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That’s the Spirit! Airline refunds canceled flight segment — at last

September 26, 2008

It might be an understatement to say Spirit Airlines isn’t in danger of winning any customer service awards. But occasionally, it does right by its passengers.

Take MaryAnn Gravel, who was flying from Orlando to St. Thomas via Fort Lauderdale recently when one of her flight segments was canceled by Spirit. She picks up the story.

The Spirit personnel were not very nice people and we, along with other passengers from the canceled flight, were made to stand in line while others were helped with their flights for over one hour.

After a number of passengers complained, we were finally told they would issue a refund for that portion of the flight and we could get a flight to Fort Lauderdale on Southwest Airlines and meet our connecting flight in Fort Lauderdale to continue our flight on Spirit to St. Thomas.

Southwest was a delight to work with and we did get to continue our flight.

When Gravel returned home, she phoned Spirit to inquire about her money. A representative promised her a “full refund” in two business days. It didn’t happen.

A week later, she called and was told it would be another “five to six” business days. But a week later — nothing.

Gravel called again, and this time was offered a voucher instead of a refund. The representative said the soonest she could issue the voucher was “7 to 10 working days” because the flight records were closed.

So Gravel contacted me.

I suggested she get in touch with one of Spirit’s executives. She did.

Late yesterday, I heard back from her.

I e-mailed Heather Harvey on Sept. 22 and was contacted on Sept. 24 by Belinda Srour, Corporate Consumer Relations, who said my account would be credited in one to two business days. Today my account was credited. Thank you.

Thank you, Spirit, for doing the right thing in the end. Now, was that so hard?

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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6 comments

  • Ian

    Was that so hard? Answer: Yes

    As a claims adjuster (Auto accidents, Work Comp injuries), I find it so much easier to just do the right things on the claims with merit and end them quickly and effectively. Not only does this give your denials credibility, but just one denial of a legitimate claim can snowball into a large, costly lawsuit. It only takes one case of angering someone needlessly to spark a 6 digit legal action.

    Why do companies think tactics like this are smart? Pay what is right and save your energy for the fraudulent claims that warrant the attention.

  • PJ

    Somehow, this doesn’t surprize me. Spirit hasn’t had the best of track records to begin with & I wouldn’t have flown on it if I didn’t have to. I am vision-impaired and have a seeing-eye dog (a golden retriever named Noah) that goes with me everywhere. When I showed up in Tampa for a flight to Detroit, I was told by the Spirit rep that Noah couldn’t go on the flight. She said that he couldn’t even go as cargo (not that I would have EVER put him the cargo hold of a plane). Now, I know that pets in general are not incouraged in the cabin, but there is almost no place where a service animal is denied. Well, you can correctly assume that I was not going to stand for that, so of course, I asked for her supervisor & got the whole “we don’t have supervisors here” BS.

    Well, after standing there, in full view of the other passengers for 25 minutes, telling this woman that I was not going to leave my seeing-eye dog behind, a supervisor finally showed up. He processed my tickets in just a few minutes, made sure I had my bulkhead seats & escorted me thru the security lines. One of the other passengers in line found me at the gate & told me that the supervisor came back & told the rep that she should have just processed my tickets so that the “blind bastard wouldn’t sue us”.

    I have never had an issue before about Noah, but I can tell you this, the next time a relatice makes me a flight reservation, I’m going to make sure it’s not on Spirit.

  • David

    It’s amazing how companies can take you money instantly, but take days and weeks to hand it back, and all that time it’s earning interest for the company holding on to it.

  • Norma Lettman

    Spirit airlines is definitely not customer focussed. They currently have $599 of my money because the hotel messed up my booking and I had no where to stay in Mexico. 5 hour after booking with Spirit (against my better judgement) we called to request a refund. You know the rest. I have no plans to travel anywhere that Spirit flies for the rest of the year and the money is not transferable.Spirit does not care. It is all about the money. They remind me of AIG and all like companies. I predict they will follow those company in a little while. I hope I will be able to some how use the money they have for me in no interest bearding limbo before they fold I hate Spirit airlines and will never willingly fly with them after I use up this money. It is better to pay the extra cash and fly Jet Blue.

  • tim miller

    spirit airlines left me stranded in south america ,colombia. couldnt get a hold of any person at spirit , so purchased a ticket for my wife and 1 year old and flew back avianca to american airlines for 2600 dollors one way.. thought spirit would at least cover there entire ticket ,but no they covered half of the ticket because i used half to arrive in colombia. they told me to pound sand for the other ticket and didnt give one rats ass what they did to any of there custumers ……………. i wouldnt use them if it was free ,and i cancelled there spirit credit card because there getting some juice of the card no more no way ever again spirit have a nice day and fuck off

  • Susan Critton

    My husband and I booked a round trip flight with Spirit Air for June 14, and we requested a full refund. They refunded the first segment right away. I emailed them and requested that they refund the full amount because we also wanted to cancel the return trip. It has been two months of emails back and forth, since I live outside of the U.S. and I can’t call the 800 number. They now say they will contact the Accounting Dept. but I’m getting the idea that I’ll never see the remaining balance. I filed a complaint with the Aviation Consumer Protection Agency and I’ve sent emails to the VP and Manager of Spirit’s Customer Relations. Any other suggestions?

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