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Spirit Airlines Consumer Reviews - Page 2

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StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

SAN JUAN -- Spirit una areolinea con mal servicio, que la unica opcion que ofrece es pagar por todo y aun asi recibir un pesimo servicio; ejemplo de esto, es la compra de dos cafes que ni el mas hambriento de los seres humanos se lo hubiese bebido. Entiendo que es una linea aerea barata pero tambien entiendo que se puede mejorar el servicio que ofrecen. Ahora bien pregunto, Es un delito no hablar ingles? el hecho de ser un empleado de la aerolinea homosexual le da el derecho a este empleado a tratar a las personas como menos? Si es un pasajero quien trata mal a ese empleado homosexual, entonces le acusan de ser homofobico y le imputan el vulneral su derecho a ser gay? El que las (os) auxiliares de vuelo sean Americanas (os) y sus clientes latinos, les esta prohibido o se sienten menos si se les da la bienvenida al vuelo? Fuimos tres pasajeros del vuelo NK883 de Orlando a San Juan, mi esposa, mi hijo y yo, y fue molesto ver como se les atendio a esas personas que no hablaban ingles. Espero puedan mejorar y acepten que estan cometiendo errores que no son nada dificiles de corregir y que si haran mas placentero el hecho de usar sus servicios.

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Worst Experience Ever (Fraud)
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

TL/DR. Make an order. Get no tracking. Facebook site listens then ignores. Go to site chat help who gets FB to reply. Order arrives (1/2 incomplete). No mention from Spirit Halloween about anything. After playing the Facebook, online chat game it turns out other item is out of stock. "Please pick another." I do. 1 week later no reply from FB. Check online help. Now Facebook end is saying they cannot see the shipping address. They already sent 1 box. We confirm that yeah, it's the same as the order # we are all looking at???

Now, turns out the item that was out of stock has been found. They say that would be easier (the one they took a week to say was out of stock). Easier to send that one than one I opted to get instead after their offer. Whatever... Omg just send me something. They offer to refund shipping to PayPal. They had already offered overnight shipping which they never did. They say they somehow cannot refund anything to PayPal (that's a first). Now I get no replies and they're in possession of my money, I do not have any item offered or refunds offered.

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Don't Fly Spirit Airlines
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

FLORIDA -- I have flown Spirit several times over the past 3 years and have had not problems. I always knew that the customer service was lacking but as long as I didn't have an issue I was willing to deal with the lack of professionalism, knowledge and training from your staff. However on this trip everything that could go wrong did and your staff and company was completely inadequate. Our flight was cancelled due to a stewardess timing out. While a larger airline would be more equipped to deal with a situation like this, I knew that Spirit was not.

There was zero organization, horrible attitudes from your staff from the start (I was 3rd in line to re-book and the passengers were calm) and under-trained employees that were openly questioning their supervisors and rolling their eyes. Everyone had a different answer or responded with "I don't know" or yelled at passengers who were actually trying to help organize the process. The shuttle to the hotel was not clearly explained which caused chaos. Finally the 4:50 am return shuttle was not properly scheduled causing shuttle drivers to demand that some passengers get off the shuttle so others that had "the Vouchers" could board.

Spirit booked 2 passenger vans which hold 8 people for 30 people needing to make a 7 am flight. Eventually we all had to find our own transportation just to make the rescheduled flight. This was the worst traveling experience of my life and YOU WILL NOT SEE BUSINESS FROM ME AGAIN! I can deal with cancelled flights but your employees attitude, lack of apathy for the displaced passengers, dismissiveness and lack of training make this experience something that will cause me to tell everyone I know not to use your company!

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Incompetent, Rude and Liars to Boot
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

NORTH KINGSTOWN, RHODE ISLAND -- Waiting for delivery in the four hour window given and was told to expect a call 30 minutes before they would arrive. I remained within 5 minutes of home, never received a call until their office contacted me, said they were at my home and couldn't wait. I was explicit that I was within 5 minutes of home, had come in from out of state for the delivery and would need to cancel the order if not delivered that day.

