(That's the) Spirit Airlines!

"A 76-year-old Vietnam veteran named Jerry Meekins bought a Florida-to-Atlantic City ticket to visit his daughter. He paid $197. Meekins has esophageal cancer, and it's going to kill him. He already knew he had cancer, but he found out he was terminally ill after he purchased the ticket. His doctor advised him to avoid the flight because he's too sick.

"Naturally, Meekins went to Spirit and asked for a refund. His version of events is that the airline basically said that's a shame, but you're not getting a refund. Here's the thing -- that's also effectively Spirit's version of events. Ben Baldanza, the chief executive of Spirit, told FoxNews.com why Meekins won't be getting his money back: He should have bought insurance. "A lot of our customers buy that insurance and what Mr. Meekins asked us to do was essentially give him the benefit of that insurance when he didn't purchase the insurance," Baldanza said, according to the web site. "Had we done that, I think it really would've been cheating all the people who actually bought the insurance ... and I think that's fundamentally unfair."

"The report goes on to quote Baldanza further. "We feel very badly for Mr. Meekins, however, this is a country and society where we kind of play by the rules. And he wanted to really not do that and that's really not fair to the 10 million other Spirit customers and that's why we made that decision." In a way, he's absolutely correct. Rules are rules, and we need them to maintain law and order and civil society. We know this, and most of us embrace that fact. But should every rule be enforced at all times with absolutely zero room for interpretation? Depends on your perspective. If you ask Baldanza if he thinks rules are made to be broken, you're probably wasting your time.

"Meekins says he was offered a credit for a future flight, but again, there remains that matter of being told by his doctor not to fly, since it could make his already grave illness even worse. He ended up driving to New Jersey to see his daughter."

Excerpted from this news story

I would think a 2 hour flight would have been better than a12 hour drive. I would have gone and hoped I croaked on the flight. Would serve em right.

It's a sad story but it's in the contract. Same thing when I flew with Delta a month ago, no refunds no matter what. It's the price we pay to be able to have round trip 1000 mile flights for only $197.

Capitalism in its purest form. It's amusing when conservatives think capitalism and compassion can live together in harmony.

We'd all be better off if anyone who said "rules are rules" or "we have to play by the rules" as their primary justification for a course of action were soundly, immediately socked in the head. "Rules" aren't a natural force of the universe, they are constructed by us, and they can be freely bent or broken by us when the situation deserves it. That's what makes us people instead of drones.

Rules are rules, but brains are brains. Use them instead. (Pro tip: they turn into jelly if you don't.)

To counter that:

Loosely enforcing rules is basically selective enforcement and has potential for inappropriate discriminatory behavior. The whole reason there ARE rules and laws is because people, in general, cannot be trusted to do the right thing.

Still kind of a D move by the airline. I wouldn't expect a ticket agent to make the call, but higher ups should have.

aircooled wrote: To counter that: Loosely enforcing rules is basically selective enforcement and has potential for inappropriate discriminatory behavior. The whole reason there ARE rules and laws is because people, in general, cannot be trusted to do the right thing. Still kind of a D move by the airline. I wouldn't expect a ticket agent to make the call, but higher ups should have.

I wholeheartedly agree with this post.

Spirit CEO changes mind.

After doubling down on the insult, and drawing fire and attention to his Airlines level of complaints (hint: it more than doubles the second place finisher), and flak from veterans groups and.... Yeah, he gave up.

People make rules, but they have brains as well. He didn't use his and caught the heat.

My son got nickled and dimed to death at Spirit recently. His cheap ticket ended up costing more than American. They hit him for a dozen little charges. Do you know they charge for a carry on overhead bin item?

Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a E36 M3 about the rules?

spitfirebill wrote: I would think a 2 hour flight would have been better than a12 hour drive. I would have gone and hoped I croaked on the flight. Would serve em right.

No matter how he got there I can't see the air in Jersey being good for someone with cancer. It turned that poor snooki girl orange.

carguy123 wrote: My son got nickled and dimed to death at Spirit recently. His cheap ticket ended up costing more than American. They hit him for a dozen little charges. Do you know they charge for a carry on overhead bin item?

These days, I've been discovering that unless you're incredibly good at traveling with almost nothing, flying the "cheap" airlines isn't worth it. I fly American most of the time, and I'm fortunate enough to have a family member whose multi-million mile status gets us free bags and the occasional cheap class upgrade, but I also have actually been impressed by United the last few times I've been on them, and as much as I hate that you have to pay anything extra, the price of their "economy plus" upgrade is pretty reasonable, and on three out of the four legs I flew last time, I was alone in my row, which was great.

Fit_Is_Slo wrote: Has the whole world gone crazy? Am I the only one around here who gives a E36 M3 about the rules?

Mark it zero, Donny.