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Spirit caves: Airline boss to refund dying veteran's fare
Dying Vietnam veteran Jerry Meekins is getting his money back from Spirit Airlines' tightfisted boss after all. (www.foxnews.com) Más...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
It should NEVER, had needed to come to this for Jerry or any other person. If someone has medical proof, they are unable to fly, it should be an automatic refund.. Insurance or not. Supposedly, airlines offer lower fares for breavement, with proof .. why not refunds with proof ? I will NEVER fly SPIRIT AIRLINES and they will NEVER look good, when they continue to "nickle and dime" their passengers.. It wont be soon enough for a larger operational force to swallow them up.
Well folks, being the President of a truck repair service, and also suffering from crohns disease, I gotta look at it from both sides here, yes I do fly frequently, so when I go to frontiers website to book my flight, I have the option to buy flight interruption insurance,... What 10 or 15 dollars?, if I get up the day of flight, and do not feel capable of making the flight, well a quick " courtesy call to the airline " sure goes a long way,(Frontier has been GREAT about rebooking a later flight, at pretty much the same rate,Thanks Frontier)...and my "flight insurance" kicks in,
But C'mon now, what Pres/CEO is going to expose his business to the kind of ridicule that this man has?
Jerry Meekins,..Thank you for your service to our country,..We all owe you a debt of gratitude for what you have done for our country,..That being said,as a person with a sometimes debilitating disease, I urge you to please have whoever makes your flight arrangements, to click the button for flight insurance,..it will make things much easier for you,..also, wishing you the best in your battle with the cancer.
Ben,Ben,Ben,...Mr.Baldanza,...your Board of Directors has not fired you yet?, WTF were you thinking man?,...your employees, suppliers,and everyone else that benefits from the success of Spirit Airlines, is counting on YOU,...
Dude, when this situation hit your desk,.. the first phone call from you, should have been to Air Methods/Air Life,..to make arrangements to have Mr.Meekins transported under medical supervision,.. (imagine the story that Fox news could have told about you and Spirit airlines),
Heavy, or Hero,..your choice man,...even if he couldn't fly on a medical bird,.. At least you offered to help,...Spirit looks good at the end of the story,... And isn't that what our responsibility as CEO's is all about,..keeping our companies "lookin good"?
Well, Mr.Baldanza, hope there was a lesson learned here,...too bad you and Spirit had to get drug through the ditch,..but all for $197.00 ?.....
But C'mon now, what Pres/CEO is going to expose his business to the kind of ridicule that this man has?
Jerry Meekins,..Thank you for your service to our country,..We all owe you a debt of gratitude for what you have done for our country,..That being said,as a person with a sometimes debilitating disease, I urge you to please have whoever makes your flight arrangements, to click the button for flight insurance,..it will make things much easier for you,..also, wishing you the best in your battle with the cancer.
Ben,Ben,Ben,...Mr.Baldanza,...your Board of Directors has not fired you yet?, WTF were you thinking man?,...your employees, suppliers,and everyone else that benefits from the success of Spirit Airlines, is counting on YOU,...
Dude, when this situation hit your desk,.. the first phone call from you, should have been to Air Methods/Air Life,..to make arrangements to have Mr.Meekins transported under medical supervision,.. (imagine the story that Fox news could have told about you and Spirit airlines),
Heavy, or Hero,..your choice man,...even if he couldn't fly on a medical bird,.. At least you offered to help,...Spirit looks good at the end of the story,... And isn't that what our responsibility as CEO's is all about,..keeping our companies "lookin good"?
Well, Mr.Baldanza, hope there was a lesson learned here,...too bad you and Spirit had to get drug through the ditch,..but all for $197.00 ?.....
Spirt has a nice paint scheme but they are never going to be as cheap as Frontier or JetBlue.
I don't buy the "rules is rules" argument because the so-called rules fly in the face of common sense and public policy.
It is common law that you cannot enjoy unjust enrichment in a transaction. Any seller of scheduled air transportation has a perishable product. If you purchase a ticket and fail to fly for any reason the airline might lose money on that seat. If you buy a non-refundable ticket and hold it to departure, I think the airline has the right to keep the money and the deminimus amounts for not serving you and carrying your weight. If you apply for a refund in advance of the scheduled flight I feel the airline has a duty to attempt to sell that seat. If sold, you should be entitled to a refund, if not sold you should not be refunded.
What Spirit is not telling us is that they often sell non-refundable seats to standby passengers.
There are circumstances beyond the control of the airline that might result in them being unable to operate the flight. Weather, maintenence issues, and crew scheduling could cause a delay, but no compensation is due the passengers. It should be the same for passengers who cannot fly through no fault of their own.
The no refund policy in a medical situation could push an ill passenger to take the flight anyway and possibly create a medical emergency in the air. My son was an unacompanied minor on a non-stop flight from IAD to LAX. I checked FlightAware to judge what time I should arrive to collect him. I saw the plane was landing at LAS. An ill passenger caused the diversion. Several hours later they arrived. The ill man had a non-refundable ticket and caused a plane load of people to be delayed, and the expense of a take off and landing. It was very expensive for United to enforce that policy.
It is common law that you cannot enjoy unjust enrichment in a transaction. Any seller of scheduled air transportation has a perishable product. If you purchase a ticket and fail to fly for any reason the airline might lose money on that seat. If you buy a non-refundable ticket and hold it to departure, I think the airline has the right to keep the money and the deminimus amounts for not serving you and carrying your weight. If you apply for a refund in advance of the scheduled flight I feel the airline has a duty to attempt to sell that seat. If sold, you should be entitled to a refund, if not sold you should not be refunded.
What Spirit is not telling us is that they often sell non-refundable seats to standby passengers.
There are circumstances beyond the control of the airline that might result in them being unable to operate the flight. Weather, maintenence issues, and crew scheduling could cause a delay, but no compensation is due the passengers. It should be the same for passengers who cannot fly through no fault of their own.
The no refund policy in a medical situation could push an ill passenger to take the flight anyway and possibly create a medical emergency in the air. My son was an unacompanied minor on a non-stop flight from IAD to LAX. I checked FlightAware to judge what time I should arrive to collect him. I saw the plane was landing at LAS. An ill passenger caused the diversion. Several hours later they arrived. The ill man had a non-refundable ticket and caused a plane load of people to be delayed, and the expense of a take off and landing. It was very expensive for United to enforce that policy.
Am I the only one tired of some people expecting special treatment for whatever reason? I've lost money on non refundable tickets several times but I didn't cry about it and demand my money back anyway, they tell you before you buy that it is non refundable. It's the price you pay sometimes for being cheap and not paying for a refundable fare.
Any reasonable airline would work to keep the passenger happy, whether in this case, the passenger would die or be around to fly again later.
Im sorry, policy or not, or whether Spirit offers optional insurance or not, the smartest thing to do would have been to just refund the money and be done with it.
This also goes to show everyone that using a travel agent might have been the better choice as the agent can step in (like I do) be an advocate for the passenger if something like this happens. I guess this is something that people that book on the internet have to deal with.....What the big print giveth, the small print taketh away.
If the CEO's objective was to get the airline more exposure with this fiasco, it has brought the WRONG type of attention to the airline.
Spirit Airlines in my opinion has turned into a US version of Ryanair (Ireland). Maybe they should change their name to Ala Carte Airlines...
The general policy in our Travel Agency is to Avoid booking Spirit Airlines for any of our passengers...If our clients insist, we lay it all out, too and including the optional insurance....