Call or Send a letter to your Congressman: info provided

Spirit Airlines incites and steals from the American public. Their public record is long and well documented. Call or write to your local Congressman or Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virgina current vice chairman on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee if you have been wronged by this company.



Rep. Nick Rahall

http://www.rahall.house.gov/

Washington Office
2307 Rayburn HOB
Washington,DC 20515
(202) 225-3452

Beckley Office
  109 Main St.,
Beckley, WV 25801
(304) 252-5000

Bluefield Office
601 Federal St., Room 1005
Bluefield, WV 24701
(304) 325-6222

Huntington Office
845 Fifth Ave.
Huntington, WV 25701
(304) 522-6425

Logan Office
220 Dingess St.
Logan, WV 25601
(304) 752-4934

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

2165 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Phone: (202) 225-9446
Fax: (202) 225-6782

Spirit Airboxes "Ultra Low Class"

Founded	by the Devil
About	Spirit Air Boxes. All boxes are attended by stewards. Male stewards  have tons of spirit and all females have been programmed with an attitude, default switch left on bitch mode. That my friend is how you do business in a competitive marketplace

Description	If your box, baby, midget or retard fit in out measuring device it flies free. If not we offer a premium surcharge higher or equal to the price of your first box. whichever is more. In flight all items are systematically dehydrated and will deteriorate. However for an extra charge of $3 your package may arrive intact
Mission	To take your money every way we know how
Awards	Ain't got none
Products	Boxes. All of our pilots have some experience. We can't afford to pay the industry standard. We're republicans. But if somethin happens. Hell we're only carrying boxes.

Phone	If you would like to contact us, look on our website for our hidden number and you will be connected with someone in India for an extra fee.

This is what happens when you write a letter to Spirit

http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/profile/2009-06-21-spirit-airlines-ceo-baldanza_N.htm

By Gary Stoller, USA TODAY

For a company as controversial as Spirit Airlines, one might expect someone as flamboyant as Virgin Atlantic Airways' Sir Richard Branson at the helm. That's not Ben Baldanza, 47, the CEO of Florida-based Spirit, which bills itself as the country's first "ultralow-fare" airline.

Unlike Branson, whose escapades have included hot-air ballooning across the Atlantic Ocean, Baldanza's idea of a good time is playing board games at home with his wife, Marcia, and 2-year-old son, Enzo.

"We're more 'staycation' kind of people," says the career airline executive, who owns about 1,700 board games.

Baldanza says very little of his personality is part of the brand and image of Spirit, a private airline known for loud ad campaigns with sexual innuendoes, ads in passenger cabins and on flight attendants' aprons, and, most of all, very cheap airfares. A typical one: $54 one way from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, the Bahamas.

"We're a small airline, so we have to be a little different, a little avant-garde," says Baldanza, who received a master's degree in transportation economics from Princeton University and previously worked at US Airways, Continental, Northwest and American airlines.

Spirit has kept its costs lower than most airlines, which has enabled it to squeeze out a $17 million profit during this year's first quarter — when other carriers were swimming in recessionary red ink. In 2008, it reported a $16 million loss, much smaller than most competitors.

Spirit flies to 39 cities with 28 new Airbus jets and has aggressively expanded into Latin America and the Caribbean in recent years. It has 53 daily departures from Fort Lauderdale, and about 10 from Detroit and New York's LaGuardia airport.

It's a leader in à la carte pricing that has swept the industry, charging extra for almost everything. Baldanza proudly says Spirit was the first airline to charge for a checked bag and "to stop pouring water for free."

Its sales policies and customer service, though, have enraged many fliers and put the carrier in hot water with government regulators.

The Transportation Department fined Spirit $40,000 in December for failing last summer to include certain fees in the base fare advertised on its website. The department also receives more complaints about Spirit than some bigger airlines.

"Our complaints are statistically much higher," Baldanza admits, "but compared to the number of people traveling with us, it's a tiny drop in the ocean."

'McDonald's of the airline industry'

Spirit carried 6.8 million passengers last year, and the Transportation Department received 792 complaints. That's more than triple the number of complaints against low-fare airline Southwest, which carried 102 million passengers. The largest number of Spirit complaints were for baggage, reservations, ticketing and boarding problems. Spirit also received a large number of complaints about customer service and refunds.

Baldanza says more than 99.9% of Spirit's customers are satisfied with their dealings with the airline and blames many complaints on fliers' expectations.

"We're the Wal-Mart or the McDonald's — not the Nordstrom's — of the airline industry," Baldanza says. "No one walks into McDonald's and gets disappointed when they don't see filet mignon on the menu."

Consumer advocate Kate Hanni says Spirit's problems with fliers cannot be explained away so easily.

"They are the absolute worst airline in the country," says Hanni, executive director of FlyersRights.org. "If it costs a little more, take the other airline."

Among other problems, Hanni says, three flights from Fort Lauderdale to Atlantic City were diverted to Philadelphia because of bad weather in mid-May, and passengers called police after not being allowed to disembark for many hours.

If any Spirit passengers feel they've been treated badly, "They should fly someone else," Baldanza says. "That's the way the free market works," he says. "I don't eat at some restaurants when I'm treated badly. Our job is to make sure that doesn't happen to a majority of customers."

Two years ago, Baldanza accidentally replied to an e-mail from a customer requesting a refund for missing a concert in Atlanta after a flight delay.

"We owe him nothing as far as I'm concerned," Baldanza said in his e-mail. "Let him tell the world how bad we are. He's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny."

Baldanza's statements were ridiculed on Internet blogs, but Spirit is not backing down.

The customer paid $73.50 for two round-trip tickets between Orlando and Atlanta, and the flight to Atlanta arrived three hours late because of a weather delay, says Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson. The customer demanded $375 to cover the cost of airline tickets, a hotel room, a rental car and concert tickets, and rejected Spirit's offer of a $200 travel credit.

"Spirit went above and beyond in its offer to compensate this customer — despite having done nothing wrong — and the customer continued to make threats and refused to accept Spirit's more than generous offer," Pinson says.

Success mixed with complaints

Some flight attendants and pilots may be as disgruntled with Spirit as some of its customers.

The Association of Flight Attendants union in January opposed a series of Spirit airfare ads that it said degraded and demeaned women and flight attendants.

One campaign ostensibly referring to deep discounts proclaimed, "We're proud of our Double-Ds." Other campaigns mentioned "threesome sales" and "red-light specials."

Sean Creed, chairman of the Spirit chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association union, says Spirit pilots agree with the flight attendants. "Mr. Baldanza's approach to advertising is similar to his approach to labor relations," Creed says. "He will do or say anything, if he believes it will help make the company profitable."

Baldanza says Spirit has cut its marketing and distribution expenses by more than 80% during the last three years "by using edgy, viral marketing." The savings have resulted in very inexpensive fares, he says.

Spirit's advertising "may be more colorful than some," but it isn't "out of the norm" when compared with many retailers' ads, Super Bowl commercials and the content of TV series, Baldanza says.

Attendants dislike apron ads

The flight attendants union said it opposed a proposal by Spirit management to make flight attendants "walking billboards" by requiring them to wear aprons with a Bud Light logo. Spirit consulted with union officials before the launch of the aprons and received no objection, Baldanza says. Atlantic City is now the apron advertiser.

In May, the airline's pilots voted to authorize a strike if negotiations don't result in a new contract. The pilots' contract became amendable two years ago, Creed says.

Baldanza, who was COO of Latin American airline Taca and a member of Denver-based Frontier Airlines' board in the late 1990s, says labor-management disputes are typical of any company.

Creed, a Spirit captain, says pilots were very hopeful when Baldanza left his position of senior vice president of marketing at US Airways in 2005 and was named Spirit's president and COO. They thought Spirit would grow and prosper under the guidance of an experienced executive from a major airline.

Baldanza "has had some success on the marketing side, but the operational side is a disappointment," Creed says.

Some airline experts, though, have a very different view of Baldanza and his airline.

"Ben is a brilliant CEO," says Paul Dempsey, who served with him on the Frontier Airlines board of directors. "So long as an airline is profitable and safe, it is successful. Too many airlines lose money."

Spirit offers "a solid product called basic air service," says aviation consultant Michael Boyd. "That's what people buy the ticket for — to get to point B, not have a hootenanny with airline employees."

Boyd says Spirit has found a low-fare niche.

"Survival means focusing on a niche and going for it like a pit bull after a T-bone," he says. "That's what they're doing. It's good business."




  
Letter to Spirit Airlines CEO from a customer

Ben Baldanza
CEO
Spirit Airlines
2800 Executive Way,
Miramar, FL 33025

Dear Mr. Baldanza:

Like many others, I am an avid traveler, both for business and pleasure. Having this lifestyle has taught me a lot about flexibility and patience along with the value of customer service. My background is in business and I have learned that those companies that place high importance on customer service are the ones left standing when others fail.

I recently chose to experience Spirit Airlines for the first time. I was impressed by your ultra low cost carrier model and the flight routes. However, I am now convinced that the hassle, tears and utter disrespect caused by your company were not worth the cheap fare.

