Etan Horowitz wrote an article on the Spirit Airlines debacle. It's one of the better explanations of exactly whats going on. If you've been following this saga or looking for background, check it out.

I'm told the print version has a funny picture of me badly needing a haircut. I haven't seen it yet, but hey.. Waddayado.. We've been programming up a storm around here. (it's online now.. as Mike just said to me, "Nice photo, champ".... someone just asked Gavin, "why's alex wearing a wig?"....I get it, I get it.. jeesh. I'll go get a haircut.)

Christy and Jim have talked to a few other MSM press folks. Ben wanted them to tell the world, so.. now's their chance ;) I'll update this post as I come across things.

My Spirit Airlines Blog Posts:

• Do not fly spirit airlines
• Power to the people
• Ben Baldanza from Spirit Encourages Awful Customer Service
• What I've Learned

CEO E-mail Blog Press:

• SotP: "Spirit Airlines Suckitude - It just doesn't stop"
• Consumerist: "Spirit CEO learns dangers of Reply All"
• Elliot.org: "Let him tell the world how bad we are."
• Gadling.com: "Spirit CEO could care less."
• Rick Seaney: "Spirit vs. Southwest"
• CEOSmack: "Let him tell the world how bad we are."
• Jaunted: "CEO learns lesson with Reply All"
• Upgrade: Travel Better : "Spirit CEO flips his customers the bird"
• Fare Market Value: "We've got spirit, yes we do!"
• (on and on and on, I'll try to post more later..)

MSM Press:

• Orlando Sentinel: "Blog says 'Do not fly spirit airlines.'"
• USA Today: "We owe him nothing."
• MSNBC: "What we can learn"

Shameless self promotion:

• Create an account on Emurse.com (as they say, "always be selling"... ;)

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.

Consumerist.com, everyone's favorite defender of truth and justice, picked up the story I posted on Ben Baldanza's e-mail slip up. Here's a quote:

Even if you read the original complaint and agree with Baldanza in principle, that's a pretty jerkoff way to respond to a customer and if he had any balls, he would apologize and refund the twenty-two cents or whatever the passenger paid to travel on Mr. Baldanza's discount thrift store flying claptrap.

Hear, hear!

Thanks for spreading the word Consumerist! After all, Mr. Baldanza wants the world to know. (original spirit airlines post that started this whole mess)


LOLCat courtesy of Michael Rhing

UPDATE: Here's another one. God I love internet memes. Hah!

Apparently, the CEO of Spirit Airlines doesn't understand how the "Reply to All" button works. I've received e-mails directly from Spirit Airlines folks not wanting to have their name mentioned on my blog suggesting to me that Spirit's current problems originate at the top. With all their layoffs (outsourcing, I'm told) it's tough to say. But this really does seem to back it up.

A curious comment from Christy came in earlier on the Spirit Airlines post tipping us off. Basically, she and her husband sent in a complaint, and Ben Baldanza hit "reply to all" with his jerky response. Christy was kind enough to forward me the full e-mail she received, including headers showing the e-mail originating from legitimate Spirit Airlines servers.

Taken by itself, I'd shrug my shoulders. Just another arrogant CEO. In context to the now 80+ comment thread taking place on this blog, it would seem that Spirit Airlines doesn't even understand the basics of modern customer service. Judging by the e-mail sent to Christy, they don't care to learn.

Christy found the e-mail addresses for the Spirit Airlines executive team because a user identifying themselves as "John Smith" posted them here. Just in case, you know, you'd like to join in. (no need to flame, just share with them your experiences.)

Stuck on the Palmetto was right. Spirit Airlines does in fact suck, and neither myself, nor SotP, are alone in feeling that way. Who knew.

Here's the e-mail, which was sent not just to Ben Baldanza's colleagues, but also to Christy. I'm following the text with the complete e-mail/headers (including what he was responding to) for anyone doubting the legitimacy.

UPDATE (8/22): I went through and removed everyone's last names except for Mr. Baldanza's. Originally, I left them thinking it might help someone legitimize this e-mail. These folks are just trying to do their jobs, and this isn't meant to be a personal attack in any way. It's not even about Christy and her husband's specific complaint, it's about the way that it was handled in context to the now 100+ thread of customer service issues.

UPDATE #2: Consumerist picks up on the story. (in addition to Gadling, SotP, Jaunted, Elliot.org, Upgrade: Travel Better and others) I posted a follow up on all my various thoughts here.

UPDATE #3: BEFORE COMMENTING, PLEASE DEAR GOD FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH OUR CONVERSATION. This is not the "start" of the discussion. This was taken out of the comment section of a larger post. Orlando Sentinel is the only media outlet that I've actually spoken to, and their story is probably the best starting point outside of the original post.
Please respond, Pasquale, but we owe him nothing as far as I'm concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.

