trigfunctions
Contributor
Hi all - I wanted to post about my recent TERRIBLE experience with Spirit airlines. I'm posting here because so many of us live in South Florida and may consider using Spirit. I have flown Spirit often and usually have good luck, but this time their website has ripped me off significantly. When I called their customer service number I was told that they would not correct the problem. I am posting here and sending this to Spirit also. I will be contacting my credit card company as well. I will also post whatever additional response I get from Spirit, if any. To make a long story short, DON'T TRUST THE SPIRIT WEBSITE!!!
Last year I took a round trip flight from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. The return flight was overbooked, and I voluntarily got bumped in exchange for a voucher good for a round trip ticket.
I used the voucher to book another round trip ticket from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. The voucher covered the cost of the ticket ($180.26) and I had to pay $50.92 in taxes and fees. My travel plans changed, so I went on the Spirit website to see if I could change the ticket. I understood that I would have to pay a $100 change fee, but I figured I would still come out $80.26 ahead. I explored several options and saw that the Spirit website would let me change the ticket to a completely different itinerary, so I used the website to change the ticket into a round trip ticket from Fort Lauderdale to Cancun.
The website showed that the price of the Cancun flight plus taxes and fees was $123.17. Adding the $100 change fee made the price $223.17. I entered my credit card number and the website showed the total price of the flight ($223.17) showed the subtraction for the voucher ($180.26), showed a SUBTRACTION of $71.48 for some reason, and showed that NOTHING was being charged to my card and no balance was due. Sounds great - an even swap for the ticket and I'm happy. My girlfriend then went online and bought the exact same ticket for $123.17 total.
When the confirmation e-mail came, it was very different than what the screen showed. This is an exact cut-and-paste from my confirmation e-mail:
-----------------------------------
Fare + FET: 71.48
Travel Taxes and Fees: 123.17
Other Fees: 100.00
------------------
Total Fare Price: 294.65
Voucher : -180.26
Visa : -223.17
Voucher Adjustment : 108.78
------------------
Balance Due: 0.00
FET = 7.5% Federal Excise Tax
-------------------------------------
WHOA! Very different than what was on the website. There is NO WAY I would have accepted this charge if it had shown that on the website. To make things stranger, when I checked my credit card statement on line the next day, it showed I was charged $172.25 for the ticket, not $223.17. Something is amiss.
I called customer service and after 45 minutes of getting the runaround, I was told that you can't use a voucher on-line and that they would not correct the problem or change anything in any way. Therefore, I have paid $172.25 plus the original $50.92 I paid in taxes ($223.17 total) for a ticket priced at $123.17 AND I have lost the original round trip ticket voucher. Talk about getting screwed! And remember, I got the voucher when I volunteered to get bumped on an overbooked flight so that Spirit could give someone else my seat and most likely make more money on that flight. This is how they treat good, repeat customers who do them a FAVOR?!
I am outraged. I think I should get my money back on my credit card AND some kind of compensation from Spirit for having to spend hours (yes, it really does take hours to deal with their customer service staff) trying to correct their mistakes. I will post whatever response I get from Spirit, but most of us know how awful their customer service system is. If anyone has any ideas for how to help me resolve this, please let me know. And most of all, DON'T TRUST THE SPIRIT WEBSITE!!!
Last year I took a round trip flight from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. The return flight was overbooked, and I voluntarily got bumped in exchange for a voucher good for a round trip ticket.
I used the voucher to book another round trip ticket from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago. The voucher covered the cost of the ticket ($180.26) and I had to pay $50.92 in taxes and fees. My travel plans changed, so I went on the Spirit website to see if I could change the ticket. I understood that I would have to pay a $100 change fee, but I figured I would still come out $80.26 ahead. I explored several options and saw that the Spirit website would let me change the ticket to a completely different itinerary, so I used the website to change the ticket into a round trip ticket from Fort Lauderdale to Cancun.
The website showed that the price of the Cancun flight plus taxes and fees was $123.17. Adding the $100 change fee made the price $223.17. I entered my credit card number and the website showed the total price of the flight ($223.17) showed the subtraction for the voucher ($180.26), showed a SUBTRACTION of $71.48 for some reason, and showed that NOTHING was being charged to my card and no balance was due. Sounds great - an even swap for the ticket and I'm happy. My girlfriend then went online and bought the exact same ticket for $123.17 total.
When the confirmation e-mail came, it was very different than what the screen showed. This is an exact cut-and-paste from my confirmation e-mail:
-----------------------------------
Fare + FET: 71.48
Travel Taxes and Fees: 123.17
Other Fees: 100.00
------------------
Total Fare Price: 294.65
Voucher : -180.26
Visa : -223.17
Voucher Adjustment : 108.78
------------------
Balance Due: 0.00
FET = 7.5% Federal Excise Tax
-------------------------------------
WHOA! Very different than what was on the website. There is NO WAY I would have accepted this charge if it had shown that on the website. To make things stranger, when I checked my credit card statement on line the next day, it showed I was charged $172.25 for the ticket, not $223.17. Something is amiss.
I called customer service and after 45 minutes of getting the runaround, I was told that you can't use a voucher on-line and that they would not correct the problem or change anything in any way. Therefore, I have paid $172.25 plus the original $50.92 I paid in taxes ($223.17 total) for a ticket priced at $123.17 AND I have lost the original round trip ticket voucher. Talk about getting screwed! And remember, I got the voucher when I volunteered to get bumped on an overbooked flight so that Spirit could give someone else my seat and most likely make more money on that flight. This is how they treat good, repeat customers who do them a FAVOR?!
I am outraged. I think I should get my money back on my credit card AND some kind of compensation from Spirit for having to spend hours (yes, it really does take hours to deal with their customer service staff) trying to correct their mistakes. I will post whatever response I get from Spirit, but most of us know how awful their customer service system is. If anyone has any ideas for how to help me resolve this, please let me know. And most of all, DON'T TRUST THE SPIRIT WEBSITE!!!