'Incredibly Rude and Unhelpful': Customers Enraged After Spirit Airlines Abruptly Cancels Hundreds of Flights for 'Aircraft Maintenance' The airline pulled an estimated 25 planes from its fleet over the weekend.
By Emily Rella
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
If you're planning to fly with Spirit Airlines anytime soon, you might want to triple-check your travel arrangements. Over the weekend, the budget-friendly airline abruptly canceled hundreds of flights, causing mass delays and cancelations.
In a statement, the company said it was inspecting aircraft and disruptions would last a few days.
"While this action is being taken out of an abundance of caution, the impact to our network is expected to last several days as we complete the inspections and work to return to normal operations," Spirit Airlines said in a statement. "We apologize for the inconvenience and are working to take care of affected guests."
According to FlightAware, Spirit had canceled 237 flights between Friday and Saturday and delayed another 363.
On Sunday, the airline canceled another 76 flights and delayed 170.
Travelers took to social media to lament over disrupted plans and unexpected cancelations.
Never understood the @SpiritAirlines slander until now. By far the worst customer service and overall airport experience I have ever had. No clue how this company doesn't constantly get sued.
— Bren (@booleanbren) October 22, 2023
@SpiritAirlines cancelling my flight back home and booking a new one for the NEXT DAY without letting me know is unacceptable. i had to book a flight home the day of with delta. your team is also incredibly rude and unhelpful.
— isabella (@kithbella) October 23, 2023
I'm sorry but Spirit Airlines has some of the worst customer service I've ever experienced oh my god…
— becca (@nuyokuu) October 20, 2023
@SpiritAirlines thanks for rescheduling my flight, due to maintainence, then leaving me stranded in Las Vegas without even telling me. Sad part is I still see my flight on the website. Guess you just threw us off and put other people on. Bullshit not using you guys ever again.
— Fae (@Corruptedfaerie) October 22, 2023
According to the Associated Press, the Federal Aviation Administration said that Spirit was performing a "mandatory maintenance inspection" of 25 of its aircraft to look for cracks near the "fasteners that attach pressure panels to beams on the planes' airframe."
Spirit Airlines did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur's request for comment.
Related: Frontier Airlines Debuts Unlimited Flight Pass
In August, Spirit had to settle an $8.2 million class-action lawsuit over hidden "gotcha" bag fees after customers alleged that they were charged for bringing carry-on bags after they had already purchased their tickets.
Spirit Airlines was down just under 21% year over year as of Monday morning.
