Just a warning everyone.... Just because Spirit Airlines has these really cheap fares, you pay for it somewhere....

I tried to fly on Spirit yesterday from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. It was one of the worst customer service experiences of my life (ticket counter & gates).

People were being left behind yesterday on nearly every flight because their ticket counter did not have their act together. Has anyone else had this situation? I could hear people in line yesterday all complaining about it and saying that it is ALWAYS like this.

Rob

i am hearing stories like this from every single carrier out there..Its atroscious out there!

Spirit's situation in terminal 4 at FLL during peak times, is out of control! The place ain't big enough and they need to move those damn CTX machines downstairs to the baggage make up area! That is half the problem right there!

Quoting RJNUT (Reply 1): i am hearing stories like this from every single carrier out there..Its atroscious out there!

I agree!

Customer service and domestic flights are not a good marriage.

While I agree FLL is horrible at rush hour, it is not all our fault... we do not have enough room at the tkt counters and the CTX machines take up a ton of room. We've recently had to push some of our flight to the F term because of lack of space.

While I'm sorry you didn't have a good experience, like others have said , you get these stories from every airline(except apparently B6 which is equal to God in perfection according to several on here) . Just because we are a LCC doesn't make us exempt from bad service once in a while.

Quoting InTheSky74 (Thread starter): I could hear people in line yesterday all complaining about it and saying that it is ALWAYS like this.

It must be true then, because we all know the public is always right..
  

It wasn't only the other customers making the statements that it is always like this - but also the TSA agents, the people who pre-screen at the security checkpoint, the Spirit Airlines employees and even the state troopers!!

This was my second horrible experience with Spirit in FLL. I've flown on Airtran and JetBlue (both LCC's) and had nothing but positive experiences on both of those airlines.

If Spirit can't handle their operation at FLL in Terminal 4, then why not space out the flights more so that not every flight is departing around the same time?? That is one of the biggest problems!

Rob

Quoting InTheSky74 (Reply 5): If Spirit can't handle their operation at FLL in Terminal 4, then why not space out the flights more so that not every flight is departing around the same time?? That is one of the biggest problems!

While I agree with your statement, the problem with that is you end up screwing your connections from the islands... you spread out flights and now people end up with 3 hour connections, so they start looking elsewhere for their flights. What we need down there is:

1. Our own friggin' terminal
2. While I've never had to use it, I hear customs is a constant problem there getting people thru.
3. The CTX machines need to go elsewhere, they block about 4 counters as it is.

As far as the employees, I do like my job, so I cannot comment on that aspect of it... I'm just sorry you had such a bad experience, however, NK is not like that in every station.

Quoting InTheSky74 (Reply 5): - but also the TSA agents, the people who pre-screen at the security checkpoint, the Spirit Airlines employees and even the state troopers!!

Yes im just abolutely sure even the state troopers are sick of NK.... Look, you were on an airline at rush hour... Shit happens. Deal with it. You're lucky to make it home. I flew AA last week and if it were not for US Air id have been sitting in ATL for two days.

Quoting Nkops (Reply 4): It must be true then, because we all know the public is always right..

Saying "the public is always right" but over-egging it and putting a   after it would suggest, Nkops, that your attitude is part of the problem, rather than the solution. How about a  ? Your customers will be    instead of   .

I agree that every carrier has it's glitches but NK is the one with the F/A who spilled coffee on me and without appologizing just handed me a cocktail napkin to clean a whole cup of coffee. Though this could happen on any carrier.

Spirit uses Terminal 4 which give it several advantages
1 Customs within the building...if anyone thinks FLL customs is poor go try MIA.
2 No other domestic carrier in the building
3 Common use terminals on the counters so airlines can grow or shrink as they need....or are willing to pay for.

There are no state troopers in the terminal...just Broward County sheriffs. Both they and TSA move from terminal to terminal during the year.

