There are many Spirit Airlines customers who have complained to Spirit when they were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away. Why would Spirit Airlines customers be told that the next available flight will be in 3 days on Spirit routes that have daily nonstop service? Is the problem with poor customer service and poor communication by Spirit staff at the airport, or is the problem with overbooked flights, or is the problem with cancellation of Spirit flights that normally operate daily?

I can understand Spirit saying that the next available flight is 3 or more days away if there is a weather-related cancellation such as a major snowstorm that shuts down the airport and that involves cancellation of non-Spirit flights. However, it is unacceptable to say that the next available flight is 3 or more days away if a customer is stranded at the airport, Spirit operates service between the airport where the passenger is stranding at and the passenger's final destination within 1 or 2 days, and Spirit can accommodate the customer within 1 or 2 days.

jplatts wrote:

There are many Spirit Airlines customers who have complained to Spirit when they were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away.

What is your source or evidence of this?

If Spirit does not have an available seat to sell during the next two days, what do you expect them to tell a customer?

BobPatterson wrote:

jplatts wrote:

There are many Spirit Airlines customers who have complained to Spirit when they were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away.

What is your source or evidence of this?

If Spirit does not have an available seat to sell during the next two days, what do you expect them to tell a customer?

My sources for my statement are customer reviews found at http://www.spiritairlinesfacts.com and http://airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/spirit-airlines/.

jplatts wrote:

Why would Spirit Airlines customers be told that the next available flight will be in 3 days on Spirit routes that have daily nonstop service?

Maybe because the daily nonstop flights for the next two days are already sold out?

Next available in the industry means: next available flight that has a seat for sale in availability. If it's sold out, it's not available.

jplatts wrote:

BobPatterson wrote:

jplatts wrote:

There are many Spirit Airlines customers who have complained to Spirit when they were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away.

What is your source or evidence of this?

If Spirit does not have an available seat to sell during the next two days, what do you expect them to tell a customer?

My sources for my statement are customer reviews found at http://www.spiritairlinesfacts.com and http://airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/spirit-airlines/.

Perhaps you could be more (very) specific. You have claimed that "many Spirit Airlines customers.......were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away."

I found this statement at the first link you supplied. It appears to be part of an article critical of Spirit that was written by someone, but not by a group of disgruntled customers:

"Spirit Airlines canceling flights and “bumping” travelers: If you are a frequent traveler, you are used to minor inconveniences such as flight delays, missed layovers and cancelled flights. In these cases, most airlines have the infrastructure to get passengers to their intended destinations, perhaps a few hours late, and within 24 hours in the worst scenarios. DO NOT EXPECT THAT KIND OF EFFICIENCY FROM SPIRIT AIRLINES.

Spirit Airlines has only a fraction of the jets and crews featured by major airlines. Also unlike other airlines, they do not have a sister airline onto which they can move grounded or bumped travelers. And while other airlines might fly the same route 12 times a day, Spirit flies many of their routes only ONCE a day. if your flight is cancelled, there is no other airline to move you to, and no other flights to move you to. YOU MAY BE STRANDED WITHOUT A FLIGHT FOR 3-5 DAYS. This doesn't happen on Spirit every single day ... BUT IT DOES HAPPEN. And when it does, Spirit rarely offers a hotel, food vouchers or a rental car. You are completely on your own."

So, the article gives a warning to potential customers of Spirit. But where is the evidence that "many Spirit Airlines customers.......were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away"?

Thanks for helping me understand where you are coming from.

BobPatterson wrote:

jplatts wrote:

BobPatterson wrote:

What is your source or evidence of this?

If Spirit does not have an available seat to sell during the next two days, what do you expect them to tell a customer?

My sources for my statement are customer reviews found at http://www.spiritairlinesfacts.com and http://airlinequality.com/airline-reviews/spirit-airlines/.

Perhaps you could be more (very) specific. You have claimed that "many Spirit Airlines customers.......were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away."

I found this statement at the first link you supplied. It appears to be part of an article critical of Spirit that was written by someone, but not by a group of disgruntled customers:

"Spirit Airlines canceling flights and “bumping” travelers: If you are a frequent traveler, you are used to minor inconveniences such as flight delays, missed layovers and cancelled flights. In these cases, most airlines have the infrastructure to get passengers to their intended destinations, perhaps a few hours late, and within 24 hours in the worst scenarios. DO NOT EXPECT THAT KIND OF EFFICIENCY FROM SPIRIT AIRLINES.

