Spirit Airlines is melting down. My gain

[mcar]

I've been in Washington DC for the past 12 days with my son, DIL and new baby granddaughter. Hubby had to go back on Sunday to go back to work but I can work from anywhere so I'm here, enjoying unseasonably cool weather and the most beautiful child known to mankind .

Just about ready to leave for Baltimore this morning and my Spirit flight home - I gave the flight one more check, as one does. Only to find my flight had been cancelled.

I'd read a bit about Spirit's problems this week - cancelled and delayed flights - but had no idea how bad it was. 1700 cancelled flights since Sunday?

I couldn't rebook on their website - it kept defaulting to my cancelled flight. Call customer service and you get a "we're experiencing technical difficulties, try later" message. The online chat option is only automated.

Kids said, stay as long as you need to. Hubby said book on another airline. So I requested a refund from Spirit and booked Southwest for Sunday.

3 more days with my grandbaby.

I have enormous sympathy for Spirit travelers who don't have the flexibility I do - and for Spirit employees who must be going through hell. Low fare or no, I doubt I'll be flying them anytime soon.

[Demovictory9]

1. Glad its.a positive for you

[ebbie15644]

2. I'm near Latrobe PA

And they operate at an airport near me. It's been all over local news. Enjoy your extended vacation

[Marthe48]

3. I have a relative who works for them

Not sure how it is affecting them, but I hope not profoundly.

[bottomofthehill]

4. There is a nice win for you!

Beautiful weather in DC during August, win, extra time with grandchild BIG WIN

Enjoy your bonus time.

[stillcool]

5. Congrats!

you get to make some really fine lemonade.

[Joinfortmill]

6. I fly Jet Blue. Awesome.

[Initech]

7. I used to fly Jetblue but then they bailed out of Long Beach for LAX.

Now I pretty much only fly Southwest, though I will be taking United to Michigan when / if that trip is on.

[mcar]

11. I love JetBlue

We flew it earlier in July after the baby was born. Coming here twice in a month, we looked for lower cost airfare.

[brer cat]

8. Enjoy the most beautiful baby in the world

and worry about getting home another time. Beautiful weather in DC in August is very hard to believe. How did you pull those strings?

[mcar]

12. Heat wave coming next week

This week it's been low 80s, low humidity. Coming from FL, it's been heaven. I've walked more in the past 2 weeks than I have in months.

[malaise]

9. Enjoy the extra time

[Hortensis]

10. Congrats, Grandma. And for three more precious, priceless days!

[mcar]

13. I'd been regretting not staying through the weekend

The travel gods smiled on me, I guess.

[spooky3]

14. You definitely made lemonade! Nt

[Hortensis]

20. They did! When I left our last grandchild after spending the

first 5 days of his life with him, there was no reprieve. He'd learned to know me, and his tiny face would light up when he saw me.

Sigh.

[alphafemale]

15. I feel bad for stranded people and for the CS workers getting screamed at.

It is nothing they did.

Or can do, no matter how long people scream or how many obscenities they know.

[mcar]

16. Oh I do too

I'm reading comments from very stressed passengers on Twitter. It's a terrible situation for them and for Spirit employees.

[MLAA]

17. Of course your grand baby is perfect!

[George II]

18. Lucky you, enjoy the extra few days. Flying must be a nightmare these days....

...the last time we were on an airplane was 2015. I don't know that we'll ever go anywhere again by air.

Again, take advantage of those extra day!!

[mcar]

19. We've flown twice in July

up here when baby was born and again a few weeks later for a longer stay. Both times were a nightmare, esp since we were flying from Orlando. I think every family on the eastern seaboard has gone to Disney this summer.

Our early July departing flight (Jet Blue) was 5 hours delayed, mostly due to weather. All the other flights were delayed too but ours was longest. Every flight has been absolutely packed. Now this.

I will say, I saw no issues with mask wearing. Airports/planes require everyone over age 2 to wear one and every family I saw complied. Kids seemed to have no problem wearing their favorite Disney character masks.

The idea of driving north on I95 from FL to DC is not palatable to us - we did it too much when the kids were young and traffic now is even worse. No train options so flying it is.

[EX500rider]

21. Spirit:

The airline initially said cancelations would slow down by Tuesday, but a spokesperson explained that the cancelations were the result of a "perfect storm," blaming weather, staffing shortages and crews reaching the hour limits in which they are legally able to fly.

In its latest statement issued on Wednesday, Spirit vowed that the cancelations will finally start dropping on Thursday.

"We've dealt with overlapping operational challenges including weather, system outages and staffing shortages that caused widespread irregularities in our operation and impacted crew scheduling," Spirit said in a statement. "These issues were exacerbated by the fact that we are in peak summer travel season with very high industry load factors and more limited options for Guest re-accommodations."

After being hit with an IT issue Tuesday that affected crew scheduling, the airline said they have "implemented a more thorough reboot of the network" which allows them to get crews where they need to be to restore normal operations.