My younger sister and I chose to travel to Puerto Rico via Spirit Airlines. I flew from Boston with two layovers while she flew from Detroit with one layover. The trouble for her began when she forgot her phone in the car. Our mother ran it in to Spirit over 90 minutes prior to takeoff and spoke with a representative who said she would take it straight to my sister at her gate. The woman never appeared, nor was my sister paged. When I tried to contact Spirit customer service, I spoke with Paul, a manager in Bangalore about connecting me with Spirit baggage claim in Detroit. He was completely powerless to give out a phone number accessible to anyone with online access or a phonebook! His recommendation was to look it up online myself – which I would have been happy to do if Spirit had not put me on a five hour layover! My mother tried calling from her end. It took over two hours and eight frustrating calls to find someone competent enough to find the phone.
The trouble on my end started when I boarded my first flight. There was insufficient space provided for carry-on luggage, even though the airline encourages only having carry-on. A flight attendant took my bag from me and asked my seat number, saying that she would take my bag and bring me a ticket. I assumed that she was placing my bag at the front of the plane. However, when she did not give me a ticket after takeoff, I became worried and asked what she had done with it. She had checked it, but she was not sure where it would turn up, nor did she have a tracking ticket for me. Her solution: Just de-board the plane during our layover, exit the terminal, find my bag at the luggage pickup, go through security again, and get back on the next flight, hopefully in time and having more space to store my bag. When I exited the plane, I spoke with seven staff members and was appalled by the lack of customer service and of empowerment to help resolve the issue. I did end up going to baggage claim and speaking with ONE kind and helpful person in the Fort Lauderdale Spirit Baggage Claim. Unfortunately, he could not find my bag. Thus, I rushed back through security and boarded my plane, now worried that Spirit had managed to lose my carry-on bag. When we landed in Puerto Rico, we waited for an hour and thankfully, magically, my bag did appear – without a tag and with my outer clip stolen. As I am on the road for nine months and the bag was 50% of my belongings, I was grateful.
Losing a bag is common among all airlines so I let my anger go. However, I was soon to discover that the incompetent staff, rude attitudes and complete disrespect for clients run deep in the culture of Spirit Airlines.

On our way home we arrived at the terminal in Puerto Rico almost two hours early to check-in in for my sister’s flight home. She was to depart San Juan at 3:15am and my flight was around 6:58am. When we arrived we soon discovered that her flight to Fort Lauderdale had been cancelled. How did we discover this? By waiting in line for over four hours and hearing rumors. Not once did the Spirit staff find the decency to explain what was going on. When we finally made it to the front of the line, I watched, appalled, while Jose, a Spirit Customer Service Representative, allowed a friend of his to cut in front of us and check in, even though they had just arrived. (They gave each other a high-five while I asked why he was not serving us.) Why the long wait? Why the total lack of communication? Why the rude behavior? It certainly was not because they were short staffed. I counted five people standing around talking about their holidays behind the counter, while we waited.

When we did finally speak with someone, she was going to put my sister, who graduated high school the week prior, on a tentative flight out of the country after me. I explained that we are family and that she must fly out before me or on the same flight, but not after because 1) she does not speak Spanish and 2) I had seen enough to know not to trust the competence of the Spirit staff. When I called the customer service number, their only response was that they would fly her out within two days without making sure she was safe in a hotel and that all other information was up to the staff in the departing terminal. Wow. Spirit told me to leave my little sister alone in a country where she does not know the language and does not own a credit card. What a brilliant idea.

After waiting for another two hours, we stood by the gate and prayed that she could get on standby for my flight. The staff did nothing to make sure she was moved to the front of the list as to not separate family. Thankfully, she was one of the last people to make it on.

Once in Fort Lauderdale, we tried to speak with a customer service representative again to find out what our options were. Strangely, there was no one who would take the time to help! We exited the terminal and went to the ticket counter where one person was kind enough to give us some advice.
My flight back to Boston was delayed. Her flight to Detroit was delayed by over 45 minutes. My sister sat down on her confirmed seat to Detroit after a seven hour layover (please keep in mind that we cut our trip short in order for her to be back home in time for an event that evening, which she was forced to miss). Moments later, another person appeared with the same seat assignment! My sister was pushed to tears for the third time that day. They escorted her off the plane and told her she was not even in the computer, even though Spirit had given her a ticket and told her she was good to go. Thankfully, a seat opened and she was able to go home. What would have happened if the flight was full? I am terrified to even think about it.

As a working professional and as a family person, I am utterly disgusted by the behavior and the deplorable treatment of customers exhibited by the vast majority of the Spirit staff. As one who regularly provides travel advice to many people, I am positive of only one thing when it comes to Spirit Airlines: This is the worst company (not just airline) that I have ever come in contact with and whatever a customer might “save” monetarily will be lost through the airline wasting their customer's time and treating them with less dignity than a piece of expendable furniture.

It is my hope that you as the CEO will take this letter seriously and begin to change the culture of the organization. Great airlines are needed and you have some of the infrastructure in place. Now act like you care for continued business.

Sincerely,

Erika

Spirit Airlines Complaints - Double payment of fare, added charges

Posted: 2007-06-24 by Dr. Michael L. Bennett  [send email]

Double payment of fare, added charges Complaint Rating: I will never fly Spirit Airlines again! Although my family and I have used Spirit for over six years and are members of the "Nine Dollar Club", never will the seven of us fly with Spirit after our horrid experience of 6/15 and the return flight on 6/22. I had booked the flight some two weeks prior, via the Internet, making use of various low-fare bargains and "special deals". My family and I were ultimately traveling to Ontario, California, but noted that Spirit does not have service in Ontario. Therefore, we needed only to fly from LaGuardia, New York, to Detroit, MI, and there to make connections with another airline. Thus we booked the LGA to DTW flight at a deeply-discounted rate. Imagine our horror when we stepped to the counter, only to be told: (a) that our flight had been booked for the prior day, and therefore that we all were one day late [definitely NOT true]; (b) because we all were one day late, we would have to pay for the fare AGAIN, at a much higher rate and for the entire round trip, at a cost of over $380 per person!; (c) there would be an additional charge of $10 per checked bag. As you can readily see, it cost me over $2,000 to fly the seven of us for one hour and 43 minutes from LGA to DTW. Or, we could have simply canceled the flight. All logic and reason would demand, of course, that we simply cancel the flight and "tell Spirit what they could do with their fare, etc." But I couldn't really do that. The nature of the entire trip [to California, not just to Detroit] made the travel a necessity. I guess we could have sought other airlines to help us make that "Leg" of the trip, but we were caught off-guard totally; there were many people in line behind us; we needed to make our decision quickly. After paying the outrageous second fare of $380+ per ticket, we were herded through security and to our gate, only to learn that our flight had been delayed for over 90 minutes, thus totally derailing all the other connecting flights with a different airline. When we finally boarded the Spirit flight [remember, we had paid $190+ for our brief flight to DTW] we were told that if we wanted a snack or drink of any kind except water, it would be at additional charge per item. The flight attendants were nothing but rude. The service was dismal and minimal at best. The company's name may be "Spirit", but the spirit in which they are conducting their business is a horrific spirit indeed. They have provided us the "Spirit from hell" as far as we are concerned. Never, Never, Never, will any of my family fly this outfit again. Sincerely, Dr. Michael L. Bennett

Spirit Airlines Employees Upset Over Sexy Ads, Beer Uniforms

MIAMI — Flight attendants and pilots for Spirit Airlines Inc. want the company to pull a series of sexually suggestive advertisements, along with a new requirement they wear a Bud Light patch on service aprons.
Patricia A. Friend, head of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, complained in a letter to Spirit executives this month. When the airline refused to change the ad campaigns, and the aprons were handed out Monday, the union issued a public statement. Pilots followed suit Wednesday.
"I feel as though I have entered a time warp and am reliving the battles for respect and justice for women that we fought for 40 years ago," Friend said.
Some of Spirit's ads invite customers to enjoy its DD's (deep discounts) and "MILF" (many islands, low fare) specials _ double entendres that also refer to large breasts and a crude acronym popularized in the 1999 movie "American Pie" that describes an attractive mother.
Watch a recent ad uploaded to Spirit's YouTube page:

Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson said the union was consulted last year when the carrier began the discussion on selling apron ad space, and it raised no concerns. Pinson said some of the ads in question have been used for more than a year.
"Actually we've had great response from passengers that love the fares we offer through those promotions," Pinson said.
She disputed the flight attendants' characterization that the aprons made them "walking billboards," and called them small and tasteful.

Spirit Airlines Pulls Ad That Mocked BP Oil Spill

BRUCE WATSON
Company News, Media, BP

 Early this week, discount airline Spirit Airlines roused controversy with a web promotion that made light of the Gulf Coast oil spill. Within a day, the ad was pulled from Spirit's site and the notoriously offensive airline responded to criticism with a semi-apologetic press release.

In the original ad, Spirit exhorted readers to "Check Out the Oil on Our Beaches." Lest anybody miss the message, the ad also featured bottles of sunscreen printed in yellow and green, with the name "Best Protection." Get it, BP (BP)?

When called on the mat, the company offered a response that hearkens back to grade school. Using the "we're innocent; if you saw something offensive, it's because you have a dirty mind" gambit, the company stated "It is unfortunate that some have misunderstood our intention with today's beach promotion. We are merely addressing the false perception that we have oil on our beaches, and we are encouraging customers to support Florida and our other beach destinations by continuing to travel to these vacation hot spots." The company then reiterated its original point: "The only oil you'll find when traveling to our beaches is sun tan oil."

On the surface, Spirit's argument holds a little bit of water. After all, the company is headquartered in Miramar, Fla. Located on the eastern coast of the state, it has yet to be hit with oil from the BP spill. The same is also true of Miami and Fort Lauderdale, both of which are major markets for the airline.

