It was a late night flight scheduled to depart at 12:05 AM. At the ticketing counter, we were told t

S teve Leadroot was all set to fly from Chicago to Atlantic City for a wedding last September when an airport ticket agent gave him some bad news: The airline had discontinued its service to Atlantic City. As in, it doesn t fly there anymore.
9.2.3. Customers involved in a Spirit Airlines initiated cancellation in excess of two (2) hours will have three (3) options available to them: 1) re-accommodation, 2) Future Travel credit, or 3) a refund.
But just because the paperwork says you aren t covered doesn t mean you shoudln t be covered. I think Spirit failed to notify him about the schedule change until he got to the airport, and in doing so not only inconvenienced him, but cost him an extra $808.
I agreed to contact Spirit Airlines on Leadroot s behalf. The airline normally responds to requests like these with either a thumbs-up or, more frequently, a thumbs-down. This time, it pleaded the Fifth; I heard nothing but the sounds of crickets.
Mind you, Spirit didn t have to do anything. It wrote itself a convenient contract that let it off the hook. And yes, Leadroot should have confirmed his flight before leaving for the airport. But still, this is no way to treat a customer, even when you re an ultra low cost carrier.
So why do airlines  (and travel agents to create a PNR) require a telephone number if they won t bother to call the passenger? Isn t it a reasonable expectation to be called for airline cancellations if someone was asked their phone number?
My problem with your analysis, though correct, is that it only works in the travel industry.  In most other industries, the breaching party would be liable car rental key west florida for compensatory damages which would be the cost the new ticket.
I dont think the onous should be on the passenger to confirm his/her flight.  That seems easy enough unless you are a frequent flier.  I took an unusually low number of flights last year, about 35 round trip flights.  That 70  confirmations for the airlines (RT), 35 for the hotel, and 35 for the car rental company.
I agree in principal that a refund should have been automatically processed.  However, it my experience that many airlines car rental key west florida wait until the customer makes a formal request for a refund.  For some reason (sarasm) cancelling a flight doesn t trigger a refund request.
Well, yes, contracts can t do anything illegal or violate rights or the like. However, as far as a monetary transaction for goods/services goes, this one here is not illegal or even that unreasonable.
Oh, I heartily agree!  And when I worked for United (many moons ago) they used to have us call on all schedule changes.  But I can t tell you how many times those phone numbers were no longer in service, either.  Guess it s just not a perfect world, so CYA by checking up on the booking.
I check this blog often. I find it interesting and a great way to gain a little insight into the travel world.  My comment has nothing to do with the case at hand. It is a simple request to please fix the misspelled word in the article, the word is shouldn t not shoudln t .
Given the reasonable conclusion that many airlines have interline agreements and Spirit at no location limits its reaccommodation to only Spirit then what is a reasonable re-accommodation becomes up to whats reasonable in the industry and what that is is a) prompt personal notification and the b) ability to select another destination on that airline that gets you close to your destination or c) a refund.
I flew on Spirit once, and it was the absolute worst flying experience ever.  (I chose it because it had a better time schedule than my usual airline, and in this instance, time was of the essence. Spirit was a little le$$, but that wasn t the reason for the booking, timing was my Dad was dying and I wanted to see him alive for the last hours of his life)  From the check-in process with the rudest ground people I ve ever experienced, to the downright nastiest car rental key west florida FA s ever who could barely speak english .or any language. They had the communication level of 3 year olds.  They mumbled instructions which prompted call outs by everyone asking   What did s/he say? Would you repeat that?  and axed us to put our seats up during landing. Before take-off, one FA stormed car rental key west florida through the aisles like a tornado opening all the overhead bins and pulling out every single coat and jacket and  threw them down on our heads insisting that we all fly for 6 hours with our coats in our laps because she THOUGHT there was no room in the overhead bins for them.  Of course considering that they were already in there shows her thought process to be as evolved as the language skills of her co-FA s.
