1. Sorry.. there is no story here other than the fact that the CEO should have kept the email in-house and told those idiots "sorry, but that's all we can do for you."

The "victims" of the situation are morons.

11:37PM on Aug 22nd 2007 by Chris

2. Chris,

Have you read any of the close to 120 other stories posted on the parent post?

Not only are there an overwhelming amount of people with horror
stories of various degrees, theres a common customer service theme
that even spirit employees are chiming in on. The general consensus,
both from consumers and from their own employees, is that it starts at
the very top. That's what the e-mail post is about, not Christy's
specific complaint.

Appreciate the comments / counter opinions either way, but.. I'd take
a look around this blog and the internet as a whole before defending
Spirit.

Best,

Alex

11:48PM on Aug 22nd 2007 by Alex Rudloff

3. Thank you for the response.

I agree with Baldanza's email in principle. The lady did a very poor job of planning her trip, was compensated for it rather well, but continued to complain and rant.

Baldanza was on the receiving end of this, obviously became pissed off and made the "Reply to All" mistake that everyone has made at least once.

His comments were internal and were not meant for people customers to see. Had he addressed her in this manner, I would agree that the guy is a prick, but, he was not addressing her directly.


I think this poster's comments hits it home and is more than likely what prompted Baldanza's email to his associate:

http://www.alexrudloff.com/2007/08/20/ben-baldanza-from-spirit-encourages-awful-customer-service/#c6859424

9:08AM on Aug 23rd 2007 by Chris

4. I want to let everyone know how UNACCEPTABLE Spirit Airlines is, and what a bind they put me and my family in on our vacation which should have been a relaxing worry-free time. I will NEVER fly with them again, and hope all who read this will choose other airliners and not give them business, which is the only way to make Spirit notice or change.
My Husband and I had roundtrip tickets from Tampa to St. Thomas USVI. We get to the airport the morning of our flight with plenty of time, and it is chaos at the Spirit Ticket counter. Finally a ticket agent told everyone that the one plane we were all scheduled on to Ft. Lauderdale was "Down for Maintenance" and we would all miss our connecting flights to our destinations. People had connecting flights to Cancun, Nassau, Kingston, you name it, we were missing their connections. Spirit said they would try to get all 100+ people on the same flight the next morning, or the day after. Yeah, right. I knew those flights were booked solid too! So I took the ticket agent aside and asked him to be real with me and what should we do to get to St. Thomas today (my husband had just come back from Iraq and we not only really neede the vacation, but he only had a few days until he had to be back at work). He said if it were him, he would check if another airline had flights to St. Thomas today, fly with them, and when we get to St. Thomas go to the ticket counter and they would notate our reservation, so our return flight wasn't canceled as a no-show, and give us travel vouchers for our inconvenience. Sounds like the procedure for any airline, Right?
WRONG! we found a flight on American ($700), got on that flight, got to St. Thomas, went to the ticket counter, and there was no one. So I stopped a custodian, asked him if Spirit Airlines had any agents on duty, and he showed me to a back room where there were three agents sitting gabbing, NOT working. They all rolled their eyes at me when I told them my issue, and said they were closed. It was 1:30 PM in the afternoon. I said I was told to fly here by the agent in Tampa and that you would help me. They said I should call back to that agent in Tampa and have him help me. I said that's impossible and you should be able to do the same thing for me. They said they couldn't help me and I should call the 1-800 number.
So, I left them to their chat, and called the 1-800 number. I was told by that agent that there was nothing they could do for me, because they were in India, they could only look at the computer, and that only a ticket agent could help me. I told them I'm standing in front of the ticket counter in St. Thomas and they are closed. He said they should be open until 5 PM and it's only 1:30PM. I said I know but they are refusing to help me and say they are closed. Then there was a long silence....
He then told me that it is Spirit Policy that the customer FORFEITS their ENTIRE RESERVATION including their RETURN ticket, if they do not fly the outbound flight. I told him that flight we were scheduled to fly was down for maintenance and we would have missed our connection, and it was on advice from the Spirit Ticket Agent in Tampa that we flew another airline. He just kept repeating the same policy (off a cew card probably) and told me there was nothing I could do. I said that was so unfair, nothing is wrong with our return flight, it was unaffected by today's flight, and how could they just cancel a flight I had already paid for, when it was no fault of mine in the first place? Not to mention now we were actually in the USVI - how are we supposed to get back? What if we were in another country, an unsafe country at that? what if I didn't have the financial means to buy another ticket for us to get back home? The operator also had no one else I could talk to, no complaint procedure, and said I could not speak to the floor supervisor because they were too busy.
We bought our return tickets (another $600, and barely got on a flight because of Hurricane Dean coming) and made it back to Florida. I have never seen such a blatant lack of basic customer service and unprofessionalism in an airline. And if that is their policy (they said it was "buried on their website somewhere" but I still haven't found it) It is unfair, unsafe, and downright illegal! Their terms are unconscionable! You have to agree to them to buy your ticket! It is absolutely unacceptable to leave someone stranded in a foreign country. I have had plenty of flights delayed or cancelled in the past with other airlines, but my return flight was NEVER cancelled too! And they always attempted to make some type of compensation for the inconvenience. That's BASIC customer service - don't they want people to come back and use them again?
I thought they were a bargain because their rates were cheaper than the other airlines, but now we have paid more than 2 times the cost of that one ticket. No Bargain There!
So EVERYONE, please do not experience what we did - save your money and stress and don't buy a ticket on Spirit Air!
By the Way, even though I know it's probably in vain, I am on hold now with Spirit Airlines Customer Relations. The phone number is not on their website - I called information to get it - it's (954) 447-7828. I've been on hold for 2 hours and 16 minutes now...

