Business Bureau.. please fine them and put them out of business!

Thank you,

~Disgruntled Ex-patron

It is now being reported that all flight customers are getting $5000 for their belongings which may be tied up for months (read funky, wet, moldy inside the aircraft) and refunded tickets. How this affects the Spirit Airlines guys tickets I do not know but they should get the $5000 from USAir for their stuff...

This tops any customer service fiasco I've ever read about on The Consumerist. Truer than fiction.

Conversely, Spirit should pay all moral, decent human beings a convenience fee for not coming to their corporate headquarters, slaughtering the entire staff, and burning down the building.

Since they dropped their charges, I will drop mine ....for now.

I'm still waiting for someone to pick up the story that DHS has posted a warrant for BF Skinner in connection with training Canadian Geese for the terroistic purposes of bringing down aircraft. A confidential source has indicated this is the latest terrorist ploy as the geese are not affected by the new anti-missile systems being installed on commercial planes. Canadian geese can be trained to fly in military formations increasing the chance of hitting the target.

Projectile type: Shoulder-launched
Size: 76-110 cm (30-43 in)
Wingspan: 127-170 cm (50-67 in)
Weight: ~10 pounds
Un-Refueled Range: 100 miles
Speed: Sub-Mach
Misc: Good loiter capability. Can be re-used if target is not acquired.

Spirit Airlines took a golden opportunity (by, say, giving the Kolodjays a credit) to look like good guys, and instead have come off looking like galaxy-class knuckleheads.

@KhaiJB:

They should have charged him a "Seaplane upgrade fee", and claimed that the added convenience of landing directly on a body of water was a luxury that couldn't be taken for granted.

There was a big big outcry and later the rental car company decided to not follow through.

[www.stuff.co.nz]

That's the Spirt! Cancel their regular sched. flight and put them on a near death flight.
Wasn't that a Twilight Zone segment?

Only shows what kind of pea-brains runnung that ship!

Mac

Spirit booked them on the US Airways flight. It's not like they were trying to pull a fast one. How many people, that were booked by Spirit to be on that flight, do you think have tried to "pull a fast one" like this? Or are you joking?

Thanks for the update. Posted to refunded in 4 hours-not bad at all.

@GayNerd: +1

@varro:

Striker, listen, and you listen close: flying a plane is no different than riding a bicycle, just a lot harder to put baseball cards in the spokes.

@badgeman46: Doesn't Drudge support the fee? He's a conservative, after all.

It's an agreement that the passengers signed up to when they accepted the ticket. They didn't have to fly if they weren't willing to accept those terms. It's just like interest rates, arbitration, etc.

/snark

Statement from Misty Pinson, Spirit Airlines

"Spirit Airlines has given the Kolodjay family a full refund and have issued credits to their credit cards. They will not be charged anything by Spirit Airlines.. We applaud everyone involved in bringing these passengers to safety wish the family the best."Some airlines apparently stop at nothing to charge customers above and beyond the price of the airline tickets. Spirit Airlines is trying to charge passengers extra fees after canceling a flight, which forced the passengers to be on the plane that landed in the river Thursday.

:-)

@emmpee9: Or perhaps the service is even worse than I thought. The article doesn't say whether Spirit or Kolodjay rebooked the ticket. So even if Kolodjay rebooked with another airline, that would seem to say that Spirit's policy means that Spirit can cancel one leg of a flight and then charge people to cancel the other leg.

Either way, that sounds like a shitty way to treat customers.

@emmpee9: Well, it looks like they did rebook them.
[www.myrtlebeachonline.com]

"Some passengers on the U.S. Airways flight were rebooked from a canceled Spirit Airlines flight on its way to Myrtle Beach, Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson said."

About 7 years ago they decided that they weren't going to fly in and out of the SF bay area - 10 days before Thanksgiving. I was left without a flight home as I could either request a refund or go to LAX (which they didn't seem to realize was 300+ miles away).

Worse yet, when I bought the ticket, they weren't doing e-tickets. So, I had to mail the paper ticket in, and wait 3 months for the refund - minus the $20 "ticket delivery fee" and the cost to mail the tickets back (insured).

I thought stranding people on Thanksgiving was low. Now they're charging plane crash victims? Yuck.

@kayfox: They are getting the white glove treatment... (snaps rubber glove onto wrist)

"If an airline cannot rebook you on their own flights to your destination within a reasonable time frame, they must rebook you on another airline. This goes for all airlines, although in my experience many claim to have never heard of the rule. It's there."

False.

That "rule" has not been law for 30+ years. Some airlines still follow it (and put that rule in their Contract of Carriage), but many do not.

Good reading: [airtravel.about.com]

@logicbox: Go to the drudge report and use the tips function. That should get some attention.

@emmpee9: If an airline cannot rebook you on their own flights to your destination within a reasonable time frame, they must rebook you on another airline. This goes for all airlines, although in my experience many claim to have never heard of the rule. It's there.

If Spirit did not have another flight to Charlotte or anywhere near Charlotte until the next day, say, it makes sense they would have rebooked passengers on USAirways. Had they not then attempted to get a cancellation fee out of them, I would say this is actually pretty cool of Spirit, considering how many airlines (USAirways included) have tried to tell me they can't rebook me on other airlines' flights.

I personally think that if someone survives a plane crash, they shuld get the white glove treatment from airlines for the rest of their life.

@NinjaPoo: They already paid for the return flight they'll never use. This is a fee to refund that cost I am betting.

Ummm
so what happens if they dont cancel their flight and just dont turn up??

Spirit Airlines is a super-low-cost airline that does not have interlining agreements with any other airline AFAIK. I would be very very surprised if Spirit Airlines had rebooked these passengers on US Airways.

RTFA

Rob Kolodjay said his conversation was blunt, "We survived this air crash and I need your credit card number, he said 'and our policy is we're going to charge you $90."

Spirit's now on my ever-growing list of airlines that I will never use, even if the alternative to flying them is just canceling the trip.

@GayNerd:BEST COMMENT EVER

He was interviewed shortly after the crash for the local papers and TV stations.

So, he definitely was on the plane.

And as far as it being a "representative" of Spirit airlines........wouldnt you think that makes it EVEN WORSE? I could understand a CSR drone making them pay, but youd figure a real rep. of the company would stop and think "hey maybe we shouldnt force this out of them".

Isn't it possible that the CSR simply didn't know they were on the jet?? It just sounds funny to me.

@ModernTenshi04: Good point, chances are this representative might have been in another country or lives in a cave and has not seen what happened. I would guess if they called back and asked to speak with their manager they would get the refund.

Funniest comment today!

@GayNerd:

If your jetliner EATS A BIRD and you survive. You can reschedule your connecting flights at no cost.

Won't be surprised if a manager or whomever runs the place gets wind of this and corrects this.

@12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich: There's a joke in there somewhere about a water hazard, but I'm too lazy to formulate it right now.

I almost feel bad for Spirit for screwing this up so badly. Probably the customer service rep. doesn't have any discretion and didn't have the IQ to escelate to a supervisor.

Just dumb!!!!

Wow thats amazing. I would be calling news agencies about this one. Bad bad customer service.