Spirit Air - be honest with me!

Berlingirl · Post by **Berlingirl** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:50 am

Flights on Spirits website show no activity until Saturday at the earlist. This mornings news shed little to no light on any resolution at this point.
No news yet on Jet Blues website or blog as far as the rumor to flights being put on starting today on competing Spirit routes. If I hear of anything I will post.

liamsaunt · Post by **liamsaunt** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 9:36 am

17th Hole wrote:I decided not to play the "Wait-and-See" game with Spirit. My gut is telling me this crap is going to drag out well past out my flight day. I decided to just book on another airline and be done with it. So glad I did. Prices are going up fast and availability is going down fast. I think we may have grabbed the last two seats on one of our legs. I couldn't find any two seats together on any of the legs. We're all set now so a big weight is off my shoulders. I'm not about to miss 1 second of my time on STJ. Now...is it too early for a rum drink?

No kidding on this! John and I were looking last night and it was unbelieveable how the availability and prices kept changing. We clearing cookies and history and starting new browsing sessions too. We finally bit the bullet and bought, and were not even able to get seats together on the way down. We are going to show up early and try for the exit row.

At least there are discounts on the villas to make up for these very expensive plane tickets! I knew we should have bought them a month ago...

Jimm · Post by **Jimm** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:29 am

Spirit flights are now canceled through Wednesday 6/16/10. It looks like they are trying to give people 48 hours notice.

Berlingirl · Post by **Berlingirl** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 10:44 am

Jimm wrote:Spirit flights are now canceled through Wednesday 6/16/10. It looks like they are trying to give people 48 hours notice.

Have your friends who are traveling with you rebooked yet or are they holding tight and waiting it out?? You said that they are going to be rebooked by Orbitz correct?? Just wondering how they are handling the customers?

Jimm · Post by **Jimm** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:06 am

Berlingirl wrote: Have your friends who are traveling with you rebooked yet or are they holding tight and waiting it out?? You said that they are going to be rebooked by Orbitz correct?? Just wondering how they are handling the customers?

They have not re-booked yet. Orbitz said the flight had to be canceled first by Spirit. I did read last night on Orbitz's website that they are telling Spirit customers to get their refund from Spirit, so it doesn't sound good.

tipsy · Post by **tipsy** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:51 pm

I wish all of you Good Luck. It's tough decisions to be made.. For the next few weeks, think it will be chaos,even if the strike ends soon.

Shame on Spirit for not preparing better since knew strike was coming, but also shame on the pilots for striking. In these economical times, be thankful for a job,no matter what. Plus,they were offered a 30% pay increase over the next 5 yrs, which is 6% a yr. Way over the avg. raise for prob. 85%+ of the population. I'm only working again,after being laid off for 3.5 mos & my comp. could only bring me back 3 days a week. For which we are thankful. Have a friend who works for AA (21 yrs as a gate agent) and hasn't had a pay raise since 1999. And a friend who's been out of work for almost 2yrs. So take what you can get in a pay raise & be grateful right now. I haven't had a raise in 3yrs & sure won't get one this yr. But thankful that DH has one and I am getting back into the swing of it.

On top of this, to strand 1,000's upon 1,000's of people, all for personal gain? Instead of picketing or being home in your comfortable house this past wknd, the pilots should have been laying on the seats or floors of the major airports w/all the stranded travellers.

Sorry for the rant but I dislike greed and this to me is what it is about.

Again to all you STJ travellers, all the best of Luck and hope that you get to your island on time.

jmhouse · Post by **jmhouse** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 1:45 pm

I don't really understand how their unions work, but they say they want to be paid like airtran and jetblue pilots. so why don't they try and get jobs with those airlines? they work for an ultra low cost carrier and want to be paid like a low cost carrier. I feel like their logic will work against them when spirit has to cut jobs because people go to other low cost airlines for their future flying.

