In a move that will effect travelers throughout the US, Caribbean, and Central America, Spirit shut down and everyone (else) was wrong about it. Crack those knuckles, keyboard warriors, I’m ready. Spirit Was Essential Spirit was so essential to protecting competition and keeping pricing in check that the JetBlue-Spirit merger absolutely could not be approved. That was the argument. The DOJ sued to block the deal in March 2023. Then-Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg backed the lawsuit publicly , breaking with decades of DOT practice. Senator Elizabeth Warren was the loudest voice in Congress, sending a June 2023 letter to Buttigieg with Representative Ocasio-Cortez and seven other House Democrats urging him to stop it. After a federal judge killed the deal in January 2024, Warren posted on X that this was “a Biden win for flyers.” Social media is busy reminding everyone of those quotes today, and rightly so.…