Spirit Airlines' disastrous customer service week

AP

(MoneyWatch) COMMENTARY It seems lately that Spirit Airlines can do no right.

The airline that promotes itself as the "ultra low-cost carrier" is already well-known for its exhaustive menu of extra fees (by rough count, over 100 possible individual surcharges, nevermind the endless combinations) that can easily exceed the base fare. And last week, Spirit announced that it was raising the fee for carry-on bags to as much as $100 each way. Pay if you check it, pay if you don't. Seemed like a late April Fool's joke.

Soon after, the airline refused to refund the ticket of a dying veteran who found out after buying his ticket that he was not medically cleared to fly. That took me from incredulous and bemused, to offended and curious about whether the company was organizationally insane.

The company line is that its fares are so incredibly low (some are, some aren't) that customers need to accept being charged for "optional" (read: essentially all) services on an a la carte basis, and also must understand that its refund rules need to be strictly, inflexibly applied to all travelers.

The problem with Spirit's fee argument is that the extra-charge items make it virtually impossible for the majority of fliers to travel on the published fare. Even if you can find one of the "dirt-cheapest" fares, you'd have to travel without luggage -- any luggage -- in a seat chosen by the airline, with no snack or drink, to actually get that fare. That's like a restaurant saying you can get a $2.00 steak, but with no plate, silverware or napkin -- sure, it's a steak and you can eat it, but it's not a normal or realistic scenario and therefore, in my opinion, it falls under the category of come-on pricing.

If the deeply-discounted fare were based on even the most bare-bones "real" travel scenario (say, a traveler with just one carry-on suitcase), it would approach being credible and acceptable. Or, as I suggested in an earlier column, it could publish pricing based on a realistic, typical trip, and allow customers to deduct anything they don't want or need. If a flier wants to travel luggage-free and thirsty in the last middle seat, better she should have the option to make those choices and reduce her fare, than to be offered an unlikely price and be slammed with a laundry list of fees. Same result for the airline, but less offensive to sensibility and more customer-empowering. If you want to eat steak off the table with your face, the unlikely choice to opt-out of utensils should be yours.

Moving on to the topic of the refused refund, the airline initially (and unapologetically) stood its ground on the rules, despite the extreme and unusual circumstances of a terminally-ill customer being told by a doctor that he couldn't fly, two weeks after buying his ticket. Even if you don't think that combat veterans deserve a little extra consideration from all of us (I do), you have to be soulless to find it unfair of a company to make an exception in a case like this. The airline seemed to think that if it did, anarchy would ensue.

So Spirit decided to avoid the risk of ticking off a few people and infuriated many. The web veritably exploded with consumer fury. A Facebook page set up to protest the company's actions grew from 700 to 30,000 fans in a week. Calls were made for the ouster of the CEO. Under this enormous pressure -- and in my opinion, only because of the backlash, not because it recognized the error of its ways -- the company relented. Spirit refunded the money and made a donation to the veteran's favorite charity, though it did so while still explaining and defending its policies. It's like a judge telling a jury to disregard a comment; the bell can't be unrung, the damage was done.

Philosophically, I agree that the less you pay for something, the less you should expect. Business is business, consumers have choices, and if they choose to buy cut-rate products they should set their expectations accordingly (to quote the movie Airplane, "they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into..."). Companies have a right and responsibility to make money, and as long as they honestly and accurately represent what they are selling, they have met their most basic obligation to customers. I also agree that major company policies should be enforced as consistently as possible.

But I don't believe in promoting your company based on pricing that virtually no customer will actually get. Or standing on ceremony, rules and policies when it is so clear that it's a bad decision that will annoy, offend and alienate the vast majority of your customers.

This is a classic lesson in not seeing the forest for the trees when it comes to dealing with customers. Spirit has every right to charge disclosed fees, and it has every right to enforce published policies. The company is doing nothing legally or ethically wrong. It is just being stupid. And now the very wallets that the airline claims to look after are speaking against it.

Doing things by the book is not always the same as doing the right thing.

