Posted on 05/03/2012 1:42:07 PM PDT by servo1969
The boss of Spirit Airlines isn't about to cave in to a dying former Marine, and he doesn't lose sleep knowing his company leads the industry when it comes to customer complaints, he told FoxNews.com.
“That’s an irrelevant statistic,” Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza said when told his airline generates gripes at two-and-a-half times the rate of the next most complained about carrier.
Spirit racked up 8.27 complaints per 100,000 passengers in January, while United finished a distant second-worst, registering 3.5 complaints per 100,000 fliers, according to U.S. Department of Transportation statistics. By comparison, Southwest notched just 0.2 complaints per 100,000 fliers.
Spirit is generating complaints at a much faster clip on Facebook, where a "Boycott Spirit Airlines" page has seen its number of "likes" soar to more than 21,000 from about 700 since the carrier denied a $197 refund to Jerry Meekins. The 76-year-old Vietnam veteran and former Marine tried to get his $197 back after learning his esophageal cancer is terminal and being told by his doctor not to fly from Florida to Atlantic City. Airline officials told him to forget it, and Baldanza reaffirmed the company's hardline in an exclusive FoxNews.com interview.
“A lot of our customers buy that insurance and what Mr. Meekins asked us to do was essentially give him the benefit of that insurance when he didn’t purchase the insurance,” Baldanza said. “Had we done that, I think it really would’ve been cheating all the people who actually bought the insurance … and I think that’s fundamentally unfair.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Here’s my opinion-
On the one hand, he's right. He doesn't have to refund Jerry Meekins his $197. Mr. Meekins didn't buy the insurance. Spirit Airlines is under no legal obligation to give it back.
On the other hand, is the public relations fiasco he’s creating for his brand worth the $197 they got to keep? I hope so because he's leaving the door wide open for the next new airline that wants to take his customers away. A business has to operate in the real world. Your customers are people. Treat enough of them like garbage and they’ll be happy to take their patronage elsewhere.
In short, this is a classic case of “Pennywise, Pound foolish.”
This wouldn’t happen at Southwest
and it wasn’t that he wanted a refund
he would have changed the ticket to his daughter’s name
Spirit Airlines is now irrelevant to me. I won’t fly Spirit again.
Right-O. Southwest Airlines is the only airline to fly.
By the time veterans get through with not flying Spirit Airlines, old Benny will likely find himself driving a school bus for a living.
I will never under any circumstances fly Spirit Airlines even if it means I have to walk to my destination.
We won’t fly Spirit anymore since it cancelled flights with zero notice to those having booked seating far in advance. And then would not even respond to inquiries or requests that it provide alternative booking on other airlines. Unreliable. Unresponsive. And it can cost a lot more to get seating on other airlines “at the last minute,” too.
Spirit Airlines just announced they are going to start charging $100 for each item stored in overhead bin.
It’s simple
Spirit has every right to withhold the fare
And I and thousands of others have the right to seek out other carriers.
Case Closed
A smart CEO would have taken the $197 out of his own pocket. This kind of publicity has probably cost him $197,000.
Idiot.
If we don’t vote with our wallets, we are supporting our demise. If the right would practice activism on a daily basis, there would be no money to support the left.
It’s called “Penny smart, and Pound Foolish.”
If southwest doesn’t go there I either drive or don’t go.
This is not worth the bad publicity.
Sorry, but the only way I’ve ever heard it is “wise”.
Delta, United, KLM and the other airlines have to be laughing themselves silly. You just can’t buy advertizing like this.
I was able to get a flight cancelled at southwest due to a medical emergency this spring. But no refund and no transfer.
This is pretty common stuff.
So true. The $197 dollar refund, plus, throw in a free trip anywhere that Spirit flies, and they would have gotten a MILLION dollars plus of FAVORABLE warm fuzzy publicity. Powerful positive branding.
Sorry though, when the "bean counter" mentality PREVAILS, more often than not, you've screwed yourself.
