Question: I need your help. Spirit Airlines lost my luggage and won’t replace it. I flew from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to Las Vegas almost six months ago, and my checked bags disappeared.
The airline has been uncooperative and difficult to contact. I filed a claim when my bags didn’t show up in Las Vegas. My travel insurance company, Travel Guard, also got them to send me claim forms. But Spirit won’t return my calls, and my emails just get an automated response. Its online tracking system has no record of my luggage claim.
I went to Spirit’s corporate headquarters in Miramar, Fla., but their lobby is “self-service” and has a sign that boasts it “saves two cents” by having a phone on a desk instead of a receptionist.
I finally got through to someone on the phone who told me to expect a refund soon. But that was more than a month ago, and I still don’t have anything. I think Spirit is avoiding me. How can I get it to compensate me for my luggage? – Michael Germano, Palm Beach, Fla.
Answer: Spirit should have settled your claim quickly. The airline promises it will handle lost luggage claims two weeks to a month after receiving your claim and conducting a secondary trace.
But did it ever receive your claims? Yes and no. I checked with Spirit and it says it got your claim, but not within 30 days of your flight, as it requires. That would explain why there was no record of your problem. The airline didn’t process your paperwork.
When you filed your initial lost luggage claim at the airport, you didn’t deal with a Spirit employee. Spirit outsourced some of its baggage claim operations in Las Vegas at the time of your flight. To me, that would have sent up a red flag that you needed to follow up with the airline as soon as possible – certainly within 24 hours – to ensure Spirit knows your luggage is lost.
Buying travel insurance wasn’t a bad idea, but your insurance company should have done more than ask Spirit to send you another claim form. I think you could have leaned on Travel Guard a little more to get an answer from Spirit, and if the answer was “no” to process an insurance claim promptly – assuming your policy covered lost luggage.
I would have also contacted Travel Guard as soon as your luggage vanished. Every Travel Guard policy comes with a “24-hour ‘911′ travel emergency service” to help passengers with, among other things, lost luggage tracking.
You aren’t the only one who has had trouble with contacting Spirit. The sign you saw in the lobby of its headquarters might as well be its corporate mission statement, according to many passengers I’ve spoken with. Spirit’s customer service department is described as difficult to reach by phone, it is fond of sending form letters to its customers and reluctant to pay refunds or compensate its passengers for inconveniences.
I’m not as baffled by Spirit’s refusal to process your claim as I am by its ability to lose your luggage – permanently – on a nonstop flight. How did it do that? Usually it takes a connection or two, and most lost bags are eventually recovered.
But the airline isn’t completely indifferent to the experiences of its passengers or their luggage. After I contacted Spirit, it agreed to make an exception to its 30-day rule and processed your claim. The airline sent you a check for $300 to cover your losses.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s nice to hear it was a $ check rather than some travel vouchers.
I have found that when dealing with Spirit, they are incredibly difficult to reach on the phone – unless – you choose the Spanish speaking option/prompt. Their agents are (seemingly) all bi-lingual, and it;s much easier/FASTER to reach someone that way. I hope that helps someone out there!
Let me understand you correctly, Chris. You say if we deal with an [outside] agent of an airline, we should be “suspicious”, and attempt to contact the airline ALSO?? You are bordering on ridiculous. An outsourced function is the same as working with the original company; they’re just doing the work, and getting paid to do it, for/by the original company. Spirit took a lot of latitude, and hutzpah, using that lame excuse.
I read a humorous article awhile back about lost luggage …
A man’s luggage went missing, the airline could never find the bag, so his claim for lost luggage was paid. Seven years later he got a phone call from the airline – his luggage had been located and they wanted him to come pick-it-up. The guy was incredulous that the bag had showed up – and it was confirmed all the way around, the “found” bag was actually his. The airlines gave him a name and a place to go to reclaim his missing bag. When he arrived, the Lost/Found baggage clerk confirmed that they had called and there were amusing comments all around. However when it came time to actually HAND the guy his re-found luggage, they couldn’t locate it. He was good natured about the whole thing – they told him they’d call as soon as they came across it. The guy is still waiting for them to find the bag (the second time). He’s thinking that they may come up with it (again)…. 7 additional years?
Glad that you got your refund Michael!
I don’t check bags and I thank US Airways for that. I learned to pack light. Thanks US Airways.
i lost a red bag august1,2008 coming from las vegas from a basketball tournament i had a bunch of clothin and sportswear and they wont return it back