the zurkie show - I fell in love on spirit airlines

Episode Date: May 3, 2026

a passionate one today.you will be missed spirit.the carry on bag fee, you will not.sending you all lots of love and peaaaaace!https://linktr.ee/thezurkieshow

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free of charge. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with Eye Gaming Ontario. Spirit Airlines is over. It's done. There is no more spirit. And it has crushed every bit of my spirit to hear that this airline that I frequented. I'm not, I'm not ashamed to say it. Some people look at spirit and think that is the poor person's airline.

That is such a ridiculous ask. Why would I ever go on a fly? There's probably weird people that go on spirit. You know what? Let me tell you something. You are the same kind of person that complains about a plane, okay, a modern miracle of engineering and aviation and aerospace, taking you from one part of the country to the other in a, not even a quarter, in like a fraction of the time that it took people in carriages, horse carriages, and cars to get to your destination, to see your long-distance girlfriend, to see, I don't even know, to go visit your family. for Thanksgiving and you're going to say oh spirit whatever there's this um this clip of a podcast where this guy and I don't know the guy's name and I wish I did he's talking about little

Caesars he's like so many people hate on little Caesars but little Caesars I never switch up on little Cesar's because little Cesar's was always there for you when you were down bad you know who who was always there for you when you were down bad when you had when you were broke you had no money but you still wanted to travel you still wanted to make it to Fort Laud for spring break. You still wanted to make it to Chicago, even though it was probably the, not the airport that you wanted to get to. Spirit. Spirit. And this is, this is symbolic to me, because I think that, I think we do not value what we have when we have it. We don't. We just look towards the next thing. We rarely take a step back and think, wait,

minute. This was, this was a great thing. And people are so quick to compare something that, like, people would complain all the time when I'd tell them, yeah, like, spirits, spirit's dope. Oh, but they check my bags all the time. Oh, but, but it's ridiculous because you get on the flight and like it smells, you get on the flight and like all of the seats are just like, you know, cardboard, bro, you go on any flight now. Those seats are a third of what they used to be. I promise you. I flew as a kid. I was on those American Airlines flights with the old planes. The ones where you didn't even know if you were going to make it, they were comfy. Oh, you could sleep. I slept on most of those planes. You cannot sleep on a flight now. You can't. You can't. I'm a

Rolls-Royce kind of dude. I'm a wide body, all right? I'm a 7-7-7 kind of dude. If you you know ball. And it is difficult for me to get comfy on any plane, on any plane. God forbid, you sit next to someone who, you know, they're going to be fighting you for the armrest. It's just like, it's crazy that people were putting spirit in the same conversation as like a jet blue, as a Delta Airlines, as a whatever. Brother, you were paying, you were paying the price of like the equivalent of a bus to get how. halfway across the country. I remember very, very fondly, I flew spirit from Atlanta to beautiful sunny Fort Lauderdale and then from Fort Lauderdale to Austin, Texas. The reason I bring this up,

my grandma used to live in Fort Lauderdale when she was still, you know, alive, rest and peace. And I was in college. I was in college. I had made my schedule in such a way that I had then like my weekend started on Thursday. I had Thursday like at noon I was done. It was kind of a crazy schedule looking back. Actually, no, Wednesday I was done. I had two classes on Monday and Wednesday. Those are my two classes and that was it.

Incredible semester. We'll never forget it. And for spring break, I'm like, I'm going to take an extended spring break. I'm going to fly from Atlanta, Hartsfield Jackson. I'm going to fly all the way to Fort Lauderday. see my grandma, see Bapcha, and chop it up with Bopcha.

We ended up going to the casino. Bro, my grandma was just, she looked out for me. I think I won, too. I don't endorse gambling, but it was fun. Anyways, we flew there. I flew there. I stayed with my grandma for like a week, hung out. And that was the last time my grandma was in full health. It was such a beautiful experience, man.

She cooked for me. She made these like sandwiches with hadvati cheese. It was my favorite cheese that we used to get at Publix. And it was just like such a special moment. I'll never forget that. And then I hopped on a plane, flew to Austin, Texas, where I live now. And I spent it with two of my really, really good friends. And that was the decision to move.

Wouldn't have happened without Spirit. at Airlines. It wouldn't have. It would have not happened without spirit. They allowed me to do that kind of trip, a trip that would have cost me $700 on Delta, which, okay, no, you know, I won't throw shade because Delta has trading cards. That's really cool. And Delta, you know, I, they, you know, whatever, they give you in-flight, they give you a Bisk off cookie. And they're pretty good. And Delta's got me where I need to go. But even that. But even that, you know, When I was meeting my girlfriend, my long-distance girlfriend who I met on the internet for the first time, I met her solely because I was able to fly a spirit flight to Orlando, Florida to meet her. And I didn't get catfished.

