If you’ve ever felt as if the airline industry can get away with pretty much anything it wants to, then you have to check out Ellen Creager’s fascinating account of a passenger who sued Spirit Airlines in small-claims court, and won.
The airline had canceled Jane Waun’s flight at Detroit Metro Airport earlier this year and failed to rebook her and her family. So she sued the carrier in East Lansing’s 54B District Court as a last resort this spring after trying unsuccessfully to resolve her beef with the airline directly.
Now Spirit must pay her $1,350.75 to cover hotel and meal costs, a lost night at her destination and the four tickets she had to purchase on a different airline.
A few things struck me about the article. First, Spirit never showed up for its initial court hearing, claiming that it didn’t know about it. It asked to reschedule, but the judge turned the airline down. Kind of makes you wonder how seriously airlines like Spirit take small-claims actions by their passengers.
The airline also insisted that under its contract of carriage, it has no obligation to fly any of its routes and can’t be held responsible for canceling flights.
That may be true, but its contract also says that when there is a “schedule irregularity”Spirit will “rebook the passenger on Spirit’s first available flight to the passenger’s destination without additional charge.”
The problem was that Spirit’s ticket agents at the airport wouldn’t rebook the Waun’s promptly, referring them instead to their 800-number. By the time the family got through to the airline, they had already made alternate plans and booked a hotel.
I think this is encouraging news for air travelers. I urge anyone with a gripe against an airline — even if it isn’t the strongest case — to go to small-claims court. You may not win, but at least you’ll have the satisfaction of making the airline dispatch an expensive attorney to answer for its misdeeds in a court of law.
And if it doesn’t, you win.
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{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Expensive attorney? I can’t say for all airlines, but I know United will send a Customer Service Rep to handle their smaller cases in court. He’s not an attorney, just UAL’s representative. So all they are out are his salary and expenses….and he’s part-time to boot!
I am not sure about other parts of the country, but if you sue a corporation in small claims courts in Texas, the corporation must be represented by an attorney. A CSR would NOT be able to respond or represent the airline unless he was also an attorney.
I concur. One ( the airline) usually MUST have an ATTORNEY at their table. This costs MONEY- far more than what paying the claim would cost! perhaps by using Small Claims Court and winning, the airline will see that people are serious about the shabby treatment, etc.
Corporations are normally required to be represented by an attorney. However, there is usually an exception in small claims court where a corp can be represented by just about anyone, not even an officer. You would have to check the state statutes. Also, there is usually a choice of venue clause in the terms of carriage stating that by flying on XYZ Airline, you must bring any suit in XYZ Court in XYZ County. This is usually prohibitive to the average passenger and the airline knows it. However, you may have a chance here if the airline doesn’t send a lawyer to the small claims court–the CSR may not know the law and fails to make the motion to dismiss the case because of the improper forum.
Good luck.
Spirit airlines sucks. Just had similar incident with Spirit. I wonder who is their insurance company and who would pay in the event that an accident happens. If you cant even get someone in their corporate office on the telephone. This is a sham company. Their call center is in Asia, they dont even have a return email address in their Florida headquarters. Delta, American, Continental, and JetBlue all maintain their offices and email addresses right there on their websites. This airline is nothing but a shell business. The small claims court suggestion is brilliant as they will never recieve any mail or other notice of court action so you will always win.
Spirit is scam airline as far as I am concerned
The last flight that I booked on Spirit from Boston to Detroit was in fact no flight.
They even confirmed the day before via e-mail. The agent gave me a hard time but I insisted that they book a flight on another airline before leaving the counter.
I told them that I will take them to small Claims Court and that the additional expenses that I will incur will expand well beyond my air ticket price.
The agent booked the flight out on US Air and advised to call the 800 # in Detroit. UNACCEPTABLE…. I insisted on a return flight ticket on another airline before I leave the counter
Agents are trained to put you off with promises…. SAD
I WOULD LIKE TO GET IN TOUCH WITH A LIVE PERSON IN THE ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT OR A LIVE PERSON IN HUMAN RESOURES. I NEVER EVEN HEARD OF SPIRIT AIRLINES UNTIL CHECKING MY BANK STATEMENT AND SEEN WHERE I WAS CHARGED $662.78 FOR AN AIRTLINE TICKET AND THEY EVEN BOUGHT FLIGHT INSURANCE FOR $12.00. I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THEY DEPARTED FROM OR WHERE THEY WENT. BUT THEY PAID FOR IT USING MY DEBIT CARD AND IT CAME OUT OF MY PERSONAL CHECKING ACCOUNT. UNFORTUNATELY, I DID NOT DISCOVER THIS UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE FOR MY BANK TO REIMBURSE ME FOR THIS CHARGE. BUT I FILED A DISPUTE. DO I HAVE A LEGAL CASE FOR SMALL CLAIMS COURT? HELP!!
YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO FLY WITH SPIRIT AIRLINES TO HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THEM. I NEVER EVEN HEARD OF SPIRIT AIRLINES UNTIL CHECKING MY BANK STATEMENT AND SEEN WHERE I WAS CHARGED $662.78 FOR AN AIRTLINE TICKET AND THEY EVEN BOUGHT FLIGHT INSURANCE FOR $12.00. I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THEY DEPARTED FROM OR WHERE THEY WENT. BUT THEY PAID FOR IT USING MY DEBIT CARD AND IT CAME STRAIGHT OUT OF MY PERSONAL CHECKING ACCOUNT. UNFORTUNATELY, I DID NOT DISCOVER THIS UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE FOR MY BANK TO REIMBURSE ME FOR THIS CHARGE. BUT I FILED A DISPUTE. DO I HAVE A LEGAL CASE FOR SMALL CLAIMS COURT? I NEED HELP!! PLEASE!!!
YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO FLY WITH SPIRIT AIRLINES TO HAVE PROBLEMS. I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF SPIRIT UNTIL CHECKING MY BANK STATEMENT. I NOTICED A $662.78 CHARGE TO THEM. SOMEONE HAD USED MY DEBIT CARD TO BUY AN AIRLINE TICKET. UNFORTUNETLY I NOTICED THIS TOO LATE AND MY BANK WOULD NOT REIMBURSE ME. THIS CHARGE CAME STRAIGHT OUT OF MY CHECKING ACCCOUNTING. I DID FILE A DISPUTE AT MY BANK TO HAVE PROOF OF THIS FRAUDULENT CHARGE. THE ONLY COMMUNICATION I CAN GET WITH THEM IS THROUGH EMAILS. I HAVE ASKED FOR CONTACT NAMES AND TELEPHONES NUMBERS AND THEY WILL NOT GIVE THEM TO ME. THE LAST EMAIL I SENT I TOLD THEM I WAS GOING TO GET AN ATTORNEY AND NOW THEY WILL NOT EVEN RESPOND TO MY EMAILS. DO I HAVE A CHANCE IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT? I NEED HELP!!! PLEASE!!! THANKS.
Chistina:
It’s hard to comment without knowing more of the circumstances, but it appears that you are talking of fraudulent use of your debt card. If it were a credit card then you would have protection under federal law, however, I do not believe that this protection extends to debt cards. Complicating the issue further is the fact that most debt cards also require the use of a PIN with each transaction and debt card issuers place the responsibility for protecting that PIN on the customer. As for making a claim in court (small claims or otherwise), any claim against either Spirit or your bank would probably need to be based on some theory of negligence. From what you have described, I don’t think that you can prove up a case against either. The party to sue would be the individual that misused your card. I assume that you don’t know that individual and Spirit won’t tell you. You could file a “John Doe” lawsuit, then subpoena the details from Spirit. That is how it is usually done through civil law. A better approach would be to file a police report alleging fraud and have law enforcement obtain the information under the provisions of criminal law. If the card was used fraudulently, then it is, first and foremost, a criminal rather than civil matter. Let them address the issue. That’s how I would handle the issue.
To the comments of Scott, Greg, Wendy & Jennifer. As a general rule, a corporation cannot sue or defend in a pro se capacity and must be represented by an attorney. While the fifty states vary considerably in what they allow to be sued over, where the suit must be brought, how much can be sued for, and how formal the process is, I believe that it is correct to say that most state civil procedure statues make an exception to the requirement that a corporation must be represented by an attorney for small claims court litigation. In Illinois, for example, this exception can found at 735 ILCS 5/2-416. There is no federal small claims court. Questions of venue and diversity of citizenship can quickly complicate things if both parties are not in the same state.
Can anyone help me with the process taking Spirit Airlines to court. The cancelled our flight from cancun to Chicago, we got stuck on a holiday weekend in Ft. Myers and we were forced to pay another $ 3500 in airlines tickets plus hotel for two days. If I am in Chicago, do we have to go to Florida to sue them in Small claims court?
ANY ONE KNOWS THE ADRESS OF SPIRIT AIRLINE TO START A LAW SUE??
Dear Friend, If you were in Chicago when you booked the ticket, you can sue in small claims court in the district in which you made the phone call, as that is where the airline did business with you. If they are not represented at the case, you will win the judgement against them for the amount plus court costs. You then send a certified letter demaning the amount due and including COPIES of all the paperwork, keeping the originals, giving the airlines 10 days from date of letter to pay amount due. If they do not pay, go to attorney general of consumer affairs in your state, and that office will send letter to airlines telling themn that it’s pay up or the AG will issue an injunction against the airlines which stops them airlines from doing business in your state (selling tickets or landing planes at all airports in your state) until the judgement is paid. THIS WILL GET THEIR ATTENTION AND YOUR MONEY. Don’t get mad, GET EVEN!
I need Spirits phone # for customer service. I am going to be billed again for another year of dues And I dont want to continue with them. It is impossible to send an email message and receive a return confirmation. tks Bill Bell 10/02/09
@Bill Bell — here you go.
http://www.elliott.org/help/spirit