As Spirit Airlines shuts down, I recall my first ever Spirit Airlines flight…a 2004 redeye flight from Los Angeles to Detroit on an MD-80 as a high-schooler.
My First Spirit Airlines Flight Review: An MD-83 Redeye From Los Angeles To Detroit In 2004
2004 was my senior year in high school. Like many high schoolers, I applied for colleges and universities in autumn, and visited many schools over the winter as I considered where I’d go (ultimately, I did not go far at all and went to UCLA). I was invited to interview for a scholarship to a school in Michigan. They would provide room and board for a couple days, but I’d have to arrange the airfare.
2004 was the year I fell in love with flying, but the first half of 2024 was prior to my “awakening.” The school said to book Northwest Airlines nonstop from Los Angeles to Detroit because the McNamara Terminal was very nice (it just opened a couple of years prior). My dad booked Spirit Airlines instead, which even 22 years ago offered a much cheaper option than NWA.
It turned out to be my first flight on Spirit (and my only one for over a decade) and also my first-ever redeye flight. Back in 2004, the Spirit Airlines route map looked like this:
When we showed up at LAX ahead of our redeye, I had no idea what to think…I didn’t give it much thought back then.
We boarded and the first thing I noticed was that we were on a very old plane.
It was a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 and the overhead signs were in English and German. Spirit Airlines obtained MD-80s (including MD-81, MD-82, MD-83, and even on MD-87) from all over the world and this aircraft was a former Aero Lloyd aircraft, the defunct German leisure carrier based in Frankfurt.
In addition the German signs, the ashtrays all worked (I wondered, not knowing better as a 17-year-old, if this was a smoking flight). The ashtray was full of trash…the plane was very dirty (some things never changed). I remember beverages were free, but there was no snacks or food…we landed on time in Detroit to a very dilapidated terminal.
The school visit went well and we braved the icy cold winter weather back to Detroit for our evening nonstop back to LAX. It was a different MD-83, this one with newer livery and no German signs inside. I remember there was a snack box for purchase that my dad and I purchased onboard. Of course, there was no in-flight IFE, though I remember I spent the flight catching up on my AP economics reading.
Spirit did not fully unbundle until 2010, when it introduced a $45 fee for carry-on bags (the subject of an eventual class action lawsuit of which I was a key expert witness). But even back, it was very bare-bones.
I’ll miss Spirit for many things, but I won’t miss actually flying it then or now.
aircraft images: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt / Wikimedia Commons
How time flies!
Let’s add that, as of May 2, 2026, NK has 93 jets in its fleet with an average age of 8.5 years. Previously, the ultra low-cost airline had 15 MD-83s.
Why does that need to be added?
Sweet story. Did your seats at least recline ?
They did!
As a retired AP Econ teacher glad you took Micro and Macro!!!
I miss the DC-9 family. They were a little noisy towards the back but they had a lot less middle seats.
It is worth recalling that the MD-83 (officially designated as the DC-9-83) is a stretched, long-range variant of the second-generation MD-80 series within the broader DC-9 family. It features higher maximum takeoff weights, more powerful engines, and increased fuel capacity compared to earlier MD-80 models, making it popular for longer-range, medium-capacity routes. Known as “Mad Dogs” by aviation enthusiasts, many passenger MD-83s were later converted to freighters (MD-83SF).
My first and only trip on Spirit was DCA-FLL around 2003 on what might have been a B727. Don’t remember much about it except that the cabin signs were in Finnish, and I didn’t see any reason ever to fly them again (and I didn’t).
I kind of liked their livery in the sccond pic. Not as memorable or iconic as their all yellow one, but still rather nice.
I flew Spirit on an employee’s friends and family pass towards the end of 2000, I think, to fly from BOS to … FLL? (Odd, I don’t see Boston on their route maps of the time, so maybe it was late 2001 and I flew from Newark or LGA to FLL or MCO… /shrug that was a long time ago!) Lucked out that — as a broke and recently laid-off software dev due to the dotcom bubble bursting — a friend worked for his father, who was one of the principal owners of Spirit at the time. I remember the plane being at least 3/4 full with Spirit employees looking to use their use-or-loose flight benefits. Sprit then fell off my radar until they turned yellow and were reborn as basically a whole new airline.
Honestly, glad there aren’t any Mad Dogs still around. A few times in the back, and I still feel the noise/vibration.