When Your Policy Sucks, Suck It Up

I’ve been amazed at the backlash that has ensued from a veteran who hasn’t received a $197 refund because his doctor grounded him from flying.

You can see the full story here at Fox News.

What’s amazing to me is how much Spirit Airlines is ignoring the story in social circles. Here is a screen shot of their Twitter feed from the last few days. Nothing about the story at all. Not even an acknowledgement that they are being blasted in the media or on Twitter.

In fact, here is just the last few minutes of Tweets from the moment I decided to write about this.

What’s even more amazing is that they have posted today a Q1 earning of over $23million. That’s in one quarter. You can download the release here.

Now, I’m all for making a profit. In fact, I’m okay with Spirit making $23million in profit. That’s their right and they have a product that people buy. However, sticking to your guns on a policy that has this much impact this soon after a story breaks is very stupid.

The most telling of their attitude towards those that made their $23million possible is from the referenced story at FoxNews:

“We’re happy to look at [letters in support of Meekins]; however, we are standing by our decision not to provide the refund,” Spirit spokeswoman Misty Pinson told FoxNews.com.

Their response should be. “We’re sorry we didn’t understand the importance of this issue and have since not only refunded the $197 ticket but have also given his immediate family free flights for 1 year.”

In case you want to voice your concern, here's Misty Pinson's contact information:

Misty Pinson
Director, Corporate Communications
misty.pinson@spirit.com
954.628.4827; 954.918.9432/cell

The moral of the story, “When your policy sucks, you have to eat crow every once in a while.”

Yes, I know, it’s not easy. I know that I’ve eaten my share and surely will have more to eat before my career (day, even) is over.

BTW. I pulled the picture of Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza from here.