I was very afraid, brother. And the craziest thing about that flight, I was pulling up with a whole bouquet of flowers. I got like flowers because I'm like, I'm going to be a charmer. I'm going to be suave. and I get on the flight and I'm nervous. I'm a wreck, dude. I'm a wreck. I'm just like, what am I doing?

This is, I could get, you know, watched, you know, and nobody would know. Nobody would know. My parents wouldn't know. I didn't tell them because this was a reckless idea. I talked to this stranger on the internet for three weeks. We had four phone calls that were over eight hours long, but still, I don't know you. Where do you know me from? Where do you know me from?

Instagram, really? and as soon as I got in the flight, I kid you not, the guy next to me, he also sits down with a bouquet of flowers. Could have only happened on Spirit. I don't see another airline

where you could have had that kind of interaction. Probably you could have had it on every interaction. But this is, it is so sad, man, because I believe that air travel being relatively affordable

is a beautiful thing. I mean, I love to use it. And I mean, I am a plane nerd. I'm an aviation diehard. So for me, it's, I'd never look at a flight from, wow, that experience was so bad. You're flying in a tube, like, in the sky, 30,000 feet in the sky. This is a miracle that you're even able to do this. And your entire life is in the hands of three people in that cockpit.

Okay. We should be kissing their feet every time they land. Polish people love to do that. They love to clap when the plane lands, bro. I don't know if any other culture does that, bro. Polish people be clapping when that John lands in Varshava, Frederick Schopen. They lose their mind.

They're like, it's like an Oscar standing ovation. Oh, my God. That's so funny. I love it, dude. Keep flapping. How, how, what a catastrophe. And I know that part of that, I think was, they were going into bankruptcy. Spirit was just not making money. They went through a

bunch of layoffs, I believe, like a huge downsizing and there were a lot of pilots that like just got let go. I think I knew actually one that got let go. And then on top of it, it was just, it was time to go. Yeah, it says it's go time for Spirit evidently. But it's like, to me, it is concerning. Because we like who is making money in the airlines how were they making money? How was spirit making money? I mean, they had low, low fares. They probably were making money on the bags, right? And dude, those the, the, yeah, the bag control stuff was no joke.

I got pulled aside a couple times. And it was, it's humiliating because you're just shoving it in that little, little metal container thing. And it's just like, oh. And they pick you out too. I hated that. That was the worst. They picked you out.

They looked at you and they were like, sir, sir, please come over here. I'm going to need you to put the bag in. You're like, oh, no, dude. And bro, I used to get the most cooked flights from, from Hartsfield Jackson. Because I had no car when I was in, when I was going to the University of Georgia Go Dogs.

I had no car. I was an out-of-state student, so I would get groomed by the groom shuttle. I would get picked up by the groom shuttle, which that was its own. Oh, man. Some of the best sleep I ever got was on that shuttle. But it was the most cooked thing because I would get flights that were at 6 a.m., 5.30 a.m. I don't know how I did it. And I would get a groom shuttle at 1 a.m.

hour 30 get to Hartsfield Jackson, have to go through the TSA that was always cooked. There was never a time where I, oh, it was speedy and fast. I always knew you never play with Hartsfield. You never play with Atlanta. You always get there at least an hour and a half,

two hours, like just to get through TSA before you even start boarding. Because there's always surprises. There's always surprises. My goodness. So I did that. I was so grateful that I did that. that. But like, those were those were the spirit flights. And then you go through all of that. You are

sleep deprived. You are food deprived. Because I never slept. Some people, when they have an early flight, they go to bed at 9 p.m. Are you out of your mind? Are you crazy? Why would you go to bed at 9 p.m.? When you could stay up until 1.30, when your shuttle is at 2.30, sleep for half an hour, and then have half an hour to get ready and get to your stop. That seems pretty reasonable to me. And those were the worst, the worst. But it was exciting. It kept you going because it's kind of a, it's roulette.

It's like, I don't know if I'm going to get picked or not, but like I hope not. So I'm going to do everything to make sure that I don't. But there were also times where if you were just nice enough and charismatic enough, you could get through. You'd be like, how's your day going? Oh, it's, it's only. Only 5 a.m. in the morning, but, you know, it'll be good. Okay. Great. You have a safe flight. Let's go. But yeah, man. When you're a mid-sized business, you need every competitive advantage you can get.

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We got bigger problems than that. Okay. We've got bigger problems than that. Because it's essentially like being on a, you know, I'm getting a call. Who is calling me? Hello? I'm making a video about Spirit Airlines. Because they got, you know, they, they bankrupted and they canceled, the airline got canceled.

They pulled up old tweets. Yes, yes. So do you have any, do you have any memories of Spirit Airlines that you can think of that, you know? Memories of Spirit Airlines, because you had never flown Spirit Air Force. You never flew Spirit, ever? I am your baby. It just, it shows a lot about you. It tells a lot about you.

