La. Interim Police Chief Stranded in Fla. After Spirit Airlines Shuts Down
What to know
- Slidell interim Police Chief Daniel Seuzeneau was stranded in Florida after Spirit Airlines abruptly shut down operations Saturday, canceling flights nationwide.
- Seuzeneau learned the airline had ceased flying while stuck in Orlando with his family, forcing him to scramble for an affordable way home after his return flight was canceled.
- Spirit’s collapse ends a 34‑year run for the budget carrier and leaves thousands of passengers stranded and about 17,000 employees without jobs.
As Daniel Seuzeneau boarded his Spirit Airlines flight to Florida on Friday, he snapped a photo near the bright yellow kiosks in the New Orleans airport and joked with his family that, with trouble on the horizon for the air carrier, it could be their last Spirit flight ever.
The next morning, the Slidell Police Department’s interim chief woke up in Orlando to the news that it really was. The budget airline halted global operations Saturday after 34 years in business, canceling flights and leaving thousands of passengers and employees across the country stranded, including Seuzeneau and his family.
“It all came crashing down overnight, and here we are…stranded in Orlando,” Seuzeneau wrote in a post on Facebook Saturday.
Spirit’s shutdown follows years of restructuring efforts at the airline, which struggled financially in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2024 and 2025. President Donald Trump floated the idea of a bailout last week, but it’s unclear why exactly those discussions failed.
Seuzeneau said he’d been a frequent Spirit flyer for years, a fan of the no-frills flights offered at an unbeatable price. When he heard there was a chance the airline could go out of business, he booked a spontaneous trip to Disney World with his family to use up some of his loyalty points.
When his $44 return flight was canceled Saturday, he said he scrambled to try to find another way home at a comparable cost, researching car rental prices and other budget flights.
The best he could find was a $149 flight back to New Orleans through Breeze Airways, which he said he plans to make his new go-to air carrier going forward. He said he’s sad to see his favorite airline go, and sadder even for the estimated 17,000 Spirit employees who lost jobs Saturday.
“My heart goes out to all of those people,” he said.
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