Link/Source: http://beta.latimes.com/business/la-fi- ... story.html


"Spirit Airlines, the ultra-low-cost carrier from Florida, has reported some of the biggest profit margins of any airline in the country because of its practice of charging passenger fees for a long menu of basic services."
"But the airline also has had the highest rate of complaints by passengers for problems such as canceled flights, delayed departures and poor customer service."

"The airline acknowledges it needs to address its damaged reputation and has turned to a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co. for help."

"In a message to employees this week, Spirit Airlines President and Chief Executive Bob Fornaro said the airline has partnered with the Disney Institute to "create a common purpose and a fresh set of service standards."


At the end of the day to many people price and good service still matter. can both be had at the same time, yes, but there are at times things that agents just can not do and sometimes passengers still push the limits in asking agents to do things that they can not do.

Fornaro is a smart man, I like his thinking!

New jingle....Its a small fee after all?

RL757PVD wrote:

New jingle....Its a small fee after all?

We should close the thread now. No one will provide a better response than yours. Thanks for the moment of levity!!

United tried that once....

flymco753 wrote:

Fornaro is a smart man, I like his thinking!

No he's not. The Spirit model makes money off of miserable passengers. On top of that, he has managed to piss off employees as well. Most of the flight cancelations are cause by pilots not giving two $#!^$.

Varsity1 wrote:

flymco753 wrote:

Fornaro is a smart man, I like his thinking!

No he's not. The Spirit model makes money off of miserable passengers. On top of that, he has managed to piss off employees as well. Most of the flight cancelations are cause by pilots not giving two $#!^$.

I've gone ahead and underlined the only part of your statement that matters to investors and the aim of corporations in this country. It's a sad state of affairs to many, but the purpose of Spirit's existence is to maximize shareholder wealth. That's it, the end, and by that metric, Fornaro is exceptionally good at what he does.

For years Spirit has been a Mickey Mouse Operation. This just makes it official.

ODwyerPW wrote:

RL757PVD wrote:

New jingle....Its a small fee after all?

We should close the thread now. No one will provide a better response than yours. Thanks for the moment of levity!!

RL757PVD, you win the internet today!

:ROTFL:


Man... I was just going to joke about Disney princess themed fa uniforms...

Lightsaber

Yeah nothing is going to change, like others have said Spirit makes its money off the crap that people hate. They realize people aren't smart enough to look closely at what they are booking, so when they find out how much extra gets tacked on, the passengers don't have much choice. It has opened the door to a whole new world of flyer that normally wouldn't be flying. A specific airport I fly out of a lot had a Las Vegas flight this summer, I would watch the people run in last minute and lose their minds if they missed cut-off, I would walk by the gate and see people freak out learning they had to check their bag and it costs A LOT.

On the surface Spirit is pretending to care about the customers, under the covers their management is laughing and mocking customers I bet.

RL757PVD wrote:

New jingle....It's a small fee after all?

You have won the internet today. Having been stuck on that ride at an early age with the soundtrack still playing in total darkness for 45 minutes, I spat out my drink laughing hysterically only to be reminded of that memory I desperately tried repressing.

At this point, NK could partner with Comcast for lessons on improving customer service and still come out ahead.

Is this a positive thing for the Disney brand? What are they thinking?

DTWorld wrote:

RL757PVD wrote:

New jingle....It's a small fee after all?

You have won the internet today. Having been stuck on that ride at an early age with the soundtrack still playing in total darkness for 45 minutes, I spat out my drink laughing hysterically only to be reminded of that memory I desperately tried repressing.

It’s a fee for bags, it’s a fee for drinks
It’s a fee for changes and WiFi links
There’s much cash to be made, so it’s time that we say
It’s a small fee after all…….

WiFi links meaning Wifi access. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

The problem with Spirit is a majority of their agents are contract with absolutely no skin in the game. Therefore, they don’t care about providing great service. It’s just a job to them.

flyguy84 wrote:

The problem with Spirit is a majority of their agents are contract with absolutely no skin in the game. Therefore, they don’t care about providing great service. It’s just a job to them.

