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What is 'Let's Buy Spirit' movement? Viral TikTok trend explained as budget carrier plans shutdown
Spirit Airlines faces shutdown after bailout fails. TikTok “Let’s Buy Spirit” movement nearly 40000 supporters, pledging $22.8M; website crashes from surge.
Spirit Airlines is preparing for a shutdown after the $500 million bailout plan by the federal government did not find acceptance with the institutional equity holders of Spirit Airlines. But budget flyers have come out with a plan on social media to save the airlines.
A movement has started on TikTok called 'Let's Buy Spirit' in which budget flyers are pledging funds to save Spirit Airlines. The movement has found massive support, with a combined pool of users' base of roughly $22.8 million.
More than 37,000 people have responded to the movement, with more joining in. Subsequently, a website called letsbuyspirit.com has been launched. The response to the movement was so high that the servers crashed and the website had to briefly taken out of air.
Also read: Spirit Airlines liquidation update: What is Trump's ‘final’ bailout offer to carrier - Explained
What Is The Origin Of The Movement
The origin of the movement is from Hunter Peterson, a voice actor who has credits for a few video games on IMDB. The launch of the website letsbuyspiritair.com was announced on Saturday, May 2, in a TikTok video. The video now has close to 3 million views.
In the video, Hunter Peterson proposed that if the total 250 million adults in the US contribute $30-$40 per ticket, the average price of Spirit Airlines tickets, the coalition will be able to acquire the airline.
"I just had a genius idea," Peterson said in the viral video. "There's more than 250 million individuals over the age of 18 in the United States. Now, if we took only 20% of them and paid basically the average fare of a Spirit Airlines flight — which is somewhere around $30 to $40 — we could buy Spirit Airlines … We nationalize Spirit Airlines — owned by the people."
He also launched an Instagram account @SpiritAir2.0, which gained over 100,000 followers within the last two days.
Why letsbuyspirit.com Website Was Down?
Hunter Peterson's website letsbuyspiritair.com crashed amid the massive response, he said in a post on Daily Kos - a news website. He said that the website will be back in the next 24 to 48 hours.
Also read: Spirit Airlines shutdown row: Emotional final ATC message breaks hearts - ‘Really appreciate…’
"I’m on the floor awaiting back surgery tomorrow and using my iPad so bear with me if this post is messy and short as I’m trying to figure out the new editor here…," Peterson wrote.
The website is now back online. A message on it read: Spirit didn't fail because people stopped flying. It failed because Wall Street loaded it with debt and extracted every dollar it could. The routes are real. The demand is real. The only thing missing is ownership that answers to the people — not to shareholders."
