I Hope the Court Delves

 

 

May 5, 2026

 

I should thank Spirit Airlines for giving me the chance to practice long division.

 

I read a blurb in the paper today that said the airline asked a bankruptcy judge for approval to pay $10.7 million in retention bonuses to its remaining employees. (Spirit, you may know, shut down operations abruptly, laying off workers on the spot.)

 

So, I grabbed a pencil and paper and divided 10,700,000 by 150, the number of remaining employees. If the money were divided equally, each employee would get $71,333.33 for 90 days of work. Seems like quite a deal. If I were the judge, I’d have some questions.

 

However, after 3 months, the number of employees will be reduced to 40.

 

I’m wondering just how much of the $10.7 million will go to the 110 people working 90 days, vs. the 40 employees who are left. I’m guessing that those last 40 employees won’t be getting spare change.

 

I hope the judge asks for details.