With web search, 49 of 287 answers still name Spirit and 17 warn that it has closed. Asked for cheap flights, one answer in three still offers it. Without web search, 211 of 720 answers name it and none says it has closed.
United States
Spirit Airlines stopped flying on May 2. AI still offers it.
Measured without web search. The search run comes in the next edition.
The brands AI names first most often, plus any this finding is about.
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 73% | |
| Southwest Airlines | 62% | |
| JetBlue | 42% | |
| American Airlines | 49% | |
| Alaska Airlines | 35% | |
| Frontier Airlines | 26% | |
| 17% | ||
| Hawaiian Airlines | 10% | |
| SkyWest | 7% | |
| Cape Air | 5% | |
| United Airlines | 46% | |
| Allegiant | 21% | |
| Breeze Airways | 7% | |
| Avelo Airlines | 7% | |
| Boutique Air | 2% | |
| Mokulele Airlines | 2% | |
| Southern Airways Express | 2% | |
| Contour Airlines | 2% | |
| Sun Country Airlines | 1% | |
| None of the tracked brands |
287 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The three assistants share a favorite on 3 of 8 questions.
An AI model read all 49 answers with web search that name Spirit, one by one, to written rules. Three of its 13 first mentions with web search are warnings that it closed. "United" alone is hard to tell from "United States", so United is undercounted by about one point.
By assistant, and on your own buyers' questions: that is a Position Map. See a Position Map
| Brand | Named first | Named at all |
|---|---|---|
| Delta Air Lines | 78% | |
| Southwest Airlines | 65% | |
| JetBlue | 39% | |
| 29% | ||
| Alaska Airlines | 31% | |
| United Airlines | 48% | |
| Frontier Airlines | 30% | |
| SkyWest | 5% | |
| Cape Air | 4% | |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 9% | |
| American Airlines | 40% | |
| Allegiant | 18% | |
| Contour Airlines | 2% | |
| Boutique Air | 2% | |
| Breeze Airways | 7% | |
| Avelo Airlines | 4% | |
| Southern Airways Express | 2% | |
| Mokulele Airlines | 2% | |
| Sun Country Airlines | 1% | |
| JSX | <1% | |
| None of the tracked brands |
720 answers across ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude together, October 2026. These are AI answers, not market shares. The three assistants share a favorite on 3 of 8 questions.
Places count every brand AI names, so the numbers can jump. "=" is a tie. "–" means AI never names it first.
Delta, American, United and Southwest each carry about 17 to 18% of US domestic traffic. AI puts Delta first in 38% of answers without web search and 29% with it, American in under 1% and 7%, United in 3% and 2%.
US Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, August 2025 to July 2026.
A closed airline is still taking first picks from the ones flying, most of all on price, where Frontier and Allegiant compete for the same traveler. Which assistant people ask matters: with search, one warns in 9 of its 11 mentions, another in 7 of 24 and the third in 1 of 14. A company that has merged, renamed or withdrawn something should assume AI has not caught up until someone checks.
Delta Air LinesAll three agree.
Delta Air LinesAll three agree.
Answers vary from one ask to the next, and the apps can search the web and remember the person asking. That is why we ask each question 90 times without web search and 36 times with it.
Spirit AirlinesThe assistants differ.
Frontier AirlinesThe assistants differ.
Delta Air LinesAll three agree.
Delta Air LinesAll three agree.
Southwest AirlinesThe assistants differ.
JetBlueThe assistants differ.
Delta Air LinesThe assistants differ.
JetBlueThe assistants differ.
Delta Air LinesThe assistants differ.
Delta Air LinesThe assistants differ.
Southwest AirlinesAll three agree.
Southwest AirlinesAll three agree.
Is your company missing or measured under the wrong name? Tell us. We correct facts at any time. Results change only in the next edition, for everyone.
Edition 1, Q4 2026. Next edition: January 2027.
Eight buying questions per market, each asked in six wordings of ChatGPT, Gemini and Claude: five times without web search (720 answers per market, 14,400 in all) and twice with it (288 per market, 4,600 in all, in sixteen of the twenty markets so far). Measured 25 to 30 October 2026. Kesterley.
Your own questions, not ours. Position Map: where you stand on the questions your buyers ask, why AI puts a rival first, and what to do first. From $2,500. Two weeks.
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