Yeah, we, we, we always pick. Southwest or Delta and chopped. I might have flown it once to see you. And that is worth a million dollars, isn't it? That might actually be accurate actually

because I think I might have flown it to see you at some point because it might have been cheaper. Oh. I think so. So I've flown Delta. You know, I might have. I really might have. There you go.

And you know what the crazy thing is? When I came... In terms of memorability, nothing. I mean, it's not meant to... See, this is exactly my point. I'm gonna... Can I call you back really quick? Yes.

Okay, give me like 10 minutes. Okay. Okay, I'm meeting Boba, so... Okay. I'll just text me first. Okay, I love you. Okay, I love you too. All right, bye.

That is exactly my point. It's not meant to be memorable. It's not meant to be memorable at all. There is nothing memorable about the airline. I agree. In terms of the experience, because you're not paying for, for that. You are not paying to be sold some kind of, oh, it's luxurious. This is the airline of

this, guys. I need to get from Hartsfield Jackson to Miami, Florida. I need to get from Austin, Texas, to LAX through whatever airport. And I need to do it in an affordable fashion. I don't have $1,000 to spend on a Delta flight, which is crazy. If you're paying, a thousand dollars for economy you better be booking the day before that isn't that that if i paid a thousand dollars for an economy flight that is domestic in the united states i i don't even have an that it does not even enter the realm of reality for me it just doesn't a thousand you you pay 700 bucks round trip to get to europe a thousand can get you probably depending on the to Japan, even Australia, if you add a little bit more money, which that's a cooked flight.

You're flying 16 hours economy. Dude, eight hours is like I hit eight hours and I'm like, get me off this thing. It's ridiculous. Spirit, man, I'm going to miss you. And it's going to be so interesting to see what will happen because the only other alternative right now is Frontier. And Frontier, yeah, Frontier doesn't play with them bags, bro. Spirit gave you a little bit of leeway.

Frontier doesn't play. They will search your bag. They will search your bag. They will make you take everything out of your bag to make sure it fits. Golly, man. But it's just, it's, it's the end of an era. It really is. And flying, in my opinion, needs to be affordable.

Because we need to be able to visit other places. You know how many Americans. in this country have not been out of their home state. They've been to Cancun, but they can't tell you what New York looks like. They haven't been to these like mechas of culture, mechas of people, and even like the places that aren't that, Spirit allowed me to really do stuff. And like, it's going to price out people from traveling.

It will. Mark my words. And, you know, we're going through the wonderful, straight of Hormuz crisis, which will probably impact. I think it's already impacting aviation fuel, but it'll continue to do so. Which I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong.

And maybe we have plenty of, you know, aviation fuel, jet fuel to melt steel beams with. Nope. Nope. We're past that. That was 25 years ago. That is crazy. I was born a week after that, actually. And you know what?

I just, we need to keep it affordable to fly. We need to. I cannot imagine a generation that cannot go with their friends and, you know, bum at some kind of Airbnb that fits one person, two people, with eight people. Those are core memories that I will never forget. There is a beauty to being young and frugal. Because I won't say, broke. Being broke is rough regardless of age, regardless of what. Like when you're broke, you're broke. Um, but being able to make something work by using the, the lowest tier option is special. That's a special feeling that you're like, dude, we don't have a lot of money. We don't have a budget, but whatever. We're still, we're going. We're going. And you could fly to Columbia on Spirit. You could fly to Columbia. That's awesome. Cuba, parcero. You could fly to Colombia on spirit.

Do you guys understand that? You could fly to another country, to many other countries for cheap. I'm just hoping it stays. I'm hoping it stays. There aren't a lot of affordable players anymore. And think about it. If the cheap option is gone and there's a huge traveler demand, right? What do you think is going to?

to happen to those people. There's a good chance that airlines are going to use as a pretext to be like we can, we can make it way more expensive. Oh, you want to fly from Atlanta to L.A.X. Do you have $700 for an economy ticket? I hope you do. Not round trip, one way. Dude, dystopian, dystopian. But Spirit, thank you so much for everything you've done. I love you. I forever love you. Man, a W in the chat for Spirit Airlines. You got me through some rough times. Yes, did some of the flights really reek?

Of course. Does it matter if you're sitting in a Spirit flight or a Delta flight or an Emirates flight if you're looking out the window and your entire entertainment is the fact that you were 30,000 feet in the air? No, it doesn't matter. It is all about the beauty. of that of that you know it's the same thing you could be you're going to take a a road trip in a rolls royce or you're going to take a road trip in a beat up honda if you're looking out the window it's

the same view same view i hate to break it to you but it is and i really appreciated that thank you for the memories it's been a long time without you my friend and i'll tell you all about it when i see you again. We've come a long way where we begin. But I'll tell you all about it when I see you again, when I see you again. If you're trying something new, just know that I believe in you, Zerky Show. We are back and so back indeed. And as always, I'm sending you all lots of love and peace. Thank you.