By Ramishah Maruf, CNN

New York (CNN) — Oh, Spirit.

Travelers frequently bemoan the ultra-budget airline’s tiny seats, frequent delays, baggage fees, and lack of complementary snack and drinks. People love meme-ing the carrier, at the bare-minimum treatment on Spirit’s distinctive yellow planes.

But online, the tides have been turning in favor of the company that was ranked No. 98 out of 100 on the 2024 Axios Harris Poll on brand reputation, beating out only X and The Trump Organization. People pointed out on social media that Spirit hasn’t dealt with recent plane crashes like American and Delta airlines, and that the budget airline uses an all-Airbus fleet after incidents on Boeing-built airplanes.

And it’s coming at a time when flight anxiety is rising. Google searches for “Is it safe to fly?” have spiked this month in the United States.

Experts maintain that traveling in the United States is a safe proposition, as all airlines have to meet stringent safety regulations, and that travelers still shouldn’t hesitate to get on Boeing-built planes.

But that’s not enough for Spirit’s most dedicated fans, who have said they choose to fly the airline for reasons other than $45 roundtrip tickets to Miami.

Natalie Haddad, a 31-year-old from Los Angeles, landed in Las Vegas on a Spirit jet when she found out a Delta plane flipped upside down in Toronto.

“Even if the Spirit flight is the same price (as American, Delta and United airlines), I’m gonna fly Spirit,” Haddad told CNN. “I’ve flown Spirit multiple times in the last few months, and I felt super safe in them.”

The reason, she says, is because Spirit doesn’t have any Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, which she said she’s wary of after watching a 2022 Netflix documentary about crashes of two 737 MAX planes.

Boeing has come under scrutiny for its 737 Max 9, the plane that the Alaska Airlines flight was on when the door plug blew out mid-air in 2024. But neither of the two recent crashes — in which a plane rolled over upon landing in Toronto and the American Airlines flight that collided with a US Army helicopter — involved Boeing aircraft.

Spirit isn’t an exception by any means. There are a number of airlines, such as Hawaiian Airlines and Qantas Airways, that have never had a fatal plane crash. And there are other airlines, like JetBlue, that have almost entirely Airbus fleets or with their fair share of dedicated flyers — the three biggest airlines, American Airlines, Delta and United, all benefit from loyal credit card point redeemers.

But the social media chorus — videos that receive hundreds of thousands of likes — hasn’t come out in support for these other airlines’ safety records the way it has for this polarizing budget airline.

“Spirit is a small airline. But there are those who love it,” US District Judge William Young wrote in his ruling blocking a merger between Spirit and JetBlue on antitrust grounds. “To those dedicated customers of Spirit, this one’s for you.”

One TikTok user pointed out in a video with more than 700,000 views that “Spirit Airlines has NEVER had a fatal plane crash. So yeah, your $100 flight might not come with legroom… but at least it comes with a safe landing.”

No passenger has ever died as a result of a flight accident on Spirit, according to Airline Ratings. But Spirit made headlines last year when it was one of three jets from US-based airlines that were struck by bullets while flying over Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. And it’s had its fair share of incidents over the years, from passenger disturbances to smoke inside the plane.

In a statement to CNN, a Spirit Airlines spokesperson said, “The safety of our Guests and Team Members is our top priority. Commercial air travel is the safest form of transportation, and we are proud to be a part of an industry that works together to advance safety.”

Is Spirit actually safer?

All regularly scheduled air carriers are subject to the strict rules and regulations of the Federal Aviation Administrations.

“People can be very confident getting on any of those airlines,” Kristy Kiernan, associate director of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Boeing Center for Aviation and Aerospace Safety, said to CNN.

Kiernan, who was a Coast Guard pilot for 12 years, said the number of incidents is not necessarily reflective of an unsafe airline or airplane manufacturer because so many different factors go into a mishap.

“Some years we would have no incidents, no accidents, no fatalities. And then you’ll have one crash,” she said. “For some people it’s an infinite increase, because the numbers are so incredibly small.”

There’s a difference between risk and risk perception, Kiernan said. On social media, risk perception seems to be winning out, even though what people claim and end up doing don’t always line up.

“Risk perception can lead to anxiety, but the objective risk (is that) no matter what airplane type you’re on, no matter what airline you’re on, if you’re flying in US domestic airspace, your risk as a passenger is incredibly low,” Kiernan said.

People see fewer Spirit mishaps in FAA statements on aviation incidents because there are fewer Spirit flights, Kiernan said. This makes it more difficult to conclude that Spirit is actually safer than major carriers – for example, while Spirit has roughly 700 daily flights, Delta has 5,000 daily flights.

“If people understood some of the processes that go into assuring an airline safety, they would feel a lot better, and that is everything from the initial certification of the airline to recurring certification to the processes that the airline is mandated by,” Kiernan said.

But looking at statistics or safety features alone isn’t enough to quell some fears – if it was, then there would be no need to treat anxiety, Jonathan Bricker, an affiliate professor of psychology at the University of Washington, said to CNN.

People’s ways of coping with flight anxiety can manifest in different forms, he added. Some people that Bricker speaks to only book flights for certain times of day or only fly nonstop. Others choose to fly only on a specific airline.

And flight anxiety is often untethered to a single incident. People who come into therapy for flight anxiety don’t come in solely because of a specific plane crash. They already had flight anxiety, and many people with that fear can also have other anxiety disorders, Bricker said.

Haddad, for example, said she generally considers herself an anxious flyer and particularly gets scared during takeoff, landing and any turbulence.

Spirit’s future in jeopardy

The fate of future cheap flights is up in the air for its biggest fans.

In November, Spirit filed for bankruptcy because of mounting losses, unaffordable debt, increased competition for bargain-seeking airline passengers and the inability to merge with other airlines.

It has continued to operate, but it’s been delisted from the stock market and cut 200 jobs.

While airlines have historically and frequently filed for bankruptcy, it’s possible that Spirit could be bought out by another airline or even be forced to liquidate.

Spirit attempted two mergers, one with fellow bargain carrier Frontier Airlines and another with JetBlue Airways, but the JetBlue deal was blocked by a federal judge on antitrust grounds.

The carrier said it expects to emerge from bankruptcy in the first quarter of 2025.

CNN’s Chris Isidore and Olesya Dmitracova contributed to this report.

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