Spirit Airlines... our first try

[MillauFr]

I have never had that happen on any other airline. Delays the day of are one thing, but changing the schedule so radically weeks in advance in not standard practice with airlines.

Agreed. Alaska has never done that to me.

 

[bcsurvivorX2]

One of the reasons I switched from Spirit to Delta. I used to LOVE Spirit but they changed one flight too many and charged for one thing too many (IMHO). If all you need is a seat - they are the way to go,

 

[bcsurvivorX2]

This is so typical of Spirit Airlines! Two years in a row, they changed our times & we lost 2 full days of vacation because of it.( late evening arrival the first night and early morning departure the last day). They stuck it to us a week before departure. Hated it the first time and were foolish enough to try again and experienced the same issue again. We will never use them again. This is typically how they operate! They don't care. They even left the airport 20 minutes earlier than departure was listed! When we asked about it , they really didn't care if everyone was on board!

Unfortunately - true

 

[DebbieB]

I have never had that happen on any other airline. Delays the day of are one thing, but changing the schedule so radically weeks in advance in not standard practice with airlines.

I've found it on Delta and USAirways (now American).

My USAirways flight PIT-LAX departure time changed 3 times last year. Booked it as 8:00am departure about 10 months before, they moved it to 10:00am and then they moved it to 6:30am. I was trying to coordinate arrival times with a friend from NJ and it made it difficult. Luckily she was able to change her flight time to get close to mine when they made mine 3 1/2 hours earlier.

 

[aussiegrl]

I have a flight down to MCO on Frontier and the flight home on Spirit. This is our first time flying with either of them. I typically always book with Southwest, but they were SO expensive for our last minute trip decision I opted for using Travelocity to book and they had these flights. Guess I better keep an eye on them to make sure times don't change. UGH!

 

[Linleedo]

I've found it on Delta and USAirways (now American).

My USAirways flight PIT-LAX departure time changed 3 times last year. Booked it as 8:00am departure about 10 months before, they moved it to 10:00am and then they moved it to 6:30am. I was trying to coordinate arrival times with a friend from NJ and it made it difficult. Luckily she was able to change her flight time to get close to mine when they made mine 3 1/2 hours earlier.

It was probably due to the merger of American and US airways last year.

 

[DebbieB]

It was probably due to the merger of American and US airways last year.

They've always done that, long before the merger.

 

[robinb]

I've had flights change hours in one direction or another.

ETA: On different airlines. Not Spirit.

 

[Linleedo]

I've never experienced that situation and have been flying with them for years. I guess I just lucked out.
All of the airlines have us at their mercy. It's always a gamble. It's sucks when it messes up plans. I hope that this year's flights will be better.

 

[Yellowjj]

I've found it on Delta and USAirways (now American).

My USAirways flight PIT-LAX departure time changed 3 times last year. Booked it as 8:00am departure about 10 months before, they moved it to 10:00am and then they moved it to 6:30am. I was trying to coordinate arrival times with a friend from NJ and it made it difficult. Luckily she was able to change her flight time to get close to mine when they made mine 3 1/2 hours earlier.

This always happens on niche routes of which PIT-LAX falls into. More than likely they were reshuffling flights due to gate space shortage in LAX. They were constructing the additional gates at the Tom Bradley terminal at that time IIRC.

You are entitled to rebook on any schedule change greater than 90 mins. You probably could have done PIT-ORD-LAX or PIT-DFW-LAX and keep your arrival time similar to the original flight booking.

 

[DebbieB]

This always happens on niche routes of which PIT-LAX falls into. More than likely they were reshuffling flights due to gate space shortage in LAX. They were constructing the additional gates at the Tom Bradley terminal at that time IIRC.

You are entitled to rebook on any schedule change greater than 90 mins. You probably could have done PIT-ORD-LAX or PIT-DFW-LAX and keep your arrival time similar to the original flight booking.

That was the only non-stop of the day, I didn't want to give that up. Plus I snagged a first class ticket for 50,000 miles right when booking opened. Because it was so early (6:30am), I ended up booking an airport hotel with my Hilton points. This was for D23 last summer. Coming home, the flight was around 11:00am, I booked the Hilton LAX for Sunday night with Hilton points. Drove up Sunday night, got a good nights sleep, shuttle to the terminal and flew home in the morning. Airport was a mess with construction.

 

[daisyx3]

I will say my college age daughter loves Spirit. She did CP in the fall of 2014 and used it to fly home for a weekend, and has gone down to visit her CM friends three times since. They give her great fares, and as long as she travels with just a loaded backpack and no luggage she is good to go. She gets nonstop flights from Cleveland to Orlando. Now I have more luggage and like to sit with my husband so I wouldn't chance it.