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A Los Angeles woman has been stranded in Chicago since Tuesday due to repeated Spirit Airlines cancellations as more trips have been made this summer following coronavirus lockdowns.
“It looks like it’s Friday night and I don’t have a flight home and I’m supposed to work at 7 a.m. on Monday,” Nikki Campbell, news editor at KFI AM 640, told Fox 11.
Campbell was visiting Chicago for a vacation and attempted to return home on Tuesday but was repeatedly canceled by Spirit.
SPIRIT AIRLINES CANCEL HUNDREDS OF FURTHER FLIGHTS, PRESENT UPDATE ON THE PROJECTION OF THE NEXT WEEK
“At one point I thought, ‘I’ll rent a car in Vegas and go home,’ but rental car prices are ridiculous during the pandemic. That would cost $ 400. I thought, ‘Can I take a bus?'” She said.
Desperate for revenue during the pandemic lockdowns, rental car companies sold parts of their rental fleets for cash. Now the demand for rental cars far exceeds the supply, which is causing prices to skyrocket.
“I think at this point I’ll probably ask for a refund, but I’ll probably have to spend $ 400 or $ 500 just to get home on a one-way ticket and that’s not my jam,” added Campbell added.
She is nowhere near alone to face low-cost airline cancellations as other customers complain on social media of being stuck at airports due to cancellations and delays.
Spirit has canceled more than 2,000 flights since last Sunday due to a “month of hard operating condition in July” due to staff shortages, system failures and weather.
SPIRIT AIRLINES CANCEL MORE THAN HALF OF ITS FLIGHTS THURSDAY
“There are definitely some angry people out there,” said Ted Christie, CEO of Spirit, to reporters Thursday night. “At the moment I can only say that we are very sorry about what happened.”
“We will do everything we can to regain the trust of our guests and the traveling public. We believe we can do that,” he added.
American Airlines also had to cancel this week due to bad weather at its international hub in Dallas / Fort Worth. While the airline canceled hundreds of flights on a June weekend earlier this summer, it cited staff shortages and maintenance issues as an influx of people started traveling again after the coronavirus lockdown.
Campbell added in her interview this week that the cancellations “terrified” her and that she will probably never fly Spirit again.
“I’ve flown Spirit several times,” she said. “They have really affordable tariffs.”
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“Now I’m scared of flying it again because it looks like it came out of nowhere,” she said.
Spirit Airlines told Fox News that Thursday’s cancellation rate had improved, citing the CEO’s comments on the matter.
“While Spirit never wants to cancel flights and cause inconvenience to its guests, Christie said the improvement was a step in the right direction. Christie said he expected Spirit’s cancellation rate to continue to improve over the weekend and resume normal operations by the middle of next week, ”the statement said.
An airline spokesman later told Fox News on Saturday that Campbell had been contacted by Spirit with a flight and was leaving Chicago.
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