A Detroit journalist has credited Spirit Airlines for the existence of her marriage.
In an opinion piece posted in the Detroit Free Press, journalist Nancy Kaffer wrote a tribute to the airline and the relationship it enabled, explaining how the company’s $99 flights made it possible for her to date her now-husband when they were living in different states.
In her piece, Kaffer explained that she met her now-husband in the 2010s in Detroit. At the time, they were just cordial, and he later moved to Pennsylvania, where they kept in correspondence over the years. In 2018, Kaffer wrote that they began conversing “a lot more often.”
“We'd both gone through breakups, and the draw we'd felt all those years was turning into something bigger,” she wrote. “We both wondered if we'd gone crazy; how could either of us be falling for someone we barely knew?”
From there, Kaffer’s husband traveled eight hours by car to visit her when they realized that their relationship was going to get serious. Then, they turned to a $99 flight from Detroit to Baltimore that was offered by Spirit. He’d fly out every other weekend to visit Kaffter and her son in Detroit.
“When I'd see his tall figure weaving through the crowd, my heart would clench with the still-new blend of ease and elation I'm now privileged to feel every day in his company,” she wrote. “You see, I owe my marriage to Spirit Airlines.”
“Because of that $99 flight, and my shared custody schedule, we could have the kind of Thursday movies and Friday night dates and lazy Saturdays that couples not separated by 500 miles take for granted,” she added. “He flew in for family trips, holidays, and weekends with nothing to do but enjoy each other's company. We had our first fights on those weekends — and we learned to make up.”
Eventually, Kaffter’s husband proposed, and the two got married 10 years after the engagement. She credited Spirit for making “dating possible.”
Kaffer’s tribute to Spirit Airlines comes just days after the company announced that it was winding down its operations on May 2.
"To our Guests: all flights have been cancelled, and customer service is no longer available," the company said in a statement posted on social media. "Despite the company’s efforts, the recent material increase in oil prices and other pressures on the business have significantly impacted Spirit's financial outlook," the statement continued. "With no additional funding available to the company, Spirit had no choice but to begin this wind-down."
