[David T]

There's one thing about charging carry-on baggage fees, and 3$ for a bottle of water immediately after serving complimentary pretzels... and there is another thing about Spirit Airlines making the idiotic decision to fly into O'Hare during a severe storm with tornado's touching down in the Chicagoland area (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2...-kankakee.html)

Flight Number : 400 from Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago (O'Hare)
Date: June.5.2010

What happened:
As the plane was making its approach towards O'Hare the plane was dipping/rising and going through severe storm turbulence. I'm not talking rollers or vibration... I'm talking about the type of turbulence that makes you wonder if you're going to make it. I looked outside and noticed a few lightning clashes. I wasn't the only one on edge. All passengers on the plane didn't say a word, you could just feel how tense it was in the cabin. As we approached the pilot decided to turn on the emergency exit lights for some reason. I don't know if that is standard procedure upon landing, but it caused a bit of stir. The plane eventually touched down, but started to fishtail as a last gust of wind decided to push the plane off center. Everyone started clapping out of relief once we all realized we made it. Luckily, the pilot got us through safely. If the pilot wasn't on their game, the outcome may have been different. All blame rests upon the Spirit Airlines traffic control to let the pilot leave Ft. Lauderdale. Didn't anyone check the storm forecast in Chicago and the 3-4 hour forecast for the storm on Doppler radar??? I soon found out a tornado touched down south west of Chicago and severe weather had moved through Chicago (read the above article).

If anyone from Spirit Airlines is reading, please don't try to cut costs above safety. You could have easily delayed the flight 1-2 hours in Ft. Lauderdale. Yes, you would have had irate customers in Florida for the delay, but you would have lost a lot more if anything had happened.

Definitely not flying Spirit Airlines again.

[jimworcs]

The pilot of that aircraft had as much interest in landing safely as anybody else on the aircraft. Do you seriously think the pilot would risk his own life to avoid the company having a 1 - 2 hour delay?

All blame rests upon the Spirit Airlines traffic control to let the pilot leave Ft. Lauderdale

Do you really have any evidence for this, beyond a gut feeling? I am no defender of the airlines, but in this case there is little evidence beyond your admittedly frightening experience on one particular flight.

[David T]

I don't need evidence. This is simply my personal decision to not fly Spirit anymore. Ask anyone else on that plane what they thought.

Someone at Spirit made the decision to fly into O'Hare last night with a severe storm. Check the flight arrival. 10:20pm CST. This was around the time as the storm was passing through. Dumb.

[The_Judge]

I admittedly didn't read much of the complaint. Didn't have to. This is a typical case of where an airline can't win. This particualr passenger is complaining that the flight actually was NOT canceled nor diverted and made it safely to it's destination. Another passenger would have complained quite the opposite if the flight had been canceled or diverted. Airlines can't win no matter what they do.

[jimworcs]

An airline would always win if it stays safe. No sane pilot would read the METARS and knowingly fly into a severe storm system. Furthermore, if the flight is not fully stable at 1,500 feet most airlines have a policy to abort the landing and go around. I think this has been a frightening experience for the passenger, but the conclusion that this was related to the admittedly appalling customer culture at Spirit is misguided. I have had a couple of horrific landing experiences myself.. one with BA and other with KLM. Neither of them are low cost.

[Jetliner]

No, they don't look at the dopler radar. They have much more sophisticated equipment from the US government to work with than the TV news.

I just love the idiots that think they know better than the pilot how to fly the plane. Just because severe weather had moved through the area, doesn't mean it was unsafe to land when you did. I've been in the same boat before, landing in another midwestern city, only to get off the plane, and see the tornado damage along the way home. It had went through town less than an hour before we had landed. But by the time we got there, it had broken up and was no longer a threat.

[vcoumb]

There's one thing about charging carry-on baggage fees, and 3$ for a bottle of water immediately after serving complimentary pretzels... and there is another thing about Spirit Airlines making the idiotic decision to fly into O'Hare during a severe storm with tornado's touching down in the Chicagoland area (http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2...-kankakee.html)

Flight Number : 400 from Ft. Lauderdale to Chicago (O'Hare)
Date: June.5.2010

What happened:
As the plane was making its approach towards O'Hare the plane was dipping/rising and going through severe storm turbulence. I'm not talking rollers or vibration... I'm talking about the type of turbulence that makes you wonder if you're going to make it. I looked outside and noticed a few lightning clashes. I wasn't the only one on edge. All passengers on the plane didn't say a word, you could just feel how tense it was in the cabin. As we approached the pilot decided to turn on the emergency exit lights for some reason. I don't know if that is standard procedure upon landing, but it caused a bit of stir. The plane eventually touched down, but started to fishtail as a last gust of wind decided to push the plane off center. Everyone started clapping out of relief once we all realized we made it. Luckily, the pilot got us through safely. If the pilot wasn't on their game, the outcome may have been different. All blame rests upon the Spirit Airlines traffic control to let the pilot leave Ft. Lauderdale. Didn't anyone check the storm forecast in Chicago and the 3-4 hour forecast for the storm on Doppler radar??? I soon found out a tornado touched down south west of Chicago and severe weather had moved through Chicago (read the above article).

If anyone from Spirit Airlines is reading, please don't try to cut costs above safety. You could have easily delayed the flight 1-2 hours in Ft. Lauderdale. Yes, you would have had irate customers in Florida for the delay, but you would have lost a lot more if anything had happened.

Definitely not flying Spirit Airlines again.

I cannot believe Sprint did this. I would NEVER fly them after reading this. David I truly believe this was a horrible landing! Having flown around tornados a few years ago from a flight from Denver to Indianapolis, we had to fly near Amarillo Texas to avoid them. After getting home many tornados were in the midwest and damage done. I feel so sorry that you had to land in such awful conditions! Try airtran next time that is who I always take. They are a great airline! Not very expensive either. I am so glad you made it safely and wish you better flights in the future. Thank you for your post!

[Leatherboy2006]

The only thing about the emergency lights going on right before landing, when American had F100's I noticed this one time on a flight and the flight attendant told me that when ever the landing gear was down the lights were on (I watched at take off and noticed the went off when i heard the gear go up and then on landing noticed they went down when gear was put down) so the plane you were on might have had similar system.

[jimworcs]

I cannot believe Sprint did this.

I can't believe Sprint did this either...especially as they are a telephone company.