Intercepted them at my street; honked, waved, yelled - driver looked me in the eye and kept going. I followed the truck to the next delivery site a mile and a half away. Driver wouldn't roll down his window to speak to me and finally said, "Go home and call the office." Multiple phone calls and as many lies. Told a manager had instructed them to return to my home. In the end, the truth was the drivers remained unreachable for the remainder of the day; not answering calls, texts and emails. The manager was unreachable as well. No delivery. Order canceled by me, still waiting for Home Depot to process my refund.

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Great Experience
StarStarStarStarStarBy -
Rating: 5/51

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA -- After reading the negative reviews, I was unsure about flying with Spirit but decided to chance it. I was incredibly surprised. I had read the airline policies on baggage fees, etc., and paid those while booking my ticket, so no surprises there. I also upgraded to a larger front seat which was very roomy and reclined. I took snacks and drinks on the plane with me, so no extra charges there.

The only surprise was how great the ticket agent was. I had booked a one way ticket to Peru, because I'm visiting friends and wasn't sure when I was coming home. When I checked in, the agent informed me that Peru doesn't allow one-way tickets for foreign passport holders. After getting out of line, I checked this information online, and found out she was correct. I got back in line and the agent booked me a return flight without charging me the extra fee, saying she understood the mix up. She also helped me get travel insurance in case I want to change the date for my return flight.

My flight was delayed by one hour, as were flights with several other airlines. However, even with the extra fees and upgraded seat, I still saved $600 over the next cheapest airline, so needless to say, I am a very happy customer and will be using Spirit again.

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You Should Not Use Spirit Airline
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

MIRAMAR, FLORIDA -- You should read reviews about this airline before you purchase. I will NEVER, EVER FLY Spirit Airlines. I've not heard about Spirit Airline and I purchased a package through Travelocity. I made a BIG mistake, I should have read the reviews first. This has to be the worse airline EVER. I bought our vacation package a month ahead. I log-on to the Spirit website and find out they charge for everything, (i.e. talking to them on the phone, using the bathroom, bags, seats). I prepaid 2 round trip ($30 each) check in bags and 3 round trip seats ($25 each), FREE if you let Spirit choose the seating for you.

Departure: we arrive 2+ hours prior to boarding with our boarding pass (already printed). Arrive at the gate, waited, we were delayed for 30–45 minutes because we had to wait for the airplane to arrive; unload people and their luggage and for them to clean the plane. We boarded the plane and it was dirty.

Return trip: departure time was 5:40pm out of Oakland, CA to Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX. We arrived at the terminal at 2pm with boarding pass already printed, get to the counter to check-in our bags, and we were told there was a mechanical problem and they had to switch planes; departure was now 9:50 pm. I'm still okay at this point (but we've been there since 2 pm) so I was getting a little annoyed. When the plane arrived Again, we had to wait for the people and luggage to unload and cleaning. We get to our seats, it was not what I expected, it was seating area was so small (NOT what I paid for). It was really late, I was tired, so I kept my frustration to myself.

We arrive at DFW and we were told to go to baggage claim 32, as we were walking to 32, there was a Spirit employee that told us that the baggage claim was at 38. So we all waited at 38 for 30–40 minutes, then one of the passengers took a walk to baggage claim 32 and found out that all of our luggages were in claim 31 and already off the carousel. Some of the passenger's baggage was in a totally different airline baggage claim. Now, this was not just offensive but unacceptable. The airlines did not care about our belongings.

I called Spirit to ask for a refund of my seats, waited for 30 minutes. I explained to them what happen and he told me that, he does not see me paying for my seats. I told him that I have an email receipt that I paid for baggage and larger seats. I expected a total refund of $75 because they basically chose the seats for us BUT NO, the person on the phone got belligerent and told me that “you asked for a refund and you got it” a total of $33 dollars. I will not use this airline and will tell everyone that I know the same.

