[UsuallyHappy]

These are the emails I have recently submitted to Spirit Airlines (in addition to calling them on the phone).

First complaint email on 2/27 @ 10:58pm:

My flight to Chicago was cancelled due to weather. I was NOT INFORMED of this cancellation. I only found out by checking the flight status myself, which was changed too close to departure time to make other plans. I called customer service and the ONLY thing that the representative told me in the 30 minutes I was on the phone, was that he could put me on a flight 2 days later, after I told him 5 minutes into the conversation that this was unacceptable. At the counter Spirit airlines said that the only option was a flight to Ft. Lauderdale, FL, where we would need to spend the night in the airport or pay for a taxi/hotel at our own expense and then fly out around 9 in the morning. There was no assistance in talking to other airlines about putting passengers on their planes with available seats. Plus, Southwest was flying to Chicago, why not Spirit!? I believe that the real reason was that you did not want to fly later than midnight. It is not really due to weather, since other Tier 1 airlines are flying out. It is not even snowing in Chicago... Not a single person was sympathetic or assisted with finding flights on other airlines. Awful customer service, neglectful of customers. I pity the people who ended up going to Ft Lauderdale. (I saw them in line and they looked miserable) I ended up paying twice the price to fly on Southwest flight 573. The people at Southwest have always been great, sympathize with the customers' plight and are actually human. Spirit should have delayed rather than canceled the flight, or actively worked with other airlines to help their customers.

(Note: There was no bad weather on the way to Chicago. Neither in the air nor where we landed. Spirit just didn't want to use their resources to allow a delayed flight. It was not due to current weather conditions, for sure.)

Second complaint email:

I just wrote you a long email last night (2/27) about the horrible treatment myself and other passengers received when our flight was canceled. I received no notification (not in my inbox and not in my spam) that the flight was cancelled. You're going to say that I did, but I did not, and I did not delete it either. I was appalled at how no one lifted a finger nor suggested a reasonable alternate solution to get to Chicago....but this is NOT why i am emailing now. No, that was just the beginning. NOW I'm emailing because I have just spent 3.5 HOURS ON THE PHONE WITH SPIRIT!!! ...and am still being told I cannot even get the document that is REQUIRED by the travel insurance company stating that my flight was canceled due to weather!! How DARE you create a system that allows a flight to be canceled, and then not send any proof to the customer to be able to even claim for travel insurance!! In my 3.5 hours I was disconnected 3 times. I listened to maybe a half hour worth of menus that had nothing to do with my question and would NOT connect me to a live representative. I spoke with someone finally, who seemed to be helping and then put me on hold for about 30 minutes, finally ending in the call being dropped. And of course you don't allow outbound phone calls to prevent this!! Then I talked to the next person, who also sent me the wrong document (the confirmation for my completed flight rather than the cancellation email), just like the first guy (no listening skills whatsoever despite the fact that I repeated what I needed about 6 times!) I spoke with a guy named BRUCE PARKER who after 30 minutes said he could do nothing and said "sorry". I asked to speak to his supervisor and he said "no problem" and then put me on hold for 20 minutes until I gave up and had to call back yet again! Again the person did not help and suggested I WRITE A LETTER (by postal service!) TO A SECOND LEVEL CUSTOMER SERVICE and they would then call be back!! HA!! 3+ hours of incompetent nonsense. I have several years of experience working in administrative support and I have never encountered such a badly run company with such incompetent and apathetic employees. Reform yourself before you kill someone (or more people as the case may be). And stop taking business from great airlines like Southwest, who hire caring humans and communicate with their customers and have great customer service.

Oh, and I will be posting my experience on review sites online.

(Note: My comments about Southwest are just based on my personal experience over several years. When I got to the desk for my new flight, SW had boxes of cookies and crackers out for the people whose flights were delayed.)