Typical bean counter and an ugly little f***er to boot. The next Spirit Airlines board of directors meeting should be a hoot. Speaking as a marketing person, the sound of an accountant CEO being crushed is almost musical.
This airline is beyond stupid. It will die a slow horrible death.
The Board of Directors should have this guy arrested for felony stupidity.
Baldanza is likely to be looking for a new job rather soon.
Dude, you have some kinda balls to continue down a path that an Epic Loser for you, the employees and stock holders.
Career dissipation light blinking faster.....
Dude, you have some kinda balls to continue down a path that an Epic Loser for you, the employees and stock holders.
Career dissipation light blinking faster.....
I am confused
you got the flight cancelled but no refund or transfer
so what did you actually get?
Meekins, meanwhile, told FoxNews.com he has been inundated with phone calls from veterans across the country and has received numerous offers of cash, including a $197 handshake from “Fox & Friends” host Steve Doocy on Wednesday — which Meekins said he would donate to the Wounded Warrior Project for injured veterans.
“It’s been tremendous, my phone hasn’t stopped ringing,” Meekins told FoxNews.com following the appearance.
FoxNews.com readers overwhelmingly believe Baldanza got it wrong: In a “You Decide” poll with more than 100,000 responses, 8 out of 10 readers said Spirit should have refunded Meekins’ fare. But according to emails supplied by the company, some customers backed its decision.
You can sure buy a lot of bad publicity for your company for a miserly $197.00.
I'll walk before I ever set foot on one of their aircraft.
Gotta wonder where this airline’s political donations go...
Given that airlines are hurting thanks to, among other things, the public’s reluctance to be groped by TSA agents, I would think that airlines would want to create some goodwill by issuing the
refund. Spirit must be really making money if it can afford to lose customers over this issue. (I doubt it)
You said it.
Baldanza....Sounds like something George Costanzas Gym teacher might call him.
According to an above comment from the story they were even trying to just get the name on the ticket changed and apparently they would not even do that. CEO wouldn’t have had to refund them any money at all.
This little CEO twerp probably got beat up on the playground when he was a little kid.
It’s amazing that someone so effin’ clueless can be the head of a corporation.
It’s a very unusual business plan, but one I shall watch with interest. The guy’s a dope in my mind but he’s right that people will put up with a lot to save a buck or two. So far, given Spirit’s incredible growth, he’s been proven right.
A change to travel arrangements usually costs. $150 is my experience.
Most do, but it is worth noting that Southwest will change their regular tickets at no charge, or give a refund. And if you change to a flight that ends up cheaper, they’ll refund you the difference. Even with their more restrictive discount fare, they will give you full credit for a change (no refund though).
I’ve never flown with them, and definitely don’t ever plan to fly MeanSpirited Airlines.
It is a HUGE PR fiasco.
I bet he gets up tomorrow morning looking in the mirror to shave and says DUMBASS!
I was flying back to Iraq after leave and Delta move me into first class. I was in my BDU’s There is a difference in airlines so I fly Delta if there a choice.
Amen. $197 by orders of magnitude is what he's going to have to pay some PR firm to haul his sorry behind out of the debacle he's mouthed himself into. Sometimes "the principle of the thing" is not the same as "doing the right thing."
guess nobody ever told the fool you have to pick your battles, $197 is one hell of a small hill to die on... make that mole hill
Totally.
This publicity makes me aware of Spirit for the first time. It makes me realize that they have low fares, and don’t bow to every pressure tactic for certain sympathetic people. Good for them. Just because you’re old, or dying doesn’t mean you can pick the pocket of a company I might wish to patronize.
The $197 dollar refund, plus, throw in a free trip anywhere that Spirit flies, and they would have gotten a MILLION dollars plus of FAVORABLE warm fuzzy publicity. Powerful positive branding.
Spirit has every right to withhold the fare
And I and thousands of others have the right to seek out other carriers.
bye bye now spirit airlines.
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