Did Spirit Airlines Screw Me? I’m Not Sure… (Probably not?)
Mar 17th, 2009 | By Jared BlankI try not to bore everyone here with personal stories (I’m more than aware that no one cares), but here’s a quick one I’d like your input on:
On a whim, I booked a flight yesterday at 2pm on Spirit Airlines to fly to Nicaragua for 3 days on the beach ($300 all-in with no advanced purchase – gotta love Spirit). At 5pm I head to the bus stop outside my apartment to catch the bus from LaGuardia when I get a phone call from Spirit telling me that the first leg of my flight (LaGuardia to Ft Lauderdale) is delayed and, hence, I will miss my connection to Managua. The airline was not going to hold the plane in FLL (which I was fine with). They offered to refund my money, and, because the next flight isn’t for 3 days, I didn’t rebook.
I went home, confusing my kids whom I had just left 10 minutes earlier telling them I’d be home on Friday.
I felt like I had just bought myself 3 days of my life (10 minutes of which I’m using writing this).
To torture myself, however, I went and looked at Spirit’s website this morning to see how badly I would’ve missed the connection in FLL. Answer? I wouldn’t have missed it. They ended up holding the plane in FLL.
So, the question of the day: Did Spirit help me out by making sure I didn’t get stranded in Lauderdale? Or did they screw me because they’re clueless?
What do you think?
Connections are always a gamble. The older I get, the more I hate them. Spirit gave you the best information they had at the time. Things changed, as they often do. You got unlucky, not screwed.
I’m on board with that. I’m a huge fan of Spirit’s ($300 with no AP?) And I know that they certainly didn’t screw me on purpose. To your point – connections suck, and while this rarely, rarely happens to me, this time I lost. Oh well.
I agree you were unlucky however I have to say you should have went anyway. Worst case you are stuck in Lauderdale right? I know this quaint little “club” in the ghetto with plenty of…. bang…. for the buck. Perhaps you could have then called a few friends down to meet you or something. Cheers.
My bet: the flight from LGA to FLL was oversold, and they sent a few staffers to do some speedy dialing, in hopes not to have the PR problems associated with unhappy passengers at the airport. The shortened connection was a perfect excuse, and I doubt anyone would think of passengers being sophisticated enough to check on the connection from the day before like you did. I have worked in travel for 17 years and I have seen a lot of stunts, including these calls made in “your best interest.” If you really wanted to get to Nicaragua, then I think basically you did get screwed.