I mentioned recently my Sister was coming up (she is in Florida) for a spur of the moment visit. She hasn't been here since November 2019 when Rae Rae was in her last stage of life. Then the pandemic happened. She wanted to see our parents, who are getting on in years. Pops lives with me, and our Mother is still in her own home.
She found a cheap flight on Spirit Airlines. $59 each way. Orlando to Hartford. She did pay for parking her car in the long term lot in Orlando. I provided housing and an auto for her to use. We picked her up at Bradley (Hartford). No problems with her flight north. She flew up on a Saturday.
Fast forward to the flight home on Thursday. I drove her halfway to DH's work. During that 30 minute drive she received notification her flight was 30 minutes delayed. During the second part of the drive with DH to the airport she got a second notification that her flight was now an hour delayed. We spoke, no biggie, she would get a salad and had plenty to do (coloring and reading books).
They canceled her flight 5 minutes before boarding should have started. She was panicking. I was teaching until 830 pm (the panic started at 620 pm). DH had gone to his home town to visit as he was close after driving her to the airport. Pops was panicking. I finally got ahold of DH at 7 pm and he headed back to the airport.
They got back. No seats available til Sunday. I checked other airlines, all booked so we got her on that Sunday Spirit flight. She put sheets back on her bed. She spent more time with our parents. Still had a car to use. A room to sleep in, a kitchen with food in it. She felt bad for the families that were on that flight heading for Disney.
She checked into her flight, and almost immediately received a message that the flight was overbooked and would she like to relinquish her ticket for purchase price plus. Not a good sign.
We drove her up to Bradley leaving our home at 1 pm. Dropping her off a bit after 2. No delays, no cancellations. YET. Yes, you guessed it, just as we took the exit to our own town and she phoned. Hour delay. I told her not to panic, but I was going to research and perhaps purchase a full priced ticket on another airline if there were any more problems.
Spirit did pull through, and the flight took off (albeit late) and she was in her own home by 11pm on Sunday.
What if a traveler did not have a free bed and a free car to use. What if they were already under financial hardship? I know that all airlines cancel, delay. Especially now. But in looking at the history of some of these lower priced airlines (and specifically Spirit) they have a very high percentage of cancellations.
What do you think? Are all airlines the same? Who do you fly with?
ALL airlines are a clusterf**k right now. Last Summer our flights to Seattle had big delays but at least they weren't cancelled and rebooked. Last Dec. getting to Miami was a flight struggle. My daughter's flight to NJ for her brother's wedding last month was cancelled 2 days out from the flight. Then they said they were rescheduling the flight to the day after it was suppose to leave, meaning she'd have come to NJ to MISS the wedding! Insanity. She ended up rebooking thankfully and arrived on time.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is due to Covid/flight crews. They furloughed too many crew members so there is trouble getting crews together to cover the flights...add in if anyone has to go out due to Covid and it's a pain. Airlines we've had problems with were American, United, Alaskan and I don't know who my daughter flew on. We are flying out of Dallas to Phoenix next week so cross your fingers for us!
It's just a bad time to be flying overall.
I guess we were very lucky when we flew out to CO in June to help our daughter (Southwest) not an issue either way. Safe Travels Sluggy!
DeleteI'm not a fan at all of the discount airlines, because I hate that they charge you for everything. At the end, unless you are somehow not bringing a bag at all, and don't mind a middle seat by the bathroom, I feel like you end up paying almost as much/the same as a regular airline.
ReplyDeleteThat said, Sluggy is right. Flying right now is really rocky, regardless of the airlines. So many cancellations, delays, etc.