Then it will be up to Spirit to find a way to give their contract agents some skin. Spirit cannot just focus on contracting with the lowest bidder and expect anything different. The only city with in house agents is FLL. Everything else is provided by a number of different vendors. Its going to be a challenge. They can hire Disney and improve the onboard experience, but if the airport experience doesn't change, it won't help.

RL757PVD wrote:

New jingle....Its a small fee after all?

I wish I could give you upvotes or a thumbs up

SpinOn2 wrote:

Yeah nothing is going to change, like others have said Spirit makes its money off the crap that people hate. They realize people aren't smart enough to look closely at what they are booking, so when they find out how much extra gets tacked on, the passengers don't have much choice. It has opened the door to a whole new world of flyer that normally wouldn't be flying. A specific airport I fly out of a lot had a Las Vegas flight this summer, I would watch the people run in last minute and lose their minds if they missed cut-off, I would walk by the gate and see people freak out learning they had to check their bag and it costs A LOT.

On the surface Spirit is pretending to care about the customers, under the covers their management is laughing and mocking customers I bet.

If you go through the booking where Spirit almost throws it in your face has much you will have to pay for things, and still have a problem, you get what you have coming to you. I get it if they hide it, but they show you exactly what you'll pay if you don't add stuff at the time of purchase.

What you're seeing is people who thought they could get away with not paying and getting caught.

ADrum23 wrote:

DTWorld wrote:

RL757PVD wrote:

New jingle....It's a small fee after all?

You have won the internet today. Having been stuck on that ride at an early age with the soundtrack still playing in total darkness for 45 minutes, I spat out my drink laughing hysterically only to be reminded of that memory I desperately tried repressing.

It’s a fee for bags, it’s a fee for drinks
It’s a fee for changes and WiFi links
There’s much cash to be made, so it’s time that we say
It’s a small fee after all…….

WiFi links meaning Wifi access. Sorry, I couldn't resist.

This could become the greatest thread in a.net history...

SpinOn2 wrote:

Yeah nothing is going to change, like others have said Spirit makes its money off the crap that people hate. They realize people aren't smart enough to look closely at what they are booking, so when they find out how much extra gets tacked on, the passengers don't have much choice. It has opened the door to a whole new world of flyer that normally wouldn't be flying. A specific airport I fly out of a lot had a Las Vegas flight this summer, I would watch the people run in last minute and lose their minds if they missed cut-off, I would walk by the gate and see people freak out learning they had to check their bag and it costs A LOT.

On the surface Spirit is pretending to care about the customers, under the covers their management is laughing and mocking customers I bet.

You know, Spirit is the most transparent about the fees they charge. It's no secret that Spirit charges for everything. People want cheap, cheaper and cheapest and still complain. You could give someone a free car and they'd bitch about the fricken color not being what they wanted. I took the opportunity to fly NK SEA-LAX-SEA last month. Only fee I paid was for the big front seat. Cost me $201 round trip, less than half of what everyone else is charging. Granted I didn't have a meal, but that doesn't bother me since the food served on DL, AA and AS doesn't usually appeal to me anyway. It was a fairly decent flight and I'll do it again.

The Spirit of Mickey Mouse

RL757PVD wrote:

New jingle....Its a small fee after all?

Well, they've already tried, "Yo-ho, yo-ho, a pirate's life for me!" at NK....

jetblueguy22 wrote:

SpinOn2 wrote:

Yeah nothing is going to change, like others have said Spirit makes its money off the crap that people hate. They realize people aren't smart enough to look closely at what they are booking, so when they find out how much extra gets tacked on, the passengers don't have much choice. It has opened the door to a whole new world of flyer that normally wouldn't be flying. A specific airport I fly out of a lot had a Las Vegas flight this summer, I would watch the people run in last minute and lose their minds if they missed cut-off, I would walk by the gate and see people freak out learning they had to check their bag and it costs A LOT.

