Spirit pilot gets ‘overwhelming’ send-off from Southwest after his final flight is cancelled

A Spirit Airlines pilot was given an emotional send-off into retirement by another airline after what was supposed to be his final flight was canceled amid Spirit’s sudden collapse on Saturday.Jon Jackson had been scheduled to fly his final flight into Baltimore-Washington international airport on Saturday when the low-cost airline ceased operations after running out of cash and rescue talks with the Trump administration failed.So instead, Jackson boarded a Southwest flight to get back to Baltimore from Fort Lauderdale. During the flight, his son Chris, a Southwest pilot, “casually mentioned” to the crew that this would have been his dad’s retirement flight, according to a Facebook post shared by Southwest, “setting into motion a plan that resulted in a proper retirement party when the flight landed in Baltimore”.Southwest staff organized a water cannon salute over the aircraft when it arrived and Jackson was met with cheers, applause and a bottle of bubbly when he walked off the jet bridge.A delighted Jackson gave a brief speech in the terminal, telling staff: “Very overwhelming, I can’t thank you all enough. As Spirit goes down this is a sad day, and you guys made it incredible, so thank you so much.”Southwest’s post reads: