# Spirit Ft Lauderdale warning



## Steamboat Bill (Aug 19, 2007)

Spirit Airline used to be one of my favorite until this past week.

I have been reading about their "growing pains" in the newspaper over the past few months, but saw it first hand.

We went to Atlantis (Paradise Island, Bahamas) this past weekend and the check-in for Spirit in Fort Lauderdale airport was a nightmare.

It took 2 hours to get from my parked car to get to the gate to board the plane. The lines were incredibly long and slow. Terminal 4 CANNOT accomidate all this traffic. 

Dear Spirit - Stop the $8 fares and simply improve Terminal 4.

If you have to travel to FLL....avoid Spirit.


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## Transit (Aug 19, 2007)

I went through the same exact horror show in June ,complete chaos at the teminal ,some people I was talking to at the terminal didn't even make their flights.


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## Judy (Aug 19, 2007)

I traveled on Spirit to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos out of the Fort Lauderdale airport last month.  I too had a bad experience.  But my take on the situation is that it is the Fort Lauderdale airport that is having growing pains and that it's the airport, not the airline that has to fix the parking and crowding problems.


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## Twinkstarr (Aug 19, 2007)

Steamboat Bill said:


> Spirit Airline used to be one of my favorite until this past week.
> 
> I have been reading about their "growing pains" in the newspaper over the past few months, but saw it first hand.
> 
> ...





A fellow DVC made this complaint a few months ago(why she took the only connecting flight from DTW-FLL-MCO, when there are about 4 direct DTW-MCO available I don't know  ). I remember their growing pains when they first started flying DTW-MCO, one of the girls at my salon had a horror story travelling with them(no weather problems, just not enough planes if they had a major mechanical problem).


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## Steamboat Bill (Aug 19, 2007)

Judy said:


> I traveled on Spirit to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos out of the Fort Lauderdale airport last month.  I too had a bad experience.  But my take on the situation is that it is the Fort Lauderdale airport that is having growing pains and that it's the airport, not the airline that has to fix the parking and crowding problems.



yes, and, possibly no.

I too took the Turks flight on June 9th without any problems or delays. It is the summer rush of travelers that is breaking the system.

Terminal 4 at FLL is not as modern as Terminal 1-3. Just check out Terminal 1 for JetBlue....very nice.

With Spirit advertising $9 fares and all seats filled, Spirit has OUTGROWN Terminal 4.

Thus, from her on out, I will avoid Spirit at FLL as it is a mess in terminal 4.

The Spirit planes are fantastic and the flights are smooth, they just need a different airport. Perhaps they shoudl expand to PBI and take more flights from there.


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## Kagehitokiri (Aug 19, 2007)

only 4 international routes not ex-FLL

MCO-SJU
TPA-SJU
LAX-GUA
DTW-CUN


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## JLB (Aug 19, 2007)

Perfect timing.

Just this week we booked Spirit through Ft. L to Cayman.  

We are making a connection in Ft. L with a lengthy time between flights.  That seems like a safe bet.


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## Transit (Aug 19, 2007)

JLB said:


> Perfect timing.
> 
> Just this week we booked Spirit through Ft. L to Cayman.
> 
> We are making a connection in Ft. L with a lengthy time between flights.  That seems like a safe bet.



If your checked in and just making a connection you should be fine .The problems are at Spirit's check in disaster area.


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## Steamboat Bill (Aug 19, 2007)

Transit said:


> If your checked in and just making a connection you should be fine .The problems are at Spirit's check in disaster area.



Agreed....the check-in from the parking lot or street level for Terminal 4 is a disaster. If you are connecting via FLL, you should be fine. I guess living in South Florida has some disadvantages.


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## azsunluvr (Aug 19, 2007)

This is really good to know. I'm taking Spirit FLL-NAS on Sept 8. Maybe the summer crowds will be down, but I"ll still allow extra time. Thanks for the heads-up!


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## JLB (Aug 20, 2007)

Of course, after Hurricane dean hits Grand Cayman in the morning, we may not need that flight come January.   