But, given Spirit's long history of tacky, sleazy ads, its defense stretches credibility. The company prides itself on its offensive ad campaigns, and the controversy that they generate are a central part of its business plan.





Viral Marketing for 12-Year-Olds

In 2006, Spirit's first edgy ad, "Hunt for Hoffa," featured an online video game in which players tried to find the body of the slain labor leader. The campaign, which was designed to promote a $39 fare sale, was quickly inundated with complaints, and Spirit pulled it within hours of its debut.

Recognizing that making fun of mob victims may have been in poor taste, Spirit decided to tread water in the relatively safe shallows of smutty double-entendres. Its next sale promised "Many islands, low fares." The ad featured the acronym "MILF," superimposed on a map that showed the outline of a reclining woman. For fans of American Pie -- not to mention various news programs and media pundits -- the dual meaning of "MILF" was clear and, once again, Spirit found itself swimming in free publicity.

Needless to say, the feedback inspired Spirit to pursue greater. . .heights. In 2008, the airline resurrected its "MILF" promotion, along with a campaign that announced "We're Having a Threesome!" offering "three sales in one." Earlier this year, Spirit took the jokes a step further with ads promising MUFF (Many Unbelievable Fantastic Fares) "to DIVING destinations." Get it, Beavis?

In 2008, Spirit also launched its first attempt to use oil exploration in the Gulf of Mexico as a selling point. Its "Offshore Drilling" ad campaign managed the neat trick of linking cheap flights, cheap sex and cheap gasoline in a stunning display of... well, cheapness. Featuring the comely curves of a bikini-clad swimmer juxtaposed against an oil derrick, the ad proclaimed "We Believe in Offshore Drilling." Lest dirty-minded viewers think that the ad was about -- gasp! -- sex, the commercial's copy went on to assure readers that "We believe in offshore drilling and other plans that will help keep fares low for you." Like, um, windmills and... stuff.

Doesn't Play Well With Others

Every so often Spirit leaves its adolescent humor comfort zone in order to humiliate others. While the Hoffa campaign taught it that mocking dead people can backfire, there isn't any rule about going after people who are above ground. Before the "Oil on our beaches" promotion, the best example of Spirit's attempts to target others was probably the "Eye of the Tiger" ad campaign, which capitalized on Tiger Woods's woes. Featuring a baseball-cap clad tiger behind the wheel of a wrecked SUV, the ads promised $9 fares.

Sometimes, Spirit even combines sex and business, as in its attack on Virgin airlines. Last year, the competing carrier launched direct flights to Fort Lauderdale from Los Angeles and San Francisco. Feeling the competition, Spirit announced that "We're No Virgin: We've Been Cheap and Easy For Years!" Take that, Richard Branson!

Bad Taste, Better Profits

When it comes to smutty ads, it isn't all just "fun and gams" for the folks at Spirit. While the airline's ads have earned it a reputation for bad taste, they've also helped it save a lot of money on advertising. According to CEO Ben Baldanza, the company's "edgy, viral marketing" was so effective that Spirit was able to cut advertising expenses by 80% between 2006 and 2009.

At the same time, Spirit has also cut services to customers, becoming the first company to charge for water and checked bags. Like the flyer's ads, its cheapness has drawn sharp criticism. In one case, Baldanza replied to a complaint by telling a customer-service representative that "we owe [the customer] nothing as far as I'm concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny."
BP, you're not alone: Spirit Airlines has just stepped up with the latest bad PR decision having to do with the oil spill disaster in the Gulf.
The airline has launched an ad on its website making light of one of the biggest environmental crises of our time.
(Thanks to @LaughMom for bringing this to our attention)
The promo invites you to "Check out the oil on our beaches," then follows up with shots of beautiful women on the beach, drenched in suntanning oil.
It's hard to imagine a way for Spirit Airlines to piss off more people than it did with the decision to start charging for carry-on bags, but we think this might do it.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/spirit-airlines-tasteless-ad-mocks-the-oil-spill-
 2010-6#ixzz1IcRy6Pjw

Spirit Airlines Ad Mocks BP Oil Spill

New Airline Ad Asks Passengers to 'Check Out The Oil On Our Beaches'

By SCOTT MAYEROWITZ

June 22, 2010

Spirit Airlines is at it yet again with another controversial ad, this time seemingly poking fun at the BP oil spill. 

The ad -- like past ones -- has caused some to question if the airline is trying to be cute or just drum up free publicity by creating a controversy.
Tuesday afternoon, the airline launched a "Check Out The Oil On Our Beaches" plus get $50 off promotion. An email advertising the deal featured four women in bikinis lathered in sun-tanning oil who are supposed to be in four of the Florida-based airline's beach resorts: Atlantic City, New Jersey; Cancun, Mexico; Ft. Lauderdale, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
"Check out the oil on our beaches. You won't be disappointed," the promotion read. "Plus, we're making it cheaper for you to get there!"
Stay Up to Date on the Latest Travel Trends from ABC News on Twitter
But before anybody had a chance to digest this and see if it was funny or just exploiting the news about BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico -- you know, another type of oil washing up on the beach -- the airline put out a statement.
"It is unfortunate that some have misunderstood our intention with today's beach promotion," the airline said. "We are merely addressing the false perception that we have oil on our beaches, and we are encouraging customers to support Florida and our other beach destinations by continuing to travel to these vacation hot spots."
The strange thing is that the pseudo-apology came out just a little more than an hour after the sale was announced. If anybody was upset, they sure moved quickly.
"It's more shameful advertising from Spirit that comes on the heels of another questionable campaign regarding its own pilots' strike titled "*Strikingly* Low Fares" with an image of a bowling ball knocking down pins," Anne Banas, executive editor of travel Web site SmarterTravel told ABC News late Tuesday afternoon. "Not only does Spirit seem insensitive to its own employees, but it certainly doesn't put its customers first. Case in point: Spirit's devolving refund policy during the strike. Plus, these sales themselves aren't very great, and the only value seems to be shock value."

BP, you're not alone: Spirit Airlines has just stepped up with the latest bad PR decision having to do with the oil spill disaster in the Gulf. The airline has launched an ad on its website making light of one of the biggest environmental crises of our time.
(Thanks to @LaughMom for bringing this to our attention)
The promo invites you to "Check out the oil on our beaches," then follows up with shots of beautiful women on the beach, drenched in suntanning oil.
It's hard to imagine a way for Spirit Airlines to piss off more people than it did with the decision to start charging for carry-on bags, but we think this might do it.

Spirit Airlines' Tasteless New Ad Mocks The Oil Spill Crisis

BP, you're not alone: Spirit Airlines has just stepped up with the latest bad PR decision having to do with the oil spill disaster in the Gulf. The airline has launched an ad on its website making light of one of the biggest environmental crises of our time.
(Thanks to @LaughMom for bringing this to our attention)
The promo invites you to "Check out the oil on our beaches," then follows up with shots of beautiful women on the beach, drenched in suntanning oil.
It's hard to imagine a way for Spirit Airlines to piss off more people than it did with the decision to start charging for carry-on bags, but we think this might do it.

Read more: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oJK3VeEjvpcJ:www.businessinsider.com/spirit-airlines-tasteless-ad-mocks-the-oil-spill-2010-6+spirit+airlines&cd=37&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com#ixzz1IcY5IJZ6

Read more: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oJK3VeEjvpcJ:www.businessinsider.com/spirit-airlines-tasteless-ad-mocks-the-oil-spill-2010-6+spirit+airlines&cd=37&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a&source=www.google.com#ixzz1IcXkblNB

Complaints about Spirit Airlines? Get in line

1. Norma Says:
   March 15th, 2009 at 6:28 pm Spirit Airlines,
   I’m writing this letter to file a complaint about a recent flight that I had to change because of a medical emergency. The flight was from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale. My wife was supposed to fly in from Manchester, England to Orlando then to Fort Lauderdale. She became deadly sick with a stomach bug that was highly contagious. She first called Virgin to change her flight; they were courteous and thoughtful and helped us make the changes with no problem, as long as she had a doctor’s note. Then came Spirit airlines. We informed your airlines of the situation and that if she did fly she would have put all other passengers at risk of getting the stomach virus. You really didn’t try to help or care at all. All you wanted was $110 to cancel or change my ticket. I informed your customer service that my wife was still going to fly with Spirit but just not till she was not contagious any more. Still all I heard was you needed $110. I guess it doesn’t matter that we were doing you a favor and protecting your passengers or that the ticket only was for $76 in the first place. It seems other airlines put their passengers first but in your case it’s all about the money. My wife is flying today 03/10/09 with a clean bill of health, unfortunately we had to book with Spirit airlines again only to find out that the price is now $142 one way. Is there any way that something can be done about this unpleasant situation.
   Sincerely, John Pollio
   e-mail: jnpollio@bellsouth.net
   
2. TJR Says:
   March 27th, 2009 at 4:25 am SPIRIT HAS LOW FARES BECAUSE THEY DONT CHARGE THE CHANGE FEE IN THE THE TICKET PRICE LIKE VIRGIN DOES FOR ALL ITS PASSENGERS – SPIRIT ONLY CHARGES THE ONES WHO CHANGE THE FEE, OTHER PASSENGERS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF HTE LOW FARES WHICH SEEMS WORE FARE THAN CHARGING EVERYONE FOR SOMETHING THEY DONT NEED
   
3. No Spirit Says:
   April 26th, 2009 at 8:30 pm I enjoyed a gorgeous spring break in Florida with my family last week. However, all of that warm sunshine was ruined Tuesday morning when we tried to return. We arrived 40 minutes early because our driver was delayed and were told that we could no longer proceed to the gate. We waited in line for another 20 minutes to see what our options were. At that time we were told that we would have to rebook for the next day and pay an additional fare of $130 – meaning that the tickets we had already paid for would not be honored. I suggested that my husband who had work meetings go ahead and see if he could make the flight. He made it.
   Waiting an extra day was not an option for my son and I. He had already missed an extra day of school and I had meetings at work. So we had to rebook through JetBlue at a cost of $686 for both tickets.
   In the meantime, my husband made his flight. He told me that when he got to the gate, they were calling the standby passengers. Here is my complaint:
   1. Spirit did not give us options. They merely said that we would have to rebook. Since it was just an issue of the luggage, we could have made other arrangements, but nothing was offered.
   2. There were about 20 other people in line – a number who had luggage that would have been able to pass as carry ons. It appears that Spirit is doing this to boost ticket sales. They not only saved the cost of our original ticket. They wanted us to buy another ticket. AND they sold the tickets we paid for to standby passengers.
   