On the surface Spirit is pretending to care about the customers, under the covers their management is laughing and mocking customers I bet.

If you go through the booking where Spirit almost throws it in your face has much you will have to pay for things, and still have a problem, you get what you have coming to you. I get it if they hide it, but they show you exactly what you'll pay if you don't add stuff at the time of purchase.

What you're seeing is people who thought they could get away with not paying and getting caught.

True but they could add "If you have to pay for it later this is the price" It's all good and fine listing prices at purchase time, but they do not tell those people what happens at the airport if you have to pay for it.

It's simple, hypnotize and do mind control on young children. Boom, satisfied customers.

winginit wrote:

Varsity1 wrote:

flymco753 wrote:

Fornaro is a smart man, I like his thinking!

No he's not. The Spirit model makes money off of miserable passengers. On top of that, he has managed to piss off employees as well. Most of the flight cancelations are cause by pilots not giving two $#!^$.

I've gone ahead and underlined the only part of your statement that matters to investors and the aim of corporations in this country. It's a sad state of affairs to many, but the purpose of Spirit's existence is to maximize shareholder wealth. That's it, the end, and by that metric, Fornaro is exceptionally good at what he does.

I'm not very religious, but Amen my brother.....

AWACSooner wrote:

This could become the greatest thread in a.net history...

Only if it has snow globes...

SpinOn2 wrote:

I would watch the people run in last minute and lose their minds if they missed cut-off, I would walk by the gate and see people freak out learning they had to check their bag and it costs A LOT.

I have seen this at DTW before. I don't think they are all newbies to flying either. I think some of them are used to flying with carriers like DL and bring everything they can on the plane then have it checked for free if it doesn't fit. They don't know Spirit very well... I have flown Spirit a few times. I knew exactly what I was getting in to. I didn't check anything; I mailed my clothes to my destination, which was cheaper. Spirit's website was very clear about what I would be charged if I didn't buy the checked bags ahead of time. Some people are probably booking through a third party and don't realize the fees NK charges. That recently happened to a coworker of mine. He used some travel site and booked at DTW-LAS trip. The first half was on AA and the return on NK. He said he wouldn't have know about all the NK fees for bags if I had not told him.

rbavfan wrote:

True but they could add "If you have to pay for it later this is the price" It's all good and fine listing prices at purchase time, but they do not tell those people what happens at the airport if you have to pay for it.

I would go through the trouble of making a dummy booking so I could screenshot the baggage page where it says in pretty big letters "They'll be more expensive at the airport" but you probably still wouldn't be convinced.

Just booked my first ticket with them a few days ago. Other than having to click through hotel and rent-a-car pages I thought the booking process was exceptionally straightforward and that the fees were all completely transparent. And if you need more information than what is shown on the booking page the baggage information page includes the separate rates for paying during booking, during checkin, or at the gate.

My ONLY gripe about the booking process is the lack of information about emailed boarding passes which I guess is their cheap substitute for having an app with mobile passes. We'll see how it goes. At this point I'm looking forward to the flight just to satisfy my curiosity about the carrier a.net loves to hate. So far I've found all the gripes about "hidden fees" to be nothing but a bunch of whining. I bet the flight winds up being perfectly pleasant, even if the seat is a little tight. I'm taking my chances on a random seat on the outbound but reserved a big front seat on the return for comparison.

EA CO AS wrote:

At this point, NK could partner with Comcast for lessons on improving customer service and still come out ahead.

I'm actually laughing out loud.

RamblinMan wrote:

rbavfan wrote:

My ONLY gripe about the booking process is the lack of information about emailed boarding passes which I guess is their cheap substitute for having an app with mobile passes. .

They have app with mobile boarding passes

Disney can start by asking Cuba Gooding Jr. to quit stabbing other Spirit employees.

incitatus wrote:

Is this a positive thing for the Disney brand? What are they thinking?

My first thought exactly ... Why is Disney getting involved with such a poor brand ?