On our news tonight they reported that a lot of airports have had serious delay problems this summer, for a variety of reasons.  Even our nice, convenient, expedient little airport in Springfield, MO has been affected.


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## Judy (Aug 20, 2007)

Steamboat Bill said:


> Perhaps they shoudl expand to PBI and take more flights from there.


They are looking for more airports/cities in Florida.


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## pranas (Aug 20, 2007)

Judy said:


> I traveled on Spirit to Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos out of the Fort Lauderdale airport last month.  I too had a bad experience.  But my take on the situation is that it is the Fort Lauderdale airport that is having growing pains and that it's the airport, not the airline that has to fix the parking and crowding problems.




Nope, it is Spirit.  What a nightmare this airline has become to consumers because of its labor problems.  Had a similar problem returning from Nassau.  Stood for hours trying to get to the check-in counter.  People around us flying other airlines did not have to wait this long.


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## Steamboat Bill (Aug 20, 2007)

pranas said:


> Nope, it is Spirit.  What a nightmare this airline has become to consumers because of its labor problems.  Had a similar problem returning from Nassau.  Stood for hours trying to get to the check-in counter.  People around us flying other airlines did not have to wait this long.



We were in Nassau two days ago and got to the airport 3 hours early. 

No line for Spirit, but it took 1.5 hours to get past customs and two different x-ray machines. Our flight was then 3 hours delayed and only crappy food and little A/C. Finally we left on a 35 minute flight to FLL. Next time I will try to take a boat ride.


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## Kagehitokiri (Aug 26, 2007)

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070825/BIZ/708250317
http://www.alexrudloff.com/2007/08/20/ben-baldanza-from-spirit-encourages-awful-customer-service/


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## bogey21 (Aug 27, 2007)

For a $9 fare I'd get to the airport 3 or 4 hours early, go to the bathroom, buy a newspaper, and get in line.  No big deal.

GEORGE


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## pranas (Aug 27, 2007)

bogey21 said:


> For a $9 fare I'd get to the airport 3 or 4 hours early, go to the bathroom, buy a newspaper, and get in line.  No big deal.
> 
> GEORGE



Yes, it is a big deal if you did not know that you might be standing in the hot Florida sun for hours. And  not everyone is traveling on a $9 ticket. Paid a lot more than $9 for my fare. What if someone is not feeling well? My traveling companion got very sick after this happened to us. Being prepared for this type of thing is one thing but to be caught totally off guard is an entirely different story. The Fort Lauderdale paper said that this was a labor problem. Don't know what the other papers are calling it.


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## Steamboat Bill (Aug 27, 2007)

A $9 fare is deceiving as they have usually tack on over $70 in additional fees.


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## Transit (Aug 27, 2007)

bogey21 said:


> For a $9 fare I'd get to the airport 3 or 4 hours early, go to the bathroom, buy a newspaper, and get in line.  No big deal.
> 
> GEORGE



It was so bad when I went it wasn't worth the low price. Just aggravation! I'm still waiting for replacement luggage they destroyed.


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## Kozman (Aug 27, 2007)

*Spirit Check-In*

I flew into Ft. Myers from Detroit last Saturday.  I arrived at the airport about two hours before the flight was to leave.  I took my girlfriend's 91 year old mother with me on the trip.  Since the Spirit gate was one of the farthest on the concourse I pushed her in a wheelchair.  The luggage check-in was not too bad, but I almost fell over when I saw the line for security.  We weren't in line very long when a TSA person asked me to follow him.  He took us to the head of the line!  The line was one of the longest I've seen.  I'm almost sure we would have missed our flight if he hadn't intervened.  Many flyers missed an early flight out to Las Vegas and had to wait five hours to go out on the next flight. I can't say I blame Spirit as much as the airport security setup for the long lines.  

I guess you need to bring along a wheel chair person if you want to avoid the Spirit long lines! I would not purposely fake this just to get through fast!


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