http://www.spiritair.com
2800 Executive Way
Miramar, FL 33025
(954) 447-7965
(800) 772-7117
How to get through to an operator
dial 1 and wait.
Overview
Spirit Airlines is one of the most complained-about airlines flying today. In an effort to be come what it calls an “ultra low cost” carrier, it has cut back or eliminated many of the customer service considerations that air travelers take for granted. Recently, despite outsourcing its customer service call center, Spirit appears to be taking customer service questions a little bit more more seriously. Let’s see if the trend holds.
If you have a customer complaint, please read this before contacting the company.
Customer service resources
Contract of carriage
Customer service
Primary e-mail
Primary contact
Heather Harvey
Manager, customer relations
2800 Executive Way
Miramar, FL 33025
(954) 628-4957
heather.harvey@spiritair.com
Secondary contact (*):
Tony Lefebvre
Senior vice president, customer service
2800 Executive Way
Miramar, FL 33025
(954) 447-7965
Tony.Lefebvre@spiritair.com
Chief executive (*):
Ben Baldanza
President and chief executive
2800 Executive Way
Miramar, FL 33025
(954) 447-7965
ben.baldanza@spiritair.com
What others have to say about Spirit Airlines
Aviation Consumer Protection Division Air Travel Consumer Report
Epinions.com
Airline Quality Rating
This information has been collected from publicly-available resources and is believed to be accurate at the time of the last update. If any of this information is inaccurate, please e-mail me.
* Executives should only be contacted when your letter or email has not been acknowledged within six to eight weeks.
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p.s. – I agree with comments here that
1. this is discount, so don’t expect gobs of personnel answering phones or emails at corporate office
2. economy is bad enough, let’s not file a lawsuit or refer it to a Senator or Congressman, that will only put them out of business! Public humiliation is cheap and effective.
However, as with any business which THINKS they are entirely dependent upon web-based forms and services, they should AT LEAST be willing to receive technical PROBLEM REPORTS on their website. I wonder if that vendor is in India, too? If so, I don’t trust them with MY credit card information, they are INCOMPETENT.
My daughters fly back and forth between Las Vegas and Detroit (custody agreement). We used to usually use Spirit since they are one of the few airlines that offer a straight thru flight between the cities. The las time they flew, Spirit sat them in a row with a man that was drunk and loud. they never checked on the girls throughout the flight. They are supposed to put unaccompanied minors in a row by themselves (especially since you pay $100 per child each way).
We will never use this airline again.
What exactly would you expect from a $9 flight. Sure there are no meals ( what airline is offering that nowadays), you’re flight might be delayed ( what airline isn’t)…but for $9 a flight I will bring a sandwich and a book and enjoy a couple of extra mojitos with the money I saved!!
I paid for a full membership into the Spirit 9 Dollar club. We went on a flight and were handed an application for the credit card. We filled out the application and the next thing we know our membership number to book flights was terminated without our knowledge and we were unable to book any flights. All this was done by the credit card company and spirit. We can not get a new membership number for booking of the flights because spirit blames the credit card company for the cancelation and the credit card company is blaming spirit. But in the mean time, we as a paid customer is getting screwed and fighting with both places to get our membership back so we can use the services we paid for.
I think that the answer here is to avoid spirit airlines and beware of your membership if you get the credit card.
To avoid more bullshit, do not apply for their credit card
Hi everyone!
Let me start by introducing myself. I am the Customer Relations Manager of Spirit Airlines. I’ve been with the company for 2 years and 4 months, and managing the CR team for the last year and a half. Recently, I have been tasked with turning our customer perception around – which is why I am appealing to you here.
As I read through the posts on this and several other blogs, I find that this is the first time that I or my staff see the complaint. Prior to posting something negative about our company, I challenge you to reach out to our customer relations group or myself (Heather. Harvey@spiritair.com). You may also reach our consumer relations via our website, Spiritair.com by selecting the ‘Help’ tab at the top right corner of the home screen. In the search box please type contact us and select the ‘question/comment’ tab. We are committed to correcting our mistakes. Your complaints and compliments spur many conversations with upper management.
Our staff is a caring and intelligent group of individuals who see the bigger picture. Help us be a better company by bringing your issue to our attention – if we aren’t aware that there is a problem how are we going to fix it?
