Help! Spirit Airlines Left Us Behind in Guatemala City

NYT TRAVEL: Help! Spirit Airlines Left Us Behind in Guatemala City
By Seth Kugel
Section: Travel
Source: New York Times
Published Date: April 21, 2023 at 03:00AM

A family got a text alert that their flight was delayed, but no follow-up that the delay was rescinded. Our columnist finds that the airline played by the rules, as unfair as they may seem.

Dear Tripped Up,

My two sons and I checked in at the Guatemala City airport three hours before the first leg of our return flight to Detroit. As we waited, I received two texts from Spirit announcing that our flight was delayed, first by about 20 minutes and then by an additional 15, making the new departure time 4:18 p.m. We used the delay to get something to eat, monitoring our phones for more updates, but none came. When we returned to our gate at 3:40, we were told the plane had been readied earlier than expected and the doors had closed. The gate staff said it would be three days before another flight was available, and they refused to book us on another airline. We were forced to spend over $3,000 for same-day, one-way tickets on JetBlue. We eventually received a partial $297 credit from Spirit, but we want them to reimburse us for the JetBlue flight, since they should have alerted us when the departure time was again revised. Tom, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Read More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/21/travel/missed-flights-rules-advice.html