Spirit and American Airlines Struggling Mightily with Flight Cancellations, Customers Exasperated and Even Unruly

August 04, 2021, 08:02 AM

I should know better than getting in between you and the guy you are arguing with but here goes.

Spirit Airlines should always be avoided. It’s not clairvoyance it is common sense. They are a dime show airline. If anything goes wrong, anything at all, they don’t have the infrastructure to fix it. Not enough flights, not enough people, not enough anything.

When they cancel they will do the bare bones minimum that is required and they will strand you. Can it happen on another better airline? Yes it can. On Spirit every time you buy a ticket you should expect it to happen and count your blessings if it doesn’t.

Seriously this isn’t a one off issue with Spirit. Don’t try to save money in this manner. The thread title is misleading. American Airlines is having issues but they aren’t trying to fuck you. They will get you there albeit painfully. Spirit just will give up completely and expect you to solve the problem.

August 04, 2021, 08:27 AM

chellim1

quote:
Originally posted by vandrv:
You couldn't pay me enough to fly Spirit Airlines even when things were going smoothly.

Buying a ticket on Spirit Airlines is like buying a $1 scratcher ticket. You know you aren't likely to win anything but it didn't cost much and you think maybe... just maybe... it's my lucky day.

Spirit Airlines and Southwest fly between St. Louis and the Florida panhandle. I'll take Southwest for a few bucks more.

"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible."
-- Justice Janice Rogers Brown

"The United States government is the largest criminal enterprise on earth."
-rduckwor

August 04, 2021, 08:31 AM

MikeGLI

quote:
Originally posted by pedropcola:
I should know better than getting in between you and the guy you are arguing with but here goes.

Spirit Airlines should always be avoided. It’s not clairvoyance it is common sense. They are a dime show airline. If anything goes wrong, anything at all, they don’t have the infrastructure to fix it. Not enough flights, not enough people, not enough anything.

When they cancel they will do the bare bones minimum that is required and they will strand you. Can it happen on another better airline? Yes it can. On Spirit every time you buy a ticket you should expect it to happen and count your blessings if it doesn’t.

Seriously this isn’t a one off issue with Spirit. Don’t try to save money in this manner. The thread title is misleading. American Airlines is having issues but they aren’t trying to fuck you. They will get you there albeit painfully. Spirit just will give up completely and expect you to solve the problem.

This, all of this. American got me where I needed to go but it would almost have been easier to drive.

The other problem with some of these bobo airlines is they may only fly in and out of a certain town twice a week so if you get stuck, it could be "no worries, we'll get you on the Thursday flight out". My schedule doesn't work that way.

Then again, I just flew in to AALs main hub, a hub in which they have about a dozen direct flights every day and it took about half a day and a route through Miami.

August 04, 2021, 09:41 AM

corsair

Spirit, Allegiant, Sun Country, etc...nope, no way. If price is the overriding concern and the only motivating factor, go right ahead because, EVERYTHING thing else about these carriers will be sub-par, sub-standard, sub-optimal.

I remember when ATA was still flying, for a while they focused on US vacation destinations, Hawaii and the Caribbean, they then got into second-tier European destinations and then dived into some regional routes. Absolute poop-sandwich of an operation, every flight if it wasn't the airplane version of the booze-cruz, it was idiots like we see in every 'bad passenger' video. Hard to believe that Southwest had this kind of reputation, they even gave away 'free' booze as an incentive for a bit; today, they've cleaned up their act and now the most used airline for business usage in the US.

August 04, 2021, 10:36 AM

pedropcola

Hey hey, the free booze bit was back in the 70’s. That’s almost 50 years ago. Southwest is the safest airline in America and routinely tops the charts in customer satisfaction. Can they screw the pooch? Of course they can but you can’t put them anywhere near that list you started with. Lol

August 04, 2021, 10:45 AM

bigdeal

quote:
Originally posted by trapper189:
You and yours didn't deserve to get screwed, did they? Neither did mine. Bless your heart, man.

And that right there is the whole point of my comments. No one deserves to be treated like Spirit treats their 'customers'. No one. And for the record, I'm probably more to blame for my debacle with them than you are with yours having almost 800k rewards miles on multiple airlines banked, and knowing better than to mess with Spirit. Yet I bought tickets anyway thinking I'd skirt being hosed by them on just one one-way flight. Nope.

August 04, 2021, 10:45 AM

V-Tail

quote:
Originally posted by pedropcola:

Southwest . . . routinely tops the charts in customer satisfaction.

Thankfully, I no longer have the need to travel by airline, but when I did, I would use SouthWest if at all possible.

August 04, 2021, 06:22 PM

Lefty Sig

I flew ATA a few times for vacations since they were based in Indianapolis. Never had any trouble and they were entertaining.

"Be sure to check your carryon bags to make sure you have all your possessions before you leave, and check your neighbors bags for your possessions too".

August 04, 2021, 06:27 PM

nhtagmember

When you treat your customers like packages and soak them for what little money is left, don’t expect a great deal of good will.

UPS treats it’s boxes better

August 05, 2021, 06:31 AM

Bulldog7972

Are they safe to fly?

August 05, 2021, 07:16 AM

aileron

quote:
Originally posted by nhtagmember:
When you treat your customers like packages

Yep, self-loading cargo. I won't fly Allegiant, Spirit, Ryan Air, and shit load of the Chinese airlines. In the 80's I flew on a China Eastern(?) flight form some shit hole to another where the last few rows had no seats, just leather handles on a rail for pax to hold onto - like a trolley car.

I bust my ass to fly on UAL, not because they are so good, but because I've flown over 4M miles on their metal, they've bestowed Lifetime Global Services on me, but mostly because when they do occasionally fuck me they work hard to make it right.

August 05, 2021, 10:07 AM

sns3guppy

Just don't fly on United, if you have a guitar.

August 05, 2021, 10:17 AM

Lefty Sig

quote:
Originally posted by aileron:
I bust my ass to fly on UAL, not because they are so good, but because I've flown over 4M miles on their metal, they've bestowed Lifetime Global Services on me, but mostly because when they do occasionally fuck me they work hard to make it right.

Damn, I was GS for most of 2012-2017 but 1K max since then. Not quite at a million lifetime yet. Lifetime GS would be pretty good. At least when there's a problem you can call a human being directly who is empowerd to help fix your problem.

Air China is OK for the most part, and part of Star Alliance so I fly them when I'm in China. I prefer it to China Eastern or China Southern. But none of them are like you described. Asiana and ANA are better of course if you are flying around Korea or Japan.

August 05, 2021, 10:23 AM

corsair

quote:
Originally posted by pedropcola:
Hey hey, the free booze bit was back in the 70’s. That’s almost 50 years ago. Southwest is the safest airline in America and routinely tops the charts in customer satisfaction. Can they screw the pooch? Of course they can but you can’t put them anywhere near that list you started with. Lol

Notice I said '...had this kind of reputation', as in past-tense, formerly.
Clearly Southwest has come a long way from those early days with Connely and Hayward.
Ironically, Southwest recently suspended serving alcohol on flights after a series of bad-passenger behavior.