Comments on: Bad Spirit? Airline reschedules Thanksgiving flight, offers useless vouchers

By: Cambridge Star

Cambridge Star — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Spirit airline operators are ***holes.. This airline should not exist.. There will be no one at the counter to assist customers..

By: Tampa Jim

Tampa Jim — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 14:03:36 +0000

I keep a personal “don’t fly” list of airlines that I don’t want to do business with. SPIRIT is at the very top of that list. I believe that there is a special place in hell reserved for their management team.

By: yatra

yatra — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 10:05:03 +0000

spirit airline is a very good low cost airline.

By: Nomad1

Nomad1 — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:48:06 +0000

Yes, the moral of the story is simple: DO NOT FLY SPIRIT.
I recently spent over an hour trying to explain to them why when I book a refundable fair on their website (via utilizing refundable option on the drop down menu on the booking page) I expect it to be a refundable fair. Pretty standard procedure for any ‘real’ airline, but Spirit sinks into some black hole of logic trying to explain why it doesn’t take place. I eventually get transferred to a supervisor Donald M. who pedantically begins to give me an example concerning a $5 pen vs. a $3 pen with conditions. I have no issue with non-native English speakers however when a series of them speak down to me as if I cannot understand the fundamentals of internet usage nor reading comprehension I tend to get a little perturbed. So moral of the story, I will cancel the flight, file an appeal with my credit card company and never fly nor recommend Spirit to anyone under any circumstances.

By: Robin

Robin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:59:34 +0000

This experience is completely typical of Spirit. I had so many terrible experiences with Spirit that I (and all of my family members) will not fly them anymore. It doesn’t matter if it costs more on another airline, which it normally doesn’t.

Any other airline will refund your money or switch you to a new itinerary when their schedule changes (they may try to get you to accept a voucher but if you ask clearly and directly, you will get what you need with any of the legacy airlines – I’ve had it work properly with Delta, Northwest and Continental).

Flying Spirit Airlines and getting to your destination at all (let alone on-time) is more of a gamble than playing cards in Vegas.

My final experience with Spirit occurred in NYC with a flight to Detroit that was delayed for 7 hours and then canceled at 11pm due a “hurricane” (there was a tropical storm south of Jamaica) yet a flight to Fort Lauderdale took off 15 mins later. Spirit wouldn’t give out transportation or hotel vouchers to anyone, nor would they give any written confirmation that we’d be on the 7am flight in the morning – only one announcement saying “come back and check in for the 7am flight”. When the line of passengers who wanted to speak to someone to confirm their plans or figure out what they were supposed to do for the next 6 hours became too long, the Spirit representatives left the counter and went into a back room, completely ignoring what became an angry mob.

When I tried calling Spirit’s number to confirm over the phone the new flight information, I was told that their system was down.

Saturday morning, surprise surprise – the flight was delayed. They wouldn’t even announce a time that it would take off, just saying “stay near, we could board at any time”.

The 4pm Friday flight FINALLY landed in Detroit at 3pm Saturday.

I had a crucial Saturday morning appointment (which is why I flew in on Friday afternoon, to insure I’d make it) and I’d missed it. My next opportunity to reschedule the appointment would be on Monday after my return flight was scheduled. When I finally spoke with a Spirit representative to try and switch to a later flight on Monday so I could make this appointment, they said it would be a $400 change fee. Only after I had exhausted all of their arguments did they finally consent to a change.

After that, I never flew them again. And they’re NOT THAT CHEAP. Northwest is usually cheaper than Spirit between NY & DTW, and DTW & LA. Only on some of their FL flights are they cheaper. But I’d rather get to my destination and at least have the option of contacting a customer service representative.

Spirit is HORRIBLE. I cannot wait until they go out of business.

By: David Z

David Z — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:20:30 +0000

@Bob

Courts rule both ways on contracts. But various lawyers have told me that contract law is very flexible, which essentially allows (almost) any kind of term.

Unfortunately one will have to sue in court to test Spirit Airlines’ contract…if anyone’s up to it.

By: mark

mark — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:13:31 +0000

I just returned from me first Spirit trip. The check in the FTL was a breeze as they have an automatic system. The for the return flight I got an email from Spirit telling me check in at the San Juan airport could take 3 hours. Well I took a chance and got there 90 minutes before and there was no line at check in so we were checked and through security in 10 minutes. So all and all I liked my experience and for 18.00 round trip I would do it again. One thing I did get 4 emails about a schedule change but each one showed the same time and date so that’s a bit confusing.

By: SImon De Lao

SImon De Lao — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 05:21:50 +0000

What AMAZES me is how Mr. Elliott and others in the travel industry don’t stand on top of the nearest building and shout – “NEVER FLY SPIRIT AIRLINES!” – Most of Spirit’s customers (victims) are not sophisticated travellers. They expect every company they do business with to be honest and fair with them. Not Spirit- Never – Ever

By: xuxasdad

xuxasdad — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 04:12:49 +0000

Elliott, surely you know that those same conditions of carriage appear on every airlines tickets. Does that make it right…no. However, birds of a feather fly together. In other words, there is no such thing as the friendly skies anymore. You are better off taking the train. Hmmm, better read their condition of carriage as you may find similar verbiage. Take the bus…ugh, just read theirs, guess I will drive.

