Spirit Airlines Causing Chaos
In the spotlight this week, Spirit Airlines.
The airline, which is used to receiving very negative ratings has hit an all time low. On Monday night, Fort Lauderdale’s airport looked like the set of a Jerry Springer show, when dozens of passengers received the annoying news of ANOTHER flight cancellation. This led to a full on brawl between Spirit employees and police against some very unruly pissed off customers.
The heated exchange is in connection to over 300 flights being cancelled by the airline in the past week. Airline spokesman, Paul Berry released a statement placing blame on the pilots and a contract dispute currently being hashed out, “These pilots have put their quest for a new contract ahead of getting customers to their destinations and the safety of their fellow Spirit Team Members.”
Spirit has filed a lawsuit against the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) accusing the union of being “engaged in a pervasive illegal work slowdown that has caused approximately 300 flight cancellations and has disrupted the travel plans of over 20,000 customers. … The Spirit pilots’ concerted refusal to accept junior assignments or pick up open time flying has dramatically impacted Spirit’s operations leading to cancellations throughout its system, and most particularly for flights departing from Fort Lauderdale, Chicago-O’Hare, Detroit, and Las Vegas.”
Legal drama aside, the low-budget carrier has a huge PR nightmare on it’s hands. The videos and pictures have gone viral on social media and they have even been dubbed the “Break Your Spirit” airline. The chaos led to three passengers being arrested for threatening to harm airline employees and challenging them to fight.