You have given us the opportunity to improve our service and we will do our best to do just that.
Please travel with us soon. It is always a privilege to welcome you aboard.
Sincerely,
Heather Harvey
Manager, Corporate Consumer Relations
Spirit Airlines
Heather,
Last year, I had the worst travel experience in my personal and professional life with Spirit. I e-mailed and called you numerous times and received no response. I ultimately ended up having to drive from Boca Raton to the FLL airport to address the matter in person. After two and a half hours of waiting, I resolved the matter reluctantly and not to my satisfaction. I will never fly Spirit Airlines again and I highly recommend others to think twice before flying Spirit. Actions speak louder than words and going forward I hope you practice what you preach.
Dana – would you mind emailing me at Heather.Harvey@spiritair.com? I’m afraid that when I posted my email address there is a space between Heather and the .Harvey@spiritair.com. I do apologize for this – Thank you for the opportunity to correct this.
Heather
I use Spirit all the time. The fares are great but there customer service was really bad about a year ago. They had many rude ticket counter people that seemed to be underpaid and overworked and did want to be there.
I think Spirit realized that had a problem because it seems like they have new management at the fort lauderdale airport.
The ticket counter people now smile and say thank you (something they never did in the past) and you are also greeted by a representive from Spirit when you walk in the door that is willing to help you (like “Thomas”).
I hope that Spirit is making money and continues to fly and improve on there service.
P.S.: I fly to New York mostly, I think they need new managament there also.
I paid twice for $9 Club membership for my son Nick Rosenberg Spirit # 127831395; email nickrock42491@aol.com; paid on 7/7/2009 and then when booking tickets yesterday I was required to do so again 7/15/2009 and then the booking was never processed; I spoke to many reps (In India?) who were connecting me to supervisors; last of all was at length “Lilly” who told me to do this and tell you to refund one of the $39.95 but also to allow me to book the two tickets for my sons that would not go through after two+hours. CONTACT email mellester2@aol.com; 914 263-6223
We had the misfortune of flying Spirit a few months ago. It had to be the worst experience we have ever encountered after traveling 64 countries. We have a credit and we will never use it.
While I appreciate the attempt by Heather Harvey, frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. I would rather walk than fly Spirit ever again.
Just a few days ago i tried purchasing a ticket online and through telephone reservations. For whatever reason my credit card was coming up declined both times…although there were funds available. So since i was not able to make the purchase that was the end of the phone call. 2days later I now see the charge on my credit card in the amount of $324. I called reservations & spoke to a manager who then reviwed the phone call that was made two days prior when i was trying to make the reservation. He told me that i couldn’t get my money back beacause it was a non-refundable ticket. Who cares if it’s non refundable!!!! my card came back declined TWICE! so why am i being charged for it all of a sudden is my question. I’ve made 2 calls to Heather Harvey and have not heard anything back. I’m now sending her an email with the complaint….let’s see how long it will take to resolve this issue.
On August 5, 2009, I purchased a ticket for a friend to fly from Tampa to Ft. Lauderdale. The confirmation form transmitted by Spirit Airlines was forwarded to her saying “reservation cancelled.” Suffice it to say, this was very embarrasing and ruined the relationship. She thought I had been lying to her. I called customer service (in India) several times. The first time I called, the representative confirmed that because of a glithch in the Spirit computer, the reservation had been cancelled and the credit card charge did not go through. This morning, my bank reported that the reservation in fact DID go through (T9WD7Q) and my credit card was in fact charged. I then called customer service and was treated very rudely by everyone with whom I spoke. I was told by a man who claimed to be a supervisor “retain the services of an attorney if you don’t like it!” He staed that “even if we were wrong, we’re not giving your money back.” When I asked him for a credit in the amount of the ticket ($149.00), he said Spirit will charge me $110.00 for THEIR mistake and the credit would be issued for only $39.00. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was connected to the original agent who took my call and clearly was not a supervisor. I called the Spitit Corporate offices in Miramar, FL and, of course, never gor to speak with a live person.
