Under long-serving CEO Ben Baldanza, Spirit Airlines (NYSE: SAVE) became massively profitable while growing rapidly, thanks to a relentless focus on minimizing costs and maximizing ancillary revenue. Running a customer-friendly airline wasn't a priority. Baldanza believed that customers would endure just about anything to snag the carrier's low fares -- and for many years, Spirit's incredible financial performance seemed to confirm that view.
However, over the past five years or so, rival carriers have become far more aggressive about price-matching. As a result, Spirit's low fares became less of a competitive advantage, making its customer-unfriendly polices more of an impediment to growth.
Image source: Spirit Airlines.