Customer Service Issue + Blog + Google x CEO Snafu = Fun for Spirit Airlines

+ Posted by Josh Hallett on 08.21.07 // 11:45 AM

We've heard this story before....blogger has bad experience with company, blogs about it, then Google works its magic. In this case it's Alex Rudloff who had a problem with Spirit Airlines.

Alex's post is now #2 on Google for 'Spirit Airlines'. It's even ranked higher than Wikipedia. That has attracted a number of comments and e-mail from folks with the same experiences with Spirit. It's sort of a mini Dell-Hell.

The latest twist in the story involves Spirit CEO, Ben Baldanza who had a slight e-mail snafu. Fun stuff.

Visitor Comments

I wish I could say this was an abberation, but having worked for 2 airlines myself, Baldanza's attitude is more the norm, although most executives would have been a bit more careful with the reply all button. The fact is, Baldanza knows there are millions of people out there who will fly Spirit because of its cheap fares, and he feels he can afford to just blow Alex off.

But with all the tools available on the Internet, along with the increase in social media usage, situations like this can mushroom and are now giving passengers the power to call for change -- and publicize gaffes -- like never before.

I can point to clear examples that we've written and blogged about, including: the Continental flight with the sewage running down the aisles; JetBlue's Valentine's Day debacle; and the Continental passengers diverted to BWI from their original Newark flight who protested after being trapped for 5 hours on a plane that came from Venezuela.

So just keep up the pressure. Evenually the message will hit home.

I've just had a complete nightmare with spirit airlines myself. Three of my friends and I have arranged to take a cruise and decided to get airline tickets through travelocity, which quoted the price of tickets at 596.00 that's the "total" price with taxes and fees, well... I checked my account today and I was charged from spirit 884.00, I contacted travelocity, spirit, and my bank, and I of course went into a negative in my account and was charged 30.00 a piece for 6 charges on my card, none of them over 10.00 each by the way. I was not planning on an additional 280.00 out of my account, I have never, I mean never! went into a negative in my account. Spirit airlines refuses to reverse the charges, they say that it's not their responsability. What????

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