None of the telephone numbers listed in their corporate directory connects you with a live human being. I did absolutely nothing wrong. Spirit made a mistake and lied to me. No one seems to want to do the right thing. I am beginning to believe there is a good reason Spirit has such a terrible reputation. Their customer service really IS terrible!
Our family vacation was almost ruined by the incompetent ticket agents we greeted on June 26th. We were denied boarding by the agent that told us we did not meet the requirements of Spirit airline policy to travel internationally with our children. She was unable to produce any policy for me to read, only a flat denial and a reference to the website. After copying and researching ALL of Spirits travel policies, the agent was WRONG!!! We still had to pay an extra $2500 in expenses related to their mistake. I have emailed all the contacts on Elliots blog and have not received any response to my letter. As a note to others having problems with airlines, the FAA has a complaint forum and they are very interested in hearing from customers about airline issues.
I also had AWFUL experience with Spirit airlines.I hope somebody manege to close this RIP OFF MONKEY business. They screw my husband’s flight, cancell it, then changed it to different time without notification.He was stuck in bahamas with no hotel for a day, get fired from his job, lost a lot of business because AS THE SPIRIT AGREED THE AGENT MADE MISTAKE. But there was no reimbursment and THEY CHARGES US 350 $ FEEES FOR THEIR MISTAKE.We barely heard sorry, paid 200 $ in roaming and went through HELL!The worst experience in my life!
On Thursday the 13th of August myself, my husband and 2 young daughters had a return flight from Kingston, Jamaica to Washington, DC with a connection in Fort Lauderdale. We were told that the flight from Kingston to Fort Lauderdale was going to be delayed due to a storm in Fort Lauderdale. Our original flight out was 3:55pm CST. I honestly couldn’t tell you when we boarded and took off, what I do know is that by the time we got through customs it was already 9:00pm EST and our 7:10pm EST flight had already left (along with everybody else’s connecting flight). So now we (me, my husband and 2 daughters) has to find where to go to get information. We stood on a long line that did not move to be told by the Spirit Air Rep. (who had a nasty attitude) that there wasn’t another flight going out to Washington DC Reagan Airport until 1:24pm EST on the 14th of August. So we were stranded in Fort Lauderdale until then. When I asked about any other flights he told me that there was a 7:10am leaving out but it was already oversold and 6 people were already on standby, but that we could come back in the morning and try to get on the flight. He then told us that they would not be accommodating us with a hotel, a ride a hotel or even food vouchers and offered us a hotel with a distress rate of $89 a night. We did not have the money to spend for a hotel and a cab ride. We asked if there was a USO in the airport being that me and my husband are both Active Duty Army Soldiers. He said “No”. After we were booked on the 1:24pm flight for the next day we sat in the airport terminal with all our bags and no real place to sleep. We were cold and hungry. My 2 daughters 5 and 3 years old had to sleep balled up in a airport chair, as did my husband. I didn’t get any sleep because I had to make sure our bags didn’t get stolen or confiscated (I do have a picture of them and the airport clock (1:08am)) that I took for evidence. At about 4:30 that morning we walked over to the desk to try to check in on standby on the 7:10am flight. The lady at the desk told me that it was oversold and that there were still 7 people on the standby list and also that it was a $25 non-refundable fee for each person to be put on the list. I then told her that the guy last night did not mention anything about a fee. He said to try to come back by 6:00am to see if we can get on the list. So she then got a supervisor or something and the supervisor then said you don’t understand. I stopped her and said I do understand but what you don’t understand is that I should have been home last night at 10pm and we just slept in a cold airport terminal. I’m cold, hungry and sleepy and I’m a soldier and I’m suppose to be back to work today and all I want is to be put on the standby list. If I knew I had to pay I more than likely would have just paid for a hotel room and not have my kids sleep on airport chairs. Then they went ahead and put us on standby at no charge. We then we checked in an went to the designated gate. When the 7:10am flight started to board not all the passengers were there. We thought were would be able to get onto the flight come to find out we didn’t they held the flight for 2 connecting flight to come; one from Lima, Peru and the other from LAX. Needless to say I was pissed because they held this flight for 2 other flights and I, my husband and 2 young daughters had now been in the airport almost 12 hours, without a decent meal. We then found out what gate the 1:24pm flight was leaving from and sat there until it was time to board another 7 ½ hours later (because the plane came in late and left late). I didn’t get home until 7pm on the 14th of August, almost 24 hours later. I, my husband and our daughters would like to be compensated for all that we have been through. Again we were stranded in an airport for about 16 hours and were never offered a complimentary hotel room, ride to a hotel or even food vouchers. Along with a slap in the face to have a plan held for passengers from 2 flights where we were waiting for almost 12 hours at this point.