Upon arrival, the baggage conveyer belt broken and the available ones on either side worked fine and when asked why doesn t Spirit just use one of those, we were told that the other airline would charge Spirit for that and they re not willing to pay.  When I said I had to leave the airport (remember, I booked this because it would get me in earilier to see my dying father)  and would they please just deliver my luggage to me, they said that if I leave, I d be considered abandoning my luggage and they take no responsibility and will not deliver it.  So we sat for over 4 hours, after a 6 hour flight,  waiting for luggage on the other side of the wall, which we were not allowed to go and get.
I you get your boarding pass online, you are reconfirming, so no call is needed .but you knew that.  It is your responsibility car rental key west florida to check on your flight 24 hours prior as emails and phone calls sometimes don t reach you.  You should also provide your cell phone number.
Chris I guess if people were smarter about travel you would be out of a job. When I make plans I check at least weekly for changes. Last year in 3 months the airline changed and rebooked me twice in including a connection that left before I got there. Check, check, check!
Do you re-check car rental key west florida all your reservations weekly for 5  months?  And then if they are suddenly cancelled in the final days before departure, you accept that shelling out for a last minute full-fare is just the  cost of being a consumer?
What do you say about the Spirit Airlines agents who didn t offer this either?  Either this was never on the table or the employees who should be the subject matter experts going to bat for their customer have no ability to think out of the box either.
You can t have it both ways.  If a re-route was not feasible then there s no excuse for holding on to his money.  If there was a feasible re-route they were willing to offer then the airport agents messed up.
These cheap airlines need total 100% careful observation. Yes, he is entitled to his original refund, nothing more. This happens all of the time. I have a staff that looks at all of the online booking Airlines car rental key west florida 3-4 weeks before flighttime. We have our email in the reservation to know to take action. We read up on flights that being discontinued; things that every good agency car rental key west florida does. Normal car rental key west florida airlines like Airtran, American, etc. send their schedule changes directly to Travel Agents computers. The online ones maybe send an email, car rental key west florida but they do not always come through. I believe the day a the store front ASTA agency is here. We would not have missed this problem. But we would have known about it early enough to re-schedule an alternative trip. The worse travel agents in the world are the same as the worse attorneys the wons that try to do it for themselves. Paying me $30.00 per ticket against losing $700.00+-hum!
An airline may cancel a route by pushing a button in their computer system. Yes an ASTA travel agent would have been all over this. The flight was probably cancelled 60 days out and that should have been plenty of time to have made new arrangments, car rental key west florida not at the original cost, but somewhere in between.
Last time I booked a flight on Spirit, I was required to provide a phone number. I want to know why the passenger was not personally contacted when the supposed email notification was also sent out. I have always received phone calls along with emails for other airlines that have had to cancel my flights.
It s Spirit Air for crying out loud. I m to the point that anyone stupid enough to buy a ticket car rental key west florida on them should not be helped in anyway. They have been abusing passengers for years and their antics are well known.
It was a late night flight scheduled to depart at 12:05 AM. At the ticketing counter, we were told the fight was delayed because of bad weather in San Diego so the flight would be two hours late. This was the only flight to Dallas in the time frame, so all we could do was wait. At the gate, we had to rely on the cell phones with internet access to get update because there were no agents at the counter. People started to question whether car rental key west florida the delay was really weather related because San Diego had nice partly cloudy weather all evening and night. Around 1:00 AM came the bad news flight was cancelled, and still no agents car rental key west florida at the gate. Eventually the PA announcement said all flight 458 passengers should pick up the checked in luggage and go back to the ticketing counter.
We formed a long line at the ticketing counter and there were only two working counter in the first 40 minutes or so and the line moved very slowly. All Spirit did was offering either refund for the unused car rental key west florida portion of the ticket, or book the next available flight out of Portland TWO DAYS later. There were no attempts from Spirit to put us on other airlines at all. To add insult to injury, the checked in luggage were neither at the baggage claim or the ticketing counter! Basic what we heard was Sorry the flight was cancelled, here is your money back and you are on your own and, oh good luck finding your luggage .
So we are pretty much helpless in the airport because there was no compensation car rental key west florida or assistance car rental key west florida from Spirit to make the travel rescheduling less frustrating. Not even a voucher for future travel. People were angry on the phone with Spirit's customer service and couldn't even talk to a supervisor.