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Spirit DOESN'T Save You Money/time! Worst Travel Experience EVER!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

DFW, TEXAS -- ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE! DO NOT USE SPIRIT! I created a yelp account SPECIFICALLY to let people know what Spirit Airlines is about. If I could give negative stars, I would. You may think you are saving money, but honestly it all adds up to being just as (if not MORE) expensive with all the delays, bag costs and check in costs, not to mention how rude they are and reluctant to provide any help or compensation for their disorganization. I just got back from a Spirit Airlines round trip flight from DFW to Oakland CA and back.

When I got to the airport, I had already checked in but the lady told me I had to stand in line because the information on my bag was confusing. My initial confirmation email had me down for one Carry on bag and nothing checked, but when I got my boarding pass it printed out that I had one Check in bag and nothing carry on. I went to the counter to make sure of what to do with my bag (just one and it met all TSA requirements, so it wouldn't have mattered how it travelled, but I wanted to make sure I wasn't being charged for both.) When I got to the counter, the agent was very polite and told me that I HAD paid for both bags.

I told her I only had the one bag and needed a refund on my carry on since I would be checking the only bag I had. She helpfully handed me a customer service number and told me to call at my earliest convenience to get the refund. I took the number and called as soon as I got home from my trip. When I called the customer service representative, I was met with an attitude as if I was putting her out by calling. I explained what had happened and that I was told I would receive a refund and she proceeded to tell me it was impossible to get a refund. Her exact words were, "We don't refund bags. Period."

I asked her if I could speak with her supervisor as I didn't feel it was fair to be charged for a service that I didn't use. She told me that she couldn't get a supervisor because they were all busy assisting other customers and that they would just tell me the same thing anyway. She said that there was no note on my account saying that I was overcharged for bags. I told her I could get in touch with the airport and speak with the woman who checked my bag in order to have her make a note. I told her I could even go back to the airport in case they needed to see my ID.

She told me that even if I did so, and the agent made a note, it was still not possible to get the refund because she didn't note it to the account at the time of travel. In essence, I spent about 20 minutes on the phone trying to understand why I was being charged for something I never used, and I was treated terribly. Not only that, but on both my flights the rides were very bumpy and the planes were dirty. The seats didn't recline and the plane smelled very badly of urine. Both my flights were delayed, and my bag was on the wrong turnstyle when I arrived back to DFW.

The people I sat next to were so upset about how delayed the flight was and that we didn't receive any compensation for it, and then they found one of their bags on the turn-style for the Oakland flight, and the other bag at the Chicago flight turnstyle (which is where I found mine after an hour and a half of waiting for my bag). Overall, I am VERY disappointed with Spirit.

I planned on using Spirit again as I fly frequently since my husband lives in CA, and I didn't really mind that they were unorganized and a little dirty because I thought the price would be worth it for only a three-hour flight, but when they are rude and basically STEAL money from you for a service you didn't receive BECAUSE they are unorganized, it is unacceptable. I will NEVER fly Spirit again and I would strongly discourage anyone else to.

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Never again--worst travel experience of my life, and I travel a LOT!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- On August 4th, I was returning from Chicago (ORD) to Minneapolis (MSP) on a 7:25 pm that was delayed due to inclement weather. The delay was to be expected, and is not the subject of my complaint. I checked in for my flight around 5:30 or 6:00 pm and went to the gate to wait. Due to the weather delays, there appeared to be about 3 flights worth of people waiting to fly out of the gate (Ft. Lauderdale, Minneapolis, and another destination). Because of this, all seats in the gate area were full, and many people were standing around.

I checked in at the desk to find out what time the Minneapolis flight was leaving since the sign behind the desk was showing three cities, with the same flight times for all three -- they obviously hadn't been updated. The woman at the desk told me the Minneapolis flight was leaving at 9:15. I sat one gate over for about a half an hour (At the time I was 7 months pregnant) and checked back again, to make sure this hadn't changed, and was told 9:15 again. I checked back two more times after that, the last time being about 8:20, and each time was told "9:15". At 8:45 I checked back and was told that the Minneapolis flight just left.