11:26AM on Aug 27th 2007 by Cyndi

5. I will tell you what I know. Every time I fly with any American Airlines, when they have delays or other issues, they NEVER Compensate accordingly. I will give you an example. I flew with Northwest twice Internationally to Singapore. The first time I flew with Northwest, my flight was delayed in Pittsburgh. Then when I finally arrived in Singapore, my luggage never arrived. Northwest never apologized and took the 3 days to locate and get my luggage to me. I had to travel to the Airport to pick up the Luggage. I was never offered any type of compensation or even a simple apology. Still worse, my luggage arrived "Damaged".

The second time I flew with Northwest to Singapore, once again my flight ended up being delayed, this time in Detroit. Now in this case Northwest worked to get me onto a Singapore Airlines flight. Now this was a good deal, considering they put me on an Executive Economy Class, rather than the regular Economy seats. However, once again when I arrived in Singapore, my luggage once again was lost. Northwest did not make sure my luggage was put in the appropriate Singapore Airlines Flight.

Now, here is how Singapore Airlines handled the situation. First of all, they informed ME of the mistake rather than me having to approach them. As well had already located my luggage, secured it from Northwest and had it on the next flight to Singapore. They told me the luggage would arrive the next morning, about 12 hours later. They also gave me a verbal apology as well as a written apology from the CEO. In addition, they also gave me $500.00 in cash as well as plenty of personal hygiene items to compensate and hold me over until tommorrow. Then had also offered a hotel room, but I have a house in Singapore so it wasn't needed. This wasn't even their fault. Imagine that!!

Singapore Airlines has a great reputation for customers being loyal, now I wonder why?

This CEO is an utter disgrace to the airline and travel industry. Not only should the shareholders and board remove him, he should never be allowed to work in the industry again. Where does he think his paycheck comes from, thin air?

I have flown with Singapore Airlines ever since and will continue to do so no matter how cheap a rate Northwest or anyone else offers on the international fare.

2:01PM on Aug 29th 2007 by Kenn

6. Spirit Airlines Corp
President CEO
2800 Executive Way
Miramar FL 33025

To President CEO:

On August 29, 2007 my nephew ShaQuan Smith was a passenger of your flight # NK901. He is only 12 years old. I went to the checkout counter to check him in and the attendant asked how old he was I told her he was 12 and that he was traveling alone; she said are you sure he’s 12 he is so small, I said yes. I was under the impression that any minor traveling alone the airline would make sure they got seated and make sure the got to their destination safely but I was wrong Sprit Airlines belief is that a 12 year old is an adult and believes they can wonder about on their own per your Supervisor Cherita #126. She informed me that Sprit doesn’t care about children 12 and over or their safety. I spoke to her in length on August 29, 2007 because of a complaint I had about the airline attendant escorting two unaccompanied white children to the airplane and when my black unaccompanied child came up he told me he had to go in by himself. I ask why and he said he could not leave his post; but that did not make any sense; since he just left his post to escort the two other children. Then he said they paid for the service. I then asked can I pay for the service. He said he has to go on the plane by himself. I don’t understand why this was not told to me while I was at the ticket counter; the agent asked me several times if he was12 years old because he is short but still a minor. No one time did she mention or suggested for assistance for him. Your company’s customer service suck and they don’t care about little children. I will let all the people know how my nephew was treated and how your manager treated me when I asked if I could pay for the assistance over the phone because no one told me about the child assistance fee; Cherita implied that she did not care about the safety of my nephew; its unfortunate that that’s the view I get from your company. I hope I don’t have to use your services in the future. I will let friends and family know how you treated children 12 years old as adults.

1:30PM on Aug 30th 2007 by Percilla Wyse

7. This airline ripped us off 2 tickets that we needed changed. The tickets were for our daughter that we adopted from Guatemala and her escort. The escort got sick and was unable to travel on that date. So, as with any OTHER airline, we called prior to the flight time to get the flight times changed. They REFUSED to change the time saying that it was past the 24 hour period to change the tickets and we FORFEITED our tickets. (WHAT???) So, if you ever get sick be sure to schedule the date you get sick, other wise you will FORFEIT your tickets with Spirit Airlines!! All we were and still are trying to do is get the ticket flight dates changes (which by the way are paid in full). There is no reason on God's Earth why they should be able to keep our money and refuse to change the flight date. I hope they go under...

Donny Gonzalez

3:01PM on Sep 25th 2007 by Donny Gonzalez

8. BEWARE OF SPIRIT AIR! I made an online booking Friday after work. I had to visit a friend recovering from surgery and I didn't check the confirmation until the following morning. I noticed the flight was booked to leave on the wrong date. I immediately contacted Spirit Air and fought through four e-mails and three phone calls. No use - I have to pay a $180 travel change fee. GOOD LUCK FLYING WITH THIS CARRIER!

4:59PM on Oct 2nd 2007 by Joe Link

9. The same thing happened to me as happened to Joe Link (above post). In June, I booked a flight for January '08, online, and driving home from work that evening I realized I booked a day later than I should have! I immedialtely got on the phone to Spirit (on hold for over an hour). They made the change, and charged me $330 EXTRA!!! Same flight, same time, different day. Just pushed a freakin' button to change the day. I complained to no avail. Months later, I get an email from Spirit - they've changed my departure time. Well!!.... It cost ME $330 to make a change - what are THEY giving me to make a change? NOTHING. Got on the phone w. a Spirit rep (could barely speak English, very difficult) who blamed the problem on the airport, not the airline - supervisors were conveniently unavailable. So...if I buy a blouse from Sears and it falls apart, they won't refund it because they didn't make it? Absurd. Couldn't even get an upgrade to Spirit Plus. NEVER AGAIN WILL I FLY SPIRIT! I'd rather walk.

3:32PM on Oct 22nd 2007 by Susan