Spirit Airlines travel chaos continues for the SIXTH day in a row as airline cancels nearly a quarter of its flights
- Spirit Airlines cancelled 23 percent of Saturday's flights, as of 2pm
- This is the sixth consecutive day Spirit Airlines cancelled a large number of flights, but it's down from more than 60 percent at the beginning of the week
- The total number of cancellations over the six-day stretch is about 2,000
- Spirit CEO Ted Christie said he expects the airline to resume normal service by early next week
Passengers are seething as travel chaos continues for the sixth straight day after Spirit Airlines canceled nearly a quarter of its flights on Saturday, bring the total to about 2,000 cancellations this week.
As of 2pm, 170 flights - 23 percent - have already been cancelled, and another 91 are delayed, according to FlightAware, an online flight tracker.
The 22 percent continues a positive trend since the issue started with more than 60 percent of flights being cancelled on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Spirit CEO Ted Christie is optimistic that the airline will be back to normal by early next week but admitted 'it's been a tough week.'
Passengers wait in line at the Spirit Airlines check-in counter at Orlando International Airport on the sixth day the airline has cancelled hundreds of flights
Approximately 2,000 flights were cancelled this week due to weather, staffing shortages, computer problems, and passenger volume
Spirit Airlines believes it will resume normal service by early next week
In the meantime, would-be passengers took to Twitter to vent their frustrations and demand refunds.
Twitter user 'Bren' said, '@SpiritAirlines hey ummmmmmm u cancelled my flight 3 times. WHATS GOING ON??????'
Twitter user 'TainoSpartacus' said, '@SpiritAirlines should just fold and call it a day. How the hell am I being charged for something today when I am not even on any of their flights! Calling them is a nightmare! Forever on hold. This kind of shit is unacceptable.'
'Cobey' tweeted, '@SpiritAirlines Not sure why you can’t offer good customer service and refund me for a future flight that will more than likely get canceled. The last 4 days this flight has been canceled at 2AM for 8 AM departure. That’s not ample time. I need to make other arrangements.'
Sprit Airline customers impacted by the cancellations took to Twitter to rip the airline and demand refunds
In previous interviews with reporters, Christie said the massive wave of cancellations was caused by 'perfect storm' of operational issues, including staffing shortages, computer problems, passenger volume and bad weather.
'We couldn't get in front of it,' Christie said, according to CNBC, and he estimated the cancellations likely affected tens of thousands of Spirit customers.
To ease staff shortages, the company is offering double pay to flight attendants who pick up extra shifts and is offering accommodations, flight credits, refunds, hotel vouchers and meal vouchers to impacted guests, as 'warranted by each Guest's individual circumstance,' ABC News reported.
But those vouchers may not be enough.
Brenda Deleon told DailyMail.com that her family's eight-day vacation to Puerto Rico had to be extended by two days - at a cost of $1,000 - because of Spirit.
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After receiving notification of the cancellation late Tuesday night, Deleon tried to contact Spirit customer service but wasn't able to speak with someone.
'I called last night and was on hold for 42 minutes, but figured they were closed. This morning I went to the airport to talk to someone, but the Spirit kiosk was empty,' she said.
Deleon called the airlines 1-800 line again on Wednesday and was able to rebook the family's flights for Friday at 2.50am. But, the family still faced issues with accommodations.
'Our AirBnb was booked tonight so we looked for another home for $478.41 and two days of car rental for $342.34,' she said.
'[Spirit said] they will refund only half of what trip costs which is not an option since prices with other airlines skyrocketed. We have to wait it out.'
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