By: hlg22

hlg22 — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:07:57 +0000

Carver,
I would completely agree with you if what I was complaining about was just the schedule change – had I simply booked the flight, made the hotel reservation, and then had the schedule change, I agree that under Spirit (or any other airline’s) policies and existing law, I would have no recourse. My complaint is that I kept the reservation after the first schedule change based upon the EXPLICIT REPRESENTATIONS of a Spirit employee that the schedule was not going to change again before my trip, and reasonably relied upon those representations. That’s actionable fraudulent inducement, at least under my state’s consumer protection statute. However, with airlines you run into some preemption issues with the federal Airline Deregulation Act which I’m still looking at, and which is why I haven’t yet decided whether small claims or working my contacts at the DOT and trying to pursue something there is the way to go.

It is completely separate from the issue of whether their should be limits placed upon an airline’s ability to change it’s schedule, or whether excessive, frequent schedule changes constitute a deceptive trade practice – though Spirit seems to do so with far, far more regularity (and making more drastic changes, i.e., changing flights by days instead of minutes or hours) than any other airline I’ve experienced.

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:33:29 +0000

Let’s see. Just in the last week, here on Chris’ site, I’ve seen…

Somebody who paid $150 for a “Lifetime” HHonors membership, and then Hilton cancelled the membership while he was still alive.. But Hilton decided the fine print let them keep his money. (Until they were publicly shamed on this blog.)

Debbie Gitlan, who paid Spirit for a specific trip that Spirit decided not to provide. But Spirit decided the fine print let them keep her money. (Until they were publicly shamed on this blog.)

hlg22, who lost $356.40 because he believed Spirit, when they in fact were lying to him. But Spirit thinks the fine print means that even though they lied, they don’t owe him anything.

See a pattern? The contracts basically say, “We can promise you stuff, and take your money, but our fine print says we don’t have to provide you with jack. Oh, and if we don’t provide you with jack, we still get to keep your money.” If this were done with a gun instead of a contract, it would be the perp would go to jail.

I was recently reading that the courts routinely toss out standard patent clauses because they’re crap. Perhaps we don’t need legislation so much as some judges who care more about justice than words, and are willing to set some precedents by tossing out this contractual fine print as crap.

By: SeaJimm

SeaJimm — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:15:50 +0000

Funny. I book my Christmas ticket in February as soon as the flights are available. Last year I had 18 scheudle changes. About 60 days before the flight, I review the schedule online and found a misconnect. I would arrive after the connecting flight left. I called United and within about 3 minutes, the records were cleaned up and I had new flights. I also had a change once that did not meet my schedule and United simply refunded my money.

By: Molly

Molly — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:44:42 +0000

About 5 years ago I took my first and last Spirit flight, R/T NY to LA for my father’s funeral. The flight home was a misery. The check-in counter at the airport was staffed with the rudest people I’ve ever encountered, (they were rude to polite people for no good reason) and once aboard, the FA in a *very* nasty tone told everyone that they could not put their coats/jackets in the overhead bins because there was no room. (there was plenty of room) It was winter and everyone was traveling with heavy coats, scarves, gloves, etc. She went up and down the aisles opening all the overheard bins and pulled out any that were in there and throwing them on the lap on the owner. So, in crowded uncomfortable seats we were now sitting withou down coats up to our eyeballs.
Various announcements were made over the loudspeakers by FA’s who obviously were uneducated – using works like “Axe” us a question about safety, and “Don’t nobody go to the bafroom (sic) while the seatbelt sign is on”.
Three hours into the 5.5 hour flight, the B***** that threw our coats out of the overhead bins declared that since there is *now* room in the overhead, we can put our coats up there.

When we arrived in NY, their baggage carousel wasn’t working (so they said) and they told us they were going to have to use one from another airline, and that we’d have to wait at least an hour or two until that airline emptied the bags from their flights. They told us that anyone that leaves and doesn’t claim their luggage will not have it delivered to them due to Spirit’s failure of service.
After almost two hours, the Spirit carousel suddenly worked. No annoucement, no apologies.

In the time that has passed since that flight, I’ve told my experience to many and hope that it’s stopped hundreds from booking with them And while I hate to see competition from the “big guys” disappear, I hope Spirit goes out of business. They deserve it.

By: Carver Farrow

Carver Farrow — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:31:14 +0000

One point of clarification. When they say that they are not responsible, what that means is that if you are relying on a specific schedule and you make plans based on that reliance, and the schedule changes, Spirit is not responsible for your plans.

For example, hlg22. You’ll have a really difficult time in small claims court. The fact that Spirit changed its flight does not make the liable for the inability to use the non-refundable hotel reservations that you booked.

That is a general principle of law called consequential damages. of course Spirit is responsible to refund your money.

By: Regina

Regina — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:12:22 +0000

“Spirit is not responsible or liable for making connections, or for failing to operate any flight according to schedule, or for changing the schedule of any flight.” Are they kidding?? May I ask just what they ARE responsible for? I think the spokeswoman’s explanation is BS.