Spirit Airlines adapts to stay afloat: What to know about new changes
(NEW YORK) — Spirit Airlines is shifting gears from its famously no-frills service to offer new fare options that include premium seats, carry-on baggage, Wi-Fi and even snacks.
The ultra-low-cost Florida-based carrier announced “a significant transformation” to its pricing structure on Tuesday with new ticketing bundles and more perks for passengers.
“We’re unveiling a new era in Spirit’s history and taking low-fare travel to new heights with enhanced options that are unlike anything we’ve offered before,” Ted Christie, Spirit’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.
Christie said the changes were a result of customer feedback from guests who want “choices for an elevated experience that are affordable and provide unparalleled value.”
The changes come on the heels of a similar announcement from Southwest Airlines earlier this month. The Dallas-based budget carrier said it would add assigned seats and a premium cabin, promising full details to come in September at the company’s investor day.
What to know about new changes on Spirit Airlines
Starting mid-August, Spirit Airlines will offer four new flexible travel options for travelers to choose from that range from elevated to economical, all without change or cancel fees: Go Big, Go Comfy, Go Savvy and Go.
Go Big includes a Big Front Seat, which has extra legroom, a wider seat, additional cushioning and no middle seat; snacks and drinks, including alcoholic beverages; one carry-on bag and one checked bag; priority check-in and boarding; and streaming access with high-speed Wi-Fi.
Go Comfy offers increased comfort and space with a guaranteed blocked middle seat, one carry-on bag, one checked bag, priority boarding, a snack and a non-alcoholic beverage.
Go Savvy gives passengers the choice between one carry-on bag or one checked bag and standard seat selection during booking.
Go, the airline’s base-level fare, provides options to purchase trip extras after booking including checked bags, standard seat selection, Wi-Fi, and snacks and beverages.
Travelers will be able to book the new options online at checkout starting Aug. 16 with the new guest experience changes rolling out by Aug. 27, 2024.
Priority check-in
Starting Aug. 27, passengers who purchase the Go Big fare class — or are Free Spirit Gold members or Free Spirit World Elite Mastercard holders — will be able to use a dedicated priority check-in line to access the first available ticket counter agent. The new lines will roll out at more than 20 airports.
Enhanced boarding experience
Spirit’s redesigned boarding process will have five groups with priority boarding available to Go Big and Go Comfy fare-classes, Free Spirit Gold and Silver members, Free Spirit World Elite Mastercard holders and active-duty U.S. service members, plus spouses and children who are traveling with that service member.
Expanding guest benefits, flexibility
The airline now offers no change or cancellation fees for all guests, regardless of ticket type, a checked bag weight allowance up to 50 pounds, and extended future travel voucher expiration, now up to 12 months.
(NEW YORK) — Vice President Kamala Harris has received endorsements from most of the nation’s top labor unions, with a key exception: The International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, who leads the union of 1.3 million members, drew attention last month when he spoke at the Republican National Convention, praising former President Donald Trump as “one tough SOB.”
The speech followed a visit by Trump to Teamsters headquarters in January, but little has been known about what Trump told some union members, the executive board and O’Brien at the meeting months before the RNC.
Details about Trump’s visit, first reported by ABC News, reveal an effort to woo meeting attendees with labor-friendly views and a promise of political access if the Teamsters went on to endorse him, according to an account published last month by the Teamsters in the union’s quarterly magazine.
“Before departing the union’s headquarters, the former President directly told those in attendance that the Teamsters would have a seat at the table if a potential endorsement was made for a second administration,” the Teamsters magazine said.
Speaking with Teamsters members at its national office in Washington, D.C., Trump described union contracts as an effective means of winning wage gains amid high inflation, the union said. Trump also said he agreed with attendees who voiced support for antitrust policy and who described the strong potential for growth in the U.S. labor movement, according to the union’s account.
Trump appeared to voice views friendlier to unions than he has shared in some other appearances on the campaign trail. Some positions he offered up with the Teamsters stood in contrast with stances his administration took while he was in office.
“The former President often pointed to persistent inflation as a detriment to any marginal gains achieved by workers to increase their wages but acknowledged that union workers like Teamsters were much more likely to get ahead thanks to strong collective bargaining agreements,” the magazine said.
The Teamsters did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did the Trump campaign.
In response to a previous request for comment, Teamsters Assistant Director of Communications Kara Deniz told ABC News the Teamsters has traditionally endorsed a candidate for president after the party conventions.
“We are on our timeline and continuing to engage our members in this process,” Deniz added.
To be sure, the magazine sent by the Teamsters to its members included accounts of roundtables held with President Joe Biden, as well as third-party candidates Robert Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West. Last month, the Teamsters invited Vice President Kamala Harris for a discussion at the union’s headquarters, the union said in a post on X. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the invitation.
