Spirit Airlines stopped flying on May 2, 2026. Within hours, a TikTok video asked Americans to buy the carrier themselves. The lets buy spirit campaign gathered hundreds of millions in pledges, attracted copycat sites, and never bought the airline. Here is what the record shows about who runs it, what it collected, and what it wants now.
Is Lets Buy Spirit Legit Or A Scam?
The campaign is real, and the person behind it uses his own name and face. During the pledge phase it collected no money at all.
Hunter Peterson told followers that pledges registered intent only, and that any site asking for payment details was fraudulent. He named letsbuyspirit.com and letsbuyspiritair.com as the only pages he controlled.
Spirit Airlines stated the campaign was never affiliated with or endorsed by the company. So the honest answer sits between the two words most people use. Lets buy spirit was not a fake, but it also never had the money, the assets, or a business plan.
Who Started The Lets Buy Spirit Campaign
Peterson is a Los Angeles voice actor and YouTuber, 22 at the time, who previously served as head of production for Beast Philanthropy.
His arithmetic was simple. More than 250 million adults live in the United States. If 20% of them paid the price of an average Spirit fare, roughly $30 to $40, the public could cover the purchase.
The clip drew millions of views. His Instagram account @SpiritAir2.0 passed 100,000 followers while the main site was down, and the campaign set a stated target of $1.75 billion.
How Fast Lets Buy Spirit Pledges Grew
Sign-up counts moved just as quickly, from 37,000 people to more than 156,000 within days. TravelPulse recorded 133,508 pledgers on May 6.
Nonbinding numbers behave this way. Stated intent runs far ahead of behaviour, the same gap visible in data on games bought but never played. Crowd-set valuations also climb faster than revenue does, a pattern tracked in esports franchise pricing.
Scam Sites Copying The Lets Buy Spirit Name
Copycat domains appeared within hours of the first viral clip. Some used .org versions of the official names and took real payments.
Peterson posted a video telling supporters he owned none of them and asked media outlets to report on the theft instead of interviewing him.
The rule he gave still holds. The official campaign never requested card details. Any page that did was not his.
Why Lets Buy Spirit Never Bought Spirit Airlines
Liquidation continued while the campaign gathered names. Buyers took the pieces one at a time, the way a secondhand market prices individual parts rather than the whole.
| Spirit asset | Buyer and price |
|---|---|
| LaGuardia slots | JetBlue, $58.5 million |
| Internal emails, code and operating records | Google, $10 million |
| Headquarters building | Sold |
| Aircraft and engines | Returned to lenders |
Spirit 2.0 ended up with no planes, gates, slots, staff, operating certificate or brand.
What Lets Buy Spirit Is Asking For Now
In August the project emailed its list under a new name, Let’s Build An Airline, and asked everyone to opt in again.
The pitch is a membership carrier described as the Costco of airlines. Members pay for cheaper fares, nonmembers pay more. Subscription revenue is a familiar model to anyone who follows recurring digital spending habits, though it does not solve airline economics on its own.
The plan is to form a public charter operator under Part 380 rules and contract the flying to a partner holding a Part 121 certificate. No partner, aircraft type, home airport or route has been named.
A September 1 raise was announced covering up to $5 million through Regulation Crowdfunding and up to $75 million through Regulation A Tier 2. The group estimates $650,000 for feasibility and legal work, plus $15 million to obtain its own certificate.
There is still no published feasibility study, revenue forecast or audited financial statement. Interest is measurable; commitment is another matter, as hardware ownership surveys repeatedly show.
FAQs
Is Let’s Buy Spirit a scam?
The main campaign never collected money during its pledge phase and named its own domains publicly. Copycat sites using similar names did take payments. Spirit Airlines said it never endorsed or partnered with the effort.
Did Lets Buy Spirit ever buy Spirit Airlines?
No. Spirit’s assets were sold separately during liquidation. JetBlue paid $58.5 million for the LaGuardia slots and Google paid $10 million for internal records. The campaign obtained no aircraft, certificate or brand.
Who is Hunter Peterson?
Hunter Peterson is a Los Angeles voice actor and YouTuber who launched the campaign on TikTok in May 2026. He previously worked as head of production for Beast Philanthropy.
How much money did Lets Buy Spirit raise?
Pledges reached about $437 million, none of it binding or collected. A later investor round produced $2.2 million from 443 people by June 26, short of its $5 million minimum.
What is Let’s Build An Airline?
It is the renamed project. Plans describe a membership carrier marketed as the Costco of airlines, flying under another operator’s certificate, funded through Regulation Crowdfunding and a Regulation A Tier 2 offering.