Spirit Pilot Stike

[mistery_cruiser]

Its official. The pilots for Spirit Airlines are on strike. So far, all flights have been cancelled for today.

[okwriter]

First thing I thought when I heard that was "I wonder how many people will miss their cruise?"

[mistery_cruiser]

Or, I am wondering, how many people are coming home from their cruise today or tomorrow and will not have a flight to get home? Surprise!!!!!

[klfrodo]

Or, I am wondering, how many people are coming home from their cruise today or tomorrow and will not have a flight to get home? Surprise!!!!!

 

At least most of these travelers (if they purchased travel insurance before 5/11/2010) will have coverage.

Below is a link from travelguard showing their "strike list" and cutoff dates.

http://www.travelguard.com/customerservice/strikelist/

[PennyAgain]

Those who are returning to find no flights are going to have to pay what is asked for to get flights home and may have to delay one or more days with hotels at their own expense.

 

No other carrier is accepting Spirit's tickets for flights.

[6rugrats]

Or, I am wondering, how many people are coming home from their cruise today or tomorrow and will not have a flight to get home? Surprise!!!!!

 

It should be no surprise to anyone who follows the news.

 

At least most of these travelers (if they purchased travel insurance before 5/11/2010) will have coverage.

Below is a link from travelguard showing their "strike list" and cutoff dates.

http://www.travelguard.com/customerservice/strikelist/

 

I always have travel insurance, but have never had to use it because of a flight cancellation. Even if you have insurance, aren't you still going to have to find a seat on another airline and pay for it yourself and then wait to get reimbursed (depending on the terms of your policy)? That could be tough at FLL or MIA. The people who are the worst off are those who will not make their cruises at all because they can't get there on time.

[janetz]

I never follow the news when I am on a cruise. :) It would be a surprise to me.

[FlyerTalker]

No other carrier is accepting Spirit's tickets for flights.

This is the big issue. And you will have to pay for new tix out of your own funds and be reimbursed later....if a seat is available, if....

[Warm Breezes]

I just got a call from friends who were supposed to fly out of Detroit this AM to San Juan. They are cruising on the Carnival Victory tomorrow. Their flight this morning got canceled due to the Spirit pilot strike. They spent hours trying to rebook on different airlines for their group of 10. They ended up all getting on the same flight tomorrow morning, but they are paying an extra $2000 for their family of 4 to get to San Juan. They also had to re-arrange with their jobs as their flight back had to be pushed back a day. The good news is they planned on arriving a day early so they had time re-arrange their flights. Sure is a hard way to start a vacation though.:( BFF was needing a shot at 8 AM this morning after finally getting everything re-arranged.

[firefly333]

I think all the flights out of Florida were cancelled today too, was hearing about them earlier on FOX. I was wondering who would be impacted.

[DGP1111]

All Spirit Air flights, from all locations, were cancelled today. :eek:

[LHP]

I was wondering how many cruisers this was going to affect.

 

Hubby was trying to get home from Atlanta Thursday. He arrived at 1:15PM for a 3PM flight back home..... found out at 2:30pm that flight had been cancelled due to a maintenance issue...and then the fun began....

 

a one hour flight is all he needed..... 7 attempts ... stand bys that fell through....then a flight at 6:45pm got struck by lightning while on the ground...so that flight got cancelled....more stand bys that fell through...

 

FINALLY he got the last seat on the last flight out of Atlanta that night...ONLY because he was a Platinum Medallion thingy....

 

 

otherwise...it would have been 4PM the next day...

 

he got home after midnight.

 

Always fly in the day before a cruise.

[LHP]

All Spirit Air flights, from all locations, were cancelled today. :eek:

 

10 hours in the Atlanta airport trying to find a seat on a plane with all the flights booked....yes, dear hubby had a wonderful Thursday. :D

[firefly333]

All Spirit Air flights, from all locations, were cancelled today. :eek:

 

Yes, I knew that, they were just interviewing someone in Florida and talking about it earlier ... I bet there is some scrambling today. Makes me worry about flying into Florida next year for Oasis.

[2thesea]

to add to the issue NO other airline will accept Spirit tickets, so all Spririt passenger have to start from scratch :( They can request a refer from Spirit but boy oh boy booking last second on flights that are already over sold not easy and not cheap!

