Melanie Haskins flew Spirit Airlines for the first time to a friend's wedding in Las Vegas over the weekend. She got there fine, but when it was time to come home, "We had to fly to Seattle, Washington and then from Seattle back to Kansas City," she said.
The fight that broke out in Fort Lauderdale after several Spirit cancellations has gone viral. Melanie said the scenes are not unique, adding, "I can completely understand. I mean I did see some of that."
41 Action News reached out to Spirit Airlines about the issues and received this statement from spokesman Paul Berry:
"We sincerely apologize to our customers for the disruption and inconveniences they have suffered. We believe this is the result of intimidation tactics by a limited number of our pilots affecting the behavior of the larger group. We are also shocked and saddened by the events that took place yesterday at Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport and at other airports across our network."
At Kansas City International Airport Tuesday night, we met several passengers who say the airline's actions don't reflect that.
Donald Ogle said when he tried to reach out there was, "No response, we can't through, we can't get online, we can't even contact them through the phone line at all."
Frank DeSantiago shared, "They don't really care for their customers. They're just letting us all stick around and there's nothing they can do."
Spirit Airlines did cite a temporary restraining order compelling union pilots to get back to work. Dozens of flights were still canceled on Tuesday.
---------
