Tag Archives for spirit airlines.
One Spirit Airlines flight attendant went on a bizarre rant, pre-emptively warning passengers about the consequences of bad behavior – including failure to wear masks – by letting everyone in the cabin know that they are a government official, commercial aircraft are government property, and they can write anyone up that they want simply for acting out of character. That comes with 20 years (or life!) in prison and a $250,000 fine.
On Monday evening Spirit Airlines flight NK2322 from Newark to San Juan broke out in a major fight throughout the cabin over a passenger not wearing a mask. What’s remarkable is the extent of the brawl, and that it happened upon landing in Puerto Rico, rather than prior to departure. The woman who wouldn’t wear a mask was ultimately tased by police who responded to the brawl.
Today Spirit Airlines announced the new program which goes into effect January 21, 2021. They’re launching a revenue-based program, introducing a new elite program, and allowing co-brand cardmembers to earn elite status from credit card spend alone (or through a combination of travel spend and card spend).
On August 31 Cherrae, who identifies herself as a Detroit rap artist, boarded Spirit Airlines flight 1839 from Las Vegas to Nashville.
According to a report I’ve seen, she was seated in one of Spirit’s “Big Front Seats” and prior to departure a flight attendant asked her several times to wear her mask properly over her nose and mouth. The flight attendant reported that she wouldn’t comply. Things, shall we say, escalated.
Three Spirit Airlines passengers were arrested for attacking three of the carrier’s employees during a delay of Spirit flight WN1004 from Fort Lauderdale to Philadelphia on Tuesday. The employees all “suffered minor injuries” after the three passengers in the gate area hit staff with “phones, shoes, full water bottles, metal boarding signs and fast food.”
The employees “were also punched and kicked in different sections of their bodies numerous times” according to Sheriff’s department arrest documents. Here’s video of it all going down:
After a medical diversion a family was given the private jet treatment by Spirit Airlines.
The airline dropped the family off in Turks & Caicos. The girl recovered. But they were stranded – the local airport was closed to commercial traffic, and the they hadn’t even intended to leave the country so weren’t carrying passports. So the very next day Spirit actually sent a plane to bring the family back to Puerto Rico.
Gate agents reported that she became angry over the fee, and things escalated when they told Ms. Jackson they wouldn’t allow her to fly. That’s when she “threw a bag of shoes at the agents at a service desk…reached over the service counter to hit an agent, …punched [another agent] in the head” and things only got more out of hand from there.
The Department of Transportation fined Spirit Airlines $350,000 for pretending that passengers who were involuntarily denied boarding had volunteered to take later flights, and undercompensating those passengers. The U.S. government found ”a pattern of non-compliance with the compensation scheme” at Spirit.
Spirit referred to involuntary denied boarding “as the “volunteer option”, and customers were forced to sign an “acknowledgement form” stating so.”
Airlines are generally requiring passengers to wear face masks on board. They aren’t necessarily enforcing the requirement, though. And though the requirement says face masks there’s not much definition of what constitutes an acceptable mask. One passenger decided to test the limits.
I finally had my first taste of the Spirit Airlines Big Front Seat. On my way home Chicago O’Hare to Austin after United Airlines Media Day I flew Spirit Airlines. I bought my one-way in a “Big Front Seat” (a domestic first class-ish seat without extra benefits) for $118.29. A coach seat on American or United would have been $225 and I’d have had to wait around the airport two and a half hours longer for either. Spirit seemed like a no-brainer.
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
