time to get to where they need to go in their ongoing transformation, in my opinion.
15:39
New Report Destination Loyalty
Yeah.
I heard you have a new research report coming out.
Yeah. Just published. Just published this week.
Tell me about it.
We are publishing, well, we have published by the time you’re listening to this.
Even right now as we talk a lot, even if you were listening to this live, we’ve published a new research report on destination loyalty. We’ve lots to talk about loyalty, right? We’re talking about hotel loyalty, hotel airline loyalty.
In fact, airline loyalty is a big part of this spirit conversation. But what about destination loyalty? What gets travelers to go back and repeat visit to a destination?
That’s the topic of this research report.
Is it because they like it? I mean, that would be my, I would go back because I like it? Is that what you found?
No.
That’s what’s so exciting about this. It’s not it. Yeah, I know.
It’s super counterintuitive.
So do tell.
Yeah. So people don’t go back to destinations because they like them. That is the real big counterintuitive find in from this research.
They have to like them, but that’s not the big driver. It actually turns out that there are a lot of destinations that people go to, and they’re sort of a bucket list or their destination. They don’t see themselves going back to it.
And sometimes, ironically, you can go and you can have a great time, and that takes it off. Wow. I really loved my trip to X-1.
I saw the Statue of Liberty.
Yeah, I saw it. Or maybe New York’s not the best one. Maybe I saw the Eiffel Tower.
I came, I saw I Conquered.
I bought the Postcard, I loved it.
17:12
Why Loyalty Is Hard
And people, there’s a lot of destinations that people go to. They loved it. And they said, well, great.
I’m glad that was such a great trip. I don’t need to go back there now. So what drives loyalty?
I mean, you does have to be a good experience. No one goes back after having a terrible experience, but it’s not having a good experience solely that causes people to come back. But actually, let me pull up this chart that we’ve got.
Again, if you’re a listener, I’ll talk you through it. If you’re a viewer, you’ll see it popping up on your screen very shortly.
17:40
Survey Chart Surprise
And so, to exactly this point, I think this is the chart that really speaks to this. Where we asked a bunch, we did a survey, 500 travelers, we asked them, how likely are you to return to the destination you visited?
Very likely, somewhat unlikely, neutral, somewhat unlikely or very unlikely. So it was like five point scale. And then we asked them how likely they would be to recommend the destination that they just visited to a friend.
That’s called a net promoter score. You take promoters versus detractors. And what we expected to see was this black line, which says the highest NPS is strongly correlated with likelihood to visit.
So what we, you know, and so if you had a really high NPS, you’re really likely to come back. And then if you have a somewhat lower one, you’re somewhat likely and then so on and so forth. That’s not what we find.
We find the people with the absolute highest net performance, net promoter scores are very likely to return. That makes perfect sense. The people with the second highest net promoter scores are somewhat unlikely to return.
It doesn’t actually work that way, where it’s not really about, did you, I mean, if you truly loved it, fell in love with the place, then yes, you’re going to come back.
But the average tourist who just goes and has a great time and says, would you recommend this for your friend? Absolutely, I would. All right, where are you going next?
Well, I got to go. I just was in Europe. Now I got to go to Asia.
Now I just was in the East Coast. Now I got to go to the West Coast. So we have this other slide actually shows what actually drives Repeat Destination.
19:04
What Drives Returns
It’s about feeling comfortable. It’s about safety and security. It’s about welcoming and friendly community.
It’s about local food and beverage experiences and it’s about affordability. These are the things that really matter for people to come back. They’ve got to not just love it, but they’ve got to feel welcomed.
They’ve got to feel comfortable. They’ve got to feel like they’ve got more and more stuff to come back and do. That’s what really makes people return.
It’s interesting.
As I’ve gotten older, I have started going back to the same places.
19:32
Family Comfort Factor
Since I’ve gotten older and had kids, I think it was the emergence of the tiny people on the scene that really changed this. But before I had kids, I probably wouldn’t repeat places.
