[Dsears3]

I am furious at Spirit Airlines.
I bought a RT ticket for $317 in January 2008 for a flight in April. This included a return fare with a higher price due to a nice feature: "A Big Front Seat" (we didn't care, but that was all that was left that day.)

The airfare just dropped today to $222 ($95 less)... for the regular sized seat.
I decided that the $60 online change fee was warranted, since I would net approx $35. I wouldn't do it otherwise.

I entered the change online, but when the final total came up- it was $264.

I called their 800 number.
The rep said the low price has gone up already.
I went online again while we were talking; it was still there. I asked him to check and he verified that the $222. fare was still available.

I told him I was in the middle of processing a change, but did not want to complete it till he could tell me why the lower fare wasn't coming up.

He stuck to that higher price being the only one available when changing, and offered to do the change for me for $70- which is their correct change fee when not going online.
I said I will pay $70 change fee but only if I can get that $222 price.He said he couldn't do that.
I asked for a supervisor.
I was put on Hold.
I stayed on hold 45 minutes.(thankfully on an 800 line and with a speaker phone!)

I hung up and tried again; same run-around, no reason.
Offered to put me through to a supervisor.
After another 20 minutes on hold, I hung up again.

The next person I spoke to gave me their direct Customer Service line. I tried that and when I pressed 3 for Customer Relations, it was busy for 5 hours.
I tried every Voice Mail option- no one answers there. I left two messages; none returned.

I finally called their direct line in Miramar Florida- nearby, and same voice mail choices.
I decided to try different extensions and finally got a human being.
I explained my concern. This person said "that's the rules" .
I said "what rules, where?"
She said in the Terms and Conditions; I told her I was looking at the Terms, and there was nothing there to describe why a price that is available is not available when you Change online.
She said "That's the rules, the price is different; I can't help you."
She said she was a manager and I could go no higher.

I flew Spirit a few times when they first started out; they were Ok, and a good value back then.
Two months ago I was warned by a friend who used to fly Spirit 10 times a year for business. He warned us not to use them anymore.

Now I know why.

[Silent Bob]

So you spent 6 plus hours to try and get 35 dollars back??? No scratch that, 25 dollars because they were gonna charge you a 70 dollar change fee as opposed to 60 dollars. You do know that price can change even in a matter of seconds? I've seen this done on most of the airline's website, also it happens on Orbitz and Yahoo travels. Sometimes you'll see a lower fare and when you go to purchase it the price goes up. It's better to just pay for your ticket and don't look back.

[Dsears3]

No, I did not do it for $35.
I did it because I have been a Customer Service professional for over 25 years, and no matter how little I am paid, nor how busy I am, I NEVER give a blanket No to a customer. (especially when they are right!)

I stayed on the line that long because I feel that strongly that this is NOT good policy NOR good customer service. (I wouldn't have done it if having one line on Speaker Phone impeded my ability to work)

This system and pricing is WRONG- it is deceitful; it is Bait and Switch.
The lower price STILL exists. You don't find out about the higher price till after you go through almost the entire change process.

There is no place in the procedure nor in their Terms and Conditions to state that Change Fares are not the fares noted in their current pricing.

Not one Spirit Customer Service extension nor number was working yesterday- nor today. I assume this is not new from what I've read of others upset with lost luggage or cancelled flights.

If this is how they treat reservations, and how they train their customer service personnel, can you imagine how much better their maintenance staff and crew are trained?

I agree that society today gets what it asks for:
low prices in exchange for automated voice mails systems, ATMs and inferior merchandise made in non-regulated countries.
BUT UNTIL we start to bring this to the attention of the people at the top of these corporations, why should they stop worrying about the bottom line.
It bodes well for NO BUSINESS, from Walmart to EXXON to go for the lowest standard of service.

FYI:
One of the messages I left at a random extension- Marketing- called me back. She started giving me the same "that's the price", "can't do anything about it", until she finally listened and tried to do it herself.
She couldn't explain the discrepancy.
She immediately said she'd pass me to a Customer Relations Manager.

This manager just called and apologized for the error- he said it was a programming mistake- and put in for a $209 voucher (it was for two tickets,not one). While I had to pay an additional $120 fee for the change, I'm not rich, so that $89 is important.

I told him that I appreciated what he had done, and accepted that it was a computer mistake, but hoped that the Reservation Agents and Customer Relations were instructed that saying No, with no option for redress is not a good way to run a business.

He agreed, and said the woman who called me was actually the head of Customer Relations, and while we were speaking, she had just sent out a memo to that effect.

