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My wife and I, returning to Tampa from Montego Bay, Jamaica, were booked by a travel agent on Spirit, with a connection in Ft. Lauderdale. Since there was over an hour between flights, and since the flight left on time, we didn't believe that there would be a problem. However, as the first leg was in the air for an additional 20 minutes, we became concerned. We became more concerned when we looked out the window and recognized Freeport, Bahamas, below us!! Sure enough, the pilot reported that Ft. Lauderdale was temporarily closed because of "thunder", and we were landing in Nassau, Bahamas to refuel (apparently, Spirit planes don't carry enough gas to circle an airport more than once!) We landed, refueled, got back in the air, and got to FLL almost two hours late; when we arrived, the tarmac was barely wet. As the stewardess predicted (she said Southwest would've waited, but she worked for Spirit), the Tampa flight had already left. And THAT'S when the fun started.
We went to the "customer service" counter, which was mobbed with upset passengers from our flight and others, and were met by a representative who claimed to be "Bob King" (he also said his supervisor was "Charlie", but didn't know his last name). He said that, despite the fuel problem, Spirit was classifying the matter as a "weather delay", and would only offer three options: get rebooked on the next Spirit flight to Tampa (at 7 pm the next day; you're on your own until then); get rebooked on the next morning's flight to Orlando, and find a way to get the next 100 miles to TPA on our own dime; or cancel, and get a refund of the FLL to TPA leg, and find a way back to Tampa on our own. No hotel voucher, no rental car, no food voucher, no nothing- and an EXTREMELY rude attitude on top of it. "Bob" offered a form from the local Holiday Inn, offering a discounted "inconvenienced traveler" rate of $79 a night. Since we were exhausted, starving, and stressed out, we shuttled to the HI (where the Spirit flyer checking in ahead of us HAD gotten a voucher- thanks, "Bob"!), cancelled the last leg through Spirit's 800 number, and rented a car and drove back to Tampa the next day. So, our extra day of vacation cost us over $150 in hotel and car fees and gas, and a lot of aggravation. Spirit is now on my no-fly list, joining US Air and America West; I would urge everyone to avoid all of them like the plague.
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