Spirit strike??

[Tess]

Ugh, that is just awful....

We flew Spirit a few weeks ago and we were pleasantly surprised. I would have flown them again but this just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. If I had a trip planned today i'd be dying.

We are in a "holding pattern" here with tickets on a 6/19 flight. We had originally planned to drive this time (a first), but got a great deal on tickets with perfect times. Now we may be back to driving and scrambling at the last minute to cancel pre-flight hotel, rental car, etc. I've got to begin packing, but packing for a flight is way different than a drive.

While I'm peeved, can you imagine if you were ending a vacation in the Caribbean or elsewhere and needed to get home today or tomorrow. What about those who began a vacation yesterday and now must stress their entire vacation worrying about getting back. I guess my situation is much less dire (although not desirable).

Then there is the little issue of refunding our $$$. Further, how quickly will they cancel our flights because I would need to leave Friday if driving and can't be hanging around overnight for Spirit to decide. Very frustrating situation indeed.

 

[johnnyr]

On the surface, the deal they were offered doesn't look that bad. 30% salary increase over the next 5 years, a $3k signing bonus, and 401-k. What was the deal breaker?

 

[mickey2000]

$9 Fares

 

[Lewisc]

On the surface, the deal they were offered doesn't look that bad. 30% salary increase over the next 5 years, a $3k signing bonus, and 401-k. What was the deal breaker?

A week or so ago Spirit wanted the pilots to take a pay cut and agree to work concessions. The pilots are seeking pay parity with other LCC (Airtran and JetBlue).

It's possible if the deal you quoted had been offered a few days ago an agreement might have been reached.

Spirit has cancelled all flights Sunday that in or out of FLL. That's most of their flights.

 

[johnnyr]

It's possible if the deal you quoted had been offered a few days ago an agreement might have been reached.

The deal was posted in a statement from management earlier this morning on the Spirit web site . It has since been removed.

 

[PlutoPony]

This has been coming on a long time. The pilot contract became amendable in early 2007, and they have been trying to negotiate it since then. As recently as this week it was reported that the company offered no new contract provisions and in fact brought nothing to the bargaining table, believing that in the end the pilots wouldn't strike... after all they've settled for the status quo for 3+ years. It does sound like the company began to take the strike threat seriously in the last 24 hours and did some amount of negotiating. The midnight deadline for a deal was extended twice overnight by the pilots until finally going ahead with the strike at ~ 5 a.m.

To Lewisc point earlier, it does sound like too little too late. Maybe they did make progress last night and with further negotiation sessions (are any scheduled?) a deal can be reached in the near term. But I would be very concerned if I held tickets on Spirit at any point in the future.

 

[Dax]

Well this morning the airport was JAMMED! Saturdays are normally a busy day anyway here, but with Spirit not flying, there are a LOT of ppl milling around trying to get other flights. SW has a REALLY long line, so hopefully some ppl are getting out that way..If I hear anything on my side, I will let everyone know...It explains why I did not see any Spirit pilots this morning on the bus in.

 

[chrisd596]

Spirit Strike:

Any thoughts on how to handle a 6/22 flight. I think I will play the waiting game until Sunday 6/20, about a week from now.

If they haven't settled it by then start looking to book w/ another carrier, gambling they probably wont settle on the Monday before I leave on that Tuesday.

Any one else dealing with similar time frame.

 

[buzzmom3]

I'm in the same boat as you, Chris. We are supposed to fly out on 6/22. Have you priced out the other airlines? It would cost us an additional $1000 to book a flight now. We might be driving.

 

[princessfionasmom]

My family is supposed to fly out the 26th and I priced flights and I found $290 on delta but instead of nonstop coming home there would be a 4hr layover, yuck!

ETA: this is rt bos to fll.

 

[johnnyr]

Looks like they cancelled all flights for tomorrow too. This is not good.


http://marketing.spiritair.com/strikeupdate.html

 

[JB2K]

I hate to be pessimistic, but given that Spirit is not as well-capitalized as the rest of the "discount airline pack" (Southwest/AirTran/Jet Blue), if this strike goes for a few days (or longer), the airline will most likely fold (and those who bought tickets are basically SOL).

We'll watch...and see...

 

[Lewisc]

If Spirit goes out of business many (most?) passengers will be able to get refunds through their credit card company.

It's evident Spirit gave us misleading information (at best) when they said they had other planes/airlines/pilots ready to accommodate displaced Spirit passengers. Accordingly I wouldn't put much credibility in whatever Spirit tells us regarding negotiations.