Heather
I have called several times and emailed you with no response. We signed up for your $9 fare and the next day we tried to book several flights asking for a $9 fare. We were told you get $9 off a flight, not a $9 fare. We asked for your corporate number and a US contact. Your customer service rep who was very rude and hard to understand said there were no phone numbers or corporate office contacts. This $9 fare is false advertisement. We wanted further information and was also told there were no supervisors to talk to.
A company that doesn’t care about their customers is a company that I do not want to deal with.
On 6 March 2009 – I had purchased tickets for my in-laws who reside in Colombia to visit my family in the United States. My record locator is P31TNI. The names of my in-laws are Alba Ruby Romero de Satizabal and Hernando David Satizabal Jadedth. I am the ticket purchaser Jeffrey Feldman.
My in-laws were visiting us for a period of almost three months. I knew that they would need at least two checked bags each. At the time I purchased the tickets for my in-laws, I made an additional purchase of an additional bag allowance for both my in-laws covering all four legs of their travel (Bogota, Colombia to Fort Lauderdale, FL – Fort Lauderdale, FL to Atlanta Georgia and return.) I have a receipt clearly indicating this purchased. My in-laws had a copy of the receipt at all times.
On their return trip of 1 September 2009 – I drove from Clarksville TN to Atlanta GA taking them to the airport. I made sure my in-laws had a copy of the receipt and all necessary documentation to return home. At 0415 nobody from Spirit Airlines was at the counter, even though the posted hours on the digital marquee indicated they would be there at 0400. I mentioned that as their flight was scheduled to depart at 0700 and I had a long drive back. If someone was present at their scheduled operating hours, I could have assisted them better as they do not speak English.
Once the representatives finally showed up, they refused to check the additional bags of my in-laws in. With the assistance of some Spanish speaking customers – my father in-law clearly showed the receipt indicating that an additional bag had been purchased already for each. My father in law spoke to six different spirit airlines employees – none would accept the receipt. The passenger representative said that the additional bag purchase was not valid on international flights. She further demanded payment of $100 dollars for each bag (total $200) dollars. My in-laws did not have enough money to pay as no additional fees were anticipated as I took care of everything in advance,
At this point, other customers witnessed what was transpiring and tried to offer assistance. Other customers reviewed the receipt and were satisfied that the bags were paid for already as it is clearly indicated on the receipt. One lady offered her cell phone to my in-laws to contact customer service and my wife for help. Another even went as far loaning my in-laws enough money for an additional bag. My in-laws were forced to unpack everything out of one suitcase – cram it into to the other three – and discard the bag to be able to continue their journey and board the aircraft.
This incident has caused extensive grief and financial loss to me and my in-laws. Notwithstanding the embarrassment of being ridiculed in public – but we have suffered the loss of one piece of luggage and an overpayment of one hundred dollars that was completely unnecessary.
I believe the following is in order
A written apology from Spirit Airlines both to me and my in-laws
Direct compensation for the loss of one hundred dollars erroneously paid
Replacement of one suitcase.
Hello Everyone,
First let me say that I have flown all over the world and visited over 40 counties. So you could say that I have been around.
A few years ago I found SpiritAir. I was so excited to Think that I could now go to other countries for less then half of the money that I would spend with someone else. However, I did some websearch and read lot’s of bad reports. I freaked out and reconsidered my flight choice. But in the end I decided to risk it and book the flight to South America.
Since then I have flown back and forth to the States a number of times.
I LOVE SPIRIT AND THE SERVICE THAT THEY OFFER. If you don’t want to save the money, go book with someone else. But there are some of us that don’t have the money to do so and greatly appreciate SpiritAir. So suck it up or shut up people. Enough nagging!!!!
As in every company everywhere in the world, customers have good and bad experiences. A lot of the bad ones are from a lack of common sense on the customers part.
