So what's your opinion about Spirit Airlines? Just wondering.

Posted by George Hobica on Wednesday, August 27, 2008

So we've gotten quite a few negative emails about spunky little Spirit Airlines lately. They allow a lot of people to fly for next to nothing with their $3 and 3 cent fares. But some of you are not happy campers.

Here are two of them:

From Robert in Michigan:

"What has been your experience with Spirit Airline customer service ? I tried to cancel my $ 9 Fare trail membership as it reverts to a $40.00 membership after 90 day, Repeated attempts to contact by phone we unsucesssful after 20 minute plus calls being placed on hold with no one answering. I the tried canceling on line and they stated that they did not recognize me as a customer. The small print staets that it takes 4-6 weeks to cancel but they immediately processed my cc when I signed up. Spoke with a co worker who stated she had a similar experience. If you've had other complaints you would be doing your readers a huge favor by letting them know that Spirit is definetly not customer friendly."

and from Sam in California:

"In Re: Spirit Airlines $6.00 R/T fares on 08/26/2008. I booked 4 R/T tickets and the fee was charged by Spirit on my credit card. A hard copy of the flights, fees, credit card charge and passengers are in my possession via a download. After the charges were made to my card a code # 1018 stated that "we were unable to reserve the selected flight(s) at this time. Please select another flight(s). This disingenuous act is nothing short of a bait and switch tactic which is illegal. I took advantage of a deeply discounted airfare and it seems crystal clear that Spirit did not want to sell me these tickets at the advertised price. If the fare/seats were not available then my credit card should not have been charged. I would strongly suggest that your credibility would be at risk should you continue to mention any further 'Deals' from Spirit Airlines. I contacted the airline at 800-772-7117 and spoke with Ivan located in India who told me to take up this issue with my credit card issuer. I asked to speak to his supervisor and have been put on hold for the last 28 minutes without any additional contact. I recognize that this airline has poor customer service nevertheless one should expect and receive decent levels of communication. This whole scenario reeks of a potential bankruptcy filing after obtaining funds under false pretenses. The total length of time I was put on hold was 45 minutes and 55 seconds. I called again and explained the situation to "Vic," who transfer me to a supervisor and said my wait would be 2-3 minutes and would stay on the line until the supervisor came in contact with me. This call lasted 13 minutes and 24 seconds before they disconected from me."

So what's your opinion? Please click and leave a comment.

United, shady...well now...let's not be too quick to snatch away the trophy from Delta...they've worked hard to earn the Shady #1 spot, let's let them bask in the glory until I get 'em to cough up my award ticket!

by on Thursday, November 05, 2009

Teacher1616: Here's what you do: First write to them and SAVE a copy of the letter. State in as few words as possible your situation. Acknowledge that you know that their policy is not to change names but ask that they make an exception. Mention the cancer. Include a brief typed letter authorizing Spirit Airlines (HPPA laws require this) to call your son's Oncologist and verify he is a real person, has cancer, and is unable to fly. Wait for a reply. If you hear nothing in 4-6 weeks go to your local TV stations action line. TV stations love stuff like this and I guarantee you will get results if a TV station takes up your cause (I have a husband undergoing cancer right now, I know what you are going through) I hope you get results. It is a SMALL thing and Spirit can take this opportunity to redeem themselves if THEY JUST WANT TO!!!!!!!!!! Please let us know if it works!!

by on Monday, February 09, 2009

I purchased a ticket last year. My son has been diagnosed with cancer and I cannot use the ticket. I have asked Spirit to change the name so that my mother can come visit and they will not do it. I have never heard such a thing. There is a headquaters address that I wrote to and there is a number but you never get to talk to anyone. This is outrageous and I plan to report them to BBB.

by teacher1616 on Monday, February 09, 2009

De-Spirited: Apparently these folks are fired Delta employees....oh, no...NOT fired for their incompetence (otherwise they'd still be at Delta) but fired because they LIED about that sixth grade education they swore they received!!!!! Oh, but we're not fooled with "Deer Kustamer"...so siree Bob! (I believe these folks are the REAL "Nigerians" masquerading as folks from the Dark Continent when in fact they are at a call center in Detroit writing us those bogus emails)

by on Friday, December 19, 2008

Spirit Airlines; they were never the paragon of customer service in the past but only recently has my experience shown just how deep that rabbit hole of bad service goes.

Call me a fool but I had decided to sign up for their "$9 Fare Club", feeling it would pay for istelf quickly. However upon booking my first flight after signing up, I got 2 receipts for my flight. First came the amount I agreed to. Then one with an additional $9 charge which arrived one minute later. There was no $9 button when I was booking and I never agreed to (or was even shown) the extra $9 charge! It was in error!