I did not ever hear my name called, or any messaging, and since I'd been told multiple times leading up to this point that the flight was 9:15 (with NO indication that this was going to change), I was shocked that the plane had left just 20 minutes after the last time I checked in at the gate.

I went to the ticket counter and there met several other people who were on the same flight or other flights for Spirit leaving from that gate, who experienced the same thing: Incorrect information given by your gate representatives multiple times, no effort to make sure passengers in the crowded area were alerted that their flight was boarding or leaving, and the signs at the counter not reflecting accurate destination cities and flight times. The fiasco with the incompetent workers at the gate that caused me to miss my flight was bad enough, but what followed at the ticket counter was absolutely beyond anything negative I've ever experienced in customer service.

The amount of time it took for the ticket reps to get myself and the others at waiting in front of someone who could actually do anything was unacceptable. Once we finally were able to speak with someone, a supervisor named **, who refused to provide her last name or even show us the badge around her neck, ** was belligerent, rude, unprofessional, and downright insulting to the customers waiting. ** clearly has no idea how to work in an industry like this. The other workers behind the counter were clearly scared of ** and all stood back, unwilling to help anyone with questions because ** obviously had to approve any message they gave.

** insisted that everyone at the counter was there because of inclement weather, even though everyone explained multiple times, the weather was not to blame for the missed flights. To the contrary, we were all at the gate and checking in regularly about the times, and were all given bad information. By this time it was late in the evening, ** offered only a refund for the part of the trip that was unused and an option to fly out at 7 pm the next night. (Keep in mind that at this point, the ticket counters for other airlines are closing, that is how long this process has taken).

Her offer was totally unacceptable; there was no offer of lodging, though the entire reason that I and the others were stuck there was because of the workers at the gate. At one point, I asked if I could have her last name, and she refused, so I asked if she could flip over her name badge around her neck so that we could see her name and she actually said "Come over this desk and get it yourself". I am a business professional, I travel at least twice each month and tried Spirit Airlines because the rates were good. Well I guess you get what you pay for because the experience was a complete nightmare.

I ended up purchasing my own ticket on Delta for early the next morning (I did get a refund of $77 dollars from **), and spent the night sitting in a chair at the 24/7 Starbucks in the baggage claim area because the long, drawn out process of trying to negotiate with ** resulted in it being too late for me to get through security to wait the night out in the airport until my early flight. This was uncomfortable, and arguably, unsafe for me, a woman into her third trimester of pregnancy. If my long email doesn't convey the total anger and bewilderment the entire experience caused, I'd welcome a chance to speak to **'s supervisor and give you more detail.

It takes a lot to incite me to take time out of my schedule to complain about a situation or a person, but I felt it was necessary to send this along; I hope someone sees it and would very much appreciate an acknowledgement that someone has read it. I work for a very large corporation, and am tempted to share my story on our cloud with my colleagues. We all have large travel budgets and the option to fly any airline. Believe me, how we are treated absolutely will dictate where we fly.

I also want to add that at the ticket counter, one of the others who missed his flight mentioned that we might as well not even bother trying to contact your customer service department via phone, because we would never get through, so I attempted to fill out the form online and received an error message. Clearly your organization is doing everything it can to avoid dealing with customers both in person, and after the fact, but I hope the story of my experience gets through to somebody.

Replies
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Vouchers for Being Bumped Were Worthless - Might as Well Be Toilet Paper.
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

MIRAMAR, FLORIDA -- This is to inform you of how EXTREMELY disappointed I am in your customer service. On May 13, 2012, my husband and I were asked if we were willing to volunteer our seats from Ft. Myers, Florida to Boston, Massachusetts. We were told that we would receive 2 round trip vouchers each, to anywhere that Spirit flies. We agreed. We were issued our 4 vouchers - expiring on 5/13/2013. We were told that we must make our reservations within 60 days of 5/13/2012. We were given a flier that includes the Terms & Conditions. Tonight, I attempted to schedule flights on your website.

