Los Angeles, CA—I should have
written this sooner but the negative experience I had with this airline has
been continually relived in my mind. Better I do this late than never!
It was well over a year ago I
had to take a short notice flight to Chicago.
I searched for the cheapest fare, which was anything but cheap.
Spirit Airlines came in at the lowest
fare but not by much. This was my fist
and hopefully last flight on this carrier.
What went wrong you might
ask? To begin with Spirit is following
the competition in doing the things I hate like those confusing nickel and dime
schemes over baggage fees. I want to be
charged a single price and be left alone.
Because of the fees overhead bins are always overstuffed and the loading and unloading of passengers is painfully slower than need be.
From the boarding counter to
exiting the plane their clerks and crew were unfriendly and downright
mean. I never once saw any of them
smile.
The pre-boarding loudspeaker
announcements were always tense and agitated.
They warned us like we were Nazi prisoners boarding trains to death
camps that the plane was absolutely full.
When I got to my seat it had
a brown colored stain on it and since the plane was full I could not change
it. Then I learned that the seats do not
recline even an inch! I’m 6 feet tall
and weigh in at over 200 pounds. L.A. to
Chicago is a somewhat long flight.
The flight attendants were
very impatient with the passengers that were seemingly to slow at obeying
commands to stow those electronic devices.
I was wondering where Spirit
recruited their help. Those people
showed every sign of hating their jobs and the passengers.
I can’t imagine that every
flight is like that because if they were, Switzerland’s Human Rights
organizations would be investigating.
I have to admit I’m old
enough to remember when flying was fun.
Once upon a time, there was no frisking passengers or searching their
luggage. You could pay for your flight
with cash and board planes without ID.
The flight crews of old were
delightfully friendly. There were no
flight attendants. Stewardesses took
care of the passengers needs. They were young,
radiant and incredibly pleasant. Women
that were hard on the eyes or men simply were excluded from these
positions.
The glory days of airline
travel are long over and so what if I got spoiled but I refuse to pay for what
Spirit dishes out. I'd rather walk!
Frankly this single round
trip experience with Spirit was enough for me and I will gladly pay more to
avoid this airline.
With all the media that is available on the internet, this is something new? If you want an "experience" with LAX-ORD, then fly Virgin America. If you want bargain prices and knowing you didn't pay 2-300 dollars more than the person sitting next to you, then fly Spirit.I didnt get good service or a bottle of water...Neither did I at the last Blackhawks game. I paid good money--do you think they should have given me a bottle of water and bag of peanuts all with a smile? You pay for what you use.Either way, caveat emptor. There is no reason these days someone should book on Spirit and be shocked as there is enough info out there to determine what travel works for you. And those days of old, yeah, they have been gone for over 20 years--where have you been living--under a rock?'Don't have to show an ID and pay cash at the gate'...maybe on Afghanistan airways and you get to sit next to Ahkmed Talibani. Yeah,you can fly on an airline with that policy, I prefer the security over that.You should know better as a law enforcement officer!
ReplyDeleteYour pro TSA and crappy airline post tells me a lot about you!
ReplyDeleteFirst of all only the airlines not the government has right to screen passengers for whatever they choose. The government and the TSA are breaking the law of the land.
We sill have an unenforced Fourth Amendment precluding these warrantless frisks by government. You should have learned about that in eighth grade.
Airlines have been irreparably damaged by the TSA's chasing passengers away from drivable shorter flights. There are millions of people that simply refuse to fly anywhere because of the civil rights abuses by the TSA. There have bee studies that prove this.
We don’t even trust armed off-duty cops on planes with their guns. Our politicians have armed a tiny percentage our pilots with guns locked in cases placing them in a tactical disadvantage that totally neutered the Federal Flight Deck Officer program.
Our government has deceptively frightened people like you to believe you’ll die without the TSA.
I submit had the pilots been reasonably armed with normal concealed handguns September 11th would have just been another day other than to hear a few hijackers were killed or wounded.
Two of the planes on September 11th had disarmed off duty cops. If they had their guns two of the flights would have been completely protected.
I blame our lame government bureaucrats much more than the terrorists for 3,000 innocent lives lost.
The airlines have been pushed into a no win situation by the mismanagement by our government.
The airlines are all fighting off bankruptcy using every scheme they can. No wonder the flight crews have the personalities of jail guards.
The TSA is nothing more than a jobs program for the unemployable. They created a massively expensive security theater with poorly educated and trained thugs. Government propaganda has brainwashed you and millions others that you are being protected.
Don't have to show an ID and pay cash? Sounds like voting in COOK County... I'm with you Paul,airline travel has become unrecognizable from it's glamorous past. But, I'm afraid it's a representative snap shot of what our society has become.. And the band played on..
ReplyDeleteAirlines? awful.
ReplyDeleteParking? awful.
Livery/limousine drivers? Biggest xxx xxxxs on the face of the earth.
TSA? Guys who get a charge out of sniffing you underwear and confiscating you 2 oz. bottle of shampoo (because you haven't memorized the rules and regs).
No Paul, the whole experience is terrible. I fly 1/20th of what I used to fly. And I'm happier for it.
"I submit had the pilots been reasonably armed with normal concealed handguns September 11th would have just been another day other than to hear a few hijackers were killed or wounded.
ReplyDeleteTwo of the planes on September 11th had disarmed off duty cops. If they had their guns two of the flights would have been completely protected."
I agree 100%. The bureaucrats and politicians have done more damage to this country than any one else. Time to some common sense security, much like Israel.
Couple years ago while waiting for our luggage at o'Hare I noticed a tsa slug eyeballing my wife, not in what I would call a professional manner. Soon as we grabbed our luggage the tsa slug approached us and asked to see my wife's ticket, he stamped it or wrote on it. As we walked out we were stopped, taken to a room and the same tsa scumbag searched all of my wife's things.
ReplyDeleteHi Paul;
ReplyDeleteKnowing how much you love the TSA, and how dedicated you are to defending those accused of crimes, I thought I'd forward this article from the London Daily Mail. I wonder why I have to read a London newspaper to find out about events in America. Anyway, here's a link. Enjoy!:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3222544/TSA-agent-Kennedy-Airport-charged-stealing-7K-watch.html