4. Fred Jafee Says:
   May 4th, 2009 at 1:40 am you would not have this problem if you where ontime for your flight – 45 minutes is the cut off – this fair for the other passengers that want the flight to leave on-time…
   
5. Fred Bedhead Says:
   July 25th, 2009 at 11:01 am I noticed you work for Spirit airlines, you forgot to mention that didnt you. You need to show up 2-3 hrs with spirit or they will give your ticket away, read all the entries/blogs from thousands of customers-Fred and stop blaming one person for what thousands of others have also had to deal with. Spirit treats passengers like cattle!
   
6. Rocky Says:
   February 10th, 2010 at 8:41 pm That stinks that that happened to you. I don’t think Spirit is alone though. It’s just a business. Their bottom line is to make money. Of course they try to treat their customers well to an extent, but any chance they have to make more money I would expect them to take it!
   
7. David Wilson Atlanta Says:
   March 6th, 2010 at 11:37 am SPIRIT AIR MASTERCARD CREDIT CARD
   Ive never had more confusion and hassles in trying to close this account. For 15 minutes the non-english speaking (but very nice) account rep tried to get me to keep my account open. From waiving the $39/annual fee FOREVER to lowering the annual interest rate of 30.24%(REDICULOUS)…all in vain…once Im done, Im Done!
   The bad news is I am a great customer. I signed up for this card to get airline miles. I currently have 17K miles in my balance and since they they closed the account, I was told I would lose all of my miles which I believe is illegal of the company. The miles were never transferred to my Spirit Air miles account and the different divisions couldnt verify where my miles were or anything regarding my miles.
   SO REALLY SPIRIT AIR?? Where’s some help for a customer who takes more time from my day to fly your airline instead of a direct non-stop flight to Orlando on another airline and only saving 60-75$ and taking 5 hours longer…
   OK, I know you get the point. Now please get me other points back and posted to my Spirit Air Account.
   David Wilson
   Atlanta, GA
   
8. Shanelle3 Says:
   March 2nd, 2011 at 11:00 pm I had an 8:58 flight to Ft Myers from Detroit. I arrived at the airport at 7:20. Had prepaid for my bag and already printed my boarding pass, but still had to wait in the full line to check my bag. The line stretched down past about three other airlines check in stations.
   When we got closer, they split out Ft Myers and Orlando – Orlando was leaving 9 minutes later, but they got the “go directly to the counter”, line while Ft Myers got the longer, “rope maze” line.
   They had at least 5 check-in stations, but only 2 people working most of the time. Either the workers or the PCs are very slow… 3-5 minutes per person just to print out a sticker for the bag.
   As we got even closer, we found they were letting people walk up from the side and check in ahead of everyone!
   Finally got up there, checked in, gave them my bag, ran down to the gate…. just in time to see the plane pull away.
   When we got back to check-in to rebook, the agent had the audacity to ask the person in front of me (who was in the same boat I was in) why she had missed her flight.
   From what I’ve heard, Spirit is like this every day. The last time I flew with them, they had only one person working (but 2 working the booth to sell credit cards) and let anyone who had paid for a seat (they charge if you want to pre-select your seat, even middle seats) cut ahead.
   Wasted over 150 miles of driving and gas going back and forth to the airport.
   Never again will I fly Spirit. Delta is a much better choice, even if they end up costing more… almost never a line (check in at a kiosk, walk up with your bag, takes them about 30 seconds). Plus they give you a soda or juice, pretzels or peanuts, and water on the flight. I know that costs them all of $1, but I appreciate the little things at this point. Spirit makes you pay for water.
   Oh, good news for those with Spirit credit cards though – apparently they get to skip to the front of the line for check-in.
   

Bogus bait & switch practices!

Spirit Airlines

Posted: 2007-02-15 by Architect L.  [send email]

Bogus bait & switch practices! Complaint Rating: I have been watching Spirit Air for months since they bilked me out of $900...they always run ads like the ones today that say they have cheap fares, and then you search for that fare and NONE are available...never, ever, not even once. Additionally BEWARE of their buy one get one free ads. The vouchers are virtually unusable. There are all sorts of restrictions and rules that don't make sense with their ads that it just isn't worth the hours and hours it takes to try to resolve. Where can I get someone legally to look into their bogus ads as a class action lawsuit? They are bilking thousands of dollars from people with their bait and switch ads, and FYI they will not make good on any vouchers and their supervisors do not understand ENGLISH. Today their website says AGAIN, that you can fly to Ft. Lauderdale for $8, and yet they don't have a single flight that MONTH for less than $49. TO TOP IT OFF, they add hundreds of dollars in taxes and fees and the flight that is advertised at $49 will really be at least $99 EACH way once it is paid. Please call me because I have a lot of research on their bogus BAIT & SWITCH ads. Fort Lauderdale To: Fares From Dates Available Orlando $8* Each Way 3/20, 3/21, 3/23, 3/27

Spirit Airlines is one of the most complained-about airlines flying today.

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.

Primary e-mail
spiritair@mailnj.custhelp.com
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

Spirit Airlines eliminates its customer service department

http://www.elliott.org/blog/spirit-airlines-eliminates-its-customer-service-department/

June 5, 2008

Although Spirit Airlines denies reports that it’s on the verge of making massive cutbacks, there’s evidence the no-frills discount carrier is quietly dismantling its customer service department.
Well, that may be an overstatement. But it’s not much of one.
Earlier this year, I published the names and e-mail addresses of Spirit’s executives. It’s a courtesy I extend to every airline with passengers who have service problems. Spirit’s response? It apparently changed its e-mail addresses so that it wouldn’t have to deal with its own customers. None of the addresses currently work, but if there are any Spirit employees out there with the correct contact information — well, you know how to reach me.
Since then, I’ve received numerous reports of customer service inquiries simply being ignored. Two of them landed in my “in” box just this morning.
Here’s one from reader Helen Leung, who recently returned from her honeymoon in Jamaica. Not only did Spirit charge her $20 to transport her luggage, but it lost her belongings and then refused to reimburse her for the clothes she had to buy on her vacation, even though she presented the airline with the necessary receipts.
“Spirit Airlines apparently handles their problems by ignoring their customers through phone and mail,” she told me.
The second came from reader Lana Cullum, who says an error by a Spirit reservations agent cost her $200 in bank fees. The airline refuses to answer her queries relating to the charges. “There is no way to speak to a person that I have found when you call the office in Miramar,” she says. “As far as the 800 number — forget it!”
I’m not sure if Spirit has fired its entire customer service department, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s made cutbacks or has instructed its agents to hold the line on any refunds. Either way, this is a deeply troubling sign.
Spirit was never a standout when it comes to customer service, but refusing to answer inquiries from its passengers could be a sign that the cutbacks everyone is talking about may actually represent a best-case scenario.
The worst-case scenario? Well, that’s where Spirit actually lives up to its name.

Heather Harvey June 18, 2010 at 11:02 am

Hey everyone – my inbox has been cleaned out – meaning if you’ve emailed me … I’ve given you an answer If you havent reached out to me – please do so! I would love to see to it that you are taken care of. Love, Heather Sr. Manager, Customer Relations & Luggage Resolution Spirit Airlines

