Ben Baldanza later attended Syracuse University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in policy studies and economics in 1984.
34 Facts About Ben Baldanza
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Ben Baldanza earned his Master of Public Affairs degree at Princeton University in 1986.
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In 1986, Baldanza began his career in the airline industry working for the American Airlines Group until 1991, where he was a member of chief executive officer Robert Crandall's "Brat Pack", alongside Thomas W Horton, C David Cush, and Doug Parker.
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Ben Baldanza was later employed by Northwest Airlines and briefly worked at the UPS afterwards.
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Ben Baldanza became the chief executive officer of Spirit in May 2006.
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Ben Baldanza replaced Jacob M Schorr, who had served as CEO since 2000.
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Ben Baldanza implemented a "Bare Fare" model, opting to charge airline fees for many services included in traditional airline fares.
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Ben Baldanza often promoted terms such as "a bus with wings" and "dollar store of the sky" to describe the airline.
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Ben Baldanza pushed for ways of offsetting costs by selling advertising spaces where ever available on the plane, including flight attendant aprons, seat back trays, overhead bins, napkins, cups and sickness bags.
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Ben Baldanza's company used advertising that often went viral instead of relying on a large marketing budget.
11.
On January 4,2016, Ben Baldanza resigned from his position as chief executive officer and president of Spirit, after serving in the position for more than 10 years.
12.
Ben Baldanza served on the board of JetBlue, Wow Air, Odyssey Airlines, Go First and Six Flags.
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Ben Baldanza was an adjunct professor of economics at George Mason University.
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Ben Baldanza co-hosted a weekly podcast called Airlines Confidential with long-time The Wall Street Journal journalist Scott McCartney.
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Ben Baldanza retired from the podcast on August 11,2024, citing health issues.
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On November 15,2021, Ben Baldanza was elected as the non-executive chairman of Six Flags.
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Ben Baldanza was the CEO of Diemacher LLC from 2016 until his death.
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Ben Baldanza faced significant criticism stemming from transformation of Spirit Airlines into an ultra-low-cost carrier.
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Ben Baldanza was largely unapologetic about his company's new pricing policy.
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The most reported criticism of Ben Baldanza stemmed from his handling of customer complaints, most notably his initial refusal to refund the fare of a terminally-ill military veteran in May 2012.
21.
Ben Baldanza initially defended his team's decision by stating that the customer had purchased a non-refundable fare with no insurance and therefore the company did not owe him a refund as that would be unfair to other customers.
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Ben Baldanza faced criticism from veterans organizations including a social media campaign to boycott Spirit Airlines.
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Ben Baldanza participated in the Ice Bucket Challenge in August 2014, while challenging Richard H Anderson to join.
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Ben Baldanza served on Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs Advisory Board.
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Ben Baldanza acted as a treasurer for the American Youth Philharmonic Orchestras and served on the Audit Committee for the International Trombone Association.
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In 1987, Ben Baldanza married Marcia Moshier, with whom he had one son; Marcia Ben Baldanza is an assistant professor of education at Marymount University as of 2021.
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Ben Baldanza used to own a collection of thousands of board games which he played.
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Ben Baldanza was a voting member of the International Gamers Awards.
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Ben Baldanza lived in McLean, Virginia, San Salvador, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the Washington metropolitan area.
30.
In 2022, Ben Baldanza was diagnosed with ALS caused by a mutation in the C9orf72 gene.
31.
Ben Baldanza died of ALS at his home in Arlington County, Virginia, on November 5,2024, at age 62.
32.
Ben Baldanza was named among 25 Most Influential People in Business Travel in 2002 and 2015 by Business Travel News.
33.
In May 2023, Baldanza was awarded the Joseph S Murphy Award for his service to the airline industry.
34.
Ben Baldanza was awarded the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy in June 2024 and was scheduled to receive it at the 76th Annual Wright Memorial Dinner, planned to be hosted by the Aero Club of Washington in Washington, DC on December 13,2024.