Pilots are asking for a pay scale similar to the pay of other LCC (JetBlue and Airtran). Spirit has claimed they can't do that and keep to their model of offering rock bottom fares.

I agree with the previous posters. I don't think Spirit can survive a strike of more then a few days. Every day the strike continues is another group of passengers entitled to refunds.

 

[johnnyr]

All Spirit flights are now cancelled through June 15th. Clearly, both sides have called each other 's bluff. Unfortunately, they were both wrong.

 

[MAH4546]

I hate to be pessimistic, but given that Spirit is not as well-capitalized as the rest of the "discount airline pack" (Southwest/AirTran/Jet Blue), if this strike goes for a few days (or longer), the airline will most likely fold (and those who bought tickets are basically SOL).

We'll watch...and see...

While I entirely agree that if this strike lasts too long, Spirit might be a goner, Spirit is nonetheless extremely well capitalized and last year reported $80M in profit. It actually is a very well ran airline with the lowest costs in the industry.

If Spirit goes out of business many (most?) passengers will be able to get refunds through their credit card company.

It's evident Spirit gave us misleading information (at best) when they said they had other planes/airlines/pilots ready to accommodate displaced Spirit passengers. Accordingly I wouldn't put much credibility in whatever Spirit tells us regarding negotiations.

Pilots are asking for a pay scale similar to the pay of other LCC (JetBlue and Airtran). Spirit has claimed they can't do that and keep to their model of offering rock bottom fares.

I agree with the previous posters. I don't think Spirit can survive a strike of more then a few days. Every day the strike continues is another group of passengers entitled to refunds.

Falcon Air operated flights for Spirit Airlines yesterday, is operating them today, and Spirit is arranging for Falcon Air to up the operations tomorrow. It is mainly just Bahamas routes that Falcon Air is subbing.

It also has arrangements with Miami Air, but the Miami Air pilots in ALPA won't cross the picket lines.

 

[chrisd596]

ok, since I started this post a few days ago, I could duplicate my flight on usair for 6/22. It would cost a little more than when I booked spirit.

So now the gamble. If you book a new flight and spirit were to settle, than you stuck the $400 for the usair flight.

Do you think about bailing out of Spirit now, hoping they don't fly and you get the money back?

Do you hang in there a few more days, which is what I'm thinking of doing, but my trip is just a 4 day trip, too much to drive it.

Thought the two sides would come to a compromise after a day or two!

Chris

 

[Lewisc]

While I entirely agree that if this strike lasts too long, Spirit might be a goner, Spirit is nonetheless extremely well capitalized and last year reported $80M in profit. It actually is a very well ran airline with the lowest costs in the industry.



Falcon Air operated flights for Spirit Airlines yesterday, is operating them today, and Spirit is arranging for Falcon Air to up the operations tomorrow. It is mainly just Bahamas routes that Falcon Air is subbing.

It also has arrangements with Miami Air, but the Miami Air pilots in ALPA won't cross the picket lines.

The question isn't profit or capitalization. The question is how long before Spirit runs out of cash and available credit. At least some passengers will insist on a credit card refund. I don't know how many other expenses (lease payments?) must be paid during the strike. Certainly at least some customer service employees.

Finding pilots willing to cross a picket line is the issue. Spirit said they had alternate arrangements to accommodate their passengers. That wasn't the case for many (most?) of their passengers.

 

[bobbiwoz]

My DSis is coming to WDW on July 1st. She has a ticket on Spirit so who knows if that's going to work out for her. Is it true that if she buys a SW ticket now, and if she cancels the SW ticket because Spirit goes back into service, she will have a SW credit? Does anyone know how long the credit lasts? She has another trip planned with me for April, would the credit be good for that trip?

Thanks.
Bobbi

 

[Tara]

My DSis is coming to WDW on July 1st. She has a ticket on Spirit so who knows if that's going to work out for her. Is it true that if she buys a SW ticket now, and if she cancels the SW ticket because Spirit goes back into service, she will have a SW credit? Does anyone know how long the credit lasts? She has another trip planned with me for April, would the credit be good for that trip?

Thanks.
Bobbi

If she bought a ticket on SW today and then canceled it, she would have a credit that could be used for travel completed by one year from today. So yes, the credit would be good for use on the April trip.

 

[TinkTink78]

Thank you Spirit pilots...... Contintental just got your business for my flight to Disney !!!!!

I was going to try Spirit for the first time in Sept, but not after this strike.