You may recall that earlier this week, bottom-dollar carrier Spirit Airlines launched an e-mail campaign to convince customers that the new FAA regulations requiring truth in airfare advertising was really just a ruse by the federal government to hide taxes and tax hikes in airfares. Well, that didn’t go over well with Senator Barbara Boxer of California, who threw off the gloves and sent a bare-knuckles letter to Spirit in response. [More]
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Spirit Airlines Says Posting Full Airfares Is Government's Way Of Hiding Taxes
By 1.24.12
In recent years, the Dept. of Transportation has been cracking down on airlines, especially discount carriers, for advertising airfares that don’t actually represent what consumers will end up paying. With the latest round of rule changes having just kicked in, low-budget airline Spirit is fighting back, telling its customers that this is all about the government trying to hide higher taxes in airfares. [More]
Spirit Airlines Fined $50K For Misleading Tweets
By 11.21.11
The Dept. of Transportation rules about airfare transparency don’t just apply to carriers’ websites and ads, but also to their Twitter feed. Just ask Spirit Airlines, which was slapped with a $50,000 fine for Tweets touting its $9 airfares. [More]
It Could Now Cost You Over $400 To Check A Bag On Some Flights
By 9.20.11
Fees for checked bags vary wildly, from absolutely nothing to arm-and-a-leg-and-an-ear. And according to a new round-up of fees from the various carriers, you might need to throw another limb in there if you’re checking an oversize bag on your international flight. [More]
An Interview With The Fee-Happy CEO Of Spirit Airlines
By 7.14.11
Low cost, no-frills Spirit Airlines takes heat from people annoyed with how it charges a fee for everything and for its crass and tasteless ads that capitalize on scandals and tragedies in the news. We’ve dished some out ourselves. But it’s hard not to walk away from reading this AP interview with its CEO and business model mastermind Ben Baldanza without some new respect for the guy. For one, he turned around a money-losing airline and it’s been profitable ever since. And at least this airline is upfront about how they’re gonna give it to you. [More]
Spirit Airlines To Charge $5 To Print Your Boarding Pass For You
By 6.21.11
Bottom-dollar carrier Spirit Airlines is trying very hard to become the Ryanair of the U.S., announcing that it will soon begin charging travelers $5 to have a boarding pass printed by a Spirit staffer at the airport. [More]
Spirit Airlines Adds Fee For Not Paying Your Baggage Fees Far Enough In Advance
By 3.30.11
Perhaps upset that its decision to begin charging fees for carry-on bags was not enough to make into this year’s Worst Company In America bracket, the fee-happy folks at Spirit Airlines have begun making their case for next year by adding a surcharge for passengers who wait until 24 hours before departure to pay the airline’s base fees for checked and carry-on bags. [More]
Spirit Airline Ad Riffs On Sheen Meltdown
By 3.4.11
Spirit Airlines has another tasteless email promotion, this time riffing off the crazy phrases Charlie Sheen has been spewing in his latest media meltdown. Unlike their previous ones that made jokes about the BP oil spill, muff-diving and M.I.L.Fs (“many islands, low fares” – ahem), this one does not make me want to punch them in the face. So kudos on that, guys. [More]
Who Made Consumer Reports' First-Ever Naughty & Nice List?
By 11.22.10
While Santa and his pointy-eared, non-union laborers toil away at the North Pole, the editors of our more famous sibling publication Consumer Reports have compared their notes on a wide variety of companies’ policies on everything from guarantees to fees to refunds and distilled it down to the best and worst of the lot in their first-ever Naughty & Nice Holiday Shopping List. [More]
Is Spirit Airlines' Refund Policy Heartless?
By 10.21.10
We recently received two very different stories of people who had booked tickets on discount carrier Spirit Airlines. One involves a terrible family tragedy and the other occurred when a fading formality turned into a red tape nightmare, but in the end they both ended up facing the stone-faced (and possibly stone-hearted) Spirit refund policy. [More]
Spirit Airlines Spoofs JetBlue Slide-Jumper With "Don't Be Blue" Coupon
By 8.13.10
We’ll give it to Spirit Airlines — they know how to get attention with their e-mail coupons. First their was the MILF Sale, and then the MUFF Diving promo, and of course this summer’s Check Out the Oil On Our Beaches deal. Now the yucksters have turned their focus on last Monday’s JetBlue flight attendant flip-out. [More]
Spirit Airlines Wants To Charge You For Talking To A Human
By 8.3.10
Yesterday, we wrote about how the CEO of Spirit Airlines thinks he’s doing consumers a favor by charging for carry-on bags. Now, Big Ben Baldanza is saying that he wants to start charging passengers for the right to talk to a real human being at the airport. [More]
Spirit CEO: Carry-On Fees Are A "Consumer Benefit"
By 8.2.10
In terms of public relations, 2010 hasn’t exactly been a banner year for Spirit Airlines. First, they ticked people off by announcing they would begin charging up to $45/bag for carry-on luggage, then they introduced “pre-reclined” seats. They were shut down for about a week because of a strike, and then there was the ill-advised “check out the oil on our beaches” promo. But the company’s CEO doesn’t understand why travelers aren’t lining up to thank him. [More]
Spirit Airlines Launches "Check Out The Oil On Our Beaches" Promo
By 6.22.10
Spirit Airlines is known for pushing its bottom-scraping fees with crass emailed promos, but usually they just stick with dorky sex puns. Now they’re branching out into sociopolitical commentary with their latest “Check Out The Oil On Our Beaches” promotion that leverages the BP oil spill in comedy and marketing gold. [More]
Spirit Airlines Flights Resume Friday, Offers Everyone $50 Off
By 6.16.10
Spirit Airline flights, grounded since the beginning of a 5-day pilot strike, could will resume Friday, after the pilots union and the airline reached a tentative agreement following 26 straight hours of negotiation. In its typically tongue-in-cheek fashion, coinciding with the announcement was a “Strikingly Low Fares” promotion offering everyone $50 off new tickets plus 5,000 bonus miles. [More]
Spirit Airlines Pulls Plug On Thursday's Flights
By 6.15.10
The Spirit Airlines pilot strike continues on with no immediate end in sight. It’s only early Tuesday afternoon and the airline has already opted to cancel all flights scheduled for Thursday. [More]
Customers Remain Stranded As Spirit Cancels Wed Flights
By 6.14.10
The South Florida Sun Sentinel says that Spirit Airlines has canceled its Wednesday flights, which will be the 5th consecutive day that the airline has not flown due to a pilot strike. [More]
Spirit Airlines Introduces "Pre-Reclined" Seats
By 4.21.10
While everyone’s been raising a hoot and a holler about Spirit Airlines’ recent decision to begin charging for carry-on bags, the budget carrier has quietly been rolling out planes with “pre-reclined” seats. At least you don’t have to worry about being chided by a flight attendant to sit up while the plane prepares to land. [More]
