Ana

I have never experienced customer service this bad. I tried multiple times to cancel my flight with Spirit Airlines because, as a federal employee affected by the government shutdown, my approved time off was canceled and I can’t travel.
I reached out through both chat and phone, explained my situation, and was met with absolute confusion. One agent asked me to submit proof documents such as a Subpoena, Court Order, or Jury Summons, which makes no sense at all. Another person asked for a Letter of Deployment and Notice of Governing Body, clearly confusing federal civilian employees with military personnel.
Finally, after wasting hours, a “supervisor” told me the only way to resolve this was to go in person to the airport and speak with someone in the U.S. This just confirmed what I already suspected, that Spirit is outsourcing customer service to people who have no idea what they’re talking about.
To make matters worse, when I mentioned that I was working without getting paid during the shutdown, one employee actually said, “Amazing.” That was beyond offensive and completely tone-deaf.
This entire experience was infuriating, demeaning, and unprofessional. Spirit Airlines clearly trains their staff poorly, has no empathy for customers facing real-life hardships, and makes an already stressful situation even worse.

The boarding process was extremely disorganized. Passengers were randomly pulled out of line to check their bags, despite there being plenty of overhead bin space available. A flight attendant then began “saving” seats for a mother and her teenage daughter, even though the daughter could have easily been seated elsewhere. Meanwhile, another family with a baby and the father received no assistance and were disregarded. The lack of consistency and fairness created unnecessary confusion and chaos.