Spirit Airlines, a well-known US ultra-low-cost carrier, has apologized profusely for widespread disruptions that have caused hundreds of flights to be canceled since Sunday. Spirit Airlines has canceled multiple flights out of major cities as of Sunday evening. Hundreds of travelers have been left stranded and rushing to get rebooked due to the cancellations waiting up for hours.
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The airline remarked that seeing disappointed passengers does not make them feel better. Customers should constantly monitor their emails and flight statuses before traveling to the airport, according to the airline, because it realizes how stressful it is to have their plans modified so fast.
The airline issued a statement saying, “The last five days have been tremendously challenging for our Guests and Team Members, and we deeply regret it.” “During some travel interruptions over the weekend owing to several weather and operational problems, we’re working tirelessly to get back on track. We had to make some cautious cancellations across the network, but the vast majority of flights are staying on schedule.”
According to airlines officials, Spirit is trying to issue refunds and cancellations to the hundreds of passengers affected around the country. On Wednesday, he stated that airport lineups have “much lessened” and that cancellations “would gradually decrease in the days ahead. After working through yesterday’s proactive cancellations, we’ve conducted a more complete network reboot, allowing us to shift our staff more efficiently and restore the network faster. As a result, cancellation rates will gradually decline in the days ahead.”
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Storms hit southeastern Oregon, southwest Idaho, northern Nevada, the Southwest, the Northeast, and the Great Basin, causing delays and cancellations. The airline was under severe strain due to a combination of terrible weather, IT issues, and crew shortages. Since Sunday, the Florida-based airline has been devastated by cancellations and delays, resulting in a barrage of negative headlines.
According to FlightAware’s, more than half of the airline’s schedule, roughly 350 flights, had been canceled as of midday Wednesday, marking the fourth straight day of significant disruptions. On Sunday, Spirit canceled 165 flights, disrupting 60% of its schedule; cancellations and delays impacted 71% of Spirit’s schedule on Monday. Every Spirit Airlines flight out of one Tampa, Florida, airport was canceled. According to FlightAware, the carrier canceled 61 percent of its schedule on Tuesday and delayed another 20 percent.
Spirit Airlines predicted flight cancellations would begin to decline on Thursday, but that hasn’t happened at Pittsburgh International Airport as of Thursday morning. Every Spirit flight into and out of PIT had been canceled as of 11 a.m. Thursday. Flights into and out of Arnold Palmer International Airport were also canceled.
Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, were the airports most hit by Spirit disruptions on Sunday and Monday, with roughly 37 cancellations on Sunday. However, similar incidents have been observed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Spirit’s flight attendant union reported another IT failure on Tuesday morning, this time preventing flight crew schedulers from making changes to aircraft plans for more than an hour. Due to the interruption, some aircraft crews were stuck far from their base and unable to reach their scheduled flights.
According to aviation industry analysts, the busy summer travel season, along with the pandemic’s lingering effects, has hampered airline scheduling and exacerbated logistical issues. Spirit’s problems this week are the latest in a long line of issues for an industry that has been stressed by increased demand in the wake of a pandemic-related travel downturn. Experts believe that as some airlines recover from unprecedented decreases in air traffic, they have trouble finding pilots, flight attendants, and ground employees to handle aircraft, leaving them susceptible to more common issues.