Mortyman wrote:

incitatus wrote:

Is this a positive thing for the Disney brand? What are they thinking?

My first thought exactly ... Why is Disney getting involved with such a poor brand ?

Read the article. Disney's brand is not going to appear on Spirit. They just hired a Disney subsidiary to give advice on customer service. LAX did the same to improve service at CBP at LAX. I didn't notice much difference except they have a lot of airport employees to helping people find their way quickly. That did save some confusion.

milemaster wrote:

Disney can start by asking Cuba Gooding Jr. to quit stabbing other Spirit employees.

Hey now...Boyz N the Hood was a solid movie....

Re: Disney -- can we expect NK FA's to start saying "have a magical day" under their breath??

mcdu wrote:

For years Spirit has been a Mickey Mouse Operation. This just makes it official.

I wished the partnership was with RECARO or any seat padding company !

Sancho99504 wrote:

SpinOn2 wrote:

Yeah nothing is going to change, like others have said Spirit makes its money off the crap that people hate. They realize people aren't smart enough to look closely at what they are booking, so when they find out how much extra gets tacked on, the passengers don't have much choice. It has opened the door to a whole new world of flyer that normally wouldn't be flying. A specific airport I fly out of a lot had a Las Vegas flight this summer, I would watch the people run in last minute and lose their minds if they missed cut-off, I would walk by the gate and see people freak out learning they had to check their bag and it costs A LOT.

On the surface Spirit is pretending to care about the customers, under the covers their management is laughing and mocking customers I bet.

You know, Spirit is the most transparent about the fees they charge. It's no secret that Spirit charges for everything. People want cheap, cheaper and cheapest and still complain. You could give someone a free car and they'd bitch about the fricken color not being what they wanted. I took the opportunity to fly NK SEA-LAX-SEA last month. Only fee I paid was for the big front seat. Cost me $201 round trip, less than half of what everyone else is charging. Granted I didn't have a meal, but that doesn't bother me since the food served on DL, AA and AS doesn't usually appeal to me anyway. It was a fairly decent flight and I'll do it again.

I agree, these ULCC carriers can be very good if you play the game. I am fiercely loyal to Southwest. Last month, I gave Frontier a try from STL to MCO when I discovered I could fly for about a third. They were very transparent about everything offered and the cost. I paid for a checked bag each way in advance. It was a good experience. I would do it again.

I don't understand the hatred for Spirit. I'm a longtime worker for a major legacy carrier and I've booked a ticket on Spirit twice for myself and once for a friend. I feel their website is extremely honest and open about all their fees and business model. (they even say in bold print that we have tight legroom etc to save you money) And when you make a booking they constantly advise you to pay for baggage early or it will cost you more at the airport, and even higher at the gate. And when you check in, they encourage you to print out your boarding pass at home for free or it will cost you at the airport. I personally have a smaller rollerboard which fits under the seat and is free on Spirit, and I didn't pay for seats, so I got a great deal. And I felt great because my own airlines flights looked horrible to nonrev on. The only huge negative that I totally agree with concerning Spirit, is that if your flight is canceled, you might be stranded for days! Otherwise quit the bashing people!

kakk80 wrote:

I don't understand the hatred for Spirit. I'm a longtime worker for a major legacy carrier and I've booked a ticket on Spirit twice for myself and once for a friend. I feel their website is extremely honest and open about all their fees and business model. (they even say in bold print that we have tight legroom etc to save you money) And when you make a booking they constantly advise you to pay for baggage early or it will cost you more at the airport, and even higher at the gate. And when you check in, they encourage you to print out your boarding pass at home for free or it will cost you at the airport. I personally have a smaller rollerboard which fits under the seat and is free on Spirit, and I didn't pay for seats, so I got a great deal. And I felt great because my own airlines flights looked horrible to nonrev on. The only huge negative that I totally agree with concerning Spirit, is that if your flight is canceled, you might be stranded for days! Otherwise quit the bashing people!

