Spirit Airlines’ latest “Unintended Consequences Fee” that is being slapped on their flights because of new 24-hour grace period mandated by the Department of Transportation (DOT) is a great idea. Why didn’t they proactively charge it as an insurance fee earlier and give passengers a 24-hour grace period? It clearly shows how exorbitant current cancellation and change fees actually are.
I’d bet that if Spirit offered “change of mind insurance” before the new DOT regulations that came into effect in late January, they would have had plenty of passengers purchasing such insurance. Heck, I’d bet that almost all of us would pay an extra $2-$5 for the peace of mind that we could cancel the flight within, let’s say three days. How about a $25-$30 fee that would allow passengers to change flights up until 30 days before departure and pay the going airfare at that time?
Spirit claims that it has calculated its loss for waiting 24 hours at $2 per passenger. Why in the world are they charging $115 to $125 for changes during that time when it only costs them $2? It looks like a clear case of gouging defenseless passengers.
Perhaps, the Department of Justice (DOJ) or the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), rather than DOT, should take a look at Spirit’s current cancellation and change fees in terms of a monopolistic gouging of the flying public? The airlines in these matters are exhibiting the same morals as payday lenders. Plus, these activities have nothing to do with airline transportation and can, perhaps, be carved out of the airlines’ Federal preemption protections.
It all started with DOT’s first foray into passenger protections other than luggage, bumping and tarmac delays. It seems the airlines are madder than Hell that they have to treat passengers as, well, heaven forbid, human beings. Imagine that! Imagine that occasionally passengers make mistakes and could use a grace period to correct them.
To be fair, Delta and United/Continental airlines have always offered a 24-hour grade period. JetBlue had some sort of four-hour rule for no-charge name changes and cancellations. And, Southwest, without cancellation and change fees never was faced with the problem and from my experience always found a way to help passengers, with a simple phone call, who managed “fat-finger” errors on their reservations.
But, Spirit and Allegiant Airlines claim that DOT is overstepping their bounds. American Airlines isn’t involved in a pending court case by those two airlines against DOT, but they have long been one of the most unreasonable airlines when it came to changes and cancellations immediately after making the booking.
From personal experience, I can confirm that AA would charge the $150 change fee within minutes after a booking. Their response was, “Tough luck. We have your money and you aren’t getting it back.”
I swear, that I could hear the management chortling in the background. Of course, these kinds of superb customer service practices led AA down the primrose path to bankruptcy while their competitors with a 24-hour grace period have been racking up better and better profits.
Back to Spirit Airlines — their actions beg for an investigation by another department of the executive since DOT is limited to consumer harm that springs from unfair and deceptive practices. When it comes to simply gouging their customers, perhaps DOJ might do better at taking Spirit and their ilk to the regulatory woodshed.
Then again, with Spirit, in effect, biting the DOT hand that regulates it, the claim of “unfair and deceptive” practices could easily apply to not only Spirit’s cancellation and change fees but may beg for a closer look at how the industry unfairly treats the public with exorbitant industry-wide cancellation and change fees as well as hidden ancillary fees that can add dramatically to the total cost of travel.
I’m not sure who is advising Spirit in their recent antics, but their actions may lead to a tougher look at overall airline practices and lead to better and more potent passenger protections in the not-to-distant future.