[DGP1111]

I can only imagine what it was like in Fort Lauderdale (Spirit's hub) today. On a good day it can be beyond frustrating at the Spirit counters.

 

90-100% of their reservations team is in The Philippines (Manila) and they only can assist by reading what's on their script. You can actually hear them flipping pages when you ask a clarifying question.

 

And, on occasion, the staff managing the concourse gates can be zero assistance as well. This short video always makes me giggle (as well as shake my head in disbelief) . . . .

.

 

[Debbie42467]

I was suppose to fly to Vegas tonight on Spirit out of Fort Lauderdale. This morning when I knew for sure my flight was cancelled, I found a flight out of West Palm on Delta for this evening. I booked it even though it was almost double the price I paid with Spirit. The plane was coming from Chicago and Chicago was getting hit with storms and the plane was redirected. Delta cancelled my flight because it would be too late when that plane arrives to connect with my Atlanta connecting flight. Long story short I guess it was not meant to be. My room was comped so I'm not losing a hotel deposit, but I purchased Blue Man tickets that are non refundable.

 

I’m on vacation for the next week, maybe I can find a last minute cruise deal. :p

 

Debbie

[firefly333]

I’m on vacation for the next week, maybe I can find a last minute cruise deal. :p

 

Debbie

 

i hope you can find a cruise too, that meets your budget.. bummer.

[gjsmth]

I'm sure there are a lot of folks scambling now to get to PR with Victory cruises. I sure would hate to be the ones that are flying Spirit today or tomorrow for Sunday cruise(s) and I'm sure glad I choose Airtran over Spirit for our Aug. Victory cruise.

Guess this is the perfect example on why to fly out the day before.

[cruzdawg69]

Flying anywhere anymore sucks ! If I can't get in my non UAW built automobile and drive to a port........I'll just stay at home !

[LHP]

Flying anywhere anymore sucks ! If I can't get in my non UAW built automobile and drive to a port........I'll just stay at home !

 

Yes, it does.

 

Hubby has to do it just about every week....but when we are on vacation... we DRIVE. (even with free airfare...that is how much I HATE to fly)

 

After the fun he had on Thursday...he is soooo glad his flight on Monday to New Jersey is a DIRECT FLIGHT....

at least he got upgraded to First Class!!!

[yogimax]

This is tough... on the one hand, the pilots have really caused grief to the public...

 

on the other hand, pilots have major responsibility and deserve a salary worthy of that responsibility.

 

I understand negotiations have been going on for three years.

[Dive Master]

Flying anywhere anymore sucks ! If I can't get in my non UAW built automobile and drive to a port........I'll just stay at home !

 

 

That is exactly how I feel. I know where my luggage is.I know how I wll get around.I know my approximate cost and arrival time.I don't pay a bunch of additional bullsh-t fees to anyone.The airlines can all go out of business as far as I am concerned.

[firefly333]

This is tough... on the one hand, the pilots have really caused grief to the public...

 

on the other hand, pilots have major responsibility and deserve a salary worthy of that responsibility.

 

I understand negotiations have been going on for three years.

 

No one made them accept the job ...and they were being offered salary increases ... if the salary now was ok, then with the increases in this economy it should be enough... I think they should have not walked out like this. Hope they fire the pilots ...as if they could. If it was so easy to find a job at a higher salary with another airline, they would have done so.

 

I personally am against unions though...

[Tapi]

This is tough... on the one hand, the pilots have really caused grief to the public....

 

Spirit Management has caused grief to the public. They've had three years to come up with an acceptable contract with decent work rules and pay scale. Yet they've denied every single proposal. They've been unwilling to negotiate or to listen to common sense. The pilots have been left with no other course of action than to strike (which was approved by a court ruling).

 

Spirit pilots make considerably less money with worse work rules than other airlines operating the same type of equipment. Instead of pointing fingers at these "greedy pilots", people should think about how safe they would feel flying on a plane commaned by someone who is making less money than someone's secretary, and who has been up flying for the last 12 hours with minimum rest by the time they get to operate the flight taking them to their cruise vacation....