The next hidden fee – Spirit Airlines to charge a fee for buying a ticket?

by Scott Carmichael on

Nope – this is not an April fools post. Spirit Airlines, one of the cheapest of the US low cost carriers is working behind the scenes to introduce a “passenger usage fee” which is just a snazzy way of describing a fee to cover the costs of you buying a ticket.

That’s right – Spirit Airlines is going to charge you, in order to charge you. The fee is rumored to be $5 or $10, and will apply to any booking made anywhere other than the Spirit Airlines ticket desk at your airport.

The whole thing sounds like a joke gone bad, but it is actually the result of negotiations with the Department of Transportation.

Spirit had initially launched a whole lineup of ridiculous fees last year, including what they called a “natural occurrence interruption fee”; a $2.50 fee to help recover the costs involved with storms and other weather related incidents. The DOT was not amused, and Spirit was handed a $40,000 fine.

Spirit clearly learned their lesson, because this time they are negotiating with the DOT how to implement these new fees. One area of concern is whether Spirit will be forced to include the fee in all their advertising, or whether they can keep it hidden until the last moment, usually when you and I pull out our credit cards. The end result may be that they need to advertise it on their own site, but that third party booking sites won’t be forced to mention it until the last page of your booking process.

In my opinion, the whole fee process is just becoming silly – yes, we consumers are always looking for nice cheap tickets, but we are not entirely stupid. When a $100 ticket becomes $200 after all the fees and taxes, we know we are not getting a good deal. Fingers crossed that the DOT keeps us in mind when they finally approve this new fee racket.

Check out these stories from the airport checkpoint!

Spirit Airlines staff fed up being called DD MILF’S by their employer

by Scott Carmichael on

The hard working cabin crew at Spirit Airlines are fed up – they are annoyed that their boss is inviting passengers to check out their DD’s, and asking people to come book a “MILF”.

For those that missed out on a “movie classic”, MILF is a reference from American Pie, and the abbreviation means “Mother I’d like to F**K”.

That’s right – Spirit is using that cheeky reference as a way to get passengers on their low cost flights. In the world of Spirit Airlines, MILF means “Many Islands Low Fares”, a reference to their $9 island flights.

Oh, and DD? It doesn’t refer to the breast size of their staff, it’s just a way of saying “deep discounts”.

Still, the cheesy innuendo has become so much of an issue that the staff have asked their union to force Spirit to pull the series of ads.

Another hot issue is ad placement – Spirit began selling ad space on tray tables, cups and napkins. The next item in line for ads was the staff apron which has become a placard for Bud light, and the crew is fed up with it.

Union reps claim that flight attendants will have a hard time telling drunk passengers that they will be cut off from booze sales, when they are walking around as walking beer commercials – and I happen to agree with that.

Of course, the airline says the initiatives help the company grow, and secure jobs, but there have to be better ways to make a few bucks, especially if it is annoying your staff this much.

(Via: Foxnews.com, image from Zazzle.com)

Spirit Airlines attempts to collect a cancellation fee off flight 1549 passengers

by Scott Carmichael on

OK folks – it is no secret that airlines use fees and rules to increase their bottom line. If they mess up, you lose, if you mess up, you lose. Either way, the airline always manages to come out on top. And never has that been more clear than in the case of Rob and Jeff Kolodjay.

Rob and Jeff were scheduled to fly from La Guardia to Charlotte on a Spirit Airlines flight. When that flight was canceled, they were rebooked onto US Airways flight 1549.

Of course, we all know what happened next – naturally none of that can be blamed on Spirit, but when Rob called them to cancel his return tickets, the company representative insisted that he charge them a $90 cancellation fee.

That’s right – even after being put on a flight that ended in the water, Spirit stuck to their rule books and demanded more money.

Of course, all worked out in the end when the story hit the press. Once Rob told his story on the local Fox news affiliate, Spirit Airlines issued a full refund. It’s amazing what a bit of really bad PR can do.

Fox61.com, via Consumerist.com

Spirit Airlines to sell ad space on overhead bins

by Grant Martin on

The era of in flight advertising is upon us, spearheaded by our friendly do-anything-for-a-buck carrier, Spirit Airlines. The airline known for its oft lewd fare sale names (see: MILF sale) recently started selling ad space on its tray tables, overhead bins and even, as The Crankyflier reports, on their garbage bags. I do wonder how much it costs to advertise on a garbage bag.

Apparently their first partner, The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism will begin running ads today.

Something about the busyness and clutter of in flight advertising doesn’t sit right with me. It’s already stressful enough being stuffed into an aluminum tube shoulder to shoulder with two hundred other people only to be treated like crap. Now, in addition to being uncomfortable, hungry and thirsty, you now get bombarded with advertisements. Sounds like a great recipe for misery.

But as Spirit’s CEO Ben Baldanza once eloquently pointed out, passengers will do anything to save a few cents. If revenues from these sales case ticket prices to be one dollar more competitive, maybe passenger loads will actually go up.

[I was on the fence about whether or not to post this article until I saw the ridiculous, ridiculous photo that Brett at The Cranky Flier put together formerly illustrating this concept. You sir, are ridiculous.]

Calling Spirit Airlines could lead innocent customers to phone sex

by Jeffrey White on

A few days ago Grant posted about Spirit Airlines’ move to start charging for any seat reservation, including middle seats.

Barbara from Detroit was less than happy to learn about these seat charges, and recently called Spirit to complain.

As she recounts to the Consumerist, her first attempt to reach customer service resulted in talking to a representative based somewhere in Asia with a shaky understanding of American geography — Michigan? Where’s Michigan? She asked for a better customer service number, and the representative gave her…a phone sex line.

“I was more than startled,” she said.

I bet.

Barbara did eventually get to another customer service agent, who promptly gave her another 800 (or 900?) number, where she was kept on hold for more than 30 minutes.

At least with the phone sex line she would have had someone to talk to….