Spirit Air beware! (vent)

[kimmie]

We booked flights for our April 2004 trip in May of 2003. Got a great price... Called Dec 29th to check on things since I couldn't retrieve my reservation on the web site (where I booked it). Want to get ready to get my seat assignment at the famous *90 day mark*. Well, I guess there has been a change in our reservation... return flight time. OK, no big deal, but they tried to put us on an earlier flight in the morning. I said (very nicely), no, I would like to be on a later flight, to which she said.. sorry but thats all there is.. I said, well I think that since you changed the flight times and I made the reservation back in May that we should be able to work something out for a later flight. She put me on hold and when she came back she said fine.. you are on the such and such flight... It pays to be polite but hold your ground! (learned that from all of you here! ).

Now you would think everything would be fine.... NOT....

It seems since there was a change to our flight we can no longer get our seat assignment at the 90 day mark. We will have to wait until we get to the airport on the day we fly! That was one of the reasons I choose Spirit Air as opposed to Southwest! ( I love Southwest, but this deal was better)

I called back again today and was told that Spirit Air cannot make seat assignments on the phone at all. (Either internet bookings or phone bookings). Are they in the stone age or what?!

I sent an e-mail to let them know how I felt about the whole thing and got a nice response.. sorry but that is how the system works. GEEEZZEE!

They said to check back for computer updates (in other words, maybe sometime in the future you will be able to pick your seats assignment if changes have been made. But at this time they have *technology limitations* (their words not mine)

Whats a girl to do?

Thanks for any advise... Thanks for letting me vent!
Be warned .. check your reservations often!

 

[WDWisTheBest]

To answer your question, you have done what you can do at this point. You vented.

Hope you feel better now. And, I hope you enjoy WDW when you get there.

 

[shelbyjosh]

We booked our March tickets online thru Spirit on Christmas Eve. We were able to do seat assignments. Within a 60 day window you can print boarding passes at home. Spirit isn't that bad!!

 

[Little MerGirl]

We've had the airfare booked with Spirit for our February trip since early September. In November (the 90 day mark) I went on line to select our seats. When it rejected the request, I called the 800 number. Like you, Kimmie, they changed our return time. They told me the same thing about maybe in the future, couldn't do it over the phone, etc, etc.

At first I was upset, but then realized that most of the seats are the same and as long as DH and I are together, it's no big deal. We've flown Continental and Delta in the past and haven't been able to select our seats until we got to the gate, if at all.

If the flight is uneventful, I'll be happy.

 

[bjakmom]

Same thing happened to me! There are 5 of us flying together, one 4 mos old(with a seat, of course). I was so happy when I made the seat assignments for both flights and we were all across one row. Then they changed our return flight and we lost all of our seat assignments - I have made several phone calls and even talked to managers - the bottom line is, even though they keep saying "keep checking, maybe sometime in the future. . ." that they can and/or will not reassign our seats until the day of the flight. OK, I'm pretty flexible and won't get upset until I get there and they actually don't sit us together (they keep reassuring me that it 'probably' won't be a problem for me the kids and I to sit together)- but it irks me that people making reservations since the change can still book their seats on-line - it is bad service to change the flight time on your customers and then not be able to accomodate them. We'll see! - we're flying on Sat.

 

[Mike_Ma]

The 90 day mark came up for our departure on Spirit Air and I was successfull getting seat assignments.

I was concerned, because like the other posts, both the flight numbers to and from Orlando were changed. Additionally, the return flight time is now scheduled to depart 30 minutes earlier. The reservations were originally made last June.

Precisely at the 90 day mark, the Spirit web site would not let me make a seat assignment. It did not recognize my Reservation Locator #. When I tried again a day later, I had no problem.

My reservation was always viewable on-line. Kimmie reported that she could not even view her reservations. Perhaps that was the problem, in her case.

Anyway, I just wanted to report for all those concerned, that If Spirit does change a flight number, or a scheduled departure time, it does not necessarily mean you will have difficulty getting an assigned seat in advance.

 

[inkkognito]

Don't feel bad...the technology problems are not limited to Spirit. I've lost count of how many times we've chosen seats when doing ATA's online check-in 24 hours in advance. The assignment has mysteriously disapeared when we get to the airport, even though it is on our boarding passes. I've spoken to umpteen people at ATA, and their most consistent excuse is something about the airports not having their paperwork ready early enough. Fine, but then don't say you offer check-in 24 hours in advance. It seems to work better when we do it the morning of our flight.
One thing ATA is good about is being extremely flexible if they change your flight time. It's happened to me a couple of times, and they have given me my choice of different flights...one time, they even let me switch the day.
Good luck!
Barb
Visit the Platinum Castaway Club at: www.castawayclub.com

 

[bjakmom]

Just back and happy to report that we had no problem getting seats together at check in (about 90 min pre flight in AC). She did say she had to move another assignment - probably someone who hadn't checked in yet - but we ended up in exactly the row I had originally booked. On the return flight we checked in 2 hours ahead and, again, no problem sitting together (5 across one row, 2 in the row behind), but not the same seats I had booked. Everything worked out just great for us!