Your flier indicated "A Future Travel Voucher may be booked on the website or Customers may call a Reservation Center at 1-800-772-7117". I signed into the website and tried to find flights for November, 2012 from Boston to Ft. Myers -- nothing was available. I tried January, 2013 for the same destinations - nothing was available. I then tried April, 2013, and was able to find dates that fit into our schedule. I went through all of the screens to book the flights, and then I entered the voucher numbers and received an error message indicating the voucher could not be used for this itinerary, please call the Reservation Center.

I called 1-800-772-7117, and ** answered the call. First, she was extremely hard to understand, and she didn't seem to understand my request. I told her I wanted a flight for my husband using his voucher, flying out of Boston on November 9, 2012, and flying into Ft. Myers with a return flight on November 27, 2012. ** told me that I needed to pick another destination since Spirit didn't fly to my destinations. I told her that Spirit definitely did fly to my destinations since that was how I got the vouchers. We went back and forth for a while, until she said Spirit doesn't have a direct flight. I told her that I know that, and I had not asked for a direct flight.

She then asked for the dates again. After several minute wait she came back on the line and told me that since it was not a direct flight I needed to use both of my "round trip" vouchers for the one flight down - one voucher for Boston to Ft. Lauderdale, and then the other voucher for Ft. Lauderdale to Ft. Myers. I told her that the information on the flier did not indicate anything about that. She said she was sorry that no one had told me that. I finally said let's just book this. She then put me on hold while she looked up the flight for November 9.

Then she came back on the line and asked me again (for at least the 4th time) what the return date was. I repeated again that it was November 27. She put me on hold again, and then came back and told me that there were no flights available. I asked to speak to a supervisor. She asked me to hold. Floor Manager, **, picked up the phone and said he was on the phone with another customer and would be a little while, would I hold? I replied that I would hold. While on hold, I was then disconnected - this phone call took 34 minutes. I called the 800 number again, and was connected to **. I explained that I had been disconnected.

I asked to be transferred to Floor Manager **. She asked what my problem was. I explained again that I had been disconnected, and wanted to speak to **. She insisted that she could help me. I explained again that I was having a problem using my vouchers and wanted to speak to **. She insisted she could help me. I then INSISTED I wanted to be connected to **. She put me on hold, and when she returned she told me that ** had left for the day! I told her that I wanted to speak to **'s boss, to which she said she could help me. I then told her that I was in the middle of writing a 2 page letter to SPIRIT, and I wanted to talk to someone over a supervisor.

She put me on hold. When she returned she told me that I would be transferred to a supervisor. Supervisor ** came on the line. I asked him to take my number in case we were disconnected. He told me that he did not have the ability to call me back. I explained my issue to him, and gave him all of the information. By this time, my husband had already booked our November flights on Southwest Airlines without any issues. So, since our November trip was already booked, I asked ** to book our April trip. I told him that I wanted to fly out of Boston on April 27 and arrive in Ft. Myers, and return from Ft. Myers on May 12.

He looked up all of the flights and then informed me that he couldn't give us a flight down to Florida on April 27, but he could give us April 29. Our flight home on May 12, 2013 wasn't available either. The earliest we could fly home was May 14, 2013. I finally agreed to move our vacation dates to 4/29/13 returning 5/14/13. As he was booking, he was reading the itinerary, and said Boston to Ft. Lauderdale. I said no, not Ft. Lauderdale, Ft. Myers. Then he informed me that he couldn't get us seats on that flight until April 30, 2012. At this point, I told him never mind. This phone call took 21 minutes. What good are round trip vouchers that you cannot book flights for???

My husband had booked our April/May 2012 flights on Spirit and the whole experience for his flight to Florida was outrageous - he spent 9-10 hours in airports or on planes due to delays, and missing connecting flights. He had taken a half day off to make his original Boston flight, and it ended up being delayed - he didn't need to take any time off - what a waste! Then our return flight on May 13th was a mess. It is no wonder that Spirit is having financial problems! At this point, I guess I will use your vouchers for toilet paper - I certainly can't book any round trip tickets that I am interested in or can arrange into my schedule.

