It's been close to three weeks since I posted my original spirit airlines rant. Obviously, yesterday, things got a bit louder. This post is a compilation/rant of the frustrations I've had watching this discussion unfold.

What I've Learned

I've learned that the internet is a big place. For every 100 people who believe in consumer rights, there is another person saying "screw em!"

I've learned that Spirit Airlines wouldn't have nearly the same amount of drama if they didn't offer so many Caribbean flights. Not once has a story been like, "We were stuck in Atlanta and forced to eat at a IHOP. I want my stomach back." Instead, it's all "We were stuck in Guatemala for a week while a drug lord held us hostage. A monkey stole my baby."

I've learned that if you are going to have a fake customer service line, people will quickly figure it out.

I've learned that different blogs send vastly different traffic. Comments will vary from "That's what you get!" to "Chomsky forever!" based on the style of site that's sending traffic.

I've learned that my own experiences with Spirit pale in comparison to most of the growing number of comments people have submitted.

I've decided that if someone explains "you get what you pay for" to me or anyone else on this blog again, they're about to get beat with the no-shit-sherlock shovel. The entire story is that from the very beginning. The problem is, most of us paid the same amount of money as we would have on Airtran, JetBlue, Southwest or any other discount airline. They may all be frustrating, but I bet they have a real 1-800# that actually frigging works. I'll pay the dollar for a soda and the $4 for a bag of delicious nutritional combos and the $20 for a backpack, just give me a working 800# to call when you cancel my flight and leave me stranded in the rain forest.

I've learned that the more I complain about people explaining "you get what you pay for," the more people who will. Cue annoying-to-me-but-funny-to-everyone-else-comments now.

I've learned that people are sympathetic to "reply all".

I've learned that people are not sympathetic to "reply all" when their vacation was ruined.

I've learned that the quote "Let him tell the world how bad we are." makes me laugh. Thanks for granting us all permission, Ben ;)

I've learned that Ben Baldanza has a history of sticking his foot in his mouth. When he was a VP at US Airs, he went on record saying that they don't value deal seekers. Awfully ironic now that he's the CEO of a discount airline, don't you think?

I've learned that some people within the airline industry expect you to expect a full day of travel, and it's your fault if you don't. Some folks have been given Christy and her husband a hard time for only landing an hour before their concert. I've had important business meetings scheduled inside of airports for 15 minutes after landing. In the real world, people don't have all day to sit around tolerating a crappy airline industry. We shouldn't have to take all this crap as being par for the course, and if we do, at least pretend to be sympathetic. You're ruining vacations, thieving peoples money and overall interrupting our lives. Even if you don't owe the customer anything, empathy would be the least you could do.

I've learned that some people within the airline industry blame consumers for their problems. If those pesky consumers didn't demand cheaper flights, then we would be able to charge more money and offer more service. There's so many things wrong with that statement it boils my insides, but let's ignore all that. Explain how cutting customer service while at the same time canceling more flights to save cost, makes any ethical sense what-so-ever. Begin.

I've learned that despite a few strange folks in the airline industry, there are many great people inside of Spirit Airlines who are just as frustrated with the state of their company as their customers are. At this point, I have every reason to believe that Spirit's problems originate at the top, and not with the men and women who actually make the airline go. "Dell Hell" may have sucked for Dell, but it also created much needed change within their organization. If you've recently been laid off by Spirit, e-mail me. I'm pretty good with resumes.

I've learned that every time I start feeling the slightest feeling of remorse, another comment will come in or a private e-mail and make me understand the importance of this type of thing. Consumers need a voice. Too many corporations have started to act as if they're the ones with the rights and privileges and that the market exists to benefit them.

I've learned that most companies are still really afraid of blogs. If Spirit had reached out in any official capacity when all of this started, I would have been able to post their response and go about living my life without moderating a discussion amongst what I estimate to be 20-25% of the people searching for "spirit airlines".

I've learned that Spirit, or an airline like them, will probably always exist. There are deal hunters out there. Spirit defenders have said customers were expecting too much. That might be true, but expectations require the customer to be informed.

I've learned the power of word of mouth when it comes to informing people. I wrote my original rant to inform friends and family of my experience. I figured if a couple people found it off of google, I'd justify my feeling that they should have comped me $5 for baggage on one leg of my trip (smallest token I could think of, it's not about the money) I do not believe in eye for an eye, but I do believe in karma.

Consumerist.com, everyone's favorite defender of truth and justice, picked up the story I posted on Ben Baldanza's e-mail slip up. Here's a quote:

Even if you read the original complaint and agree with Baldanza in principle, that's a pretty jerkoff way to respond to a customer and if he had any balls, he would apologize and refund the twenty-two cents or whatever the passenger paid to travel on Mr. Baldanza's discount thrift store flying claptrap.

Hear, hear!

Thanks for spreading the word Consumerist! After all, Mr. Baldanza wants the world to know. (original spirit airlines post that started this whole mess)


LOLCat courtesy of Michael Rhing

UPDATE: Here's another one. God I love internet memes. Hah!

Apparently, the CEO of Spirit Airlines doesn't understand how the "Reply to All" button works. I've received e-mails directly from Spirit Airlines folks not wanting to have their name mentioned on my blog suggesting to me that Spirit's current problems originate at the top. With all their layoffs (outsourcing, I'm told) it's tough to say. But this really does seem to back it up.

A curious comment from Christy came in earlier on the Spirit Airlines post tipping us off. Basically, she and her husband sent in a complaint, and Ben Baldanza hit "reply to all" with his jerky response. Christy was kind enough to forward me the full e-mail she received, including headers showing the e-mail originating from legitimate Spirit Airlines servers.

Taken by itself, I'd shrug my shoulders. Just another arrogant CEO. In context to the now 80+ comment thread taking place on this blog, it would seem that Spirit Airlines doesn't even understand the basics of modern customer service. Judging by the e-mail sent to Christy, they don't care to learn.

Christy found the e-mail addresses for the Spirit Airlines executive team because a user identifying themselves as "John Smith" posted them here. Just in case, you know, you'd like to join in. (no need to flame, just share with them your experiences.)

Stuck on the Palmetto was right. Spirit Airlines does in fact suck, and neither myself, nor SotP, are alone in feeling that way. Who knew.

Here's the e-mail, which was sent not just to Ben Baldanza's colleagues, but also to Christy. I'm following the text with the complete e-mail/headers (including what he was responding to) for anyone doubting the legitimacy.

UPDATE (8/22): I went through and removed everyone's last names except for Mr. Baldanza's. Originally, I left them thinking it might help someone legitimize this e-mail. These folks are just trying to do their jobs, and this isn't meant to be a personal attack in any way. It's not even about Christy and her husband's specific complaint, it's about the way that it was handled in context to the now 100+ thread of customer service issues.

UPDATE #2: Consumerist picks up on the story. (in addition to Gadling, SotP, Jaunted, Elliot.org, Upgrade: Travel Better and others) I posted a follow up on all my various thoughts here.

UPDATE #3: BEFORE COMMENTING, PLEASE DEAR GOD FAMILIARIZE YOURSELF WITH OUR CONVERSATION. This is not the "start" of the discussion. This was taken out of the comment section of a larger post. Orlando Sentinel is the only media outlet that I've actually spoken to, and their story is probably the best starting point outside of the original post.
Please respond, Pasquale, but we owe him nothing as far as I'm concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny.

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