I arrived at the Spirit Airline counter at 645AM for a 745AM flight to Boston, MA out of Ft Lauderdale. FL. The rep said sorry you are late and we already sold your seat. They offered to book me on a 10 AM flight for a $50.00 fee, so after arguing to no avail that I was on time I agreed to the next flight. My bags were accepted but when I went to the boarding gate at 930 AM I was told that the flight was booked and I was bumped. I started to cry. The next available flight at at 8PM. After yelling at several representatives again to no avail, I was defeated. My husband got off work at 3PM and picked me up.
I came back to the airport at 7pm, 40 miles from my house. The flight at 8pm was delayed until 10 PM. I was numb by this point. We finally boarded. Keep in mind my bags were already sent earlier in the day to Boston. As we taxied down the runway the flight was aborted. A bird had flown into the right engine while we were still on the ground. I did not blame Spirit for this but it was another hour before we were airborne. I arrived in Boston at 230 AM almost 20 HOURS after first arriving the previous day. And my luggage? No where to be found. To make a long story short, I received a call from Spirit Air 10 days later that my suitcase was found in New York and was now in Ft Lauderdale. To make matters worse, I was told that I had to pick up the suitcase as they do not deliver. On top of all this I was still charged a fee for my lost luggage. I will NEVER fly Spirit again.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
sounds to me that you should arrive at the airport sooner, some airlines cut off can be 1hour
One hour seems to be the cut off for most flights I have taken. I have even had gate agents tell me that I made the flight by 5 minutes and then while I ws checking in the guy is giving a count down for my flight as others come up to check in. Honestly they seem more anal about this at smaller airports.
When you yell at the representatives it will do you no good and they may get even. At least your suitcase stayed in the US and didn't take a vacation to Istambul… ALWAYS check to make sure that your bag is going where you are going.
Entirely your own fault.. and seriously, you started crying way to early… If you were already in hell then, you don't really have what it takes to be an air passenger these days 🙂
I always leave an hour and 1/2 to 2 hours for the start of any flight, just to allow for oddities…
And for what it's worth, the only "spirit" you'll find at "spirit airlines" is Howard Hughes' as he twists around and screams from his grave – partly due to the state of today's airline industry, and partly because he was just freakin' nuts…