Spirit Airlines Gave Me A Heart Attack:
So, I booked a Spirit flight approximately one month before departure. I had a flight credit that I got from a changed flight during 2020. The credit expires at the end of the year, so I thought it would be a perfect time to use it on my trip to the San Francisco area.
I booked a flight from Oakland (OAK) to Orange County (SNA) with the credit. It was very easy to apply on the website (it did not work on the app). I booked the flight for me and my friend and everything went through.
Weeks went by and I didn’t hear anything, until I arrived in San Jose on my Southwest flight three days before the Spirit flight. I got an email, with the subject of the email being my confirmation number and the words Next Steps Required.
The email stated:
We greatly value your business and the opportunity to serve your travel needs. IMPORTANT: We are contacting you to obtain a new form of payment for your upcoming trip. Spirit reservation credits may only be redeemed by a Guest linked to the original reservation for which the credit was issued. Since the Guest name on this reservation was not on the original, it cannot be used to book this trip. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. As an additional security measure to protect our Guests, we have re-issued this credit back to the original traveler. If you would like to keep this booking, please contact us. You can reach us via our convenient Chat feature here or via WhatsApp at 855-728-3555. You can also call our reservations center at the same telephone number. We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon.
I got a mini heart attack from this! So many thoughts ran through my head.
My name was on the reservation, so nothing to worry about right? Or because I had my friend on it too, did they not like that? Then I also was upset, why would it go through on the internet, shouldn’t the online system match my name to the credit? And even if they caught it later, why wait until 3 days before my departing flight?!
Annoyed and confused, I quickly went on the chat feature and thankfully connected with a representative within a few minutes. I was truly worried it would be a few hours wait.
It took the representative about 15 minutes to find an answer, but they assuaged my concerns.
Apparently it’s just an automated email, and it was fine….? I felt more assured and took screenshots in case. I was still a bit worried, but a little less so. At least I got an answer rather quickly so I could enjoy my trip more.
Checking-In for Flight:
Thankfully, I was able to get a boarding pass 24 hours before during online check-in, so that made me feel even more confident.
And at the gate, I was able to board the flight with my friend, and we actually enjoyed our experience in the Big Front Seat. I’ll post my review of the Big Front Seat shortly.
But I’m not sure how I feel about the added stress and uncertainty right before the flight. I hope they fix this so other passengers don’t get freaked out like me!
Has this ever happened to you before on Spirit Airlines? Comment below!
Safe Travels,
Ty
Have any questions? Comment below or email me at takeofftotravel@gmail.com. You can also view all my other posts here! Thanks for stopping by!
I just received the same email… Thanks for posting! I wasn’t sure the email was legitimate, and my trip is still confirmed with no problems flagged online or in the app.
Thanks for reading! Hope you have a good trip!
Thanks for sharing. I fly Spirit to/from Oakland and have learned to regularly check “my trips” to check on the time/route of my flight. There can be lag time between the change and a notification email. Also, I warn friends to give a two day cushion if there’s something that’s a set time like an appointment/timed ticket on arrival. That pertains to any airline, but more so on Spirit due to limited flight schedules and connections. Hoped you enjoyed northern California.
Thanks for reading and sharing! And, I had a great trip!