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Don’t Ever Fly Spirit Airlines On Your Birthday! August 18, 2011

Filed under: Travel — Kelocity @ 7:00 am
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Ok, remember last week when I wrote about how I was nervous about flying Spirit Airlines again? Well, let’s just say that my instincts were right. Although I had no problems on my flight TO Chicago, the seats are disgusting, they don’t clean the planes in between flights and it’s just plain gross in there. Also, I think since the prices are “low”, they attract a clientele that you don’t usually see on other carriers. (I know that is judgmental, but seriously, some of those people looked homeless.)

When I was checking in with TSA, the guy made some comment about how their boarding passes actually don’t comply with FAA standards, but they continue to print them that way. The information is hard to read on them and the agents hate them. (Way to piss off your airports, Spirit!)

My flight back to LA had a scheduled three hour layover in Las Vegas. I wasn’t happy about this, but at least I got a good deal on it, so I made the most of it. I get to Las Vegas, have a nice dinner by myself and read a bit of “The Help” in the terminal. They had slot machines there since it was Vegas, but I wasn’t feeling very lucky.

Yep. Not lucky indeed. Right when the flight was supposed to be boarding, they quietly announced that the flight was delayed for TWO hours! Now my 3 hour layover had turned into FIVE hours! I could have driven home to LA in less time than that. Ugh! And right after they made that announcement, their counters looked like this…
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Yep. No staff. No one to ask your questions to or anything. And now I wouldn’t be getting back to LA until 1:45am. I called Irving, we chatted for a bit and then I read more of my book.
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So 12:30a rolls around and they announce that the flight had been cancelled since the crew couldn’t work that many hours. Whhhaaattt??? Didn’t know you know that would have been the case, oh, I don’t know, FIVE HOURS AGO?! The way they announced it was almost like WE were an inconvenience to THEM. Ugh!

So many people at the gate were drunk (they’d been drinking for five hours in the airport bars for crying out loud!) I was already annoyed that I had to listen to them screaming and laughing way louder than anyone should in the middle of the night. I was the first one in line and they gave me a hotel and meal voucher and a ticket on an 8am flight the next day. They said they had nothing any earlier.

I asked if they could put me on another airline so I’d make it to work on time, but they guy laughed and said “oh, no other airline will accept our vouchers”. HAHA Seriously? That alone speaks volumes.

Want a few other reasons why Spirit is the worst? They charge for Carry On bags and water during the flight. (PS… water in the airport was cheaper than the water on board!)

So I called Irving and asked if he could find me any other flights leaving earlier, and Southwest had one leaving at 6am. He booked it for me and I got BACK in line and waited another 40 minutes or so to talk to the agent. When I got up there I said rather loudly I wanted a refund because Southwest was better, cheaper and more convenient. The agreed to give me my money back, but I had to surrender my hotel voucher first. I laughed and told him no. He argued with me for a few minutes but I won. Thank you very much. Jerk.

And since it was past midnight, it is now officially my birthday. Guess I can’t say that I never celebrated my birthday in Vegas, huh?

So the good news is that it is now 1:30am and I have a place to stay for the night.
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But the bad news is that it is 1:30am and I have to get up at 3:30a to make my Southwest Flight.
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And to top it off, I missed the hotel shuttle and had to wait 15 more minutes for it to come back. In the meantime, Mr. Vegas Drunk from the airport terminal decides that now is a good time to strike up a conversation and “get to know each other”. Ew, gross. I tried to ignore him.

When the bus finally came, he SAT NEXT TO ME. ugh! He was wearing a bathing suit and a wife beater and had zero luggage. I’m pretty sure he was so drunk that he lost it somewhere. He was all sweaty and gross and practically sitting on me naming off reasons why we should be get rooms next to each other and eat out of the mini bar.

When we got to the hotel, I told the guy to give me a room as far away from that creep as possible.

After a 1.5 hour “nap” in the hotel, I made it back to the airport and had an uneventful 42 minute flight home. Yep. After all that, the flight was only 42 minutes.

If you’re counting, I think I got 9 total hours of sleep in three nights. Somehow I made it through the workday, but when I got home at 5:15, I had just enough energy to open my birthday presents! But I was asleep by 5:30pm!

I am NEVER flying Spirit Again! When I called today to ask about my refund, they had the gall to ask me if I’d like to apply for their credit card. I thought they were kidding! NEVER EVER EVER.

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In other news, BIRTHDAY PRESENTS!!!!
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I was in love with Irving’s super awesome “girls rule” wrapping paper.
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I got some really fun gifts including the LA Noire Game for the xbox!! It should be arriving this week and I can’t wait!!!
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I’m pretty sure Irving has been waiting for 10 years to be able to buy me a video game. Can’t wait to play it! Thanks, love!

So I’m officially 28 years old now. People keep telling me that 28 is a great year. I’m sure it will be. Looking forward to it!

 

6 Responses to “Don’t Ever Fly Spirit Airlines On Your Birthday!”

  1. Melissa Says:

    You could have called me…. by that time Steve was home. And you could have stayed here…..or hung out…sorry it was so crappy

  2. Tara Salvi Says:

    28 was a good year for me too! I hope yours goes better than it started! 🙂

  3. Janie and Jake Says:

    Even better – don’t ever fly Spirit airlines, not now, not EVER…

  4. PAPA Says:

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY BETTER YEARS ARE COMING. THIS IS ONE YOU;LL NEVER FORGET.

    LOVE,
    GRAMMIE AND PAPA


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