This is why so many people hate Spirit. It's not the fees for everything. It's the fact that the airline has no fault-tolerance built in, so if anything goes sideways they have no way to get you home and you are marooned. And it doesn't matter where you are, when it's time to go home you need to go home. Being stranded in "paradise" is still being stranded, and you are on the hook for buying a last-minute room at what is likely a very expensive place to buy a last-minute room. If you saved up for months or years for your dream vacation that you could only afford because of a package deal that included flying Spirit, you likely can't afford a last-minute room at the same resort as your vacation package.

jetblueguy22 wrote:

SpinOn2 wrote:

Yeah nothing is going to change, like others have said Spirit makes its money off the crap that people hate. They realize people aren't smart enough to look closely at what they are booking, so when they find out how much extra gets tacked on, the passengers don't have much choice. It has opened the door to a whole new world of flyer that normally wouldn't be flying. A specific airport I fly out of a lot had a Las Vegas flight this summer, I would watch the people run in last minute and lose their minds if they missed cut-off, I would walk by the gate and see people freak out learning they had to check their bag and it costs A LOT.

On the surface Spirit is pretending to care about the customers, under the covers their management is laughing and mocking customers I bet.

If you go through the booking where Spirit almost throws it in your face has much you will have to pay for things, and still have a problem, you get what you have coming to you. I get it if they hide it, but they show you exactly what you'll pay if you don't add stuff at the time of purchase.

What you're seeing is people who thought they could get away with not paying and getting caught.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, they do tell you ahead of time. The problem is Spirit knows its passengers are not frequent travelers, and so therefore they know they are going to get people who are somehow ignorant to what they are buying. I am sure part of the reason they tack on such heavy fees for people who don't follow the rules is because they know they will make a pretty penny off of it. Then there are the things infrequent flyers would not know about, like not having other flights to rebook on, not having another flight possibly for a few days, not having another airline to work with etc. This is stuff Spirit does keep under wraps on purpose.

Duplicate.

vatveng wrote:

kakk80 wrote:

I don't understand the hatred for Spirit. I'm a longtime worker for a major legacy carrier and I've booked a ticket on Spirit twice for myself and once for a friend. I feel their website is extremely honest and open about all their fees and business model. (they even say in bold print that we have tight legroom etc to save you money) And when you make a booking they constantly advise you to pay for baggage early or it will cost you more at the airport, and even higher at the gate. And when you check in, they encourage you to print out your boarding pass at home for free or it will cost you at the airport. I personally have a smaller rollerboard which fits under the seat and is free on Spirit, and I didn't pay for seats, so I got a great deal. And I felt great because my own airlines flights looked horrible to nonrev on. The only huge negative that I totally agree with concerning Spirit, is that if your flight is canceled, you might be stranded for days! Otherwise quit the bashing people!

This is why so many people hate Spirit. It's not the fees for everything. It's the fact that the airline has no fault-tolerance built in, so if anything goes sideways they have no way to get you home and you are marooned. And it doesn't matter where you are, when it's time to go home you need to go home. Being stranded in "paradise" is still being stranded, and you are on the hook for buying a last-minute room at what is likely a very expensive place to buy a last-minute room. If you saved up for months or years for your dream vacation that you could only afford because of a package deal that included flying Spirit, you likely can't afford a last-minute room at the same resort as your vacation package.

Fault tolerance means you won't get a round trip for 50 bucks. Cost needs to be cut somewhere - luxury, IRROPs slack or cost - pick one

This reminds me of a project where the client asked for full redundancy of their system (massive data). Yet they didn't want to pay for the cost of a always on immediate failover system.