So you see: professionalism and customer service are critical, being a good consumer works. Not just for me in this one incident, but MAYBE just MAYBE, they might even improve their customer responses, whether in the Phillipines or in their South Florida main office.

[Silent Bob]

It's great that you have some resolve, they gave you a voucher. But in my opinion, it is a waste of time. (But it is your time to waste). As I stated in my examples, prices can go up in a split second. Now it wasn't "bad" customer service on their part, they gave you the only answer available to them, obviously you didn't accept it, but that's the truth. But in the end you found resolve, a voucher, and the price you want. What I'm saying is, that kind of persistence, especially spending all that time, simply isn't worth it.

[asbaker]

What phone number (other than 800-772-7117) gets help?

I just waited about 45 minutes and could only get help on 1 or 3 questions. Just got their standard answers on the other 2. If I could get a sypervisor or someone else, maybe I could clear up another problem.

[quote=Dsears3;1203]No, I did not do it for $35.

Not one Spirit Customer Service extension nor number was working yesterday- nor today. I assume this is not new from what I've read of others upset with lost luggage or cancelled flights.

If this is how they treat reservations, and how they train their customer service personnel, can you imagine how much better their maintenance staff and crew are trained?


FYI:
One of the messages I left at a random extension- Marketing- called me back. She started giving me the same "that's the price", "can't do anything about it", until she finally listened and tried to do it herself.
She couldn't explain the discrepancy.
She immediately said she'd pass me to a Customer Relations Manager.

[Dsears3]

Call their main office in Miramar Florida
1-954-447-7965
Try exts: 1711 ,1718,1710
All 3 will rarely help you the first time around, an dyou may have to put up with "that's the way it is" responses at first. But be polite, firm and persistent.
I just heard they are now not only charging for all luggage, and curbside check in, but also for WHICH which seat you choose (aisle and window being more expensive than center seats.
Also be careful when you go through online purchasing that you UNcheck the additional insurance and $9. club.
Good luck.

[asbaker]

Yes they are charging for reserving seats. If you will accept a randomly chosen seat when you check in, there is no charge. Air Tran did that but was very open in its disclosure - when you looked at fares for a particular flight it had columns stating price and what was offered (reserved seat, seat when boarding, etc). Spirit's is not mentioned at all until **after** you pay and move to the page for baggage and seats.

The next disgusting lack of customer service and truth from Spirit - We got an email that luggage prices go up on June 20th and we should book our luggage for the flight (they named the locator for our September flight) on our reservations summary page (a click in the email gets you to the site). The problem is that the choice of luggage does not show up until a certain number of weeks before the flight so I cannot get the lower price. I was on the phone listening to music (choice 4 "other") for over 90 minutes and the !@#$ thing hung up on me. All I get now is a busy signal from any selection, which is what happeded all day the last 3 days.

We did not try the Florida number yet.

Originally Posted by Dsears3

Call their main office in Miramar Florida
1-954-447-7965
Try exts: 1711 ,1718,1710
All 3 will rarely help you the first time around, and you may have to put up with "that's the way it is" responses at first. But be polite, firm and persistent.
I just heard they are now not only charging for all luggage, and curbside check in, but also for WHICH which seat you choose (aisle and window being more expensive than center seats.
.

[4my2girls]

I had booked my reservations through Travelocity which said nothing about baggage fee or advanced seating fees. I happened to find that out by looking for baggage information on Spirits site. Plus my flight was booked before the June 20th start date of baggage fee. This is so ridiculous that I'm just fuming. Each of my ticket cost over $200 and to be charged fees on top of what I believe should be a service for paying for a ticket. Do you think I will get a refund if the fares go lower or if they lose my baggage? Probably not. I would really like to know what else can be done to stop these higher corporations from taking advantage like this.

[Salove]

Spirit doesn't disclose the fact that they charge you for everything under the sun. Especially when they randomly cancel and reschedule you on different flights and have not control over them. I went from a round trip, non-stop flight at $263 a piece to a round trip, 1-stop flight at $425 a piece. On top of that, they could not guarantee the seats I had already chosen and paid for.

I scheduled and flew Airtran just recently. The initial purchase was at a price of $332 round trip, but the next day the tickets came down about a $100. I called them and they gave me a credit voucher for another flight that had to be used within 1 year. I was very satisfied with the results since I fly often. The customer service rep was very polite and helpful, which made my experience wonderful. They also allow one bag free of charge. Their non-acoholic beverages are still free. I now wish they would expand their service to Cancun so I didn't have to rely on another airline where they charge you to look at their plane.

Those that want to defend Spirit apparently haven't been on the side of the fence where they turn a happy event into a nightmare.