SouthWest Airlines
This airline keeps costs low by eliminating reserved seating and flying shorter trips to secondary airports and major cities. While they used to fly only in the Southwest, they now have over 65 destinations in the U.S.
JetBlue
This newer low-cost carrier is based in New York City but flies to select cities across the country. It often uses secondary airports, such as Long Beach Airport instead of Los Angeles International, and maintains non-union crews.
Frontier Airlines
With its hub city of Denver, this airline is mostly focused on providing low-cost flights to the western half of the U.S. as well as certain Mexican destinations.
Virgin America
This American offshoot of the U.K.-based Virgin Group began providing service in late 2007. It focuses on longer flights between major metropolitan cities.
Spirit Airlines
Based in Florida, this low-cost airline flies mostly to destinations in the Bahamas, the Caribbean and Latin America.
Sun Country Airlines
Headquartered in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, this budget airline flies to smaller midwestern cities as well as limited destinations in the United States, Mexico and the Caribbean.
