I made a last minute decision to take a vacation for myself – by myself.  The first went to Panama City, Panama to visit family.  I was *supposed* to arrive in Panama City at 1am on a Saturday morning but when I showed up to the airport and saw the line I knew something was up.

“Oh Dear God,” I thought, “I’m going to miss my flight!”

The first time I ever flew Spirit was to Puerto Rico for a long weekend a few years ago.  We arrived in PR 6 hours later than expected.  Since then I vowed to never fly Spirit ever again.  Fool me once, shame on you.  A few years go past, I had heard they gotten better, and then last year they had the best on-time performance in the industry.  No, you are not reading that wrong.  They were #1.  I am not lying to you.  So I thought I would give them a second chance.  Haha, fool me twice, shame on me.

Like, this isn’t fake news folks:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/grantmartin/2019/04/20/spirit-airlines-edges-out-delta-air-lines-as-most-on-time-air-carrier-so-far-in-2019/#4234305014a1

When I showed up to the airport it was complete pandemonium.  I believe something had to be going on with their system because the lines were sooooooo ssssslllllooooowwwwww.  It appeared that they had enough people manning the counter and it appeared that the people were checking into the self check-in kiosks just fine but as soon as they got in line to drop off their bags they just stood there.  It got so bad that people started almost missing their 45 minute minimum bag drop off time.  Counter agents started calling out destinations that were reaching their 45 minute minimum so those people could drop off their bags!  Just yelling out cities, “LA!  WE ARE ONLY ACCEPTING BAGS FOR LA FLIGHT XXX RIGHT NOW!  LAST CALL FOR LA!” I-AM-NOT-JOKING.

This is the first quarter of the line.  This line made it all the way back to security

Since I was flying international, I was not allowed to check-in with the self-check-in kiosk and had to stand in line to actually check in at the counter.  I was in line for 2.5 hours before I got to the head of the line.  TWO AND A HALF HOURS!  We were in line so long that many people behind me actually missed their flights because they missed their minimum bag drop off time, wouldn’t make it through security, nor make it to their gate in time for the flight.

It was so bad people were randomly cutting the lines to talk to counter agents – thus slowing things down even more.

It was so bad, so many people were losing their tempers, that the manager HAD TO CALL THE POLICE to ensure that it didn’t get out of hand.  Ya’ll I almost thought a riot would break out.  People were self checking in then cutting the bag drop off line to request refunds because they missed their flights.  Tempers were flaring and it was only a matter of time before people stormed the ticket counter. At this point I started feeling bad for the counter agents because it’s not their fault that their company is a disaster, they just work there and have to deal with the fall out.

So, I get to the front of the line and they tell me that my flight has been cancelled and the earliest flight they can get me on is the next day, exactly 24 hours later.  They say the flight was cancelled because of weather but I call BS.  Both the city the plane was leaving from and the city it was landing in were crystal clear.  No, I believe something was wrong with their Network and/or System and/or Processes.  The lines were moving way too slow for it to be because of weather.

I show up the next day, FOUR HOURS EARLY because I am completely shook by what happened the night before and it is all SMOOTH SAILING.  Like, what am I going to do in the AP for 3 freaking hours?!  This just gives me more evidence that something was going on with their network the day before.

Then I finally get to Ft. Lauderdale AND THEY DELAY THIS FLIGHT BY 4 HOURS.  Like, seriously, all I want to do is get to my destination!  At this point I feel like I’m going to be in an airport for the rest of my life!  Again they tell me it’s weather but my sources tell me that Panama City was fine, Ft. Lauderdale was fine, and the city that the plane was supposed to take off of was fine.

They need to add a word to their slogan:  “Spirit:  You’re practically, basically, almost there…maybe”

DO NOT BELIEVE SPIRIT WHEN THEY SAY DELAYS OR CANCELLATIONS ARE BECAUSE OF WEATHER!  IT’S LIES, ALL LIES, BECAUSE THEY ARE LYING LIARS THAT LIE!  They blame it on weather so they have a valid excuse instead of “our network sucks”, because you can fix a network but you can’t fix weather.

I wonder how much it costs them to special order their planes a bright yellow color because that can’t be cheap?  Maybe if they ordered their planes in a white color with a small yellow logo THEY COULD ACTUALLY AFFORD A NETWORK THAT WORKS?! Or, you know, planes with actual cushioning on their seats with actual pockets?!

Seriously, Spirit, you can afford to paint your planes bright ass yellow but can’t afford pockets?!  Or maybe a new network?!

Never again, Spirit, never – again.  You won’t fool me a third time.