And I can assure you that I in the future I will not fly SPIRIT. My husband and I work in a VERY large public utility company that has facilities worldwide. He and I will be sure to share our very bad experience on our company's Internet bulletin board to ensure that our co-workers never have to have the VERY bad experience that we have had. Also, by the way, your website doesn't have any contact information. I guess that's one way to avoid getting letters or emails that let you know your customers are dissatisfied. So I guess my message to users of my3cents.com is: DON'T FLY SPIRIT AIRLINES!!!

Replies
Spirit Airline Lack of Respect for Its Customers!
StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarEmpty StarBy -
Rating: 1/51

MIRAMAR, FLORIDA -- I am writing to voice my concerns about the horrific customer service I received following a cancelled Spirit Airlines flight between Chicago O'hare and LAX on Saturday, June 23. I would sincerely appreciate you taking couple minutes to read my concerns, which I believe are shared by many of your customers. While I was unhappy about the cancelled flight, I realize this happens from time to time. What I would like to specifically bring to your attention is the lack of empathy and customer service mindset amongst the “manager” level employees I dealt with at Spirit.

Given, agents/customer service representatives have limited decision making authority, I requested to speak with “managers” after each interaction I had with Spirit representatives, and each time I spoke with a manager, I was utterly disappointed; and thus my suggestion that providing better customer service training at Spirit is warranted. I would like to provide you with a brief context of my recent experience with Spirit. Upon arrival to Chicago O'Hare on Saturday evening, June 23, 2012 to catch a flight to Los Angeles, I was informed by the check-in kiosk that the “flight has been cancelled – see agent”.

There were approximately 80 customers waiting in line and only five customer service agents working at the Spirit counter. During the approximately 55 minutes I stood in line to reach the customer service agent working the front desk, there were no announcements made about the cancellation, which added to the anxiety of those passengers whose flights have been cancelled but had no idea as to the reason nor whether they would be able to get on another flight.

There were many irate customers bypassing the line all together and going directly to the front desk agents, which added to the waiting time for customers such as myself who waited in line to speak to an agent. Furthermore, there were no notices via email nor text message of the flight cancellation, despite the fact I am a Spirit member and my contact info, including my email and cell phone number, is stored in its database. After 55 minutes of waiting in line, I was able to speak to a front-desk agent (**) who informed me that the flight was cancelled due to weather and that all Spirit flights from O'hare to LAX were booked for a week.

The options offered to me were to look for a Spirit flight to LAX after a week or to get a refund on my purchase. Given that I had taken the week off and planned these vacation trip months in advance to visit my parents who leaves in Asia and had flown to LA for the week to visit my sisters and me, rescheduling to another Spirit flight the following week was not an option. Thus I had to reluctantly ask for a full refund with the hopes of finding a flight on another airline.

The agent sympathized with my situation and offered to refund the full amount and provide me with a $100 voucher for a future travel on Spirit (as a side note, I was not successful in finding reasonable priced flights on another airline within the next couple days, as the lowest priced round-trip ticket was around $800+. Thus I was not able to make the trip out to LA to visit my parents and sisters). After four days, I still hadn't received a refund nor the $100 voucher. Thus I called Spirit customer service to inquire about the status of my refund and voucher.

The customer service representative (**) informed me that neither the refund nor the voucher was recorded in the system. And after looking into my itinerary, he informed me that he could provide me with only a refund and not the voucher. I asked ** to connect with a manager. After 20 minutes on hold, I was able to speak with the manager, **. After explaining to ** my situation, she informed me that the refund had already been issued (which was just processed minutes earlier after I complained for the second time that it had not been) and that I would not be eligible for the voucher given it was not Spirit's fault that the flight was cancelled.