But once they came along, I have a favorite spot and I’ve gone back there so much that my children now who are teenagers, are like, we don’t want to go back, mom. Like it’s boring. But I’m like, I do.
You know, I’ve got the whole thing down. Like I know exactly what I like and I like it. And you know, they’re the ones that want to try something different now.
Yeah.
I mean, we see that that came through loud and clear in the research family. So I think family is a huge part of it. Where when people really want a place that they can enjoy quality time with family, that’s the kind of place they come back to.
Because it’s just easier. And then there’s that level of comfort, where you know what you’re doing.
I think, what were you saying to me about, you said something really, what you said to me, Sarah, when we were talking about your favorite destinations.
Yeah.
20:37
Jumpstart Vacation Mode
So it takes, like especially I think for Americans, like we only get, you know, 10, a meager little 10 days off per year. And so when you’re going on vacation, like it takes a bit of time to like get into vacation mode, right?
For me, it’s like three days, like three whole days, start feeling the chill. But it’s a lot easier to do that, I think, when you’re going somewhere that you know, and that you’re really familiar with, and that you’ve been before.
I think it’s harder when you’re both having to kind of like shut your brain off from like work mode and figure out a new city or a new town. And all this stuff, like figure out where to eat, where to get your coffee. It’s always a big one for me.
I think that was a really wonderful insight, and I think incredibly meaningful.
I kind of wish we’d put that in the report, and we could still go and edit and add in, because it is like value for money.
Because you know the destination, you are getting more quality, not just vacation days, but quality vacation days out of a destination.
You know all the tricks.
Yeah, you know exactly. You know all the shortcuts, you know the tricks, you know what to do. You’re able to jumpstart not your physical vacation, but your mental vacation.
Mental vacation.
I think that’s so key.
In that chart I had up earlier, reasons for returning or not returning, the bottom reason, least likely to cause someone to return, was unfinished exploration, which as someone without kids, it’s sort of counterintuitive.
You want to always have more, always have more, always something new for someone to see. And it’s like, actually, people can go, they can have a great time, and they can still not return.
Actually, people can go, they can have a good time, they cannot finish everything they need to finish, and they still may not return because they might just say, it’s not worth it. I got the gist of it.
There’s more to do and maybe I’ll be back around, but I got 80% of the trip. What people are really looking for, especially with high repeat visitors, is that comfort, is that ability to jumpstart their mental vacation that you just talked about.
And it takes a special kind of destination to build towards that. You have to market properly.
22:42
Strategy For Destinations
Well, I was just going to say, so what does that mean for destinations?
This will be a fascinating one for them and for hotels, I suppose, and everybody else who profits and makes money from tourists coming to a place.
Yeah. I think what it means, it has a lot to do with your marketing and how you frame it. I think that the right message in is important.
Yes, there is something to do with, I mean, we’re talking about comfort, we’re talking about safety, we’re talking about affordability.
Those are things that DMOs really can work for, especially DMOs when they’re not just destination marketing organizations, but they’re destination management organizations.
So ensuring that you have accessibility and not just like, wheelchair access, but like actual like translations and signs and subways that are easy to use or buses and that sort of stuff.
We know that affordability is a big concern, and this is sort of where over-tourism comes into the conversation, even where the conversation about New York City and affordability, where if a city is not affordable for its locals, it’s probably not
affordable for its tourists. It’s certainly not affordable for a tourist who wants to come back five times like a local would. Like local affordability is even more of an issue for a repeat tourist than a one-time tourist.
And then it has to do with the whole report goes deeper in death. But tourists want to hear from you after they leave.
And so how you communicate with people post-booking and help them set the right stage and set the right mindset, also pre-booking communications, this is for hotels in terms of what to expect.
And then, yeah, I mean, how you advertise and market your destination, whether you’re, you know, marking as an adventure destination or an exploration place or whatever, right?
Like we’re trying to be very focused on decisions here at Skift and make helping you make better decisions as the listener of this podcast or the reader of this report. You do need to make a decision to have a repeat visitor strategy.