Terminal 4, like Terminal 3, does have the ctx machines in the lobby however the lines are not for the CTX...it is for checkin.... that I have observed going over to Sabarros for my pizza fix. It appears that a good portion of the problem is intl checkin for Spirit appears to be very slow, congests the areas severely, and other empty counter spaces are not used to share the load as well as not every position in the imacted area is staffed routinely. This intl growth is fairly recent and it appears not all the bugs have been worked out to ensure a smooth operation in the facilities that they have now.

Quoting Usair320 (Reply 9): with the F/A who spilled coffee on me and without appologizing just handed me a cocktail napkin to clean a whole cup of coffee. Though this could happen on any carrier.

now, this really could happen on any other carrier!!!!!!
Delta, US, HP, B6, etc.


come on!

Quoting InTheSky74 (Thread starter): I could hear people in line yesterday all complaining about it and saying that it is ALWAYS like this.

Yet they are still flying because the public likes to pay LOW fares and will put up with bad service to fly from point A to B for a few dollars. Now I am not saying run an airline with bad business practices and lack of customer service, but it goes to show you people will complain even when they are flying on a Spirit $8 one way fare.

Quoting Nkops (Reply 4): except apparently B6 which is equal to God in perfection according to several on here

Jetblue is ONLY EQUAL to god...No no no Jetblue is MUCH GREATER THAN GOD. How dare you say such slanderous things about B6.  

Quoting Nkops (Reply 6): 2. While I've never had to use it, I hear customs is a constant problem there getting people thru.

That's one of the reasons USAir abandoned its focus city ops there. The terminal situation is horrible.

Quoting Cedarjet (Reply 8): Saying "the public is always right" but over-egging it and putting a after it would suggest, Nkops, that your attitude is part of the problem, rather than the solution. How about a ?

Oh relax... I was being sarcastic... I smile most of the time when I'm dealing with passengers, because I know that they are the one's paying my salary.

Quoting Jerseyguy (Reply 13): Jetblue is ONLY EQUAL to god...No no no Jetblue is MUCH GREATER THAN GOD. How dare you say such slanderous things about B6.

I don't know what I was thinking.... forgive me please...
  

Quoting Hiflyer (Reply 10): 1 Customs within the building...if anyone thinks FLL customs is poor go try MIA.

FLL customs is probably the one facility that makes MIA's customs look efficient.

I arrived at MIA on a LH flight from FRA in 2002. Never has customs been such a pleasant experience.

I don't know what the AA experience is like, but the Star Alliance Concourse was great!

PJ

I personally have never had a bad experience with Spirit Airlines flight attendants. I have found them to be very nice.

It is the ticket counter & gate agents that I find are nasty & incompetant. Maybe it's the computer system they use - I don't know. But I have been to AirTran, Continental, JetBlue, etc and checkin is NEVER as bad as it is at Spirit.

Rob

I flew on the Atlantic City flight at 6:50pm out of FLL yesterday. The ticket counter area was a mess but surprisingly it only took bout 15 20 mins to check in and the line was indeed against the entrace wall. The problem I felt was the security area. 30 mins or so get through. And the people running those 4 lines (if u want to call those lines whichthey were telling us to get into) and doing the screening were on their cell phones and just rude in my opinion. Overall I didn't think Spirit was the problem. The problem was The security. The one bathroom in the terminal and the lack of food service.

Quoting Njdevilsin03 (Reply 20): The problem was The security. The one bathroom in the terminal and the lack of food service.

The lack of facilities is horrible, I've seen the ladies room line about 30 deep into the terminal especially on the evening flights when the int'l flights drop off pax. The last time I was in FLL, only 3 lanes were open at security, but still only took about 25 minutes.

[Edited 2006-08-05 23:25:16]

Quoting ATclaudio (Reply 11): now, this really could happen on any other carrier!!!!!! Delta, US, HP, B6, etc.

Hey Buddy go ahead and read the last scentence in my reply. That's ok though we all misread things every now and then.