The issue is if every last dollar you have went into a vacation with spirit, you wouldn't be able to afford it if their fares went up due to adding fleet slack. It is a catch 22 - the way it currently works is better IMO as the vast majority get to their destination without major issue for really cheap.

vatveng wrote:

kakk80 wrote:

I don't understand the hatred for Spirit. I'm a longtime worker for a major legacy carrier and I've booked a ticket on Spirit twice for myself and once for a friend. I feel their website is extremely honest and open about all their fees and business model. (they even say in bold print that we have tight legroom etc to save you money) And when you make a booking they constantly advise you to pay for baggage early or it will cost you more at the airport, and even higher at the gate. And when you check in, they encourage you to print out your boarding pass at home for free or it will cost you at the airport. I personally have a smaller rollerboard which fits under the seat and is free on Spirit, and I didn't pay for seats, so I got a great deal. And I felt great because my own airlines flights looked horrible to nonrev on. The only huge negative that I totally agree with concerning Spirit, is that if your flight is canceled, you might be stranded for days! Otherwise quit the bashing people!

This is why so many people hate Spirit. It's not the fees for everything. It's the fact that the airline has no fault-tolerance built in, so if anything goes sideways they have no way to get you home and you are marooned. And it doesn't matter where you are, when it's time to go home you need to go home. Being stranded in "paradise" is still being stranded, and you are on the hook for buying a last-minute room at what is likely a very expensive place to buy a last-minute room. If you saved up for months or years for your dream vacation that you could only afford because of a package deal that included flying Spirit, you likely can't afford a last-minute room at the same resort as your vacation package.

That's crap, NK was buying tickets for passengers to get places on AA, AS and DL out of SEA 2 weeks ago when they had an AOG......

SpinOn2 wrote:

jetblueguy22 wrote:

SpinOn2 wrote:

Yeah nothing is going to change, like others have said Spirit makes its money off the crap that people hate. They realize people aren't smart enough to look closely at what they are booking, so when they find out how much extra gets tacked on, the passengers don't have much choice. It has opened the door to a whole new world of flyer that normally wouldn't be flying. A specific airport I fly out of a lot had a Las Vegas flight this summer, I would watch the people run in last minute and lose their minds if they missed cut-off, I would walk by the gate and see people freak out learning they had to check their bag and it costs A LOT.

On the surface Spirit is pretending to care about the customers, under the covers their management is laughing and mocking customers I bet.

If you go through the booking where Spirit almost throws it in your face has much you will have to pay for things, and still have a problem, you get what you have coming to you. I get it if they hide it, but they show you exactly what you'll pay if you don't add stuff at the time of purchase.

What you're seeing is people who thought they could get away with not paying and getting caught.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, they do tell you ahead of time. The problem is Spirit knows its passengers are not frequent travelers, and so therefore they know they are going to get people who are somehow ignorant to what they are buying. I am sure part of the reason they tack on such heavy fees for people who don't follow the rules is because they know they will make a pretty penny off of it. Then there are the things infrequent flyers would not know about, like not having other flights to rebook on, not having another flight possibly for a few days, not having another airline to work with etc. This is stuff Spirit does keep under wraps on purpose.

No different than an intro APR on a credit card. They can offer it to more people because they are banking on a percentage to not read/understand and slip up.

The key IMO is whether the majority benefit . Take away the ancillary revenue and Spirit/Ryanair wont be offering 20 dollar one way fares.

At the end of the day, people like to bitch and moan about Spirit but push comes to shove they choose them because it fits their budget. Ask someone whether they want a vacation with a crap flight that's cheap or no vacation and the answer is #1 every time.

Antarius wrote:

At the end of the day, people like to bitch and moan about Spirit but push comes to shove they choose them because it fits their budget. Ask someone whether they want a vacation with a crap flight that's cheap or no vacation and the answer is #1 every time.

1 Billion unrestricted cash in the bank agree with you.

Normal people just care about getting there easy and cheap... the 3 course meals and the 40 inches of legroom are useless in a 2 hr flight.. ask Europe..

santi319 wrote:

Antarius wrote:

At the end of the day, people like to bitch and moan about Spirit but push comes to shove they choose them because it fits their budget. Ask someone whether they want a vacation with a crap flight that's cheap or no vacation and the answer is #1 every time.

1 Billion unrestricted cash in the bank agree with you.

Normal people just care about getting there easy and cheap... the 3 course meals and the 40 inches of legroom are useless in a 2 hr flight.. ask Europe..

