Wendy, if Spirit things this will go away, they should read this morning's Orlando Sentinel. See http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/custom/tourism/orl-spirit2407aug24,0,4398123.story

While Rudloff is noble to say in his blog:
"So, instead of losing $5 on a customer who has every right to be angry, I'll write this blog post and tell all my traveling buddies to add Spirit Airlines to their growing list of airlines to avoid," Rudloff wrote on Aug. 4.",
the reality of the situation is that people will continue to fly airlines that have the service and fares they want. I think very few travelers end up taking the moral high road when it comes to avoiding airlines. There are simply too few convenient flights and fares to blacklist airlines simply for rotten service. There have been many, many airlines throughout history with reputations for bad service, but they continue to operate.

Thank God that the executives at Spirit has been exposed. Unfortunately the executives at the other major airlines have not been exposed for their total lack of interest in customer service and accurate communication with the passengers. All the executives of the major airlines have hidden behind transparent excuses and done a poor job of public relations and trying to pick up the torch to be a leader in the industry.

This summer I have flown on no less then eight flights and have seen a total lack of service on each flight. The only airline that I could honestly recommend to someone else would be JetBlue (possibly Southwest). The other airlines should really be ashamed of themselves for the lack of service, surly employees and total lack of communication.

LIST OF SHAME:
American Airlnines was this summer's biggest offender! Each flight that I was on was late (minimum of two hours) and the planes were dirty. I had to go through their Dallas hub which was like waiting for a plane in a parking garage. The gate crew was not informing the passengers of the delay and just kind of shrugged their shoulders when asked why we were delayed when the board said that we would be departing on time. The delay was based on the fact that the ground crew could not service the plane since they didin't have enough personnel to handle the flights. But the gate crew gave some very lame and transparent excuse saying that it was weather related when they had not had a weather issue all day. The gate crew could have been honest with us. Besides American relys too much on outdated smaller aircraft (MD-80's), when packed like sardines are very uncomfortable.

Next on the list of shame is Delta, Dirty planes and unprofessional ground personnel just added to my ire when our flight was delayed. Their ability to handle baggage just ruined evrything when the flight ended since we had to wait for an hour and fifteen minutes.

United and USAirways were just as guilty as Delta for their poor performance. I will say this that their gate personnel were some what better and at least honest about the delays that I experienced.

The problem is that no airline, other then JetBlue and possibly, Southwest, really did much to diiferentiate themselves from the others. They (major domestic airlines) all work on trying to maintain the barest of minimum services during this summer and should be ashamed of themselves. Airline executives really need to be more accountable for the actions of each carrier's poor performance and should not be given any form of bonus for the drop in the quality of service. Their total lack of concern for their quality of service at the expense of the almight dollar has become systemic throughtout the airline industry. Therefore there really needs to be a PASSENGER BILL of RIGHTS.

Airline executives need to stop blaming other issues, like lack of pilots and an overloaded/outdated air traffic system. Don't become part of the problem, be the solution! Also the executives at these airlines of shame need to get out of their offices and get into the terminal and see the frustration of the passengers and also fly on flights in coach to truly understand that organic growth of these airlines will not happen if they continue to provide less then adequate service.

from someone who has sent many over-reactive emails triggered by consumer or employee complaints, i understand his sentiments. we all have our moments in which we put something stupid in print as part of a emotional release. having said, check the @#$%-ing email list before hitting send. i'm sure it's frustrating getting over-the-top customer complaints for something out of the control of the company, but capably handling those situation is what separates a strong leader from this clown.

Unfortunately these pax thought they were going to be taken care of since they lucked upon the CEO's email address. What they got was the cold hard reality of a business that has become commoditized - without the usual fluff in a prepared, carefully worded statment by a customer service department.

Bottom line - given the circumstances, what they were asking for was unreasonable. Secondly, Baldanza was right - they will come back next time the price is right.

Mr. Baldanza is wrong about me - I'll never travel with Spirit again. My first time was my last and a $700 lesson. And I've been on hold with Customer Relations for 2 hours 31 minutes now...