I guess you got lucky yesterday getting checked in. The guy who was directing the people into different queue lines yesterday stuck me in this one main zig-zag line (next to the Spirit Plus line). I arrived at the airport at 4pm, and when I got through the entire zig zag line - and got to the agent (who didn't know what she was doing and kept having to call the supervisor over because something "wasn't working"), I left the ticket counter at 6:30pm. My flight was at 6:50pm.

I went to security, and they let me pass the big line, but by the time I got to the gate it was 6:40pm. The people working at security were very nice to me, and pulled me right through to the front since they knew my flight to Chicago left at 6:50pm.

When I arrived at the gate (6:40pm), the lady who was working the Chicago flight was EXTREMELY rude to me and advised me that I was late and she was not going to let me on board the aircraft. I advised her that I had been at the airport since 4:00pm, and the ticket counter was the reason for the delay. The funny thing is - when we were at the security line, the Spirit person there pulled all 4 of us out of the line that were going to Chicago and called the gate on their radio to tell them we were coming.

The gate agent decided (on her own) not to wait for the four of us that had been held up at the ticket counter. (We had all been in line since 4pm and were waiting behind each other at the ticket counter.) She said her "Supervisor" told her not to do it. In fact, her supervisor never told her such a thing.

They were leaving people behind at every single gate last night. It was horrible. People were yelling, crying, etc. The police officer walking through the terminal was like "this happens every single day here".

Rob

Quoting Nkops (Reply 4): Just because we are a LCC doesn't make us exempt from bad service once in a while.

You mean not 100% of your customers are not jumping up and down with enthusiam at the thought of being booked on Spirit? The thread starter doesn't seem to be writing of an isolated incident. Either he is warped or there were more people than just himself unhappy with their "experience".

Quoting Nkops (Reply 6): I'm just sorry you had such a bad experience, however, NK is not like that in every station.

Really, Spirit doesn't suck in every airport in the country? Congratulations! All involved should be very proud of their dedication to not offering "such a bad experience" at every counter in every airport. "We've got Spirit, yes we do! We've got Spirit, how 'bout You?!" Sorry, but the name of the airline is bad enough without reading excuses for poor service.

Long live Competition!!

Quoting FireFly (Reply 24): You mean not 100% of your customers are not jumping up and down with enthusiam at the thought of being booked on Spirit?

Never said they were, they have their choice of carriers....
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[Edited 2006-08-06 01:05:33]

Quoting InTheSky74 (Reply 23): She said her "Supervisor" told her not to do it. In fact, her supervisor never told her such a thing.

And what happened when you politely asked her to call her supervisor?

Quoting InTheSky74 (Reply 18): It is the ticket counter & gate agents that I find are nasty & incompetant

Is their counter staff at FLL or anywhere else contracted to third party handling? I usually find when airlines do this, there tends to be less professionalism and courtesy in the whole check-in/gate experience.

Every time I've jumpseated on Spirit I've seen and recieved nothing but wonderful service from the counter, gate, and inflight crews. FLL is just not configured to handle the amount of customers they put through there, I think that is more of the airports fault and not Spirit's. Hopefully the new concourse will eliminate this crowding issue for Spirit.

Dealt with spirit DTW-ACY-DTW about 3 weeks ago. DTW-ACY was -OK-, nothing great nothing bad. The aircraft was filthy (A319), the carpets were heavily stained. Seats were comfortable. I was surprised for a newer aircraft that it was that dirty.

ACY-DTW...oh my god, what a nightmare. FYI, ACY-DTW is 1x daily (flight leaves around 5pm). Checked in 2 hours ahead of time. Aircraft was inbound from FLL if I remember correctly. Its almost departure time, then the flight shows 'Delayed' instead of On-Time. Its new scheduled departure time was about 6:40. Its 6:20, I check flightaware and notice that the flight from FLL (the only one inbound to ACY, our plane wasnt at the gate yet and was inbound), is still in flight.

