Spirit Weather Cancellation Question (Kind of Generic - not just Spirit)
Dec 2, 2013, 10:23 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: DFW
Posts: 454
Spirit Weather Cancellation Question (Kind of Generic - not just Spirit)
Hello,
I don't fly very often (not yet) - so maybe a frequent flyer can help me out with this.
I am flying to Las Vegas for 1 day coming up - leaving Wednesday night around 11pm, coming back Friday morning at 5am. When I can do free trips on Spirit and have the time in the schedule, I do these 1 day trips at 5,000 miles round trip and pay for the big seat fees.
There is an expected Thursday night ice storm in DFW. In fact, they've pretty much said it's not a matter of if, but how bad..
This trip is a voluntary trip. Meaning, if I had to cancel it, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
The flight leaves LAS at 12am and hits DFW at 5am. I'm keeping an eye on the weather as far as timing, but there's a better than 0 chance this flight is getting cancelled. If this were the case, I'd just rather not go.. I like Vegas, but I don't want to spend 3 days there while flights are being rerouted to anywhere but DFW.
Does anyone have any experience in situations like this - in general? I plan on calling the airline Wednesday if the weather starts to pan out like everyone says - but if people have experiences, perhaps I can use it to build from in understanding and assessing the situation.
I don't fly very often (not yet) - so maybe a frequent flyer can help me out with this.
I am flying to Las Vegas for 1 day coming up - leaving Wednesday night around 11pm, coming back Friday morning at 5am. When I can do free trips on Spirit and have the time in the schedule, I do these 1 day trips at 5,000 miles round trip and pay for the big seat fees.
There is an expected Thursday night ice storm in DFW. In fact, they've pretty much said it's not a matter of if, but how bad..
This trip is a voluntary trip. Meaning, if I had to cancel it, it wouldn't be the end of the world.
The flight leaves LAS at 12am and hits DFW at 5am. I'm keeping an eye on the weather as far as timing, but there's a better than 0 chance this flight is getting cancelled. If this were the case, I'd just rather not go.. I like Vegas, but I don't want to spend 3 days there while flights are being rerouted to anywhere but DFW.
Does anyone have any experience in situations like this - in general? I plan on calling the airline Wednesday if the weather starts to pan out like everyone says - but if people have experiences, perhaps I can use it to build from in understanding and assessing the situation.
Dec 6, 2013, 1:41 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: DFW
Posts: 454
Just to finish up this thread..
I was able to get it cancelled with no cancellation fees - not because of cancellations - but they have an unpublished rule that if there's at least a 30 minute delay, you can cancel without fees.
Interestingly enough - and this might be worth observation at some point - I booked this one day trip with miles using their 5,000 mile round trip mastercard deal - but my wife has the mastercard, so I booked the trip with her account to my name.
My refund with travel credit was not miles but the actual value of the flight - so I ended up cashing out 5,000 miles for about $100 bucks in future Spirit travel. That's a pretty solid 4cpm since you only have to spend 2500 bucks to get 5000 miles.
My flight to Vegas was delayed 3 hours. The flight coming home as of right now (despite a nasty ice storm going on) is actually scheduled on time. The flight from LAS-DFW (which normally turns around and then goes DFW-LAS) was cancelled, so another plane must be flying it.
So that's my journey. I hate to be the Spirit positive person - but even before the Weather Buster got enacted (and it did get enacted today) - with just a delay, I got a free cancellation. Not bad for a notoriously bad customer service company.
I was able to get it cancelled with no cancellation fees - not because of cancellations - but they have an unpublished rule that if there's at least a 30 minute delay, you can cancel without fees.
Interestingly enough - and this might be worth observation at some point - I booked this one day trip with miles using their 5,000 mile round trip mastercard deal - but my wife has the mastercard, so I booked the trip with her account to my name.
My refund with travel credit was not miles but the actual value of the flight - so I ended up cashing out 5,000 miles for about $100 bucks in future Spirit travel. That's a pretty solid 4cpm since you only have to spend 2500 bucks to get 5000 miles.
My flight to Vegas was delayed 3 hours. The flight coming home as of right now (despite a nasty ice storm going on) is actually scheduled on time. The flight from LAS-DFW (which normally turns around and then goes DFW-LAS) was cancelled, so another plane must be flying it.
So that's my journey. I hate to be the Spirit positive person - but even before the Weather Buster got enacted (and it did get enacted today) - with just a delay, I got a free cancellation. Not bad for a notoriously bad customer service company.
Dec 9, 2013, 5:56 am
#4
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Atlanta, GA, USA
Programs: Frontier Gold, DL estranged 1MMer, Spirit VIP, CO/NW/UA/AA once gold/plat/comped gold now dust.
Posts: 38,151
Yeah, but how long have you got to use the $100? In most situations they give only 2 months' validity, which is way out of line with the one year more typical with legacies. Because it's a domestic trip you don't have a hefty tax slug, but with international awards they can top $100 and Spirit would issue the 2-month voucher in most cases rather than refunding (they'll get sued over that, but that's another story)
You're doing the best thing by trying to fix things at first opportunity, as the last position you want to be in is trying to get back home on a route with a thin schedule and Spirit able to play the weather card. That's how people get to spend 1, 2 or even 3 nights in the airport.
You're doing the best thing by trying to fix things at first opportunity, as the last position you want to be in is trying to get back home on a route with a thin schedule and Spirit able to play the weather card. That's how people get to spend 1, 2 or even 3 nights in the airport.
Dec 16, 2013, 12:19 am
#5
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: DFW
Posts: 454
Yeah, but how long have you got to use the $100? In most situations they give only 2 months' validity, which is way out of line with the one year more typical with legacies. Because it's a domestic trip you don't have a hefty tax slug, but with international awards they can top $100 and Spirit would issue the 2-month voucher in most cases rather than refunding (they'll get sued over that, but that's another story)
You're doing the best thing by trying to fix things at first opportunity, as the last position you want to be in is trying to get back home on a route with a thin schedule and Spirit able to play the weather card. That's how people get to spend 1, 2 or even 3 nights in the airport.
You're doing the best thing by trying to fix things at first opportunity, as the last position you want to be in is trying to get back home on a route with a thin schedule and Spirit able to play the weather card. That's how people get to spend 1, 2 or even 3 nights in the airport.
Jan 28, 2014, 6:15 pm
#6
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: NYC
Programs: Mileage Plus, Aadvantage, Skymiles, Marriott, Priority Club, SPG, Amtrak, Hertz
Posts: 834
Happy to see another Spirit optimist. I've been using my Spirit miles on day trips to Florida this winter.