Hurricane Matthew Causes Travel Headache For Reading Man
BOSTON (CBS) – Hurricane Matthew caused quite the headache for Sean Sylvester, but fortunately, it won't be impacting his wallet.
The Reading resident planned a trip to Myrtle Beach with his wife and a group of friends. It just so happened to be the same weekend Hurricane Matthew whipped through the Myrtle Beach area.
Sylvester had no choice but to cancel his trip, but Spirit Airlines told him the flight was still on schedule.
"I said 'There's a hurricane coming, and impending evacuation.' I explained everything and all they said was the flight is going," Sylvester said.
Sylvester spoke with a representative, a supervisor, even a manager and pleaded for a full refund.
"There was not much they could do for me. I could cancel the flight if they chose to. But they wanted to charge us a $135 cancellation fee per person," he said.
The group of travelers included eight people, meaning Sylvester would have been out more than $1,000.
And because he booked the flight on just his credit card, all Spirit Airlines could do is offer credit back to him, but not to the other passengers.
Sylvester filed a complaint with Spirit, the Department of Transportation and the Better Business Bureau.
Sylvester said the hotel down in Myrtle Beach already gave him his money back.
Finally, after being contacted about the situation by WBZ-TV, the airline agreed to refund Sylvester's trip for all eight passengers.
The airline said that in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, it is making adjustments in an effort to help all customers.