I think that’s the big takeaway, is just saying that we’ve got a great destination with a lot of stuff to offer that people love, is not a repeat visitor strategy. That’s a great, I mean, it’s a great destination.
It’s a great problem to have, but that’s not a strategy. You have to decide specifically to target and market and build inventory and infrastructure for the repeat visitor if you want to have that kind of a business.
Is there anywhere that you haven’t gone back to that? Actually, no. Is there anywhere that you’ve gone twice?
Plenty of places.
I mean, there are some for-
Yeah, so you do go back. Let’s just take family trip. Let’s take family trips where it’s not your main decision out of it.
Where you’ve gone back willingly and just like, yeah, I just want to go to that place again.
25:15
Repeat Travel Examples
You’ve just given me an opening to talk about my favorite topics, Sarah.
You know what it is, right?
It’s scuba diving. Let’s hear it.
It’s scuba diving. I go to the Cayman Islands often. It’s not a family trip, but it’s exactly the same sort of reasons that you discussed.
That comfort, and it’s known the routine. So I’ve got an operator that I love to work with in the Cayman Islands. Cayman Islands is a very expensive destination, and I found a short-term rental that is much more affordable.
I found where to go grocery shop, and I’ve learned how to do that. And the flights to Cayman themselves are actually quite affordable. It’s actually, we can talk about this later.
It’s actually a really interesting strategy because Cayman runs its own airline and they act like a mini spirit. And there was a study that said whenever a spirit enters a new market, fares fall.
And Cayman Islands kind of uses its airlines like a spirit to put themselves in a market, not necessarily to win share, but to make sure that fares fall.
Yeah. That is super interesting.
And so there’s cheap fares, expensive hotels, but once you figure out how it works, you can find more affordable options, and then you can comfortable.
And where’s in a normal destination, and my love is scuba diving, I do it with my wife, and we’re always a little nervous the first day of a scuba trip, or the first of any, actually any extreme sport.
I’m sure it’s true of, I don’t know, skydivers or mountain climbers or whatever, or marathon runners. If you’re in a new location, even if it’s an activity you’ve done a million times, you’re nervous, you don’t really know it works.
Every place has its own customs, traditions, and ways of doing business. And when you know those already, you can say, all right, well, actually, I don’t have a lot of time.
I only got four days, but I know I’m going to get eight dives in and I know exactly where I’m going to stay and I know how to do the whole thing and I don’t need to think too hard about it.
So there’s a family trip that I drive the repeat destination. What about yourself? Do you have anything like that?
Any places that you visit time and time again?
Yeah, so I’m not going to name them because I don’t know why. It just feels weird. But there’s an all inclusive in Mexico that I just love.
I mean, I’ve probably been there like six or seven, eight times, and I would go back without my children, which I never ever thought I would do, to an all inclusive resort. I’m one of those who would think snobbly about that.
But no, I just really love it. It’s got the best beach that I’ve ever been to. So that’s why.
When you’re home in your second home in Michigan, now you no longer find the Spirit, and it’s still your home because you still got stuff in the garage, and your dad’s in the garage.
Where’s the next trip for you, Sarah? You say, we won’t name specific names. You say XYZ destination, and they go, what?
No, you can’t go there. That is a killer. That perception is a killer.
So I think that’s another big part of it. When you tell someone you’re going back to XYZ resort or whatever, no one bats an eye. That’s another great part of it.
So I think the commonalities that we’re talking about is these are places, whether they’re specific hotels or specific experience or just a vibe, an island or a place or a city, that have a great product, a world-class product, a world-class beach, a
world-class dive resort. If it’s a city, people go back to London all the time, Paris, world-class culture, bakery, arts, whatever it is. You got to have that, but then you got to make people feel, you got to make it easy.
You got to make people feel comfortable. You got to make it affordable for them to come back.
You got to let them get into that vacation mindset easier, and you’ve got to do that on the first trip and also in your pre-trip and post-trip marketing to make sure that happens.
