If you’ve been a traveler on Spirit Airlines over the past few days, things have likely been rough for you. That’s because the airline has delayed or canceled hundreds of flights, leaving some passengers stranded at airports around the country for 12 hours or more.
According to USAToday, Spirit flight delays began over the weekend. On Sunday, the airline canceled 165 flights and delayed another 342. On Monday, things got worse. While delays were down (159 in total), canceled flights surged to 277 across the country.
So what’s the deal? In a tweet, Spirit said it was “experiencing operational challenges” in parts of its network. Some have taken that to mean staff shortages or strikes, however, the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA issued a statement saying Spirit’s woes were due to technical and weather issues, not staffing issues adding, “a few news outlets have incorrectly reported that this may be due to a strike. This is not true. There is no flight attendant strike. Crews are not the issue.”
We are experiencing operational challenges in some areas of our network. Before going to the airport, check your email and current flight status here: https://t.co/yuPJDPxeNu. The fastest way to receive assistance is to visit our webchat: https://t.co/QnlZcUCMtk. pic.twitter.com/E176h8KHjN
— Spirit Airlines (@SpiritAirlines) August 2, 2021
As for Spirit, a spokesperson told USAToday, “we’re working around the clock to get back on track in the wake of some travel disruptions over the weekend due to a series of weather and operational challenges. We needed to make proactive cancellations to some flights across the network, but the majority of flights are still scheduled as planned.”
So is your Spirit flight canceled or delayed? It’s important to check before you head to the airport. Spirit’s flight checker tool can be found here. If your flight is canceled, you may want to reach out directly to Spirit if you can’t book another flight online. Some Spirit ticket holders are reporting on Twitter that Spirit is showing no available flights for the next two days. If that’s the case, contact Spirit for a full refund and try your luck with an alternate carrier.
Trying to book a flight in place of the one you canceled today, which was in place of the one you canceled yesterday, and there are ZERO flights for the next two days. Time to REFUND MY MONEY as is my right. I don’t want a credit. ✌️ #morego #nogo #spiritairlines #floridastrike pic.twitter.com/apYHRAob0M
— Beana (@G1NABEANA) August 3, 2021
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