6:23 or so, 'CANCELLED'...what in the f'ng hell? The plane was still inbound to ACY. Spirits excuse? 'Weather' between ACY and DTW. I check the weather and there are no delays in PIT/CLE/BUF/CVG/PHL/DTW nothing related to weather delays. There were small maybe 30 mile radius green/yellow spotches scattered around between ACY and DTW, nothing to cancel a flight.

Everyone was furious, because since its 1x daily, Spirit said everyone would be rebooked tomorrow. Yet alone, rebooked tomorrow on a 7PM FLIGHT! Flight '7777' (instead of the normal flight #, 777). Spirit refused to pay for any hotels, NO meal tickets, NO transportation, and the manager was a royal B**** when I asked her a question, she blew me off and walked away.

Unbelievable. I understand that when theres a WX delay, the airline is not responsible. I'm certain however that it was a mechanical delay, or something wrong with the aircraft, but they blamed weather so they wouldnt be liable for anything.

They refused to book on other carriers (not surprisingly)...Delta was done for their ACY-CVG flights for the day, and the only way to get to DTW was via Northwest via PHL, no way i'd make that in time since it was now 7:15PM!

I went back to the boardwalk and stayed at the holiday inn = THANKS, $160 friggin dollars. Yet alone the $25 cab fare. Wake up in the morning, curiously I check the DTW-ACY flight that leaves DTW at 7am. 'CANCELLED', ahaha, WEATHER DELAY, RIGHT?

I was nervous that our ACY-DTW for 7pm was going to be cancelled yet again since the morning (1x daily) DTW-ACY was cancelled. It was 11:30am, I went to Delta.com and paid a last minute far on Delta ACY-CVG-DTW, $215 w/tax.

Quick cab to ACY, $25 again, thanks! Checked in for Delta, Delta flight was on time (CRJ-200) Comair to CVG, Comair CRJ-100 to DTW, all on time, all excellent flights and excellent service via Delta.

I later found out that NKS777 left ACY on time (the regular scheduled one), and that NKS7777 was chartered for 7pm (NKS7777 was a spare aircraft that flew into ACY from DTW, then went back to DTW). Why would they fly a spare, if the aircraft from FLL RON'd because our flight was cancelled? Why didnt they charter it for a morning flight? Exactly - they didnt have an aircraft yet. Just like the DTW-ACY was cancelled because Spirit was short 1 A319, our aircraft, which (supposedly Wx cancellation), was probably a mechanical cancellation.

Also wanted to point out this interesting bit of information: On the day that our NKS777 flight was cancelled because of weather, I want to point this out: All PHL-DTW Northwest & US Air Express flights were on time. Deltas 6pm departure ACY-CVG left on time. Spirit's ACY-DTW flight, whoops, cancelled because of weather.

So much for weather delay. Estimated cost thanks to Spirit Airlines: Over $425. Horrible service, dirty aircraft, never again.

That was the first time I ever flew them (Was curious to try them out, too)...hell I used to think NWA wasnt that great, but after seeing spirit, ahahaha...NWA and the DC-9 is first class.

Thanks to Delta, though, for getting me home safely, on time, with friendly staff, and excellent flights. I could have booked DTW-CVG-ACY & Return on Delta for $30 instead of booking spirit.

As you can tell, I saved $30 by choosing Spirit, only to spend more than $400 in addtional costs via Spirit.

Quoting InTheSky74 (Thread starter): I could hear people in line yesterday all complaining about it and saying that it is ALWAYS like this.

Yet they keep flying the same airline. This sort of complaint is as profound as the famous "I'll never fly on this airline again" line.  

For what it's worth, my little brother likes Spirit between FLL and NAS. I've only flown UP and 3M on this route (good and bad experiences on both), and next week I'll fly MQ, but only because they were cheaper on the dates/times needed than NK.