Rather, she insistently blamed the situation on the weather and given that it was not Spirit's fault, she would not be offering me the voucher (which had earlier been offered to me). I was disappointed by her response and handling of the situation. In no way was the $100 voucher going to make up for my missed opportunity to visit my parents and sisters. Nevertheless, it was a small token of sympathy which I thought Spirit had offered to alleviate my anxiety.

While **'s response and handling of the situation was unsettling, I removed the emotions and try to explain to her rationally and logically from a business perspective why taking away the previously offered voucher was a bad business decision (just having graduated from business school a week earlier, I felt compelled to present the business case). First, it was something that had been offered to me. And taking away something that had previously been offered is offensive and dishonest.

Second, a $100 voucher is a tiny investment, and likely a good ROI. I informed ** that the $100 doesn't replace my missed opportunity to visit my folks in LA. Nevertheless, it's a small token that shows Spirit still values my business. Lastly, as a relatively new public airline, it may have positioned itself as a “no frills” airline, competing on price. However, if it neglects customer service, it will not be able survive just by competing on price in the long run. The industry as a whole has gone the way of becoming a provider of a commodity, and airliners will not be able to compete on price alone.

Spirit's prices will have to move up and/or other airlines will be able to further lower their prices given improved scale given industry consolidation. After presenting my case, ** was still firm on not granting me the voucher, as she replied “No, I will not be granting you a voucher. Again it was not “our” fault”. It felt as though ** was adding insult to injury and it was clear that she didn't care about losing me as a customer. ** could have done a much better job addressing this situation and alleviating my concerns had she for one instant thought about me as a person, not an adversary. Not once during our conversation did I feel she was listening to my thoughts/concerns.

She provided no suggestions nor other options. It was clear she had set her mind that the voucher will not be issued given that it was not “their” fault. Had she been a little more open to thinking about the customer and how to retain me as a customer, I think a mutually beneficial outcome would have been likely, and I could have concluded my call feeling better about Spirit. Unfortunately, because of her lack of ability to sympathize with customers, she has turned away a customer and Spirit will be generating significantly less revenue from me in the future.

I would never fly Spirit for business. And on personal travels, I would only consider Spirit for last minute travel and only if the price difference is greater than $125 relative to another airline on a one-way flight. Prior to this experience, I felt Spirit performed satisfactorily. However, this incident brings to light that Spirit needs to better hire and train “managers” to deal with customers more effectively. While it's important to focus on the operations and process to make sure things operate smoothly and seamlessly, it's just as important to provide managers with better training on addressing contingency and customer service issues.

Specifically, I believe the following approaches could have been taken in this specific situation to reduce the anxiety amongst those passengers whose flights were cancelled and would have likely resulted in a better experience:

1) Send email, text message, or voice mail to passengers if their flights are cancelled. 2) Have a floor manager at the airport communicate to the customers at the airport so that they are aware of what's going on 3) Create a separate line for customers whose flights have been cancelled (alleviates bottleneck for other travellers) and have a dedicated agent address these customers 4) When multiple flights are cancelled, have the manager in charge make staffing decisions to increase staffing on the floor (while obvious, this did not seem to be the case on Saturday) 5 Follow through on execution/promise.

When informed that refunds and vouchers will be given, process them immediately. Delaying the process decreases customer satisfaction, and ups the amount of inbound customer service calls. The slight decrease in working capital as a result of paying out refunds to customers later compared to when it's promised creates additional complaints and increases the need for these customers to speak with customer service agents. Furthermore, additional complaints decrease the likelihood of these passengers choosing Spirit for future air travel. I appreciate you taking the time to listen to my concerns and hope you will take actions to address them. Thank you.

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Spirit Airlines Rating:
Star Empty star Empty star Empty star Empty star
1.2 out of 5, based on 120 ratings and
441 reviews & complaints.
Contact Information:
Spirit Airlines
30588 Automation Dr.
Clinton Township, MI 40835
800-772-7117 (ph)
www.spiritair.com
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