[Mike_112b]

Michael,

Thanks for putting this article together. I would like to share my story from this past weekend with you. Typically, I don't do this but I don't want people to make the same mistake that I did in deciding to fly this airline. I did fly Spirit last year to the Bahamas from Orlando and decided to do try it again this past weekend reluctantly. My fiancee and I had a once in a lifetime experience to see Kenny Chesney live in the Bahamas at a small concert. Spirit Air's policy debacle started after we decided to book. The baggage and seat fees did pile up at the end where it made no sense to fly on this airline. Flying this airline before I should have remembered that. However the poor customer service and cloudy disclosure of fees was just beginning. Our flight from Orlando connected through Ft. Lauderdale and we decided to see if we could stay in Ft. Lauderdale on our way back home from the Bahamas to attend a high school graduation of my fiancee's sister. We felt like doing the right thing and cancel our seat however Spirit Airlines wanted $125 for each of us to cancel our short inexpensive flight to do this. After being extrememly dissatisfied we decided to keep our flights the way they were. After expressing my dissatisfaction the rep on the phone tried to twice get me to sign up for promotional offers. Our schedule departure date was Thursday May 24th. On Wednesday night at 11pm we received a call that our flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Nassau had been cancelled due to mechanical problems the next day. The next available flight out was Saturday. After voicing my displeasure I requested that they find another airline to get us down to Nassau on. Another one of there joyful and customer services policies came into play at this point. They don't help with booking other airlines regardless of the situation. To throw some humor on top of this situation they did offer us each a $50 voucher after cancelling our flight but only with the restrictions of "must be booked by July 6th and can only be used on base fares and not towards any fees or surcharges." Way to throw a little salt on the wound Spirit. My recommendation to anyone looking to find an airline to fly is to stay away from this one. While the fares look enticing the experience is not. Don't expect any flexibility, cleanliness, or cost savings. Pay the extra money upfront because if you don't you will pay in the end and may not even make it to your desired destination. This was certainly not the once in a lifetime experience we were expecting and hope that no one else will make the same mistake we did.

[Nelvis66]

"This is the FILTHIEST, rudest and most arrogant Airline in service. Hope you can help us make a difference! "SHOCKING PHOTOS! CLICK LIKE and get informed! http://www.facebook.com/BoycottSpiritAirlines""

[Hollyberry20]

Oh, but there's the beauty of it: The same small bag that would fit under the seat of any other airline NO LONGER DOES BECAUSE SPIRIT HAS SHOVED THEIR SEATS 5" CLOSER TO EACH OTHER. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Gotcha!

[Hollyberry20]

After being duped into joining Spirit Air's "$9 Fare Club" we are simply trying to get out. Today I was informed by "Mindy 63133" that "Regretfully, I cannot cancel Mr. C____'s Membership without him emailing in. If Mr. C____ would like his membership cancelled, I would encourage him to write in requesting it to be cancelled."

So he e-mailed to cancel the membership. The message he got back was "Your recent incident update was from an email address not associated with the incident. In an effort to maintain the security of information, we cannot update the incident using this email address. If you are the incident owner and your email address has changed, or you want to be able to update the incident using this email account, please update your contact information using the following link, then resubmit your update."

They want MORE information from us just to get out of their system. No freakin' way!!

Next time I'm in the airport I'm going to follow their pitch for their Mastercard (which we didn't fall for, thankfully) by reading pages 3 and 4 of the agreement - which they conveniently don't have on their clipboards OUT LOUD. That's the part that details the 30% interest charges and the $60 annual fee even if you never use the card. Oh, and that's in exchange for 6 "free tickets" to the Caribbean after a "qualified purchase." HA! Wait til they try to shut this Grandma up.

[ShepHyken]

If there is a lesson that we can take away from the Spirit Airlines debacle, it would be summed up in the last line of Michael Hess's excellent article: Doing things by the book is not always the same as doing the right thing. To get more specific... Empower employees to make good decisions. Let there be guidelines versus rigid policies. Hire the right people that are capable of making good decisions.

