Ya....unfortunately that all might be true.
The 'fuel hedge' IMHO was always the reddest of red herrings. I guess there's a pun in there somewhere.
Unfortunately, THIS time there actually were other carriers to come along. And real competition for everything (many of whom realized crew costs were pretty low combined with the opportunities and actual market). Combine this with the fact when you look at the big picture that a US based Spirit pilot has better pay, travel benefits, and working conditions than most of the senior FO's here and you can see where this is going.
So the net result is the management wayyyyyyyyy overplayed their hand (and continues to do so) -- 'managing' only to alienate the folks they most need at the time they most need them. And at the end of the day with the way they've been going stands an excellent chance of finding themselves trying to sell a runout redneck beer label to whatever sucker might buy it.
Good luck with that.