Laurie Ann July 1, 2010 at 9:52 am

On June 8, 2010 we flew out of the Atlanta airport on our way to Ft. Lauderdale, on to Cancun. The ground personnel responsible for keeping the passengers in the ‘corral’ couldn’t have been more rude. She began by telling one and all to leave our bags in an unsupervised area-because it was so crowded. The lines were not moving and she kept shouting that “This is Spirit Air! You should have been here when we open at 5 am!” (We got there at 5:45 for a 7:30 flight. She then announced that at 6:30 no more check ins would be taken. We were on line-with 40 ahead of us, and 40 behind, when she made this statement. She refused to answer questions about “What then?” but kept reiterating that we should have gotten there by 5. We’ve flown international many times-this is insanity…. We finally checked in-at 7:10 for our 7:30 flight. Andrea, who prided herself on making passengers cry (berating one woman whose mother was traveling in a wheelchair) and kept repeating that she’s “worked here for 22 years, and didn’t care what people said,” then ran us through the Homeland Security checkpoint, by flashing her badge and yelling, “They’re with me.” I looked back-and knew this was going to be bad. As we were prepping to go thru security, sure enough, the officer and his supervisor tracked us down…and were helpful in that they didn’t make us get off, but checked our documents from there. They also asked “Who was that woman, and where is she?” We gave them the info. As Andrea ran us through, she confessed that the real reason for the back up was that the luggage conveyor belt was broken for a long time. Indeed, when we finally did make our way onto the plane, the pilot explained that we would be 30 min late to ensure that all of the passengers impacted by the screw up at the ticketing area would be accommodated. While the flight crews were great, the ground crews were utterly nasty (everyone was nice to us, with the exception of Andrea, but I did witness them speaking in ways that were unacceptable to others.). However, in the middle of our trip, we discovered that the pilots were on strike. After speaking with several other airline employees, we learned that this was no surprise to Spirit; that they knew there was a drop dead date, esp. given that the pilots had been in negotiations for YEARS. However, the airline didn’t think that giving its passengers a heads up about a possible strike was in order. Didn’t think that warning folks who were flying that they may be stranded. We were forced to book one way tickets to get home on time. Paid $677. Spirit finally did refund the unflown portion ($391) however, we are in the hole for nearly $300… If we had known that there was a drop dead date, we would have selected another airline. Spirit is responsible for our having to pay nearly three hundred dollars-along with every other person having to spend extra money on hotel and alternative airfare. I’d never heard of Spirit before this. Now? I have warned damn near everyone I know to avoid them (I was told after I had booked by a trusted friend, “Oh, you will fly them..ONCE.” She knew what she was talking about). I truly think everyone who was forced to pay out of pocket to make alternative arrangements should be reimbursed.

Gregory Barrette July 2, 2010 at 3:46 am

The sixty days that I must wait until you refund my money does nothing for you and only hurts me. It gives me a bad feeling and you an aura of bad will. Why would anyone want to fly on an airline that appears punitive to its loyal customers, just so you can get a float of two months on their hard earned cash? I had to rebook the flight at my own expense and ate the difference. I am a pastor who was asked to celebrate a church’s anniversary and that of its pastor. Thank God for US Air, who got me there in the nick of time. I was unemployed last year. This money is important to my family, my kid’s meals. You get nothing good out of this. This is bad business practice and can only hurt your bottom line ultimately. Greg Barrette

Mr Engineer July 11, 2010 at 2:23 am

Madura: Do you realize that what you are advocating, filing a false report for lost baggage, is fraud? Here in the USA fraud is a crime and the person perpetrating fraud is called a criminal. Is that who you really are?

JoJo Chen August 2, 2010 at 4:10 pm

i HATE Spirit Air… they’re VERY irresponsible…!!! On my way to Mexico, had a carry on with me, which it was small enough to fit… but without any questions asked, they took my carry on and said it was too big we need to check this bag in, and just gave me a sloppy handwritten with a few numbers TICKET… and didnt even tell me where to pick up my bag… and told me to rush in on the plane…!!! It was NOT a direct flight to MEXICO… we had to change flights in Ft. Lauderdale… therefore… when I got to Mexico… i’ve waited for ALL the luggage to come out… and NONE of them were mine…!!! i went to speak with the one that’s responsible for the luggage… and they told me to just go to the resort i’m staying in, and they will send it over later or latest tomorrow when the next plane comes. By the next day, they just told me there’s NOTHING they can do… cause there’s NO MORE LUGGAGES in the Cargo…!!! they just said, IF YOU WANT, when you’re leaving Mexico, and on your way back.. Go check in Ft. Lauderdale Airport and see if you have any LUCK…!!! i mean, what the hell is that ?!?! obviously i didnt have any LUCK, and once i got home… the WHOLE WEEK i’ve been trying to call Spirit Airline and Baggage Claim in New York.. they just took me around the world… I called NY spirit airline airport they tell me to call Florida, Ft. Lauderdale… then they want me to call Mexico.. and back to calling NY…!! I Finally got in touch with someone that can help (A LITTLE)… they asked for my information, email, phone numbers (mobile & Home)… and NO ONE HAS EVER GOTTEN BACK TO ME…!!! I HIGHLY DISRECOMMEND SPIRIT AIRLINE TO ANY ONE I KNOW…!!!

Val August 20, 2010 at 3:53 am

I am beyond annoyed with Spirit Air at this present minute. It is 6:35 in the morning and I’m on vacation and I just received a phone call from my 12 year old who is at the Detroit airport with his step mother trying to board a plane for Myrtle Beach. Now I might add that pre 911 when I lived in Detroit, my son and I flew from Detroit to Myrtle Beach several times a year and both of us have periodically flewn on Spirit since from DC to Detroit (and to FL) but the Detroit route has been discontinued. When I purchased my son’s ticket, I was offered to buy a seat assignment (which I think is crazy) & to pre pay for baggage. I had to complete the information regarding my son’s age, name, all the credentials and NOT ONE TIME did it mention or require me to buy a UM fee. My son has been flying alone since age 6 (always on Southwest A/L where they have some sense and EXCELLENT customer service). When he went to Detroit he was 11 and Southwest made a point to advise that because he’d be 12 upon return, UM fees (which are only $50 at SW – and it went to the fee in the past 6 months)). I only mention this because when my son’s flight destination changed, I knew he was 12 and didn’t expect any UM fees. Today I learn about Spirits UM fee and I am beyond pissed because it should have come up during the ticket purchasing (like it does on everyone elses website). While Spirit was trying to sell me the nonsense of a seat assignment, it should have mentioned the UM fee, they knew his age. So this morning trying to checkin was a nightmare. His step mother didn’t have nor was prepared to pay over $100 to board this child. A baggage fee yes, but the retarded $100 — NO!!!!! And the rep, who although she REFUSED to speak with me, i could hear her being rude about it. We didnt know about the stupid fee. Buy yet they want to charge my CC but never speak to me, HOW IS THAT AUTHORIZED. I am so annoyed that if we weren’t in a pinch and my parents weren’t in route to Myrtle Beach (they live in NC) I would yank him off the plane. Rest for sure, I fly pretty monthly and will begin to fly back into Sprit’s market. I, nor my son, will fly on Spirit Air again. Can you imagine how nervous this child was. All the confusion and them demanding her to get out of line so they can go to the next person. I’m on the phone trying to understand why this fee didn’t pop or bill during the billing process, I mean who takes an extra $100 with them in this economy. I had him fly Sprit because of the schedule, but if we have to be inconvenenced, never again. NOTHING BEATS THIS INCONVENIENCE. And I just bet, you SPIRIT AIR will do nothing to make this right!!!!!!! I am appalled, and I will also inform my staff not to fly on Spirit Air, I DO EXPECT A RESPONSE, you couldn’t possibly know how annoyed I am. I am so grateful the Southwest has the routes my son needs. And if they aren’t available, he will be on US Air. Now Spirit what will you do about this????

Cap September 17, 2010 at 1:48 pm

It begins with each small community, churches and teachers and parenting. Values will soon follow. When you are at a ticketing terminal at ANY US airport, glance over to the other more expensive airlines. You will notice a difference in the demeanor of the personnel, and the socio-economic status of their respective customers. Of course there will be low-cost airlines, but with them come a relative host of differences in its staff, conduct, order and client base. Not that there is much we can immediately do at travel time, but if you look at this problem as a whole, you’ll see how important education is and from where the problems begin. Start with your own local neighborhood, attend your respective places of worship, listen, and become a voice for your area. Electing public officials to govern our society is YOUR choice. Forget the popular vote, learn what needs to be done and follow your instinct. America has become a second rate country. Values are lost. Power, Corruption & Lies married with Greed have taken over. The elected, are usually career politicians that will tell you anything you want to hear to get your vote. Think outside the box with your next vote, CHANGE has to begin with YOU. The only way America will ever get back to normalcy is by getting the reigns on Big Pharma, the corrupt FDA controlling the median age of Americans with poisons like High Fructose Corn Syrup, Splenda, etc. and policing frivolous lawsuits in the court system to lower health insurance costs and allowing the Scientists and Doctors that have REAL ways of “curing-not-patching” diseases to practice medicine in all of its forms. Stem cell research is proven to regenerate limbs, organs, nerves, brain cells. Cancer is cured through simple things like Coral Calcium and High doses of Intra Muscular IV supplements. There are hundreds of curable illnesses that the FDA doesn’t want you to know about because the Big Pharma will lose Trillions, those same deep pockets are the figureheads and think tanks that control our world and get leaders elected. Believe what you feel, not what you hear from US media. You are being influenced, brainwashed. Don’t believe me? How did we get to the state of this economy? 9-11? Why do you think that occurred? This is not theory folks, it is your reality. It starts with your home, your neighbors, patrolling your streets, being alert, listening to your children and watching their habits, instill them with values, you’re being told that religion is wrong, the Pledge of Alleigence is wrong, we never had this problem before we were forced to stop, the Constitution weighs heavily on your God and religion as the backbone of our system. We have to get back to CORE Values, the ones that our forefathers fought for and hailed to create this great country. Stand up and be counted. Use your voice now people. Get your kids in church if you don’t want them in prison or dead. Research your vote, learn the candidates agenda. Think Perot, Huckabee, Green, and understand that they wanted to REFORM America and get back to values. Seal the borders, buy American products, when you go to work each day, do your job the same way you think your great, great, great Grandparents did theirs, with pride, conviction, humility and values. It’s your vote. Do you want to continue on this same path? Do you want your children and their children to live in this type of society? If YOU don’t stand up, they will have no choice. Stand up. Get local. Get counted. ~Capper

James E Tucker October 7, 2010 at 10:35 am

I traveled on your air lines from fort Lauderdale to San Jose Costa Rica on September the 23rd My of bag was not there I waited about two hours no bag Mario Cascante filled out a yellow form the phone number was at top of page bag arrived saturday, i had a brand new desk phone an electric shaver both of em out of the box hte only thing in a box would be this video camera, the video camera is gone after returning to the airport miss Cascante didnt seem concerned about the theft but she would fill out a courtesy complaint, my concern to you sir, is not about the camera, will I be able to trust, you and your airline again? telephone number: 202-657-5626

Stephanie October 15, 2010 at 11:10 am

Heather, You have not answered one of my emails, and I have sent several.

greg October 18, 2010 at 2:08 pm

hide behind some idiot in india. they billed me two times for the same thing and i cant talk to anyone.