Naturally I called Spirit. They said there was nothing they could do, only being a reservations desk. I asked to be transferred to the right department or at least get the number. They said there WAS NONE. I asked for a supervisor who told me that there was no number where I could call to get rid of the erroneous charge. Only an address where I could write in the hopes they would refund me. I was aghast there was NO NUMBER where I could reach an accountable party!

Anyway, I tried writing a few emails including responding to the one "welcoming" me to the $9 club. I got a response the next day saying "as a one time courtesy we've cancelled your membership and refunded your $9. Have a good day". I wrote back, asking about the $40 fee I paid to join the club! Naturally if my membership has been cancelled, I wanted the $40 back as well!

Sadly, the response the next day merely said "there are two ways you can sign up for the club - $40 for a year or the $9 trial. Have a nice day". I wrote again saying "please try to understand the situation - I was DOUBLE CHARGED. Since you took it upon yourself to end my membership, I'm due not only the $9 back but the $40 back". The response simply was "you were refunded the $9. Have a good day".

WHHHAAAAA???

I wrote twice in response. First trying to explain the situation again. Then another saying "this communication is clearly not working. I officially request to speak to someone. Have your supervisor call so we can work this out". And I left my number, of course, with each email.

At this point, no one has responded again or called.

Well, forget them. I will have to dispute the credit card charges. Spirit won't keep my money.

This goes beyond bumbling customer service. This behavior was either dumb beyond belief or it was crooked, trying to charge me something I never agreed to. Maybe it's a little of each.

Well... I'm going to be telling this story to people. I don't demand the brightest or best customer service people... but I want to be able to CALL someone to remove bogus charges they put on my bill!!!

Oh, for a final note... there's also a $2 charge on my credit statement which I never approved. I don't know WHERE that came from. Spirit will have to answer to the credit card company.

by De-Spirited on Thursday, December 18, 2008

I have 160,000 frequent flier miles generated from credit card transactions and, now, Spirit Airlines flipped the script on me and I have to send them a letter to request a flight at least 7 days in advance, rather than just getting it set up on-line or using miles for last minute trips (like decent airlines do). Add to that additional fees for bags and seat assignments. There is no question... Spirit sucks. They didn't always suck, but they truly suck now.

by Joe on Monday, December 01, 2008

I have flown spirit airlines many times. It is a cheap airlines that only charges you for what you need.
You must play by there rules or you will be skrewed.
Last month when at FLL airport, I had a problem because I arrived late (so them claim). I was told I had to rebook and pay for a new ticket.
I found a agent ( Thomas Russo ) who was understanding amd explained where I made my mistake. He was able to waive some fees and help me get on the next avaliable flight.
At least they have some nice people working there!

by Jon Wright on Monday, November 24, 2008

I just booked a flight from Atlantic City,NJ to Orlando,Fl and had some problems picking our seats. After all the information was taken I decided to go with the Big Front Seat and before even getting back to the seating the computer accepted everything and clicked off the site. No comfirmation number, nothing. Tried calling the 800 number to get it all straightened out and kept getting persons that did NOT speak english. I must of called that night about 10 times and was really frustrated and stopped calling.(the last person told me he was in India) The next morning I again tried to get an english speaking person on the phone and even asked to speak to a supervisor to no avail. The last person I spoke with I think she said her name was Elizabeth said she would speak very slow for me and if she could not help me she would transfer me. after being on the phone with her almost half an hour I was able to get the seats but had to pay another $20. My husband and I have flown Spirit before and never had any problems before but after all this AND not being able to get an ENGLISH speaking person we will think twice about it( I live in the USA, why would I call India when I am having a problen) Hopefully the flight will be good..................

by Debbi on Wednesday, November 05, 2008

It is unfortunate, that while my flight experiences have been satisfactory, after joining the $9 Spirit Air club, I have profound problems booking flights and have given up, thinking this must be the Airline's way of making it prohibitively difficult to book flights on the site, and misppropriate the $9 fees and goodwill of it's cutomers in the process. After re-signing and having my card billed, the site still invites me to "join " because of my 'Expired" membership.
Get it together...if you can't run a web site...will your flyers trust your ability to keep a metal box aloft safely and on time?

by Brian Eagar on Monday, September 08, 2008

My experience with Spirit has been good as far as the flying part goes. Good fares, no long delays, no lost luggage, etc. However, they do have problems:
1) Their site triple charged me for luggage and it was impossible to get it fixed. They said I should fix it at the checkin counter with a long line of glaring passengers behind me and after several months have passed. They promised to fix it via email but never did. I had to have my credit card company fix the charges.
2) While they have some cheap, last minute prices, they tend to stick it to early buyers and it's getting worse. I recently tried to book my annual spring Detroit to Ft Lauderdale trip and found it was over twice the price of the last few years. I booked a Northwest flight first class for less than Spirit's cattle class.

by Spanky on Wednesday, September 03, 2008