The other aspect of this is - it is all available. You want 40 inches of legroom and a meal, fly F. Want free checked bags - fly WN. Want to chase status, fly the US3. Want low prices, fly F9 or NK. No one is forcing anyone to fly NK.

NK could benefit from improving their contract staff and service, within reason. People will still kick and scream about paying for a printed BP (despite being told a million times). Such is life.

I do wonder what leads to misaligned expectations in the airline industry. No one seems to check into a Motel 6 or Super 8 and expect the Ritz Carlton. Each has its price point and expectation of service - and they usually deliver within that range. If I want luxury, I choose the JW or the Ritz-Carlton. Most of the time, I prefer to spend my $$ on going more places, so I stay in a hostel or a cheaper hotel. Simple.

I recently flew Allegiant for trip to a funeral (things that are never planned 14 days in advance). I was apprehensive due to stories here on Anet and elsewhere. The truth is the flight was fine, the crew was fine and I got to my destination nonstop and at a airport that was a tenth of the hassle of MCO. Sometimes I think there is too much "group think" here on Anet. Try a ULCC, play by their rules and the flight will be no different than flying on the US3, heck the plane may be newer than what the legacies fly.

Sancho99504 wrote:

That's crap, NK was buying tickets for passengers to get places on AA, AS and DL out of SEA 2 weeks ago when they had an AOG.

It happens, but it doesn't happen as much as you might think. The ground handling vendor needs to get permission from local NK management before it can happen. And since the cost goes against the station, the NK management is usually loath to approve it unless a customer knows the rules. Then they have to wait for Miramar to load the station credit card to use for payment, because the tickets are all booked through Orbitz for Business. Based on my past experience, I would say NK will rebook you on another carrier less than half the time that a full service carrier would do so.

toltommy wrote:

Sancho99504 wrote:

That's crap, NK was buying tickets for passengers to get places on AA, AS and DL out of SEA 2 weeks ago when they had an AOG.

It happens, but it doesn't happen as much as you might think. The ground handling vendor needs to get permission from local NK management before it can happen. And since the cost goes against the station, the NK management is usually loath to approve it unless a customer knows the rules. Then they have to wait for Miramar to load the station credit card to use for payment, because the tickets are all booked through Orbitz for Business. Based on my past experience, I would say NK will rebook you on another carrier less than half the time that a full service carrier would do so.

In the event of a controllable IROP (Maintenance, most crew-related delays/cancellations, etc.), it is standard procedure to buy tickets on OA for passengers who cannot be accommodated on other Spirit flights the same day or the next day. I'm sure management loathes paying exorbitant amounts of money for last-minute tickets for 180+ passengers (if the flight is full), but no airline is going to be happy to do so.

Side note, Orbitz for Business is no longer used for rebooking, it's now done through a system called ITS.

Antarius wrote:

SpinOn2 wrote:

jetblueguy22 wrote:

If you go through the booking where Spirit almost throws it in your face has much you will have to pay for things, and still have a problem, you get what you have coming to you. I get it if they hide it, but they show you exactly what you'll pay if you don't add stuff at the time of purchase.

What you're seeing is people who thought they could get away with not paying and getting caught.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, they do tell you ahead of time. The problem is Spirit knows its passengers are not frequent travelers, and so therefore they know they are going to get people who are somehow ignorant to what they are buying. I am sure part of the reason they tack on such heavy fees for people who don't follow the rules is because they know they will make a pretty penny off of it. Then there are the things infrequent flyers would not know about, like not having other flights to rebook on, not having another flight possibly for a few days, not having another airline to work with etc. This is stuff Spirit does keep under wraps on purpose.

No different than an intro APR on a credit card. They can offer it to more people because they are banking on a percentage to not read/understand and slip up.

The key IMO is whether the majority benefit . Take away the ancillary revenue and Spirit/Ryanair wont be offering 20 dollar one way fares.