Mine have been very good. The people have been very helpful and accomadating on everyflight.
I AM GREATFUL TO SPIRIT AND WOULD TELL ANYONE CONSIDERING FLYING TO DO SO AND DON’T MIND ALL THE IDIOTS THAT WINE ABOUT THIER BAD EXPERIENCES. SPIRIT IS AN EXCELENT COMPANY AND DESERVES SOME GOOD RECOGNITION FOR OFFERING SERVICE AT SUCH A LOW RATE IN THESE DAYS WHERE EVERYTHING COSTS TEN TIMES WHAT IT SHOULD.
PEACE,
J
I have called and sent an email to Heather and she has not returned my call or email. Seems to be a pattern here. Maybe Spirit needs to replace Heather?????????????????
Has Spirit gone out of business? Could not access their website for several days. Called customer service several times and got a total run around!
Thanks to Spirit, my significant other and I have been able to enjoy our new little Piece of Paradise about once a month in 2009. It would have been cost prohibitive to visit that frequently without the reasonable prices Spirit offers. ( I’ll insert just a little plug here..email me if you are also looking for an affordable getaway to Southwest Florida..now is the time! It has been life changing to finally reward ourselves and “enjoy” our investment rather than watch it do nothing in the stock market. I’m passionate about finding the bargains and would love to help you as well.) Back to Spirit..I have been an entrepreneur all my life and have sometimes wondered, how does Spirit stay in business with their low prices? Obviously, volume, low costs and no frills..Works for me, I’ll save the frills for my time on the ground enjoying all there is to do. While it would be nice if the coach seats were a little larger, I have been very impressed with the airline overall. I had one issue where I hit the wrong day online, called the 800# and the representative fixed the booking for me since I called immediately. I don’t think I have ever arrived late and their flight attendants are many times quite comical.
I encourage others to try the airline. I hope they are around forever.
I’d like to suggest an idea for the airline. While the extra room is nice when the plane is not full…why not allow your loyal customers bid on last minute flights to fill the plane and fulfill their last minute desire to get out of town. It would seem that it could be a win/win for everyone.
Happy New Year!
Katherine Stark
http://www.fateinrealestate.com
klstark8@gmail.com
http://www.spiritair.com/Policiesspecialneeds.aspx
This Links specifically states that children are preferred to be in the window seat but can sit anywhere provided that the responsible guardians occupy the other two seats. However, the stewardess promptly yelled at me and my baby, plus the grandparents for not having the baby in the window seat. When I placed her there, she cryed, then the stewardess stormed to the pilot, thrussed the door open and kicked us out because the baby did not quiet down quick enough.
NEVER AGAIN with SPIRIT.
This is the third time, they screamed at my mother when she brought her small dog on the plane and barked ONCE. And then another time, yelled at my grandmother, who suffered from a terrible, debilitating cancer, that she wasn’t moving fast enough on the plane for other passengers.
NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My husband and I have flown Spirit out of Atlantic City, NJ. We’ve gone to Fla., Las Vegas (I miss this one), and Cancun. I don’t remember having any bad experiences and the price couldn’t be beat. I wish they’d do away with all the extra charges (bags, seats, etc), but aside from that…..Keep up the good work Spirit.
I recently flew with SpiritAir for the first time – Ft Lauderdale to Medellin Colombia. I didn’t sign up for the $9 club because of all the negative comments I’ve read. Nonetheless, the flight itself was good and on schedule. The price was incredibly cheap. All-in-all a very good experience.
I couldn’t believe my ears. As everyone must know, once you make the reservation online, there are no refunds, no transfers, no changes, nothing.
Even knowing this I still made a reservation online and accidentally put a wrong name on the reservation!! I realized it a couple minutes later. I immediatelly called Spirit, I think I did get India. She politely asked me if I knew the ticket was non transferrable and non refundable. I said yes, I know but that I had just made the reservation a couple of minutes ago. She said hold on the phone and let me see what I can do, she didnt put me on hold, she immediately said she would cancel the reservation for credit (no refund) with no fees and I would get a credit for the full amount, which was fine with me because I knew I could get the fare again.
So I just rebooked it and everything is fine now.
I suppose their customer service is improving somewhat.
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