This whole "setting a bad precedent" argument is garbage.
If Spirit had paid the dude his $197 when they found out about the situation, no one else would have known. Not the media, not other customers...NO ONE.
And they would have saved 1,000 times more in (deserved) scathing publicity.
Flashback to 2007:
".... we owe him nothing as far as I’m concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown before with us anyway and will be back when we save him a penny." --B. Baldanza, Spirit CEO
Keep up the good work, Baldanza.