[tadesroc]

Wow - what a mistake. Saved a few dollars by booking with Spirit from Boston to Fort Lauderdale. We knew we made a mistake when leaving Boston, customer service was horrible and the seats on the plane were extremely uncomfortable, but at least we made it. Coming home was a different story. Being the Saturday after Thanksgiving we knew it would be busy, but what we didn't realize was how horrible Spirit would be at handling the situation. The lines were out the door while they worked with as few agents as they possibly could - we waited forever for a self service kiosk and then at least 40 minutes for bag dropoff. The service agents did nothing to move along passengers that were running short on time. Then on to TSA, again the lines controlled by a Spirit agent ??? - another 45 minutes.
So guess what happened - of course they closed the gate door on time !! The plane sat at the gate for another 15 minutes, but they wouldn't let us on !! The customer service line was a mile long with passengers heading to multiple locations in the same boat. The Spirit supervisor stayed around long enough to nod his head a few times and then disappeared never to be seen again. When I finally got to an agent - they could get me home Tuesday !!
We booked flights on Jet Blue and got home. Never again.

Spirit is a low budget low class airline !!

[xjcaptain]

So to summarize, there were long lines at the airport on one of the busiest travel weekends off the year. You arrived at the gate late because of this, only to find the horrible airline had left ON TIME. How dare they...So when you say never again, I assume that to mean not allowing enough time at the airport? Also just to clarify, the airlines do not control the security lines in any manner, that its entirely run by the tsa or in some cases contacted security agencies who enforce tsa policies.

[tadesroc]

so to summarize ...
you work for Spirit ! That's the typical attitude of a Spirit employee !!
Thanks for making my case !!

[azstar]

The unpleasant reality of all "ultra low cost carriers" like Spirit is minimum staffing and low paid, often incompetent, employees. Customer service is not a product you're buying with them. Given the fact that all airlines aircraft/leases/rent/fuel costs are similar, the only place the LCC's have a huge cost advantage is cheaper labor. You get what you pay for!

[cortney]

xjcaptain is right. It is one of the busiest travel days of the year. long security lines are ran by the TSA and NOT the airlines (I dont know why people think they are). Even though your plane was still sitting there for 15 minutes at the gate, the paperwork was done. weight and balance was done. to let you on, they would have to redo all the paperwork, and that would cause a delay. then they let you on, but your bags dont make it so you would complain about that. sure, you may have thought you allowed enough time at the airport, but like what was said, its a very busy travel day. I dont always think that "you get what you pay for" is always true. In spirits case, yes, however, the plane leaving on time and you missing it, is not spirits fault, but bad customer service is.

I just worked a flight (charter airline) to the bahamas. we MUST wait for all passengers due to it being a charter. We had people check in AT departure time (WTF!!) had to wait,pilots had to redo all paperwork since we were already told all passengers were onboard. then we had to wait an extra 20 minutes for their bag. they caused an hour delay.

[azstar]

TSA lines are not the airlines responsibility. So, if a passenger has to wait a long time to clear security it's a TSA issue.

However, short staffing and slow processing IS an airline responsibility. It is not uncommon for passengers to wait in line for 1-2 hours on busy days. Is it reasonable to expect passengers to arrive 4 hours early for every flight because the check in counter is not adequately staffed or the airline employees at the counter simply cannot do the job quickly and efficiently?

[cortney]

no. but the OP stated he waited in line at the counter for at least 40 minutes...that IMO is not very long, on a busy travel day. who knows what the problem may have been. agents just slow, computer problems, passenger not wanting to pay for baggage, overweight bags, etc. then he/she states they waited at least another 40 min. to drop off the bags. I have been through FLL on spirit and HIGHLY doubt this. then 45 min. for security...this i can believe. took me almost that long to get through the crew line on a non busy travel day. airlines (especially in this economy) aren't going to spend more to train people for the holidays or are they going to put more employees on. should they? hell yes! but we all know they wont, and the customer suffers.