FOR seven years Jamaican flight attendant Shantel, now a former employee of Spirit Airlines, proudly wore the company’s signature yellow and black, sharing her journey on social media while guiding compatriots on how to break into the aviation industry.

But on May 2 that chapter came to an abrupt end as news of the airline’s bankruptcy forced the carrier to cease operations, leaving her with cherished memories and a deep sense of gratitude.

The airline, which had been seeking to emerge from its second bankruptcy within a year, confirmed it would shut down with all flights cancelled as it started an “orderly wind-down of operations”. Spirit’s President and CEO Dave Davis pointed to mounting financial pressures as a key factor, noting that jet fuel prices have more than doubled since the escalation of conflict with Iran in February.

Shantel shared that her history with the airline started when she was three years old and took her first flight out of Jamaica on a Spirit aircraft. For the 28-year-old flight attendant, the closure was not just the end of an airline but the end of a company she considered family.

“It’s crazy, because the day [it happened] we were told we were operating as normal. When I took off from Fort Lauderdale, [Florida,] to work my last flight, I didn’t know it was my last flight. I took off knowing that there were meetings being held to try to save us. We had already come out of one bankruptcy, and we didn’t really expect not to come out of a second one, so everybody was at work and everybody operated like normal,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

“When I landed and found out I was like, ‘Okay, this is it, this is the end of it,’ and it felt really horrible. It felt like losing — we called it death because it felt like we lost somebody. We lost the company, we lost each other, and I’ve been dealing with that ever since that happened on May 2nd. It just feels like we’re mourning at this time. It’s very sad. We lost a lot,” she said.

A travel enthusiast, Shantel shared that she joined the company in 2019 as a gate agent. Two years later, her colleague recognised her warm and welcoming spirit and she was encouraged to sign up as a flight attendant — a position she held for five years. In those five years she worked 1,435 flights, travelled more than a million miles, and visited 80 airports in the Western Hemisphere.

“It opened up so many doors for me. It allowed me to travel more, learn more cultures, be open with people. I grew a lot being in that industry,” she said.

One of those doors was content creation. In three years she grew a community of more than 40,000 people on
TikTok who tuned in to follow their favourite Jamaican flight attendant as she travelled the world. Her videos were not just fun to watch; they were also educational, breaking down the steps to enter the field for viewers who had similar interests.

“I honestly didn’t think that it would catch people’s attention at first, and then it started to take off to the point where people were saying, ‘Maybe this is a path that I can also take as well.’ I like helping people, and I got the opportunity to go ahead and just tell them everything that I know because, going into the industry as well, I know all that it came with.

“A lot of people see the heels and the make-up and the uniform but there’s so much more that goes into being a flight attendant; there’s hard work, dedication, and determination. It’s a lot, and so I wanted to share that path just to make sure that if you do choose to go into this industry, that you’re aware of everything that comes with it,” she told the Sunday Observer.

As her online community grew, Shantel said she made a conscious decision not to post herself in uniform online for safety reasons, but she wore the yellow and black colours with pride in every airport and country she visited.

Founded more than 30 years ago, Spirit built its reputation on a no-frills, budget-friendly model that challenged larger carriers. By December 2025 it ranked as the ninth-largest US airline by passenger numbers, according to the Department of Transportation.

“There’s a lot of negative stigmatism that comes with the airline so when a lot of people asked me in the past, ‘What airline do you work for?’ and I tell them Spirit, they always have these negative comments like, ‘Oh, you can do much better,’ but they don’t see the backend of it, like how they treated us and the lifestyle that they provided for us,” Shantel explained.

“In the airline industry I do feel like they were one of the main airlines that supported their staff, possibly maybe even more than they supported their customers. They took really good care of us, so when I put that uniform on I did feel the pride of working with them because I was receiving from them,” she said.

She shared that the company stepped up for her in 2022 when Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa in south-western Florida as a dangerous, high-end Category 4 storm.

“I lost my car and it was really just a down moment for me. The company was there throughout everything. I got the days off that I needed, and they supplied me with goods and products because we didn’t have access to anything. They take care of their employees very well. I cannot commend them any more on that,” she insisted.

“Just the journey altogether, what stood out most to me is just everybody that I flew with — we all became family. We had days where we had to leave our family on Christmas [day], holidays, birthdays, where we just had to come together as a crew sometimes and that’s our family, that’s who we eat with. It’s just family for me,” said Shantel.

Spirit Airlines employed just over 11,000 people as of 2024, all of whom have had to seek alternative income sources with its shuttering. According to Shantel, approximately 30 per cent of the staff were Jamaicans. Though no longer connected by job title, she said members of the Spirit family have banded together to help each other navigate the change.

“My fellow co-workers are currently going through it, some a lot more than others because some have been there for years and they don’t know what it’s like to go through an interview process right now, and they don’t know what it’s like to job search because they’ve been with Spirit for so many years. A lot of them are struggling to get back on their feet,” she shared.

She said some former employees have started GoFundMe accounts to help provide for their families.

As she processes her next steps Shantel said she will continue to document her journey and share personal travel content. With a certification in dentistry she said her journey could see her entering the medical field but she is not so certain that she wants to hang up her flight attendant hat just yet.

“Losing the airline didn’t mean losing who I am as a person. I also will be showing my followers that it’s okay to pivot in life, and show them a new journey and, hopefully, this is something that they can also look at and open up their minds and allow them to know that there is another choice and different paths in life that you can take,” she told the Sunday Observer.

SHANTEL…a lot of people see the heels and the make-up and the uniform but there’s so much more that goes into being a flight attendant

A Spirit Airlines aircraft gets a water salute at the Sangster International Airport in St James in this Jamaica Observer file photo. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)

Shantel poses for a photo next to one of Spirit Airlines’ signature yellow aeroplanes.