The Teamsters is currently carrying out a vote among its members on who the union should endorse, the union said in a post on X last week.
During the roundtable discussion in January, which the union said lasted more than an hour, Trump declined to offer a firm view on potential legislation enshrining “right to work” nationwide, the union said. Rather, Trump said, such legislation should be left up to the states to decide for themselves, according to the union.
Currently, 26 states have enacted right-to-work laws, which allow workers to opt out of membership in a union at their workplace. The laws are widely opposed by unions in part because studies have shown that states with right-to-work laws have lower unionization rates.
In declining to support a nationwide right-to-work law, Trump bucked the position of more than half of the Republican members of Congress, who’ve signed onto such a measure introduced last year.
As president, however, Trump voiced support for right-to-work laws.
“The president believes in right to work,” then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer said at a White House press conference in February 2017.
More generally, the favorable attitude toward union contracts that Trump expressed in the meeting contrasts with efforts taken by the Trump administration that made it more difficult for workers to form a union.
Trump appointees at the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that sets labor rules, for instance, expanded the length of time between when a union files for representation and when an election takes place. That additional time affords greater opportunity for anti-union employers to dissuade workers.
At the meeting, Trump also told Teamsters members that he felt public sector workers should have the same rights as union members at private companies, according to the account published by the Teamsters last month.
However, the Trump administration filed a brief in support of plaintiffs in a 2018 Supreme Court case that struck a major blow to public sector unions.
In Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Trump-appointee Neil Gorsuch cast a decisive fifth vote that made it illegal for public sector unions to charge so-called “fair share fees” to workers who opt out of belonging to a union at their workplace.
Labor unions widely condemned the decision, saying it would deny unions crucial funds that allow them to advocate for all workers at a given employer.
The remarks made by Trump at the meeting with the Teamsters sounded a more positive tone toward unions than he has expressed in some other settings during the campaign.
In an interview on Monday with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, Trump praised Musk for what he described as a willingness to fire employees who go out on strike. Federal labor law prohibits the termination of workers for engaging in a collective labor action, such as a strike.
“They go on strike. I won’t mention the name of the company but they go on strike and you say, ‘That’s OK. You’re all gone. You’re all gone. Every one of you is gone.’ You are the greatest,” Trump told Musk in an interview broadcast on X.
O’Brien sharply criticized the comments on Tuesday.
“Firing workers for organizing, striking, and exercising their rights as Americans is economic terrorism,” O’Brien said.
The United Auto Workers filed federal charges against Trump and Musk on Tuesday over the remarks, alleging that the comments amounted to threats that workers would be fired for going on strike. Musk did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
At multiple fundraisers this year, Trump urged CEOs to make large donations because unions are giving significant funds to Democrats, the The Washington Post reported last month.
Art Wheaton, the director of labor studies at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Buffalo, New York, said the comments made at the Teamsters meeting appear to be in keeping with efforts Trump has made to woo other constituencies.
“He likes to speak to whoever the audience is and say good things about them,” Wheaton told ABC News. “With this audience, he did not want to appear anti-union.”
“He seems to pander to his audience, which is not unusual for a politician,” Wheaton added.
(Bloomington, Minn.) — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, has enacted economic policies in the state on key issues like job creation and taxes.
The track record, stretching back to 2018, indicates how he may approach such issues if granted the nation’s second-highest office.
His positions could also help shape perceptions of the Harris-Walz ticket on the economy, which ranks as one of the most important issues among voters.
Here’s what to know about where Walz stands on key economic issues:
Jobs
During his tenure, Walz has sought to boost employment in Minnesota.
In 2020, he enacted the $1.9 billion Local Jobs and Projects Plan, which invested in construction and renovation projects as a means of restoring employment after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Still, the state has lagged behind the nation as a whole in the number of jobs created since the outbreak of the pandemic. Total nonfarm payrolls in Minnesota have grown by just 0.5% since 2020, which lags far behind a rate of 5.8% nationwide over that period, according to a Reuters analysis of data released by the Bureau of Labor statistics.
Walz has signed into law a series of measures viewed as pro-worker. Last year, Minnesota established paid sick and medical leave, banned non-compete agreements and expanded protections for Amazon warehouse workers. In May, Minnesota enacted a measure providing a raise for Uber and Lyft drivers while averting a threat made by those companies to stop doing business in the state.
The AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor organization, praised the selection of Walz as vice presidential nominee. “We know that Gov. Walz will be a strong partner in the Harris White House, fighting every day to improve the lives of workers in communities across America,” AFL-CIO President Liz Schuler said in a statement on Tuesday.
