Spirit's Pilots Strike; All Saturday Flights Cancelled

If you were booked on a Spirit flight today, Saturday, June 12, you're out of luck.  The airline's pilots went on strike early this morning and all flights have been cancelled for the day, and possibly longer.

In the run-up to the strike, Spirit had made vague allusions to contingency plans involving "partnerships."

The implication was that Spirit had arrangements in place with other airlines to absorb Spirit's passengers in the event the carrier was grounded by a walk-out.  Those assurances turn out to have been specious.

While the airline's website promises a full refund, plus a $100 credit toward a future flight, Spirit is not offering any assistance with rebooking stranded travelers on other airlines.  They'll have to make their own arrangements, and could be forced to pay pricey walk-up fares to travel.  And with summer flights already running close to capacity, Spirit customers may find it difficult to book alternative flights at any price.

Strikes are never easy, for travelers or for the affected airlines.  Spirit's handling of this strike is a case study in dissembling and obfuscation -- a bad situation made worse.