JJShaw · Post by **JJShaw** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 2:27 pm

Well, we were booked for the 16th...so I guess that takes us out...guess we will look at August and rebook...good news is..we can plan a longer visit... But I too have to blame the pilots...not Spirit...IMO if they are not happy working where they are...then go find another job with another carrier instead of leaving people stranded thats so inconsiderate...Im sure there are lots of people that just wish they made the kind of money they make.. and not everyone travels with tons of money in their pockets..At least we are lucky...we are still home and not stranded somewhere trying to get 5 of us home..Ive been calling the 800 number for Spirit and only getting a busy signal...last night I held for 68 minutes..and no one answered..sorry for the rant. As a side note...we heard from our rentals (condo and Jeep) they are going to let us rebook...I am happy for that...Guess all things happen for a reason..

tipsy · Post by **tipsy** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:41 pm

JJSHAW glad that it's working out for you. like you said,it's a bummer that have to wait a little longer but you get to spend more time on STJ. And very nice that the villa rental & all others on STJ are working with you.

Like jmhouse says, think the pilots are only going to hurt themselves in the end. Not the only no frills airline around. And think the other airlines will think twice before hiring someone who so thoughtlessly & carelessly went on strike,disregarding the passengers' satisfaction and the airlines' reputation. I know as a HR person,would be very cautious hiring someone like that.

jake · Post by **jake** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:30 pm

Sorry to hear of your issues with Spirit; we flew DCA-STT in May, no rumblings of strike or issues. And I was talking directly to the pilot, since our first flight (DCA-FLL) was delayed because of a cargo door sensor, and our FLL-STT flight was delayed because of a sensor issue (hot engine) that required an hour of rebooting, then came back on during pushback and we had to deplane. At that point even he was irritated. Changed planes, now several hours late, and just about when we got to STT...we couldn't land because of runway "issues" (they blamed an earthquake in Puerto Rico...). Finally landed safely. Filed a claim for taxi (couldn't pick up car) but I'm not holding my breath. First and last trip with them, I don't trust their aircraft.
(But the pilot DID thank us, on behalf of himself, his two kids, and his ex-wife, for flying Spirit!)
Best of luck in your travel; hopefully everything will get worked out soon.

rpplano · Post by **rpplano** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:55 pm

I just wish Southwest would find a way to fly where I need them to go. They don't play these games and manage to be profitable while being inexpensive. Maybe someday...

JJShaw · Post by **JJShaw** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:44 am

Well we got intouch and have vouchers and will rebook..its sad that it came down to one day and we dont get to go...But things could be worse...we could be stranded...At least we are home...employers are going to work with us as well as the reservations we had on the STJ. We can also stay longer next time...We have flown Spirit a few times...and "knock on wood" other than this only had one issue when they changed a flight date without asking me..but soon changed it back when I called... other than that never even had a late plane...Im sure it happens on all other carriers as well...as I said...I dont blame Spirit I think their offer was more than fair...I blame the pilots..oh well...Im guess Im planning when all this mess is over...

17th Hole · Post by **17th Hole** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:12 am

jmhouse wrote:I don't really understand how their unions work, but they say they want to be paid like airtran and jetblue pilots. so why don't they try and get jobs with those airlines? they work for an ultra low cost carrier and want to be paid like a low cost carrier. I feel like their logic will work against them when spirit has to cut jobs because people go to other low cost airlines for their future flying.

From what I understand of how pilot's employment works, pilots cannot just leave their jobs to go work at another airline without taking a huge pay cut. The time you put in with an airline basically only counts for that airline. If I'm a pilot and I start flying for Spirit, my salary at Spirit starts as a 1st year pilot. After 10 years, I have the salary of a "10-year" pilot. If I leave Spirit and go be a pilot for Delta, I start again at Delta with a first-year pilot's salary. I'm sure there's probably more to it than that, but that's the basic problem the pilots face.

mrscherry2000 · Post by **mrscherry2000** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:12 am

rpplano wrote:I just wish Southwest would find a way to fly where I need them to go. They don't play these games and manage to be profitable while being inexpensive. Maybe someday...

I SO wish SW would fly to STT. That would be awesome. Direct flight from BWI would be Suweet....

Berlingirl · Post by **Berlingirl** » Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:15 am

jjshaw...

I am wondering if it was your only recourse to accept only credit with Spirit as a "refund" with a $100 inconvience fee thrown in for good measure? Did they offer the option to refund to your original form of payment so that you could rebook with another carrier?

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Spirit Air - be honest with me!