Taxes
Last year, Walz enacted tax reform legislation that included a child tax credit worth up to $1,750 for each child 17 years old and younger in households earning up to about $96,000 a year
In addition, Walz expanded tax exemptions for social security payments as well as income resulting from student loan forgiveness.
To help offset these tax cuts, Walz enacted tax increases for some wealthy individuals and corporations. The state imposed a 1% surtax on capital gains, dividends, and other investment income that exceeds $1 million in a year. He also raised taxes for corporations that bring in a portion of their revenue abroad.
Minnesota is expected to end 2025 with a $3.7 billion budget surplus, according to a projection issued in February by the Minnesota Department of Management and Budget, a state agency.
“Minnesota stands apart from the pack with a moderately progressive tax system that asks slightly more of the rich than of low- and middle-income families,” the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a non-partisan think tank, said on Tuesday.
Tax Foundation, a non-partisan advocacy group focused on tax reform, on Tuesday pointed to Walz’s record of supporting some tax increases.
“Gov. Walz’s tax policy record is notable because of how much it contrasts with broader national trends,” the organization said. “In recent years, most governors have championed tax cuts. Walz, rare among his peers, chose tax increases.”
Economic growth and inflation
In recent years, economic growth in Minnesota has trailed the rate of growth in the U.S. overall.
In 2023, inflation-adjusted gross domestic product in Minnesota grew 1.2%, less than half of the 2.5% expansion nationwide, U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis data showed. The previous year, Minnesota’s inflation-adjusted GDP grew nearly one percentage point slower than the rate nationwide, according to BEA data.
Inflation in a key metropolitan area of Minnesota, meanwhile, is lower than the nationwide average.
As of May, prices in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area rose 2.6% over the previous year, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. Consumer prices increased 3.3% nationwide over that period, BLS found.
(NEW YORK) — The major stock indexes dropped significantly on Friday after a weaker-than-expected jobs report stoked worries of a possible recession.
In early trading, the S&P 500 was on pace for its worst trading day in about two years. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen nearly 800 points, or about 2%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq had fared even worse, dropping more than 2%.
The stock decline on Friday followed unsteady performance over roughly the past month. Until then, stocks had enjoyed strong gains this year.
From the outset of 2024 through Thursday, the S&P 500 had climbed more than 15%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq had also seen double-digit increases.
The selloff is concerning since it’s rooted in a labor market cooldown that may signal a wider economic downturn, investors told ABC News. However, the solid state of the economy may very well allow it to weather the difficulty and send stocks back toward gains.
“We don’t think it’s the start of a bear market,” Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist at LPL Financial, told ABC News, ruling out the possibility of an outcome in which a stock index has dropped 20% below its most recent high.
“Today’s weaker economic data is certainly concerning,” Turnquist added. “We don’t think it’s pointing to an imminent recession, but it certainly changes the narrative.”
A weaker-than-expected jobs report is fueling concern about a potential recession and calls for an interest rate cut.
Employers hired 114,000 workers last month, falling well short of economist expectations of 185,000 jobs, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed. The unemployment rate climbed to 4.3%, the highest level since October 2021.
Still, the unemployment rate remains at a relatively low level in historical terms. Gross domestic product data last week showed that the U.S. economy grew much faster than expected over three months ending in June, according to the Commerce Department.
“The stock market is churning as investors try to figure out if current valuations are justified given the softening economic data seen in recent months,” Clark Bellin, president and chief investment officer at Nebraska-based Bellwether Wealth, told ABC News in a statement.
“Stock market volatility is very normal, and we believe the economy is still on a sound footing,” Bellin added.
The fresh jobs data extends a monthslong stretch of economic performance marked by the key conditions for a rate cut: falling inflation and slowing job gains.
In recent months, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has shifted focus to the central bank’s responsibility for maintaining a robust job market, in addition to its goal of controlling inflation.
“For a long time, since inflation arrived, it’s been right to mainly focus on inflation. But now that inflation has come down and the labor market has indeed cooled off, we’re going to be looking at both mandates,” Powell said last month at a meeting of The Economic Club of Washington, D.C.
On Wednesday, Powell said the Fed may cut interest rates at its next meeting in September, though he said the central bank would like to see further evidence that inflation is heading downward.
An interest rate cut would ease borrowing costs for consumers and businesses alike, which may rekindle economic activity and boost hiring.
Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at North Carolina-based Independent Advisor Alliance, said it’s too early to tell whether the underwhelming jobs report on Friday foretells sustained losses for the stock market.
“If it turns out that this is just some noise in the labor market data and that stabilizes — similar to how we had some noise in the inflation data earlier this year before that stabilized — then this will be looked back at as a temporary period of weakness in the economy and stock market,” Zaccarelli told ABC News.
“However, if this is a beginning of a turn in the economy for the worse, then all bets are off,” Zaccarelli added.