Denied boarding
 

My 17 year old son was recently travelling to Peru to take part in a medical internship. Spirit airlines would not let him board the plane saying he needed a specific notarized permission paper that was downloadable from their site. This paper, they said, was required by the country of Peru. I flew to the airport with a notarized permission paper, and arrived 23 minutes prior to departure. His seat had been given away.

I got a refund from Spirit as they could not book him on another flight for 8 days! However, it cost me $1400 more to book him on American Airlines flight the next day.

I have since found that nowhere does it say he needs such a paper, no other airline requires it, and he was never asked for it upon entry into Peru.

I have contacted their CEO Ben Boldanza several times with no response, and their customer service department merely says they have to follow directives of the agencies governing airlines. They will not respond to my request to show me where it states he needs such a paper, where is the downloadable form he should have filled out, and why did Peru NOT need the paper - nor do any other airlines flying to Peru ask for such a paper.

The volunteer organization he was meeting in Peru had never heard of such a requirement. I believe that Spirit airlines overbook their flights, and that this was a way for them to bump my son! I'm continue to find ways to hold them accountable for my $1400 out of pocket expense.

I just got my credit card statement and Spirit did not, in fact, refund any of the original ticket price!!! So now I am out $2300!!! I am persueing this through the better business bureau and directly with their customer service department.

I called the credit card company, and apparently the credit is on there but it just took a week longer, so at least I do have the original ticket price refunded.

He requires a student visa though and this is straight from the Embassy of Peru:

http://www.consuladoperu.com/general...njerosPeru.php

and arriving 23 minutes before departure will get you denied boarding as Spirit and most other airlines close international check in 1 hour prior to departure time.

He arrived 3 hours before the plane was due to leave. He was only denied boarding because the airline insisted he needed a notarized permission paper. He travelled to Peru the next day on American, no such paper was ever asked when he entered Peru, or asked for by American airlines. Neither did he need any type of visa. He went with an organziation who send 16-18 year old US citizens to Peru all the time, and they knew he did not need the paper. They tried to peruade Spirit to let him on but Spirit said they would hold his seat, which they did not.

A student visa is required only if the passenger is enrolled in a school for a specified period of time. I think that the Spirit personnel may have been confusing Peru with Mexico which does require notarized authorization for minors traveling to Mexico without a parent. Small claims court may be your only solution for compensation.

Thank you for this clarification. I have been trying to get to the bottom of what happened for my own sanity! I'm a very prepared person, and like to have all my ducks in a row. I was mortified to think I had overlooked something this important. Your comment here was very helpful and small claims court is probably the way I will go.