Spirit Airlines has only a fraction of the jets and crews featured by major airlines. Also unlike other airlines, they do not have a sister airline onto which they can move grounded or bumped travelers. And while other airlines might fly the same route 12 times a day, Spirit flies many of their routes only ONCE a day. if your flight is cancelled, there is no other airline to move you to, and no other flights to move you to. YOU MAY BE STRANDED WITHOUT A FLIGHT FOR 3-5 DAYS. This doesn't happen on Spirit every single day ... BUT IT DOES HAPPEN. And when it does, Spirit rarely offers a hotel, food vouchers or a rental car. You are completely on your own."

So, the article gives a warning to potential customers of Spirit. But where is the evidence that "many Spirit Airlines customers.......were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away"?

Thanks for helping me understand where you are coming from.

Very well put Bob.

BobPatterson wrote:

But where is the evidence that "many Spirit Airlines customers.......were told that the next available flight out is 3 days away"?.

I second this...it looks like nothing to see here. Would the OP be happier if Spirit told customers that the next flight is tomorrow but the next available flight is 3 days away?

IPFreely wrote:

Maybe because the daily nonstop flights for the next two days are already sold out?

This...

Sometimes I can't believe some of the threads being started around here...

IPFreely wrote:

jplatts wrote:

Why would Spirit Airlines customers be told that the next available flight will be in 3 days on Spirit routes that have daily nonstop service?

Maybe because the daily nonstop flights for the next two days are already sold out?

Precisely. Just because there is a flight tomorrow doesn't mean there is a seat available on said flight. With the limited frequencies that Spirit has on most routes, this isn't uncommon.

I've seen the same situation on the Spirit website. Looking for a flight and dates near or on my desired travel date on their web calendar are crossed out. I interpret this as no seats available...sold out.

It's simple, and all airlines do it, until you are in a Spirit outstation and the next available flight is 4 days out. Your $90 fare is now $500 after you have to book a same day flight.

FlyUSAir wrote:

It's simple, and all airlines do it, until you are in a Spirit outstation and the next available flight is 4 days out. Your $90 fare is now $500 after you have to book a same day flight.

I would say there is a very good possibility one would have to pay an exorbitant amount of money to fix a situation on the same day. But not always. Case in point, and this is probably the exception:

It was a Saturday in Feb 2017 and I'd flown up to DEN from PHX on a UA 737-800 and I was waiting for a Spirit A321 flight to depart to LAX so I could turn around at LAX just to fly back to Denver on the Saturday evening on a Spirit A319...an airline/type I haven't flown yet. Once back at DEN I was booked on a Frontier flight back to PHX the next day...the Sunday.

Short of the long is that the A321 to LAX went technical/delayed and despite all my searching I couldn't get to LAX cheaply any other way to meet the return flight on the Spirit A319 back to DEN. So I decided to just fly back to PHX that day (Saturday) instead of waiting till the next day on Frontier. I got a United $39 fare back to PHX...same day departure. This is the exception I'm speaking of....a $39 same day ticket to get me out of a "jam." I am a totally revenue passenger with no pass privileges.

Some additional anecdotal info about this trip:

Additionally, after explaining why I had the DEN-LAX-DEN same-day booked on Spirit, the Spirit gate agent cheerfully processed a refund for my roundtrip airfare (about $83 as I recall) and that refund has since been posted to my card.

As for the Frontier ticket for the next day back to PHX from DEN, I just "ate" it. It was a $50 ticket and while that is a considerable sum, I decided to "eat" it as there were NO cheap fares available on the Sunday WN / NK / F9 / UA / AA in that fairly busy market.

Why didn't I just stay in Denver overnight until my Sunday Frontier flight? I've been doing a lot of "just for the heck of it" flying the past 8 months and Denver is the airport I've been through the most...specifically for Frontier's presence and watching and photographing their planes. At that time I just wanted to get back home. Had I been able to get a cheap flight back to DEN from PHX on the Sunday morning to then catch the Frontier flight back to PHX I'd have done it...but the fares were all in the $200-$300 range for that day as I recall...simply not economical to do.

Moe