Nathaniel Spencer November 17, 2010 at 8:27 am

Yesterday (Monday November 15, 2010), I was returning from Cancun, Mexico on the Spirit flight NK 174. My friend and I arrived on time in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida but there was a line at customs. We made it through the customs line and then time became an issue. About ten people including ourselves were being paged over the intercom to by the gate attendant for our Ft. Lauderdale to Boston connection. Thankfully, we were rushed through bag re-check and security by the TSA agents. As we were sprinting through the airport in the same terminal (Terminal 4, Concourse H) and we were sprinting to make the gate and we were still being paged by the gate. We saw a spirit employee who had a radio and we requested she tell the gate we were only 9 gates away, (about a couple hundred feet), however, she refused to call the gate over the radio. My only explanation is that she must have been having a bad day. We made it to the gate only after we saw the doors close and we were not allowed on the plane to Boston. Additionally, the plane remained at the gate for 15 minutes after we arrived there, but we were still not able to board. It was flight 618 from Ft. Lauderdale to Boston. We then unsuccessfully attempted to have the doors to the plane opened by the gate agent. Our next step was to speak to a gate attendant to attempt to reschedule to another flight. However we were informed we could not be booked until Wednesday, November 17, 2010 (two days later) for our return flight. The gate attendant then advised us to speak to the manager at the front ticket counter. We left the concourse and went to the main Spirit ticket counter. We waited for the manager. He turned out to be the rudest person I have ever dealt with. There was only one couple in front of us, and there were four or five people who were unable to board the plane waiting to speak to him. He made us wait for 45 minutes while he conversed with his wife on his cell phone about their anniversary dinner which was that same evening. After his cell phone conversation with his wife ended, we spoke to him and he informed us that for another $414 we could get on a Jet blue flight (totally unacceptable). He then became very rude and short with us. He informed us that we could not get home until Wednesday and that it was our fault for missing the connection. I had never been treated as poorly by a person, let alone a manager. All we were interested in was information on how to get home. He then refused to answer any of our questions because he was irritated with our insistence that we wanted to get home sooner than Wednesday and he told us the only way to get home the next day was to book with another airline. We attempted to get more information out of him but he became further irritated. Our only option became a refund for the second part of our flight. We knew this was the best option at that time per his unhelpful attitude. We then were forced to book a hotel, which he would not help us with, (US Air was more than kind and got us a distressed traveler rate) and US Air booked us on a flight home the following morning. Because of the repeated lack of assistance by multiple Spirit employes, both the gate attendant who refused to help, and the ticket manager who was just plain mean, we were forced to buy a hotel room, we had 2 additional days of parking to pay at Boston Logan Airport, and we had to buy 2 more tickets from US Air because the Spirit manager would not help. The total additional expense was $400. I am not asking for the entire cost of the additional second booking. I only want the remainder of the original ticket price refunded, we were refunded $50 by the manager at the Ft. Lauderdale ticket counter, but I am adamant at being issued a refund for the entire price of both tickets. We were treated so poorly that it was impossible to even reason with the manager in Ft. Lauderdale. Today I spoke with customer service which was entirely indian speaking individuals who could not understand what had happened. All three people whom I spoke with; the initial employee who answered my phone call, then his section manager, and then finally his floor manager all attempted to issue me the $50 refund that was already issued by the manager at Ft. Lauderdale Airport. Because I could not make them understand the issue and therefore I asked for the contact information for Sprit Corporate Headquarters Customer Service. Thank you Sprit Air for a wonderful experience, Nathaniel Spencer

natlspencer November 17, 2010 at 8:57 am

I have received two responses that I will post below. The indian woman did not ask me any questions about the incident and she will not give me any contact information to talk to her superior. This is amazing the utter disrespect for the customer. Dear Nathaniel Spencer, Thank you for reaching out to Spirit Airlines Executives. I have been asked to address your concerns and reply accordingly. We do appreciate them and respect your point of view. We are committed to offering quality customer service and ensuring that your flight experiences are both positive and memorable. Your inquiry has been, thoroughly, reviewed by myself and my Manager. There will be no further correspondence regarding this issue as we have, previously, clarified our policy. We are committed to offering quality customer service and ensuring that your flight experiences are both positive and memorable. I am sorry that you feel your experience with us did not measure up to the standards we strive to achieve. Please rest assured that your feedback has been taken seriously. We can assure you that, guided by your feedback; we are taking the steps necessary to continually improve our operation. Sharing your disappointment helps to identify where counseling and training is needed. Thank you for contacting Spirit Airlines. Sincerely, Saleesha 62375 Corporate Consumer Relations Dear Saleesha, It was not due to the customs delay. May I please be escalated to your manager? Thank you very much, Nathaniel Spencer > (Saleesha 62375) 11/17/2010 10:20 AM > Dear Nathaniel Spencer, > > Thank you for your correspondence with Spirit Airlines. We welcome an opportunity to assist our valued customers whenever possible. > > We are happy to address your concern and sincerely apologize for any inconveniences incurred. Spirit Airlines, is not responsible for immigration delays, although, we will try our best to customers on the next available flight should they experience a delay in customs. Unfortunately no form of compensation will be given due to a customs delay as Spirit has no control of the time frame in which customs may take with customers. > > Thank you for contacting Spirit Airlines. We strive to provide you the best service coupled with the lowest fares possible. > > Sincerely, > > Saleesha 62375 > Corporate Consumer Relations

Barbara Bertone November 27, 2010 at 6:31 am

You will be receiving a letter from my family. Your rules and Boarding check in employees in South Carolina are not nice at all. The airlines customer service is even worse.

Ron November 29, 2010 at 7:23 pm

Has anyone had problems with automatic renewal of the $9 fare club. Brief facts: I joined the $9 the first and only time I flew with Spirit in 2008. In 2009 I was billed a $39.95 renewal fee that I immediatey tried to cancel. At the time I was told that it was a non-refundable fee, but I could cancel my “membership” if I wanted to. Of course, this meant I could not use the service for which I was forced to pay. My mistake for not cancelling then. This year, same thing happened but now teh fee has gone up to $59.95. I was irate and again tried to get my money back to no avail. Best I was offered was a credit for airfare, which of course would force me to spend even more money with the company as I doubt I could find a fare and pay bagagge fees for less than that. I am going to escalate this as far as I can on principle. Normally I would just let something like this go and eat the fee, but I really believe this is a coercive business tactic. Possibly a class action suit waiting to happen. I would sure like to see that!

joy bruenn January 3, 2011 at 9:40 am

I have been trying to recieve a credit that is due to me since July 2010. This is not exceptable. I need someone to contact me 914 381-1172. In Dec of 2009 me and my daughter gave up our seats to accomodate a young family from being separated because Spirit overbooked the flights. That is when our nightmare started. We were promised that we would fly out on the next available flight from Florida to New York. Three days later and $700.00 of my own money (for hotel accomodations and food charges that Spirit Airlines promised to cover) was spent. We were also promised that we would recieve free baggage service and upgraded seats. Then we tried to redeem our flights via vouchers from Spirit Airlines. Our Record locater # Z4W28S. We were charged $220.00 from La Guaria Airport because we missed our flight by 2 minutes. I contacted your headquarters office which by the way was the only place I could recieve valid information and help. They, your headquarters personel, explained that because the charges were made from La Guardia the credit would have to be recieved from LaGuardia. I contacted Laguardia Airport manager for Spirit Airlines who promised to issue me a credit in Oct 2010. That never happened. After scolling up and seeing all these remarks from other passengers I am confident I will never hear from you but I will leave my contact information anyway, just in case. Joy Bruenn 914 381-1172 home # cell # 914 879-9632

Wilda Connor January 4, 2011 at 8:40 pm

I’m having the same problem as Ron. The service fee has jumped to $59.95 and I haven’t flown Spirit for years. I cannot get through to anybody to cancel. How did Ron make out?

