Expat Community > Ecuador

opaopa
Joined 2021
Posts: 44

Airlines to the US - Never fly Spirit

1 year ago

One of the airlines that cover Ecuador, normally the cheapest, is Spirit Airlines. They fly out of and into Guayaquil several times a week. I've flown with them twice, because they are the cheapest. There were problems both times, here is my story from about 2 weeks ago:

I had booked a flight to Miami on a different airline, then from Miami to my final destination with another stopover in Atlanta.

I had checked in through their app before leaving Ecuador, boarding pass was displayed to me in the app. I had a lot of time in Miami, returned to the airport 2 hours and 5 minutes before departure. I am a nervous flyer, so I actually checked the time as I entered.

The first security checkpoint had a very very long line. On my way there I had pulled up the same Spirit app again, Not only did it not display the QR codes it had shown me before. When I entered my data, it told me now "Sorry, we can't find your flight".

Not having my boarding pass meant I didn't know the gate, so I got into that long line. About 35 nervous minutes later, past that checkpoint, I was told that that concourse did not connect with my flight's concourse and I had to get out of this one.

So I just ran to the correct concourse and made it in time: Boarding was still open. A Spirit person had set up shop in front of it and denied me access: Sorry sir, you need a boarding pass. I explained how Spirit, represented by their app, denied me the pass it had given to me that very same morning. Sorry, there is nothing I can do for you, was the answer. Even though that rather unfriendly employee had a screen in front of her, she was unwilling to check the passenger list. So the plane seat that I had paid for went without me.

I was then directed to the supervisor at "Door 33". With steam coming out my ears I went there and was greeted with accusations like "Oh yeah, when did you get here, 45 minutes early?" Yes, I was connected to network when I tried to get it, yes I entered the correct info. About 30 times.

The person behind the counter confirmed to me that I was on the passenger list and that I had checked in earlier that day. The only thing she could do was offer another flight 2 days later. Or another option, of course, would be booking with a different airline.

A little background here: While real airlines have contracts with other airlines to fly stranded passengers home, Spirit doesn't.

I spent and additional $ 720 to get home the next day, because I had a meeting the following day and didn't want to sleep on the airport floor for 2 nights.

Federal law states that passengers involuntarily bumped from flights are entitled to 4 times the ticket price. I was denied access to 2 flights that I had paid for. Today I received an answer to my demand for a full refund of what they cost me: $ 78 is what they are paying. No explanation why that amount.

They know full well that they are violating the law, and that I would win a court case. But they can trust that I will not go there because of lawyer fees. Welcome to America.

I personally will never never ever again fly with "the most admired airline in America". And neither should you.

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Airlines to the US - Never fly Spirit

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