Quoting Warszawa (Reply 30): Also wanted to point out this interesting bit of information: On the day that our NKS777 flight was cancelled because of weather, I want to point this out: All PHL-DTW Northwest & US Air Express flights were on time. Deltas 6pm departure ACY-CVG left on time. Spirit's ACY-DTW flight, whoops, cancelled because of weather. So much for weather delay. Estimated cost thanks to Spirit Airlines: Over $425. Horrible service, dirty aircraft, never again.

I would take them to small claims court. Get a lawyer involved. Sounds like you have a case.

OK, I am totally neutral on the hating of individual airlines.

I fly out of FLL to DTW fairly regularly. I think the airport itself is too small, not the fault of any individual carrier.

So far, I have used Spirit, Delta, Northwest, and Airtran. The difference as far as crowds are concerned is the day of the week, not the carrier.

When I asked the gate agent for a supervisor, she pointed me towards gate H9 (the Orlando gate) saying "she's down there". I asked for her name, and she said "she's down there". I walked down to gate H9 where a VERY nice gate agent asked what happened, and called the supervisor on the radio who said that she NEVER told her that we could not board the aircraft. At this point, the gate agent had already gone down to close the aircraft door, so it was too late.

That's when I was talking to the agent at H9 and another Spirit agent that said they are constantly complaining to management that quite a few FLL agents are "extremely rude" to passengers.

The supervisor couldn't talk to me directly because she was dealing with irate passengers who were on the now delayed PVD flight.

While walking back up to the (now deserted) ticket counter, that is when I heard/saw many customers at the gates crying/screaming/yelling that they left without them. The police were telling customers to go back to the ticket counter (most of the gate agents just disappeared after the departure) and they told the customers "this happens every day here".

Rob

Quoting Nkops (Reply 4): (except apparently B6 which is equal to God in perfection according to several on here)

It is =]

Quoting Nkops (Reply 15): I don't know what I was thinking.... forgive me please...

You should be sorry ===]]]]]]

Quoting InTheSky74 (Reply 18): But I have been to AirTran, Continental, JetBlue, etc and checkin is NEVER as bad as it is at Spirit.

I fly Spirit a far amount of times and I find that they are great on all aspects but check in also. I was at DTW jsut waiting there. They lady just walked away after the person in front of me and I sat there for like 10 minutes and then the guy in the lane next to me asked if I needed any thing. He was nice but it always takes them a while. I printed the boarding passes online and all we had to do was drop off a bag and it takes them like 5 minutes just to like look at our boarding passes and stare at the computer.

But I like Spirit but their check in needs work.

B6jfk  

My worst recent flight experience was with Spirit, flying Decemeber, 2005 RSW-ORD.

It was on an MD80 that was a flying rattle trap. It was extremely cramped, the cabin was overloaded with carry-on baggage, the seats slanted forward making a comfortable ride impossible.

I fly for a living. From time to time I experience pangs of anxiety. But this was one pang that went on for the duration of the flight. No more Spirit MD80's for me. I guess they're about gone from the fleet anyway, but I was not impressed at all.

i flew fll-acy-dtw nk262/nk777 and had no problems what so ever.....dont know if i encountered a stress free agent but they were all nice from ck-in to boarding.and i was non rev..i feel that if you present your self as stand-offish then you will get the level of service you are expecting....

I fly US all the time and have nothing but great service. I dont know if its NK or its people, but i'd try a diffrent lcc if you werent happy.

MCOflyer

Quoting MCOflyer (Reply 36): I fly US all the time and have nothing but great service. I dont know if its NK or its people, but i'd try a diffrent lcc if you werent happy.

On the contrary to my experience with Spirit (posted above)..I fly AirTran all the time out of FNT...have flown 12 flights with them (maybe like 4-5 roundtrips or so), always excellent service, always on time, and extremely friendly staff at Flint (I usually compliment them when checking in...when other people hear me complimenting the staff they usually chime in and compliment also). To be honest i've never had a bad experience with an airline (NWA, Delta, Air Canada, LOT, plenty more), either the 'normal' flying experience or an excellent experience...until I flew Spirit.