What I've Learned...

August 23rd, 2007 | benbaldanza, followup, rant, spirit, spiritairlines, whativelearned

It's been close to three weeks since I posted my original spirit airlines rant. Obviously, yesterday, things got a bit louder. This post is a compilation/rant of the frustrations I've had watching this discussion unfold.

What I've Learned

I've learned that the internet is a big place. For every 100 people who believe in consumer rights, there is another person saying "screw em!"

I've learned that Spirit Airlines wouldn't have nearly the same amount of drama if they didn't offer so many Caribbean flights. Not once has a story been like, "We were stuck in Atlanta and forced to eat at a IHOP. I want my stomach back." Instead, it's all "We were stuck in Guatemala for a week while a drug lord held us hostage. A monkey stole my baby."

I've learned that if you are going to have a fake customer service line, people will quickly figure it out.

I've learned that different blogs send vastly different traffic. Comments will vary from "That's what you get!" to "Chomsky forever!" based on the style of site that's sending traffic.

I've learned that my own experiences with Spirit pale in comparison to most of the growing number of comments people have submitted.

I've decided that if someone explains "you get what you pay for" to me or anyone else on this blog again, they're about to get beat with the no-shit-sherlock shovel. The entire story is that from the very beginning. The problem is, most of us paid the same amount of money as we would have on Airtran, JetBlue, Southwest or any other discount airline. They may all be frustrating, but I bet they have a real 1-800# that actually frigging works. I'll pay the dollar for a soda and the $4 for a bag of delicious nutritional combos and the $20 for a backpack, just give me a working 800# to call when you cancel my flight and leave me stranded in the rain forest.

I've learned that the more I complain about people explaining "you get what you pay for," the more people who will. Cue annoying-to-me-but-funny-to-everyone-else-comments now.

I've learned that people are sympathetic to "reply all".

I've learned that people are not sympathetic to "reply all" when their vacation was ruined.

I've learned that the quote "Let him tell the world how bad we are." makes me laugh. Thanks for granting us all permission, Ben ;)

I've learned that Ben Baldanza has a history of sticking his foot in his mouth. When he was a VP at US Airs, he went on record saying that they don't value deal seekers. Awfully ironic now that he's the CEO of a discount airline, don't you think?

I've learned that some people within the airline industry expect you to expect a full day of travel, and it's your fault if you don't. Some folks have been given Christy and her husband a hard time for only landing an hour before their concert. I've had important business meetings scheduled inside of airports for 15 minutes after landing. In the real world, people don't have all day to sit around tolerating a crappy airline industry. We shouldn't have to take all this crap as being par for the course, and if we do, at least pretend to be sympathetic. You're ruining vacations, thieving peoples money and overall interrupting our lives. Even if you don't owe the customer anything, empathy would be the least you could do.

I've learned that some people within the airline industry blame consumers for their problems. If those pesky consumers didn't demand cheaper flights, then we would be able to charge more money and offer more service. There's so many things wrong with that statement it boils my insides, but let's ignore all that. Explain how cutting customer service while at the same time canceling more flights to save cost, makes any ethical sense what-so-ever. Begin.

I've learned that despite a few strange folks in the airline industry, there are many great people inside of Spirit Airlines who are just as frustrated with the state of their company as their customers are. At this point, I have every reason to believe that Spirit's problems originate at the top, and not with the men and women who actually make the airline go. "Dell Hell" may have sucked for Dell, but it also created much needed change within their organization. If you've recently been laid off by Spirit, e-mail me. I'm pretty good with resumes.

I've learned that every time I start feeling the slightest feeling of remorse, another comment will come in or a private e-mail and make me understand the importance of this type of thing. Consumers need a voice. Too many corporations have started to act as if they're the ones with the rights and privileges and that the market exists to benefit them.

I've learned that most companies are still really afraid of blogs. If Spirit had reached out in any official capacity when all of this started, I would have been able to post their response and go about living my life without moderating a discussion amongst what I estimate to be 20-25% of the people searching for "spirit airlines".

I've learned that Spirit, or an airline like them, will probably always exist. There are deal hunters out there. Spirit defenders have said customers were expecting too much. That might be true, but expectations require the customer to be informed.

I've learned the power of word of mouth when it comes to informing people. I wrote my original rant to inform friends and family of my experience. I figured if a couple people found it off of google, I'd justify my feeling that they should have comped me $5 for baggage on one leg of my trip (smallest token I could think of, it's not about the money) I do not believe in eye for an eye, but I do believe in karma.
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