CREDIT CARD DISPUTE

So long, Spirit Airlines. Should the government have saved you?

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Spirit Airlines has begun an orderly wind-down of operations, effective immediately. Every flight has been canceled and customer service is closed. The shutdown comes after the Trump administration’s $500 million rescue plan, which would have given the federal government an unprecedented 90 percent stake in the carrier, fell apart over the weekend. After blocking Spirit’s merger with JetBlue on antitrust grounds in 2024, the federal government spent the past several days weighing whether to essentially own the airline instead. In the end, it did neither, leaving summer ticket holders to fight their credit card companies for refunds.

Editorial illustration of an elderly man standing alone at the bright orange wooden door of a blue-toned classic French apartment building with wrought iron balconies, depicting Alan Nathan waiting for his missing luggage in Neuilly-sur-Seine after Luggage Forward and FedEx claimed phantom delivery

Luggage Forward promised to deliver my luggage. Instead, it delivered disappointment!

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Alan Nathan paid Luggage Forward $1,400 to ship four bags from Sonoma, California to Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, including his wife’s critical medical equipment. The premium service offered an on-time guarantee promising double the shipping fee for late deliveries. The shipping company asked for documents showing arrival into Ireland despite the clearly stated French address. FedEx then marked the bags as delivered and signed for by someone named Lou Ann, but Nathan’s building has no front desk and the concierge confirmed no contact from any delivery driver.