Spirit Airlines on ABC News
 

This reminds me of "the e-mail"
 

Quick background:

Customer upset @ Spirit b/c his flight from FLL-ATL was delayed for so long that he missed the concert in ATL that was the entire reason for his trip to ATL. His return flight to FLL was also delayed. He called to complain, was put on hold for a lengthy time, and then, when he finally got someone to answer, they told him they didn't have the authority to do anything to remedy his issue, and to write an e-mail. He called again, was put on hold, again, and then transfered to an extension that was dead.

So, he writes an e-mail, detailing his entire fiasco with Spirit. His e-mail gets forwarded eventually to the CEO of Spirit, Ben Baldanza. Mr. Baldanza's response:

Mr. Baldanza accidentally used 'reply all', so this e-mail was sent to the customer who originally complained.:D

All I have to say is you get what you pay for.

In another article he explains that Spirit only does what it says it will. There is a lot that could be fixed at this airline, but over all that was another great form of free advertisement by BBB.

Baldanza is right---Spirit isn't for the elite passenger who wants to be coddled, it's strictly for passengers who want to save money and are willing to pay extra for traditionally-free frills. People will fly an airline like that---just look at RyanAir, Easyjet and Air Berlin.

The problem with this country is the 'Wal-Mart-ization' of the airline industry. Airlines have programmed passengers in the US to expect Nordstrom's quality and service for Wal-Mart/K-Mart prices; and passengers demand this, not expect it. The US is still over-supplied with airlines, seats and flights; the prices are too low, and passengers expect nonstop, transcon flights for under $200 round-trip. It just isn't realistic or economical anymore.

While customer service is a must no matter what product you put out, you are absolutely correct. My mother in law had the nerve to complain about how much "extra" money she needed to take to the airport to pay baggage fees etc. on her $180 RT ticket SEA-Cabo:eek:

You, sir, are 110% correct. In peoples' minds, many see air travel as something out of the 60's still, until they have to pay for it. They want the service, perks, and luxury that the airline's advertise and that's their expectations.

The internet has killed the yield for the airlines. As one CEO said at a former company, the passenger will not pay $5 more than the fare of a competing carrier, but will pay $5 for a Snickers bar once on the aircraft.

I'm not sure what's more unreal, the $180 RT SEA-Cabo or the fact that she complained about having to spend anymore.

And I want it to be known I wasn't knocking the Spirit Pilots. It's just I had 4 Spirit guys in my old DTW crashpad & 3 of them did nothing but reiterate what a POS operation they worked for. The stories I listened to were sick.

Good Luck NK Pilots. I know your negotiations are going tough. Hang in there.

Mr. Baldanza should be more careful next time when he's writing email. "Reply-all" means just that... Perhaps he should be like our Mr. VP Biden, ****.

5 flts. Departing May 10th returning May12th Priceline

1. LGA-FLL-LGA, US $207, NWA $318, NK $327, Delta $358, JBLue $428

2. DTW-FLL-DTW, NWA $258, CAL $258, A/A $258, NK $267

3. DTW-LAX-DTW, Delta $296, CAL $296, A/A $296, AirTran $316, NK $447

4. FLL-SJU-FLL, JBlue $201, NK$210, Delta $475, AirTran $475

5. FLL-ATL-FLL, US $230, Delta $257, Airtran $257, NK $260


FWIW...... I looked up six flts. with one of them unable to book at flt on NK (DTW-LAS). Spent no more then 5 min. total and only looked at price.