---

My Spirit Airlines rant is now third when searching for Spirit Airlines on google. Yikes!

I booked a flight on Spirit Airlines about a week ago out of Orlando to Las Vegas for tomorrow, August 5th. This morning, the 4th, I get a call from Spirit Airlines telling me that my flight was canceled and I needed to call an 800 number to make a new reservation. That's sucks, but hey, that's the reality of the god awful air industry here in the States (Dear Uncle Sam, please stop giving them money and let the free market work. K, thx, bye.)

I call the number, go through all the motions hitting the menu items, and then get a message telling me that due to high volume, I should use SpiritAir.com instead. The 800# then hangs up on me. I call back, hitting 0 to talk to an operator, same message, hangs up on me. I try all the appropriate sounding options on their voice mail, and get hung up on every single time. Thanks, Spirit Air! What went from a somewhat understandable situation (relativity is a bitch), now has me pissy. Finally, I try "book new flight" to speak to a spirit airlines sales agent. Sure enough, that one (the option where they take the money) works fine. I get entered into the normal "too many calls" queue and patiently wait my turn.

After a long and annoying wait, a young lady answers the phone and starts trying to help me figure out what's up. There's no reason for canceling the flight, there's only one other option -- putting me in Vegas 5 hours past my intended arrival.. The reason I chose Spirit Airlines to begin with. To add to my frustration, it's a flight that I purposely paid more money to avoid (bigger layover, late time, etc). There's no upgrades or anything like that, no option for a partner airline or a transfer, no real attempt at anything. Here's the kicker. They make you pay extra to bring a bag. They refused to even refund this $5 each way fee, not even for one the of ways.

So, instead of losing $5 on a customer who has every right to be angry, I'll write this blog post and tell all my traveling buddies to add Spirit Airlines to their growing list of airlines to avoid. If Google works their magic like they usually do, at least one of the 4,931 daily searches for "Spirit Airlines" will turn up this result and save someone the headache (and hopefully end up costing Spirit Airlines $6 or more). Yay, cluetrain! Seriously, if you are considering saving money by flying Spirit Air, pay the extra $20 and use someone else. It's not worth it.

Spirit Airlines can't be counted on, they'll nickel and dime you on things like baggage (seriously.. WTF), and they will make zero effort what so ever to rectify any situation that they create. I'm totally expecting tomorrow to be a complete debacle, and will arrive at the airport extra early. Possibly with boxing gloves (and sadly, $5 for my baggage)

Will someone, anyone, please fix air travel?

August 5th, 2007 Update
I arrived at MCO a couple hours early to find a really approachable ticket counter (no line, etc). The young lady at the desk was very helpful. I explained to her that every two years, some college buddies and I get together for a reunion of sorts, and Spirit Airlines was causing me to miss the big first-night get together. She offered to get me a free round trip travel voucher. After going into the back for a few minutes, she returned to inform me that she could not in fact give me a voucher, because the problem originated in Detroit, not Orlando (cue Celly's told-you-so laughter here). She suggested that I try calling the corporate number (where this all started), and trying to complain again (as my buddy Mike suggested to me on Facebook).

Breezing through security (Orlando's got it down to a Science), I found myself with a couple hours to kill. Evidently, Spirit Airlines phone system is just as slammed packed at noon on Sunday as it is on a late Saturday afternoon -- I was hung up on with the "We're to busy to give a shit" message once again. I knew that'd be the case, I just felt obligated to try ;). Speaking with a sales agent, I was unable to get a round trip voucher, but I was able to get a $100 credit towards my next Spirit Airlines flight from one of the supervisors. Total time of call was about 35 minutes, once you skip all the fake options and go straight for the sales desk.

$100 means that if I have am ever forced to fly Spirit, I can check 5 bags on the day of my flight! ($20/bag day of, $10 in advance). I say that in jest, but I am pleased that if you do complain repeatedly and persistently, they will at least give in somewhere.

A number of people sent me some links involving Spirit's consistently bad customer service though, and I figure I'll share them here:

• Woman Sues Spirit Airlines in Small Claims Court and Wins
• Read Before You Click
• Why Spirit Airlines Sucks (Still Sucking) (Update on Spirit's Suckability)
  

There seems to be a decent amount searching around, but.. whatever. Also, Randall points out that JetBlue and Virgin already fixed air travel... I guess that rules out my hope for Steve Job's iPlane.