At the end of the day, people like to bitch and moan about Spirit but push comes to shove they choose them because it fits their budget. Ask someone whether they want a vacation with a crap flight that's cheap or no vacation and the answer is #1 every time.

Huge mistake to compare spirit to some of the welll run ulcc around the world with excellent schedules and always run on time. Things do go haywire with spirit. Once that happens, good luck figuring out how you are going to get to destination

Things I never had to worry about taking air Asia or jetstar.

Sancho99504 wrote:

vatveng wrote:

kakk80 wrote:

I don't understand the hatred for Spirit. I'm a longtime worker for a major legacy carrier and I've booked a ticket on Spirit twice for myself and once for a friend. I feel their website is extremely honest and open about all their fees and business model. (they even say in bold print that we have tight legroom etc to save you money) And when you make a booking they constantly advise you to pay for baggage early or it will cost you more at the airport, and even higher at the gate. And when you check in, they encourage you to print out your boarding pass at home for free or it will cost you at the airport. I personally have a smaller rollerboard which fits under the seat and is free on Spirit, and I didn't pay for seats, so I got a great deal. And I felt great because my own airlines flights looked horrible to nonrev on. The only huge negative that I totally agree with concerning Spirit, is that if your flight is canceled, you might be stranded for days! Otherwise quit the bashing people!

This is why so many people hate Spirit. It's not the fees for everything. It's the fact that the airline has no fault-tolerance built in, so if anything goes sideways they have no way to get you home and you are marooned. And it doesn't matter where you are, when it's time to go home you need to go home. Being stranded in "paradise" is still being stranded, and you are on the hook for buying a last-minute room at what is likely a very expensive place to buy a last-minute room. If you saved up for months or years for your dream vacation that you could only afford because of a package deal that included flying Spirit, you likely can't afford a last-minute room at the same resort as your vacation package.

That's crap, NK was buying tickets for passengers to get places on AA, AS and DL out of SEA 2 weeks ago when they had an AOG......

It's inconsistent as all get out when that actually happens though. I watched a Spirit flight at my home airport CXL for maintenance, and tell people there was no way to get them out on other airlines. I watched as Spirit passengers talked to AA agents right in front of me asking about buying a ticket, AA told them to inquire about Spirit booking them a ticket but they stated Spirit would not do so.

Antarius wrote:

SpinOn2 wrote:

jetblueguy22 wrote:

If you go through the booking where Spirit almost throws it in your face has much you will have to pay for things, and still have a problem, you get what you have coming to you. I get it if they hide it, but they show you exactly what you'll pay if you don't add stuff at the time of purchase.

What you're seeing is people who thought they could get away with not paying and getting caught.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, they do tell you ahead of time. The problem is Spirit knows its passengers are not frequent travelers, and so therefore they know they are going to get people who are somehow ignorant to what they are buying. I am sure part of the reason they tack on such heavy fees for people who don't follow the rules is because they know they will make a pretty penny off of it. Then there are the things infrequent flyers would not know about, like not having other flights to rebook on, not having another flight possibly for a few days, not having another airline to work with etc. This is stuff Spirit does keep under wraps on purpose.

No different than an intro APR on a credit card. They can offer it to more people because they are banking on a percentage to not read/understand and slip up.

The key IMO is whether the majority benefit . Take away the ancillary revenue and Spirit/Ryanair wont be offering 20 dollar one way fares.

At the end of the day, people like to bitch and moan about Spirit but push comes to shove they choose them because it fits their budget. Ask someone whether they want a vacation with a crap flight that's cheap or no vacation and the answer is #1 every time.

I agree with you, but at the end the day the discussion was Spirit is trying to improve their reputation and customer satisfaction with customers, fair or unfair, things like I have noted are things Spirit passengers constantly deal with. Their flying public is generally extremely infrequent flyers, and they don't actually have any idea all that can come with traveling. So that is a massive complain by the Spirit flyers against Spirit. I personally don't mind Spirit, if I ever decide to fly them, I actually know what I am getting into.