A quick search for past posts about Spirit Airlines here on Gadling shows not much more than negative news.
Sadly for Spirit, today’s news is no different. The low cost carrier was handed a $375,000 fine by the Department of Transportation for the way it treats its passengers.
The fine is a record, but the violations also appear to be pretty nasty. They include:
- False fare advertising
- Failure to provide compensation on oversold flights
- Failure to provide baggage compensation claims in a reasonable time frame
- Failure to accept liability for missing baggage items
- Failure to retain copies of customer complaints
- Failure to file customer complaint reports
Spirit Airlines blames their “growing pains” for all these issues, and insists that they are a thing of the past. Of course, when you are selling $9 tickets, you are bound to have cut some corners here and there.
As the lowest cost carriers move towards the “service not included” methodology, customers are always going to find something worth complaining about. Whether or not the issues are indeed a thing of the past remains to be seen, and I’m sure the DOT will be keeping a close eye on their operations.
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