Spirit Airlines Gave Me a Scare

[Yvonne]

Last night I had an e-mail from Spirit Air saying our flight on October 25th, non-stop from Detroit to Orlando had been changed and it now included a stop in Ft. Lauderdale/Miami with a FIVE HOUR layover!! I'll be traveling with my elderly mother and a 5-hour layover would be difficult, so I got on the phone with customer service this morning to see about making a change as I saw that they have two other non-stop flights from Detroit to Orlando the same day. So I asked for our flight down to be changed to one of those and they changed it for us. Whew!

 

I was nervous about it, thinking they might say they couldn't change it, or if they could we'd have to pay a fee, etc.

 

I got the confirmation e-mail so we're fine again, for now. I just hope they don't make any more drastic changes like that!!

 

We've flown Spirit a few other times and never had a problem like this. Has anyone else had a major problem with them?

[SwimnwFishes]

Our flights for the upcoming cruise were changed too...not by Spirit..but AA...changed not once....but twice...and I'm not holding my breath now for it to NOT change again. Don't trust them as far as I can throw a fully loaded plane. :mad:

 

There's no guarantee that your flight won't change again between now and when you sail. But in 5 hours, you could easily DRIVE from FLL to Orlando! :eek:

[FinallyConvincedDH2Cruise]

You lucked out, they have a reputation for having very difficult customer service (do a web search, many stories out there). They recently changed the pre-purchase luggage prices and my Mom spent hours on the phone with them since it wasn't working on-line and the deadline was coming soon. She finally got it resolved but it should have never of been that difficult or taken that long.

[AllieInMD]

I don't fly often - so was a bit wary when I needed to book flights for upcoming cruise. So I did a bit of research - Spirit has a horrible reputation - so tho prices may be better, you get what you pay for evidently with them. I opted for JetBlue instead.......

 

Last night I had an e-mail from Spirit Air saying our flight on October 25th, non-stop from Detroit to Orlando had been changed and it now included a stop in Ft. Lauderdale/Miami with a FIVE HOUR layover!! I'll be traveling with my elderly mother and a 5-hour layover would be difficult, so I got on the phone with customer service this morning to see about making a change as I saw that they have two other non-stop flights from Detroit to Orlando the same day. So I asked for our flight down to be changed to one of those and they changed it for us. Whew!

 

I was nervous about it, thinking they might say they couldn't change it, or if they could we'd have to pay a fee, etc.

 

I got the confirmation e-mail so we're fine again, for now. I just hope they don't make any more drastic changes like that!!

 

We've flown Spirit a few other times and never had a problem like this. Has anyone else had a major problem with them?

[Yvonne]

You lucked out, they have a reputation for having very difficult customer service (do a web search, many stories out there). They recently changed the pre-purchase luggage prices and my Mom spent hours on the phone with them since it wasn't working on-line and the deadline was coming soon. She finally got it resolved but it should have never of been that difficult or taken that long.

 

Maybe I got good results because I was calm and polite to the customer service rep that I spoke to. I "asked" and "requested" and did not "demand" anything or raise my voice, get upset, angry, etc.

 

That's too bad your mom had such a time with them about the luggage pre-purchase thing. I had a problem with the website too, not letting me do it so I just e-mailed them and the next day they e-mailed back and said I should try again and it shouldn't be a problem. It worked fine then.

[Yvonne]

I don't fly often - so was a bit wary when I needed to book flights for upcoming cruise. So I did a bit of research - Spirit has a horrible reputation - so tho prices may be better, you get what you pay for evidently with them. I opted for JetBlue instead.......

 

We've never flown JetBlue before. We have flown with Spirit several times with no problems. In fact one time we had a late flight booked in Orlando (because we were getting off a cruise with my parents and I didn't know if we could make it in time for the early flight) and when we got to the airport before the early flight left, we went up to the counter and asked if we could possibly get on the early flight and not have to sit at the airport for hours and they were able to accommodate us. We were very appreciative of that, and when we got home I e-mailed customer service and let them know that.

[temple1]

Spirit does have a really bad reputation. It has nothing to do with tone of voice, how polite you are or anything. I was/am having a serious issue with them about the luggage rates - and I cannot get anyone to return a call or respond to emails. If you ask the foreign based customer service reps for a number they give you a 1-800 number that is a redirect to some kind of phone sex line. It was not a mistake or misunderstanding what the rep was saying - I called back after and asked a different rep for a number and was given the same number.

 

Their ground crews are very pleasant and helpful. Corporate is the problem.