Spirit Airlines' Massive Flight Cancellation Debacle Enters Fourth Day
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – Many passengers remained stranded at Los Angeles International Airport Wednesday as the flight cancellation fiasco which has engulfed Spirit Airlines entered its fourth day.
Spirit canceled 416 flights Tuesday, about 60% of its scheduled flights, according to the website FlightAware. Spirit says the cancelations and delays were caused by weather issues, system outages and staffing shortages.
As of Wednesday morning, 10 Spirit flights were canceled at LAX, with only seven scheduled to go out.
One woman told CBSLA Tuesday night that she and her children had to sleep in chairs at LAX because the airline didn't provide them enough money for a hotel.
"Obviously, no hotel, they just told me, 'OK, it's only $150 I can give you on hotel. You have to do it online,'" Giselle Barsallo said. "There's not a hotel here that's around $150. I mean...I don't have a car right here, I don't live here."
The union that represents Spirit flight attendants said there was another IT outage Tuesday that caused scheduling issues. The union speculated that the airline's whole system would need a reset.
The situation began Sunday, when Spirit canceled 165 flights. According to FlightAware, Spirit canceled another 313 flights on Monday.
"We understand how frustrating it is for our guests when plans change unexpectedly,'' Spirit said in a statement Tuesday. "We're working to provide refunds for cancellations and, when possible, to reaccommodate our guests.''
American Airlines, meanwhile, was also experiencing a similar issue, though not at the same scope as Spirit. On Sunday, American canceled 283 flights, according to CBS News, and another 355 on Monday. As of Tuesday, 11% of American's flights had been canceled and 21% delayed.