Stefano January 6, 2011 at 7:23 pm

January 7, 2011 2800 Executive Way Miramar, FL 33025 To Whom it May Concern: Flying with Spirit Airlines out of Fort Lauderdale Florida on January 4th is the worst experience I have encountered when it comes to customer service with any business. I have worked with Mercedes-Benz USA for the last 7 years and one of our mission statements is to “treat everyone like your grandmother” we work and live by giving the absolute best or nothing. This is why Mercedes-Benz has successfully been in business since 1886 and the reason our store that I work at is #1 in the central region. I do understand that people/companies have off days but this is far beyond that. I strongly recommend for Spirit to change their mission statement to “the customer is always wrong, and if you don’t like it fly with American Airlines you will get better service.” This is what I was told when trying to fly back home to Chicago Illinois on January 4th from Fort Lauderdale International Airport by a Spirit Airline employee. I have this whole process recorded on my Flip Cam Digital Movie Camera. Before arriving to Fort Lauderdale International Airport I checked numerous times through http://www.spirit.com if my flight was to depart from FLL on time, at 9:30PM. I confirmed even when waiting in line to check my bags in, and the conformation showed that the flight was still on time. I also confirmed for a 3rd time with the touch screen computers, which Spirit provides (for what they call) “express check-in.” After waiting for 45 minutes to check my bags through a Spirit check-in attendant I was told that my flight was delayed until 12:30AM due to mechanical issues with the plane. I understand that safety is the number one concern when flying, so I did not have an issue having to wait for a mechanically safe plane to fly back home. My problem began when I overheard a female spirit check-in attendant telling a passenger next to me who was checking their bags in on the same flight, that the plane is delayed due to not having pilots, or a crew to fly. Why was I told that this was a mechanical issue? It seemed like Spirit employees gave any off the cuff response to shut us up. Then I found out the truth, there was no one to fly the plane due to scheduling errors made by Spirit. I proceeded to ask my check-in attendant if I could get a connecting flight home, she rudely responded “NO.” She noticed that my fiancé was upset due to the fact that we would not be arriving home until 3:00 AM CST. The Spirit employee then told my fiancé and I, “If you don’t like the service that we provide you should have paid more money to fly with American Airlines.” THIS IS WHAT I HAVE RECORDED. I responded by telling her that we paid $890 for 2 round-trip tickets from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale. It’s not cheap by any means especially when you even have to pay $30 per person for carry-on bags, when most airline companies do it for free. I would have paid a $1,000 at that point not have to talk to another Spirit employee and take another competitors flight out of Fort Lauderdale. Unfortunately since it was late at night there were no other flights available to Chicago. At this point it is 8:45pm and I asked to speak with a supervisor. She seemed to be confused as to where here supervisor seemed to be. She told me to move aside as she checked other passengers on to other flights. As I waited for another 50 minutes for her to find a supervisor I decided to call Spirit Airlines customer support number (800) 772-7117. I waited for over 32 minutes on the phone to speak with a customer service representative. I told “Dave” if that’s his real name the situation, and that we were upset with the way that were being treated and handled. Dave proceeded to apologize for any inconvenience that Spirit has caused. He said that I would be refunded a total of $566.00 for my troubles. He also gave me conformation # I finished my conversation with Dave and he told me that my refund would come within 60 days and that I would receive a conformation e-mail that I still have not yet received. I got off the phone with Dave and continued to wait for a Spirit supervisor. Finally after 50 minutes of and being pushed aside like a 2nd class citizen, a Spirit Supervisor showed up and typed my name in the data base and said that we were taken off the flight going home because I was receiving a refund of $566. I was never told by the customer service representative that I had the option to wait and go home at 12:30AM or being taken of the flight, and receiving $566. Dave told me that they were just going to refund me $566 for my troubles. Spirit supervisor continued to disagree with me and told me that I had to make a decision as to what I was going to do because the flight was going to leave with or without me. I decided get back on the flight because I had no other choice to get back home. Spirit employees still charged me for 2 carry-on bags, which is ridiculous for a flight that we didn’t know if it was going to leave or not. After having my time wasted for almost three hours and the poor customer care that I received I decided to show the Supervisor and the Spirit check-in attendants that I had filmed the entire dialogue between myself and all of the Spirit employees and continued to do so. I was screamed at by the one of the Spirit female employees that she was going to call the Police for filming like I was criminal. I was not doing anything criminal I was exercising my 2nd amendment right. I have over 4 witnesses to testify on how I was treated and screamed at. I filmed because I wanted to protect my word and to show that there is no justification for treating a paying customer the way that my fiancée and I were treated. I proceeded to go on the flight and go home after exhausting all of my options. My knee is still in pain because I sat all the way in the back of the plane, and Spirit does not seem to accommodate passengers that are over 6 foot 2. The lying and manipulation of Spirit Airlines employees caused me to have emotional distress since I came back home. To conclude this, all I’m asking for is the $566 that I was told I would receive back by a Spirit Airline Employee for my inconvenience and stress. If the matter in not resolved, I will not hesitate to bring the film to all of the major news networks and media outlets in Chicago, which is the 3rd largest market in the United States. I’m sure you do not want Spirit employees on TV telling a paying customer that they should have paid more money and flown with American Airlines for better service. Please handle this matter accordingly and as soon as possible. Thank you for your time and cooperation. Down below is my contact information along with Flight Number. Best Regards, Stefano Vitale

Rachel Gladstone January 13, 2011 at 6:43 am

REALLY ?? I have sent 6 emails and NOBODY has answered me. It makes me feel like you dont care what your airline did to me MY WEDDING DRESS was missing??? not Shoes not a tooth brush (though those were also missing) BUT IT WAS WEDDING DRESS! My wedding week my honey moon and you all JACKED UP the first 36 hours. And pretty much told me to not get married in that dress???? My grandmother Aunt and cousin made it? Youre all so rude I WANT AN ANSWER! Here is my email maybe you’ll see it NOW! THANKS BEN GREAT JOB! :Hi Byron and Ms. Sabbath This is Rachel Gladstone was McCracken at the time of this mishap. I hope you both remember me i spent hours on the phone with you on May3rd 2010. I have sent many emails to spirit to complain about what happen to my hubby and I and for some reason nobody replies to me or they are not receiving my emails? Don’t know where to start, My hubby and I got married May 5th 2010 in Las vegas NV we live in Mich, not only was this the wedding destination but a mini honey moon also. This trip was planned, booked and payed for on feb15th 2010. We get to the airport 2 1/2 hours early on may 3rd 2010 and still that was not enough time we barely made it through security and the flight attendant decided to tell us we were not seated together my Fiancee was in row 26D and me row 5F ( and i get bad anxiety ) and I’m afraid of flying keep in mind we are on a trip to go get married which was stressed to them (the flight attendants) but they did not care, once in vegas we find out our luggage is lost, we get to treasure Island in Vegas and they cant find our reservation. 2 hours later we get a room, 4 1/2 hours on the phone with spirit (india) from person to person being told 6-8 days for my wedding dress to make it here i get married on the 5th?? its now the 3rd long story short we had no clothing, no tooth brush, no birth control no shoes etc… and finally two people that did not give up on us Byron and Ms Sabbath we finaly received our luggage (wedding dress) over 24 hours later. With apologies from them and no apologies from spirit. To top off our wedding day my hubby to be’s sister wore black to please her mother (my now mother in law) she was against this wedding, cause i have a son that is not my husbands and i was married once before and my age bugs her, i am 7 years older then her son. I cry over that day a lot and Im still hurt by that trip and we can’t afford another one. Not that the last part is any issue of yours but what a miserable time for us. Thanks to Byron and Ms Sabbath and their hard work we got our luggage back and i was able to marry the man of my dream in the beautiful gown made by my aunt, grand mother and cousin. I would like this letter sent to the ceo’s of spirit or Ben the owner of spirit. I want to see some kind of remorse for what happened to us and would like for you both ( Byron and Ms Sabbath ) to be rewarded by your Company! Please please help me out this one last time. I hope you both receive this email. GOD BLESS Mrs Rachel Gladstone

'suzanne reek January 22, 2011 at 7:13 am

This is the second year in a row that I have gotten stuck paying for the 9 dollar club. Two years ago I called spirit to ask them to cancel my membership. I was told that I was stuck paying and would need to notify them in writing to cancel this for the following year. I did exactly that. I did notify them in writing. Well I got billed again. What state is this company located in so that I can file a complaint with the Attorney General for that state? This is getting crazy. My credit card put a block on spirit that is good for 4 years.(Amex)

Eddieb February 12, 2011 at 10:09 am

In RE: Customer No. T4D7UV; Flight #230; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Monday, February 7, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. Dominican time; I check in to Sprit Airlines Flight #230 in Santo Domingo. Upon checking in I realized that my ATM card was not in my wallet. I accidently left it in the last ATM machine I used. I could not pay for my baggage. I only had 750 Dominican Pesos. (As you may or may not know, The Dominican ATM’s will only allow limited pesos) The Manager at the Spirit told me I HAD TO LEAVE MY BAGGAGE BEHIND!!!!! I was in disbelief. This manager made it a WAR to ascertain my luggage. Two other workers watched closely with larceny in their eyes. I could not believe what was happening to me. I had my daughter Western Union me $150.00 USD. I immediately jumped in a taxi toward Boca Chico. The money didn’t transfer. Another glitch. I jumped back into the taxi to catch Flight #230 from Santo Domingo. (I have since wired the Taxi Driver $50). While boarding the plane, the MANAGER and the same women with larceny in their eyes tried to possess my luggage. I became disgusted. I emptied it and put everything in a plastic bag. I gave the toiletries & other assorted personal items to the people in KFC and boarded the plane. This made the Spirit Manager angry. He ran onto the plane before me and tried to get the co-pilot not to admit me. The co-pilot ignored him. THE PLANE WAS ONLY ¼ FULL!!!!!! Recommended Action: 1. Terminate this manager IMMEDIATELY! 2. Please change your international baggage policy; and 3. Allow ALL baggage then hold the baggage at the traveler’s destination for payment. I do not understand this hostile policy. I would have been more than happy to return to O’Hare Airport and pay $33 Dollars for my luggage. This policy does NOT make sense. I normally fly United Airlines; this is my first AND LAST time flying Spirit Airlines. How could your organization be so hateful? How could that Manager be so cruel? I was in severe duress. I had no working phone and could not access money. Not to mention, I was in a foreign country that denied me access to such. I have money. Money is NOT the issue. Service is the issue. Moreover, according to my banker: I could have used my routing and account number to pay for the luggage. Yet, your employees were after my POSSESSIONS!!! This is completely unconscionable. Please take action immediately. No customer should have to face this unscrupulous behavior again. SPIRIT have THEIVING ASS EMPLOYEES!!!!

