[ninimyers]

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.