Refunds for Cancelled Spirit Flights? Six Days, Five Different Answers

If you weren't paying close attention, you might think that Spirit's dedicated strike webpage was being updated solely to reflect the expected duration of the strike, and the associated flight cancellations.

So, were were initially advised, the projected cancellations were limited to Saturday's flights.  Then it was extended to include Sunday as well.  Later, the page was updated to show cancellations through Tuesday.  And most recently, flyers were advised that Wednesday and the Thursday flights were scratched as well.

Those changes are important, to be sure.  But the webpage has been evolving in another, more insidious way as well.

1. Saturday

At first, on Saturday, Spirit promised to refund all affected passengers the full amount of their tickets, plus a $100 flight voucher.

2. Sunday

On Sunday, with no notice or fanfare, the verbiage had changed.  The new promise: All affected passengers would be issued flight credits -- good only for use on Spirit, naturally -- plus the $100 voucher.  If the customer preferred a cash refund, he was advised to call the airline's toll-free number: "If you would prefer to receive a full refund instead, please call 1 (800) 772-7117 and one of our Customer Service Representatives will assist you."  (See screenshot to the left.)

3. Monday

As of Monday, the promise had been further downsized to delete entirely any mention of the cash refund.  (Screenshot to the right.)

4. Wednesday

On Wednesday, the website had again been modified, this time to add back the offer of a cash refund for those willing to endure the phone queue.  But they added this as well: "Customers who prefer to receive a refund instead of a future flight credit will not receive the additional $100 future flight credit."  (Screenshot to the left.)  

5. Thursday

Finally, on Thursday, with an agreement in place from pilots to return to work the next day, Spirit again changed the offer to stranded travelers.  This line had been deleted: "Customers who prefer to receive a refund instead of a future flight credit will not receive the additional $100 future flight credit." (See screenshot to the right.)

So, do refund-requesters also receive a $100 flight credit or not? Maybe, maybe not.  Yesterday they didn't.  Today, well, Spirit isn't saying.

Stranded customers will still have to call Spirit to specifically request a refund, so they might as well request the credit as well.  And they might get it -- Spirit seems to be making it up as they go.

Take the Money

Five different policies in six days, the most generous of which requires a phone call to a reservations center that must be overwhelmed with panicked calls from angry, frustrated customers ...

Assuming you charged your Spirit ticket to a credit card, my advice is to bypass Spirit altogether and contact the card issuer to have the charge reversed.  Even if you think you can convince Spirit to honor its on-again-off-again promise to refund your money, you'd first have to take your place in a long telephone queue just to make your case to a customer service agent.

Take your money and run!