Regarding their pricing and up-charges for checked baggage, carry-on baggage, etc., the customer will ultimately decide if they want to play by Spirit's rules. That said, just being a low cost carrier will not be a good long term strategy. There are some customers that will buy just on price. However, many of them want and expect good service. And, when they don't get it, the customer will find another airline that gives them competitive pricing and much better service. Can you say, "Southwest." (I knew you could!)

[ariz_1944]

I WOULD WALK OR HITCH-HIKE BEFORE I WOULD EVER SET FOOT ON ONE OF This "Airline?" FLIGHTS!! Yep I am A Ex GI!!!

[twmat311]

I saw the CEO's interview, and if you step only a little into crazy-world, he sounded really logical - but businesses usually consider good will and reputation as real assets, and he was absolutely destroying his on the air.
Yes, his policy does a service to those who fly like I might use a car or bike (just ship your luggage ahead), but mishandling what doesn't have to become a high visibility issue can cost you 100x what you profit. I wonder how many cases like this get handled "off the radar" and save everybody some lost expense.

[bobnjersey]

[Doing things by the book is not always the same as doing the right thing.]
----------------------------------------------
or said another way ... there is a difference between what you 'can' do ... and what you 'should' do.

[carol27--2008]

I recently purchased tickets for my husband and me to travel (on different days) to Las Vegas. I'm going on business and he is joining for a couple days afterwards. I had never heard or booked with Spirit before but loved the pricing. However, by the time I added all of the "amenities" I wanted (just basics like an assigned seat and one checked bag), I didn't noticed (until too late) that the price was actually HIGHER than traditional carriers! Still, I accept that this was my own fault. However, after booking my husband he later discovered that he could get away a couple days earlier to join me so I needed to change his ticket. I found a couple of references on the website about change fees but couldn't find ANYWHERE that listed what they were (and I spent over an hour looking through their FAQs and doing site searches). All I could find was a mention that if the fare is different you pay the additional (and there seemed to be a mention that if it was less you would get a credit, although it was kind of vague). Since I know Southwest doesn't charge change fees, I thought maybe this was the case with Spirit too. Before I went through with the change I decided I HAD to call them to ask... Oh yes, there IS a change fee... $105 -- or $125 if you change the ticket on the phone). Now, this doesn't seem like a HUGE amount until you realize that a one way ticket is only $68!!! So, we're not changing the ticket, we're just buying a one way for him to use outbound and will use the other ticket as a return only (the agent assured me that this is doable and that the return ticket won't be cancelled if we don't use the outbound leg... although I"m very nervous about it).

I will not be using Spirit again after this trip and (as a travel agent) I certainly won't be recommending it to any of my clients. They just feel very slimy to me. Travel should be FUN, you shouldn't have to be watching your back every second and that's exactly how dealing with Spirit has made me feel.

[hessmj]

Thanks for your comments.

You are absolutely right that there are some people who travel with nothing more than the allowed "personal" item (i.e. handbag or briefcase). However, as a frequent flier (and I think other regular travelers would agree), they are a very small minority. Basically you're talking about business people taking same-day trips, and within that group, women who manage to carry both their personal items and business items in one bag (very atypical). It also means that business people traveling together can't necessarily sit together (which is often important on the way to a meeting), unless they pay for assigned seats.

And even in those rare instances that you refer to, it can be difficult to avoid surcharges. If you look at the "booking-related" fees section of the company site, for example, you'll see that even the most disciplined saver has to work pretty hard to avoid any add-ons. Something as simple as needing to print your boarding pass at the kiosk dings you a couple of bucks.

So my point was not at all that it's *impossible* to get the rock-bottom published fare, but I think it is very much the exception and not the rule; kind of like the weight loss ads that show extraordinary results with the tiny caveat "results not typical." While the people shown may be real customers -- just like the one-bag traveler -- the vast, vast majority of buyers will not have the same experience. And therefore, to me, it's questionable practice to make such claims the core of your advertising.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts.