e.campbell

Do Not Fly Spirit Airlines... (alexrudloff.com)

Sep 6th 2007 3:54PM Wow... what reading this was. I clicked for the last 1 1/2 hours, and only made it to 8/27 posts. I couldn't get to the end.

I sent an email to Ben.Baldanza@SpiritAir.com about 20 minutes ago - I'm sitting in Nassau waiting on my flight home.

So, on a whim, I sent my email. Within TWENTY MINUTES I had a response!!! Both emails are below...

Again, not defending, but this was impressive (though I think he may have missed my point a bit).

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From: Ben Baldanza [mailto:Ben.Baldanza@SpiritAir.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 3:30 PM
To: BLANKED OUT
Subject: RE: Questionable, dishonest behavior by two flight crew

Mr. Campbell,

Thank you for your note. Spirit is not an "open seating" airline. We assign each of our seats and people pay to sit in the "Big Front Seats" at the front of the plane. I apologize, but just because those seats were empty when you boarded does not give you the right to move into those seats.

Employees are never given priority over paying customers for the Big Front Seats. But since you did not pay that premium, I cannot see a problem with them asking you to move back into a standard "deluxe leather" seat.

Thank you,

Ben Baldanza



*** This e-mail is confidential and may contain privileged information. Any copying or forwarding without the expressed consent of the sender is strictly prohibited.


________________________________________
From: BLANKED OUT
Sent: Thursday, September 06, 2007 3:09 PM
To: Ben Baldanza
Subject: Questionable, dishonest behavior by two flight crew
Dear Mr. Baldanza,

On September 5th, 2007, I flew Spirit Airlines flight NK269 from Tampa to Fort Lauderdale. My seat assignment was 11A. Upon boarding the aircraft, it was clear that the flight was booked to only about 60% capacity. Since I had boarded late, and most of the seats in the front of the plane were open, I sat down in seat 2B.

All passengers had boarded, aside from another someone in 2D, there were no other passengers in all of the second row. Shortly before closing the main cabin door, several ‘off-duty’ flight attendants walked in. They were greeted by the crew leader for the flight. At that point, “Lori” (one of the off-duty attendants) approached me and said to her fellow passenger attendant “yes, these two”… Then she asked me if I had a boarding pass that permits me to be in seat 2D. I explained that I’d thought due to the light load, and the fact that no other paying passengers were getting on, that it would be open seating. She then informed me that on Spirit, there is no ‘moving around’, and I’d have to return to my original seat. While I didn’t challenge her directly, I asked if it would matter if I moved back one row (3C) which was also completely open. She said I could sit anywhere but where her an her partner were sitting (in so many words).

I begrudgingly moved my belongings back one row. As I sat down, I question her (since they were now sitting directly in front of me), whether Spirit saves the premium seats and locations for their non-rev employees. Both immediately defended their actions by claiming they were not non-rev. “Donna” at this point said they were “positive-space” passengers, and had paid for these seats. Having several close ties with friends and relatives who are in the commercial air travel industry, I am quite familiar with how employees are treated on dead-legs. This was a first I’d ever heard of employees having to ‘pay’ and have an assigned seat. Both repeatedly said they were flying for “business” and were on company time.

Nevertheless, I kept my mouth shut. A few minutes later, the lead flight attendant stopped off at their row, and struck up a conversation with Lori and Donna. She asked both if they were traveling to Fort Lauderdale to work or to play. Both, in unison, said “to play!”… Then, as an afterthought, you could hear Lori back peddling – as though she just remembered that I could hear her. “Well, it’s working play” – to which the lead agent said “sure… whatever you girls want to call it”. About 5 more times, Lori loudly proclaimed it was work, work, really, work (wink wink).

My goal for moving to the front of the plane is simply to exit first. I could care less if I was in row 2 or row 3. I’m not a big guy, so it matters not if I’m in the big seats or not. However, for these two girls to come in and force me out of my seat, when they had no more right to it, is an abuse of their position – not to mention dishonest, and rude.

For the record, I hold Platinum level Medallion service (for the last 6 years) with Delta, Elite with Airtan (for the last 3 years), and I fly in excess of 180k miles per year. This is only my second Spirit Airlines flight. I was hoping to have a positive experience, so that I could divert more of my Caribbean travel away from American… but, with this type of treatment, it may very well be my last flight on Spirit. Further, in my discussions with anyone who questions, I will be quick to tell them of this experience.

If your flight attendants were justified, and empowered to do what they did, I would strongly encourage you to reconsider the policy. Forcibly moving passengers (even those that had moved from their original purchased seats) to accommodate off-duty flight crew is bad PR.

Regards,

P.S. Be careful if/when you direct your staff to respond. Use the reply (not reply-to-all) button.


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Here's wishing all of you a realistic, and acceptable solution to your problems.