Spirit Airlines’ flight woes enter fourth day as airline likens it to ‘hurricane recovery’
Spirit Airlines passengers face another day of cancellations on Wednesday, extending the airline’s travel chaos into its fourth day.
The Florida-based airline, famous for its yellow planes, cheap tickets and a pile of fees, has already canceled 187 Wednesday flights, according to flight tracker FlightAware. That’s nearly 30% of its scheduled flights.
Spirit has been scrubbing flights since Sunday, stranding passengers around the country due to summer storms, technology outages and staffing shortages.
The airline canceled a whopping 61% of its Tuesday flights as of 10:45 p.m. ET and 42% of its Monday flights, according to FlightAware.
The airline and airports it serves have been warning travelers to check their email for flight changes and to check flight status before they go to the airport.
rules, but passengers on a budget may find their only option is to wait for another Spirit flight because last-minute tickets are pricey and hard to get during the busy summer travel season.
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Spirit said the best way to get a refund is to use its new online chat.
A pandemic record of 2,238,462 people were screened by the Transportation Security Administration on Sunday as the final month of summer vacation season kicked off.
“We understand how frustrating it is for our guests when plans change unexpectedly,” Spirit spokesman Field Sutton said in a statement. “We’re working to provide refunds for cancellations and, when possible, to re-accommodate our guests.”