spirit Archives

There’s a hurricane coming, but Spirit Airlines has a hand out

September 5, 2023October 12, 2016 by Christopher Elliott

With Hurricane Matthew bearing down on South Carolina, Brenda Williams has to cancel her vacation. Why won’t Spirit Airlines offer her a full refund?

When airlines misread passport rules, who pays?

June 29, 2012 by Christopher Elliott

Question: My husband and I were scheduled to take a Spirit Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to San Jose, Costa Rica. The afternoon before my flight, my dog chewed a corner off the front page of my husband’s passport and we were concerned about having proper documentation.

We arrived at the airport almost three hours early in order to have enough time to ask a ticket agent. He seemed seasoned and professional, and he assured us that there would be no problem with the passport, as the number could still be manually inputted.

Spirit’s Baldanza: “We don’t force customers to pay for services they don’t want or need”

May 4, 2012May 3, 2012 by Christopher Elliott

1-_MMM0119 — Spirit's Ben Baldanza. / Photo courtesy Spirit.

Spirit Airlines is at it again — first denying a dying war veteran a ticket refund, then announcing it would raise its fee for carrying a bag on its flight to $100. Passengers are outraged. A Facebook petition to boycott the carrier is gaining momentum.

At a time like this, I like to hand the mike over to Ben Baldanza, the airline’s CEO. I did this morning, but his handlers said he couldn’t answer my questions by phone. Here’s a transcript of our awkward email interview.

Are fees for carry-on luggage just the beginning?

April 11, 2012April 11, 2012 by Christopher Elliott

Since Allegiant Air’s decision to start charging passengers for carry-on luggage last week, you’d think that everything needed to be said about this outrageous new fee had already been said.

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