MSN Article - Spirit CEO's slip-up

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Anyone else see this?

Spirit CEO's slip-up, and what we can learn - Travel Tips - MSNBC.com



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Spirit CEO's slip-up, and what we can learn
Airline boss ‘replies all’ with rude response, but is it that big of a surprise?
By Wendy Perrin
Condé Nast Traveler
Updated: 12:56 p.m. ET Aug 24, 2007

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Am I the only travel blogger who, far from being shocked and outraged by Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza's rudeness toward a delayed passenger, finds it so utterly unsurprising as to be a big yawn?
Apparently. But given that Gadling , Jaunted , The Consumerist , Upgrade: Travel Better , Christopher Elliott , Rick Seaney , Today In the Sky , et al., have reacted as if the airline's disdainful approach to customers is news, I guess I should throw in my two cents.
First, the background: When a couple who flew Spirit Airlines last week wanted compensation because their Orlando-Atlanta flight was delayed by nearly 3 hours, they e-mailed their complaint to Baldanza, CCing it to several other Spirit employees. (You can read the complaint in its entirety at AlexRudloff.com.) When Baldanza e-mailed a staffer in response, he apparently hit the "Reply To All" button by mistake. Now his unfortunate response is splattered all over the blogosphere. His reply, presumably meant only for employee eyes:
"We owe [the passenger] nothing as far as I'm concerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He's never flown us before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny."
So a U.S. airline is arrogant and antagonistic toward customers. So it doesn't care what the general public thinks. So this is news? It's no secret that the great majority of fliers choose an airline based not on service or brand loyalty but on the lowest fare. Pretty much every other U.S.-airline CEO thinks the same way Baldanza does and has for years. Baldanza just happens to be the one who got caught e-mailing it.
The only thing that surprises me about this incident is that Spirit Airlines had, actually, already responded unusually generously to the complaint. It had already offered the complainants compensation of $200 in travel vouchers — which, in the airline world, is munificent for a three-hour delay. Most U.S. airlines would not make such an offer. Domestic carriers are not legally obligated to do anything for a delayed passenger besides get him to his destination eventually, whether 3 hours late or 30 hours late.
As for the complaint itself, all I can say is you've got to be living under a rock to think that a 4:40 p.m. Orlando-Atlanta flight, due to arrive at 6:13 p.m., will leave you enough time to get to an evening concert in Atlanta! The passengers say they padded their schedule with an extra 90 minutes to cover any potential delay. Please! Even if Atlanta weren't one of the nation's busiest and most-delayed airports, and even if this weren't a summer of horrific delays, that's way too tight a schedule.
"It is time for Baldanza to contact this customer and make things right," writes Jaunted's Mark Johnson. Compensating the customer would, however, only open up a Pandora's Box for the airline, setting a dangerous precedent of having to compensate every other passenger who encounters a three-hour delay — NOT a smart move in today's delay-prone skies. Nah, Mark, I'd say it's time for Spirit Airlines shareholders to contact Baldanza and make him publicly retract his disdainful attitude toward passengers. (I doubt that will happen, though. My guess is that the suits at Spirit figure relatively few of their customers are reading blogs and that this incident will disappear faster if they don't respond than if they do. Responding would only fan the flame.)
The moral of the story for ALL travelers? Airlines are not legally obligated to compensate you for a flight that is delayed or canceled. All they need to do is get you to your destination some day. So, before scheduling a flight to an event that you cannot be late for — whether a concert, a wedding, or a cruise-ship embarkation — factor potentially long delays into your schedule. How long? Go to FlightStats.com, plug in your flight, see how long it's delayed on average, and then add several more hours. The more you stand to lose should you miss the event, the more hours you've got to add.
Wendy Perrin is a consumer news editor for Condé Nast Traveler and she writes a practical-advice column called "The Perrin Report." Check back for daily postings on travel strategies, advice and solutions to common problems, and click here for recent Perrin Post entries.



© 2007 Condé Nast Traveler
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It wasn't so smart for the CEO to hit "reply all", but I know that I've been guilty of doing stupid things like that too.

But really... this passenger doesn't leave any time for delays for an important event?! Maybe since I non-rev, I know that I can never really plan for anything. What if there are weather or ATC delays?? This woman's flight got in only about 3 hours late... that is NOTHING. Ugh. After the airline offers her $200 in vouchers, she's expecting the airline to not only pay for her airfare - she wants them to pay for her hotel room and CONCERT TICKETS too!?! What is WRONG with people??