Anyway, I'm about to board my flight for Vegas by way of Atlantic City. Talk about an itinerary of sin... I wonder if we refuel at a New Orleans whore house? hah! If Spirit loses my baggage, and I have to buy clothes, will I have to pay for the required new baggage on the way home? So many questions.. At least I have $100 in baggage credits now.

August 9th, 2007 Update
Thanks to all the folks who left comments sharing their experiences with Spirit. I arrived back this morning after a brutal red eye (all vegas redeyes are). I wanted to chime in and mention my experience with the cramped seating some people have mentioned.

If you are over, I donno, 5'10 (I'm about 6 or 6'1), you will feel like a giant on this airline. The seat in front of me came up to about my armpit area. The seats have a pretty cool neck-holder-rest thing that adjusts and confirms like a neck pillow. The problem I ran into was that I couldn't get it to move up, so it just dug into my upper back the whole time. It was a red eye though, so I pretty much slept the whole time anyway. If you are expecting a pillow and or blanket though, bring one yourself, as Spirit doesn't have any (..about right).

Summary / Conclusion

Yes, I did buy the cheapest ticket. No, I did not save any money (add in the baggage fees, and it was actually more expensive). Yes, I got burnt and lost a day of my trip. Yes, I will avoid Spirit Airlines as much as I humanly can. Yes, I will continue to share my experience with friends through conversations, both online and off. If you've had a bad encounter with this airline, I encourage you to join our conversation down in the comments or on your own blog. The only way to improve a business's customer service is to complain about it. Viva la internet.

Response to a Comment (August 8th, 2007)

"Welcome to the real world. Things don't always go how you want them to go. You bought the cheapest possible airline tickets to Vegas and then you threw a tantrum when your flight got cancelled. You're lucky they called you the day before and gave you a chance to make other plans. Instead you chose to pout and whine. You are a vindictive spoiled child. Grow up and get over yourself." - Mike

(response posted here, as well as email)

I hope that I'm not coming off as throwing a tantrum, but rather venting on my own personal blog about some awful customer service that I've encountered with a particular airline. I post my thoughts and experiences to my personal blog to enhance communication with my friends and family. I have no idea who you are, so I'm assuming you fall outside of those two categories. Welcome to the conversation, anyhow. Ain't the internet grand?

In 2006, I lived out of a suit case for 9 out of 12 months. So far, 2007 has been significantly better, as I'm looking at about 2, maybe 3 months tops. In all of this travel, I've encountered all sorts of situations. In every single case, it's the same -- if the event is caused by 'God' (aka weather), the airline is off the hook. With Spirit Airlines, this does not seem to be the case (an argument that countless customer reviews and complaints support). Every airline I've experienced a problem with as offered some sort of token to the customer, without them asking for it, when the fault is squarely on them. It took me close to 2 hours total to receive any admission of guilt.

The domestic airline industry here in the states has encountered some interesting business model changes lately. I recommend reading Daniel Gross's latest column in Newsweek, which I ironically read in the airport last night while my plane was delayed. These changes have made air travel a complete debacle for many people, while largely increasing company profits. As consumers, we've begun to expect these headaches and accept them as part of the deal -- this is incorrect. Folks need to complain and engage in word of mouth if we expect the experience to improve. In the particular case of Spirit Airlines, I'd suggest that you read the comments on this blog post as well other customer reviews on the internet.

Thanks for the understanding and for sharing your thoughts. Oh, and thanks for the name calling. Dick.

Best,

Alex

(conversation continues a tad in the comments below)

UPDATE: Spirit Airlines Employee Responds

A reader identifying themselves as "Tonya" working out of Detroit has offered her perspective in the situation. It's enlightening to hear about Spirit's inability to handle call volume from the other side. On the same token, she explains some of the things that are out of their control.

Keep up the stories and the comments -- we're now third on Google when searching for Spirit Airlines. It's only a matter of time before someone on the corporate level checks in to see what their policies are doing to their airline.

UPDATE: Spirit CEO Sends Rude E-mail to a Commenter (August 20th, 2007)

Ben Baldanza, CEO of Spirit, needs to learn how to use the "Reply to All" button. The level of arrogance in his response to a customer's complaint is mind blowing.

UPDATE: I've had a lot of people ask me how much I paid for my Spirit Airline ticket. I paid $320 and change for a round trip fare. Factor in the baggage fees, and it was about even with another airline. I picked Spirit because of the preferable flight schedule. Yes, they do offer $9 fares, but it would seem as if you have to live in Guam to have access to them.

UPDATE: CEO's email gaffe has caused this to go national. "Let him tell the world how bad we are." -- I think we can handle that one, Ben. Here's a rant I wrote with all my random thoughts of various comments for anyone interested.