Terry Foster Describes His Horrible Flying Experience
By Terry Foster
@terryfoster971
Las Vegas -- I will never fly Spirit Airlines again. This is the last straw after having the fourth major flight delay in three years Monday night.
I was supposed to arrive in Detroit with my family at 5:30 Tuesday morning. Instead we are due to arrive 12:38 Wednesday morning. And I am more angry with myself than the airlines because I was too trusting. I wanted to save $800 in airfare and I told myself that the other delays were simply bad luck. But four mishaps in six flights is not bad luck, it's is a bad airline.
Now I will miss a day of work. The children must go to school jet lagged and grumpy and I am not sure if my wife will ever speak to me.
My daughter played in The Mayors Cup soccer tournament over the weekend. The two hour delay getting here Thursday was not the airlines fault. Weather delays on the east coast prevented the equipment from arriving on time. We enjoyed Vegas until Monday night when it was time to leave. The 10:50 red eye was delayed until 12:03 am. Three Spirit flights at McCarron were delayed while we waited.
Finally we boarded. When the pilot started the engines the plane smelled as if somebody puked. It was awful and quite honestly I do not know what that means. Maybe one of you aviator experts can explain it to me.
"I know you smelled that," the pilot said. ''The thing about a plane is if something is wrong you can't just pull over on the side of the road and check it out. We are going to check it out because we don't want anyone getting sick in the air."
We left the plane.
The gate agent told us every hour thanks for being patient. But what choice do you have? You cannot rent a car and drive home.
Today, travelers are screwed if you miss a flight or if a flight is cancelled. There are fewer flights, smaller planes and less options to get home. Passengers feel absolutely helpless. Delta had one way flights for $1,290. That's five grand to come home. No way.
During our delay people fell asleep on the floor and one guy got so drunk at the bar that police came and took him to the hospital. He was better off than us. I needed a drink.
After three hours the gate agent announced that the flight was cancelled and smartly got the hell out of dodge. I don't blame her. I would have done the same. The patient passengers were no longer patient. They were told to book other flights on Spirit. It was first come, first serve at the ticket gate downstairs. My options were to fly to Dallas for a four hour layover before flying to Detroit.
My son is sick. My daughter is pooped and my wife wants to strangle someone.
Some passengers were offered a night stay, a cab ride and $7 food voucher. We got nothing because we were told to book by phone to make the process easier. I asked for a voucher and was told she could not offer it to me. Instead she wanted to know if I wanted more information about getting $50 off a flight coupon.
I declined her offer.
Four flight delays in six tries. Geez, if only Andre Drummond was that clutch at the free throw line, the Pistons might go to their sixth NBA Finals.
Wish the family luck. This is our final Spirit trip.
(Foster can be reached at terry.foster@cbsradio.com)