fairviewroad

It's not unreasonable to expect that an airline can get you to your destination in less than 9 days, especially when traveling between two major domestic airports. Implying that people are rubes for believing they will be transported in a timely fashion is just bizarre.

caverunner17

I paid for a flight to get from A-to-B, so I expect to get from A-to-B within a reasonable time of the originally scheduled flight.

I can understand weather at either the Origin or Destination airport causing a cancellation. But Spirit shouldn't be scheduling flights that will be cancelled due to maintenance or so tightly schedule flights that at a major "hub" for them that if one incoming flight gets cancelled that a future flight gets cancelled, even though they have aircraft overnighting at that airport.

IMHO, if it's an issue due to Spirit's scheduling or mechanical, they should rebook you on another carrier -- it's their fault. If it's weather at the O or D airport, then their current system if its fine.

Upsidezdown

I would gladly, happily, pay the $1-$10 extra on every Spirit ticket to cover the cost of an interline agreement that they would only have to use rarely. Why the DOT hasn't mandated those agreements is beyond me. Even an ULCC has obligations to their passengers in the interest of the common societal good.

rickg523

It's 2016 and people are still flying Spirit?
Or should I say people are still buying tickets on Spirit and hoping that maybe Spirit will not find it inconvenient to fly that day?
Why?

Upsidezdown

I agree that Spirit teeters daily on the knife-edge between being a budget airline and being a complete joke.

The sad part of that equation is that a lot of it is self inflicted on Spirit by Spirit. There are ways to mitigate extreme circumstances while still turning a healthy profit but it requires some planning and some forethought by the airline. They, however, choose for whatever reason to not engage those options.

9 day waits, however permissible by their contract of carriage, shake the faith of even the most devout customers.

Often1

WN doesn't do interline agreements either. In fact DL and AA don't interline between the two carriers. DOT has no authority to require carriers to enter them.

No other carrier in its right mind would enter an interline agreement with NK. Imagine if you were an AA passenger and AA rerouted you onto NK !

What would be reasonable would be for DOT to require a large bold disclosure on NK's website, e-tickets, and other key locations to the effect that NK does not interline and what that means.

Upsidezdown

Respectfully, I have to disagree. When the poop hits the fan it would seem that passengers would be ok with a flying donkey if it got them to their destination on time or after only a slight delay vs days and days.

The actual flight experience might not be the best but I'd just be grateful that they got me where I needed to go despite extraordinary circumstances. I'd take that over a cash refund any day.

Often1

You may disagree all you want. But, there isn't a solution for that beyond the obvious one. If you want to fly a real airline, do not fly NK. Period.

Otherwise, the choice, presuming that the flight doesn't go is binary: lump it or cancel for a refund and purchase a ticket on a real carrier.

writerguyfl

This certainly would be a step in the right direction.

I also think that journalists should be mentioning the lack of interline agreements in every story written about Spirit. Of course, that would require journalists to have a thorough understanding of the subject. Sadly, that rarely happens in today's world.

abefroman329

My guess is that the only people still flying Spirit are either first-timers, or haven't had a bad experience with them yet.

caverunner17

There's nothing "wrong" with their (or Frontier's) model. For a lot of routes, they *are* significantly cheaper than legacy carriers. All we ask is we get to our destination within a reasonable amount of time.

Upsidezdown

That's a barely a half measure where several full measures are required.

*Can* banks sell mortgages under impossible terms to those who couldn't possibly afford them?

Absolutely!

*Should* they?

Heck no. It hurts the public welfare and erodes trust in a vital economic sector. So the gov't stepped in and stopped it.

Can ultra discount airlines subject their customers to 9 days waits just because their company lawyers wrote it into their 100 page ToC and it saves them a dollar or two on each pax?

Yep!

Should they be allowed to do that?

Nope!

I am now and will always be a big fan of more regulation, not less, in an industry that has time and time and time again proven itself untrustworthy and unable to self-govern.

Further reading: pay structure of flight attendants.

Who else do you know in 2016 that goes to work for eight hours and gets paid for 3?

Upsidezdown out. Have a good weekend!

copaflyer

This summer I could fly into ACY on Spirit with a connection in FLL or fly to ewr, nyc direct or phl with a stop and find my way to acy.

I think spirit would have to be about free for me to choose them

Often1

Yes, there is something wrong with the model. If this happened once, you could write this off to a bad day. But, there are tons of these anecdotes. They point to a business model of running on fumes and charging little.

Some people such as Upsidezdown apparently want more regulation, but the last time the government tried regulating the commercial air industry, it was a miserable failure.

Consumers do have a choice. Consumers here on FT tend to be pretty smart about these choices. If, after reading the anecdotes, you are willing to take the risks presented to save a few bucks rather than pay market airfares to obtain market levels of service, so be it.

BillyBaloney

I kind of like that one FT'ers idea to always have a Southwest flight as backup, when flying Spirit. If Spirit flight is a go, then push the WN flight forward. GREAT IDEA!!! ^