A woman who says she bought a ticket on the Spirit Airlines website showed up at the airport to be told at check‑in that she didn’t have “the correct fare” and that she had to pay an additional $306 to fly.
Post‑purchase price increases are generally illegal.
- 14 C.F.R. §399.88: It’s an unfair/deceptive practice to increase the price after purchase unless the increase is due to a government‑imposed taxes or fees disclosed at purchase, where the consumer affirmatively agreed to it. Asking for $306 more at check‑in after a purchase is exactly the kind of behavior this was designed to prohibit.
- Since 2015, DOT has chosen not to enforce this rule when airlines cancel mistake fares if they refund the ticket and reimburse reasonable out‑of‑pocket costs incurred in reliance on the purchase. That policy does not support demanding more money at the counter. If Spirit’s position is “that fare was a mistake,” the compliant remedy is refund + reimbursements, not “pay $306 now.”
- However, fares “are subject to change until purchased” (language from Spirit’s Contract of Carriage). Once purchased and you hold a “confirmed reservation,” you’re entitled to transportation.
The only way to ask for ‘more money’ is if no money had been collected. If payment failed, a reservation might have been created but no valid payment was captured. Usually the reservation will cancel out after a short period of time. So the airline would seek to sell the passenger a ticket. Another scenario would be a credit card chargeback.
If a travel agency, such as Expedia, screwed up ticketing that could also be an issue but here it’s a purchase on Spirit’s website. If they failed to notify the passenger of a ticketing problem, that’s on them.
Commenters suggest buying at the counter next time because of the savings that brings with carriers like Spirit, Frontier and Breeze.
- Spirit charges up to $27.99 per segment as a ‘passenger usage charge’ buying tickets online.
- Really, that’s part of the fare. But by calling it a fee, they avoid paying the 7.5% excise tax on domestic airfare. It’s tax arbitrage. To call it a fee, they need to offer a way to avoid paying it, hence airport ticketing – too costly and time-consuming for most to bother with, but technically compliant.
- Here, though, the issue isn’t the fee it’s that the ticket didn’t get properly issued.
The customer here should be filing a DOT complaint… although you have to hope the complaint gets resolved while Spirit is still in business.
DOT COMPLAINTS ARE A COLOSSAL WASTE OF TIME — THIS IS A CASE OF BREACH OF CONTRACT, SO GO DIRECTLY TO SMALL CLAIMS COURT. THAT’S THE ONLY WAY TO GET THEIT ATTENTION.
Given that Spirit is going bankrupt, why are people still buying tickets from them? It seems like spinning the roulette wheel, hoping that their ticket will be honoured.
I DON’T KNOW WHAT WE’RE YELLING ABOUT!
LOUD NOISES!!!
@Derek McGillicuddy — Oh, we’re doing ALL CAPS again. Okie dokie. Here it goes…
POR QUE NO LOS DOS? (DO BOTH. DOT & SUE.)
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!
If the booking is not completely ticketed yes the passenger might be forced to pay a higher fare. Now the airline “could” honor the original fare, assuming the traveler did not realize the booking never ticketed. However, why did it fail? If the card was declined that’s on the passenger to take care of.
I call BS. Gary is this something else you got off Reddit? No link to an actual article or even any details outside of a self made video. Personally I don’t believe this at all
You have to quit using Reddit and Tik Tok as a source
Notice her careful choice of words. She did not say that she had purchased a ticket at the price that was “charged” online. My guess is she saw a price online then opted to go to the airport and purchase the ticket there to save on the $27.99 online fee, and by that time the price had changed.
Complaining to the DOT also assumes that they will be back in business in a reasonable time.
@John H — Even if delayed, the DOT is still better than the BBB.
I also call BS on Spirit having raised the price on a ticket that was legit purchased and had no charge back. I also suggest the following: (since I know a lot of government officials have free time now). Change the excise tax to 7.25% (7.3, 7.2?) and require it be charged for airfare and all fees (baggage fees, seat fees, booking fees, etc.). STOP the arbitrage! It’s a much better campaign issue than no tax on tips/overtime (OK, for most of us).
@This comes to mind — I see you’ve found your ‘single issue’ otherwise known as the ‘hill you’ll die on’… mine continues to be that the USA needs an EU261/Canada’s APPR-style air passenger rights legislation… now, which of ours is more likely to come about?
The person who is complaining does not show documentation of her purchase of a ticket. Whenever I buy something I get documentation such as a receipt. Therefore I consider this case as unfounded. If she later shows documentation I will reconsider.
This has happened to me as well on another low cost US-based carrier. Small claims works best, not just to recover fare but any associated non-refundable components as well that could not be utilized.
This is b.s.
If a ticket were issued and the passenger is set to check in, the customer service agent at the airport wouldn’t know at wouldn’t care about the fare.
All they want to know at the airport is i.d. and bags, yes or no.
I suspect if this really happened, the issue was the passenger showed up with bags either oversized, overweight, too many or all of the above.
“Not the correct fare.” In this case she purchased a Value fare that doesn’t include the bags, seats, etc etc. This person didn’t have the right fare (that they insisted they had) that included all of the above, which Spirit does sell those bundled fares now.
It isn’t a bait and switch. They bought the wrong fare for everything they thought they had included. So bag fees were due.
I think @NedsKid cracked the case. She likely bought a “value” fare which doesn’t include a carryon. She did not have “the correct fare” to take on the carryons they had. Four carryons could cost as much as $316 purchased at airport.
@ 1990
Eu style regs in the US are just a cap on damages. Repeal airlines immunity from consumer protection laws so we can sue them.
For having so few facts, the author sure jumps to a lot of unfair conclusions. He also seems to think that being given the option to pay the correct fare is somehow inconsistent with being offered a refund and/or reimbursement in the alternative.