Lee Noto February 12, 2011 at 10:03 pm

To whom it may concern, I recently purchased a ticket for my boyfriend on Spirit Air for $9. We paid for the seat charge and taxes etc. Overall the ticket price came out to $30 and some change. We confirmed the gate number, flight number, departure and arrival time on his boarding pass, online and over the phone. (Please note, I am a very detail-oriented person, so I am careful about these sorts of things). The flight was to depart the Orlando MCO airport at 3:25pm on and to arrive at the Ft. Lauderdale FLL airport at 4:25pm. He arrived at the airport at 2:00pm to check in and the woman at the desk informs him that the flight departed at 1:25pm! She confirmed all details and said that he should have arrived 5 minutes earlier. I then called Spirit and gave them his confirmation number. They said that he was filed as a no show (this was before the actual flight had was scheduled to depart, so how can he be a no show?). I spoke with 2 representatives and then a supervisor who said that I could re book and pay the full price. Another representative told me that the flight left on time at 3:25pm. At this point, I had been on the phone for over 40 minutes, and he had legitimately missed the flight! The woman at the desk (at the airport) was EXTREMELY rude and said that he could either re book, take a flight with Southwest or rent a car. I find their lack of help to be extremely unprofessional! I re confirmed the details on many occasions to make sure that he wasn’t at the wrong gate etc. The woman at the desk said he wasn’t and there was nothing she could do for him. When he asked for her name all she gave was her first name, Cynthia, and would not give a last name or employee ID number. The loss of the $30 is not the moral of the story here, its the principle! I found it completely unacceptable. They’re disregard for a paying customer is of utmost absurdity! It then became the Spirit representative’s word against my boyfriends when I spoke with the Supervisor that I contacted through the 800 number. I know that you have no control over what occurred today, but we both feel debased and disregarded after this incident. I would like to know if there is any way that he can receive a refund for the time, money and stress that this caused. Thank you, Lee

Vilmarie Nixon February 23, 2011 at 7:29 am

This morning my elderly mother was denied and basically forced to purchase a new ticket. My mother and I will admit she got there late, 20 minutes prior, but the plane was still not leaving and the doors could have been opened for her. Spirit Air counter representative was not willing AT ALL to help my mother. In fact after several minutes of trying to sort out the situation my mother finally decided, she is traveling to see her dying sister in Connetticut, to purchased yet another ticket. The new lady that was now helping her asked the lady (that refused entrance to my mother) if the airplane doors could be open but the lady said NO. That tells me that it could have been done but the lady HAS NO CUSTOMER SERVICE SKILLS or is a money scam in the part of Spirit Airlines. I am very dissatisfied with today’s service. We have use Spirit Air for the last six years and had never have a complain about it. In fact we would always recomemded but now this incident change our mind. It is with regret we will no longer use Spirit Air. As people has said before it was too good to be true. Sincerely, Vilmarie Nixon

todd charles February 28, 2011 at 2:14 pm

I have not flown this airline in years, why do people continue to patronize this company. People stop buying tickets, There is no customer service, I almost ahd a heart attack talking to incompetent outsourced people in the phillipines who are not empowered to do anything for you. I was on the phone for hours, I finally ahd to drive to the airport to talek to soemone in person. AGAIN DO NOT USE THIS AIRLINE EVER, EVEN IF YOU GET A FREE TICKET NEVER EVER USE THIS AIRLINE

Joshua Vincent March 4, 2011 at 6:40 pm

Copy of Email Sent – 3-4-11 All, I am very disappointed in my first dealing with your airline. I scheduled our flight not 2 weeks ago on Feb. 21st from Fort Lauderdale to Charleston, WV for June 12th. My family is returning from a cruise this day and we are flying out of Pittsburgh, Pa on the 4th of June and I looked forward to using your airline to get home. I live 2 hours from Charleston and enjoy using that airport as much as possible, we were renting a car to get home from Charleston and was renting a Trolley bus to take my family to Pittsburgh on the 3rd for my wife’s birthday prior to leaving so that we could return into Charleston. But this afternoon I was curious to see the price of airline prices and pulled up my reservations to find that the flight was reschedule for 9:30 am to 11:45 am, which would not allow me and my family to make our flight since we are not able to get from the cruise ship to the airport in time. I understand that flights are rearranged but I was not notified of this change by email. If it was not by my curiosity this trip could end up very bad. Once I found this out my wife spent her afternoon fighting with your customer service in India to get a refund. The customer representative at first told us that this was not their problem, then saying they could get us on the flight returning the 14th of June, finally after much arguing they agreed to refund our money. If I was operating a service like an airline in a new market like Charleston I would make sure that this service would start out smoothly. I copied the Airport Manager Rick Atkinson on this email so that he knows how the airline services are working in case this happens again. Thanks, Joshua Vincent

Cheryl Rexroad March 7, 2011 at 9:34 am

Dear Sirs, I recently encountered several of your customer service staff to find that my choice in using your airline became a very bad one. My 20 year old son, LCPL Austin Rexroad, is currently serving in the United States Marine Corps stationed in Twenty Nine Palms, California, away from all of his family in Florida. Around the 15th of February his unit learned that they would be deployed to Afghanistan on approximately April 7th 2011, and gave them leave from March 17th thru April 1, 2011, at which time we chose to book a flight on your airline for my son to come home for a visit before being deployed over seas for a second time. On February 25th, 2011 my son booked and paid for two reservations. One for himself On March 31st, 2011 for his return flight to California as he would be driving his personally owned vehicle home to be left in safe keeping while he is deployed, and as a surprise a round trip ticket for myself to be able to return to California with him on the 31st and attend the family deployment ceremonies, as I did not get to attend for the last deployment for health reasons, returning back to Florida on April 6th, 2011. Well here is were the problem starts…..On Thursday March 3, 2011, the Marine Corp issued and emergency recall of all soldiers leave and reissued an emergency leave effective March 4th 2011 with a returning date of March 13th 2011, due to the crisis in Lybia it is required that they be sent to Lybia on March 15th, 2011. At that time we contacted the reservation center to try and change the reservations. They informed us that there was nothing they could do for us that we would in fact have to buy new tickets however they would give us a small credit for the tickets we had already purchased that could be applied toward the purchase of new tickets which now are double the price since they are not within the 14 day window any longer, and after being charged a 125 dollar change fee per reservation. We asked for the second round trip ticket to be cancelled and that round trip ticket credit applied to his one way fair, but they said under no circumstances could we transfer this ticket, as I was the traveler, keeping in mind that his credit card paid for both tickets. Unfortunately my son will not be able to come home on leave as we cannot afford to pay the large increase in flight costs and the change fee on such short notice. We are not asking you to give him anything, he has already paid for the cost of the two flights, we were simply asking you to waive the administrative change fee, which you and I both now there are very minimal cost in making that change especially in the three week notice we are giving you. We spoke to nine different representatives, and as I understand this is your normal practice I also know that in the business world every rule has an exception. This is not being changed because we want to change our vacation plans, this is a change that was issued by the United States Marine Corp, the Government, we offered to provided copies of all the documentation showing the original leave and the recall leave dates, but were told that there was absolutely nothing that can be done. One of your representatives actually asked me if I was done complaining because he had calls holding. I cannot believe that there is no compassion for this soldier that risks his life on a day to day basis so that all of those representatives can live in the United States and have a job with Sprit Airlines. I understand that we are just a reservation number and we are only one of millions of fliers but it absolutely breaks my heart that the only thing important to this airline is the dollar bill. I can assure you that while we may be just a reservation number and only one of your customers, we will do our best to make sure that everyone we know, will know that your airline had absolutely no compassion for this 20 year old soldier that cannot afford to come home and see his family before he will be deployed over an administrative change fee. As I do not expect to hear from you I do appreciate your time to read this letter. With my greatest frustration, Cheryl Rexroad

Jim Bartholomew March 8, 2011 at 10:41 am

I must say, I have been VERY disappointed with Spirit Air. We were supposed to fly Ft. Lauderdale to O’Hare last April. We were offered a future flight credit if we gave up our seats for that flight. We did since the attendant told us we would arrive in Chicago the next morning. I knew I would have to miss half a day of work, but I was expected to be there in the afternoon. Overnight, we were booked up at a Days Inn and given food vouchers. The hotel was bad and we had to wait over an hour for the free shuttle. The food vouchers were a joke since the hotel restaurant closed before we got there. Needless to say, the experience was horrible and by the time we transferred in NY and delayed, I was forced to miss the whole work day! I have been trying to redeem our free flight voucher for months. It seems as though every flight is not eligible for us. My latest flights that I tried were all denied. I don’t understand what the problem is? We have 5 different destinations that we would accept. Can I please have someone contact me so we can get our free flight? If these vouchers expire I will be extremely upset and will be yet another negative review. Thanks, Jim