29:02
Winners And Losers
So let’s do some winners and losers this week.
Do you have a winner of the week, Seth?
Well, I said earlier, I think JetBlue is the winner of this week.
So I can’t decide if I think that Jeff and Lauren Bezos are the winner of this week or not. I can’t tell. I’m of course talking about the Met Gala.
And I don’t know, I don’t know.
I don’t know if our listeners will be, have been plugged in to the controversy about the Met Gala here in New York, and about how the Bezos is kind of, I guess sponsored would be the right word, hosted the affair this year.
And a lot of people thought it was the- I don’t know. Yeah, exactly.
I was going to say tacky, but gosh is probably the better word. But by all accounts, Jeff and Lauren Bezos are having a blast at their life. And so like, I don’t know, like winners, losers, I’m not sure.
I think they’re winning.
Are they the winners and is-
Yeah.
Is- Oh my God. Well, I don’t know, is Anna Wintour the loser and Jeff Bezos the winner?
Well, that is an interesting question.
30:22
Pop Culture Pivot
I think one of the other things, this is nothing, having nothing to do with travel now, we’ve just completely pivoted.
One of the most interesting things I think of the marketing around the Double Wears Prada 2 is just how much Anna Wintour has profited or taken that for herself.
How much she uses that now, because that really wasn’t how it was right at the very beginning, 20 years ago when that book came out.
Yeah. Well, she was the villain. Yeah.
Oh, absolutely. We’re discussing an old movie, but Anne Hathaway got the Redemption arc, but Anna Wintour was the villain. It’s like the episode.
Meryl Streep’s character.
Meryl Streep’s character.
Who actually didn’t come out to Miranda Presley?
She came out pretty well in that original movie too.
I was watching at home, we were watching, there’s a clip from The Office. Now we’re really dating ourselves.
We’re in the office where Michael Scott starts walking in the Delaware Prada and starts acting like Miranda Presley, but he hasn’t finished the movie and he doesn’t know that she’s the bad boss. Yeah.
And he’s like, this is how bosses are, this is a management technique, this is how we manage. And in that clip, by the way, he’s watching it on Netflix by DVD.
Oh, you know, I got that. I had Netflix by DVD. I’m now dating myself as well.
Yeah. So I remember the time when I learned about streaming video and thinking, huh, interesting.
Can I name a winner?
Yes.
And I will tie this back in because you’re saying that Delaware’s Prada 2 has nothing to do with travel. And yet I was just flying and on my flight, the in-flight tracker had integrated Delaware’s Prada 2 advertising sponsorship.
And the logo for the plane, not the plane, but the logo for our progress bar, for how much longer we’re on the flight, was Delaware’s Prada 2 branded progress bar on my flight.
Well, there you go. I mean, you just can’t escape us, like the travel industry. Like we’re everywhere.
We’re omniscient, we’re everywhere. I mean, I think you brought up the pit. Did we talk about this, about how when I went to the Ahoa conference?
They mentioned the pit.
Pittsburgh.
Yeah.
You didn’t tell me. No, you didn’t. I don’t think you did.
Oh, yeah.
So I went to this conference, which is the Asian American Hotel Associations. It’s their big huge event. It’s trade show, it’s everything.
HBO had a huge booth. It was all about the pit and their reps there were dressed as doctors. I actually stopped by, I’m like, what are you guys doing here?
He’s like, well, every hotel room has a cable package. I was like, of course, of course. So there you go.
Yeah.
There you go. It’s all integrated.
33:22
Wrap Up And Goodbye
Well, I think that’s enough winners. That’s a lot of winners and losers there between the Met Gala, Devil Wears Prada 2, Spirit Airlines, JetBlue, and HBO.
Neryl Streep.
Yeah, HBO. What’s going on?
Michael. What was his last name?
Scott.
Michael Scott.
He’s in the loser category.
All right, everybody. Thanks for listening.
See you next week.
We’re going to stop talking. Okay, bye.