Spirit Airlines. Had a non-stop from LAX to Atl, and they kept pushing boarding back. Snuck around so could see the plane at gate, and saw the Landing guys looking at the engine, the nacelle was off, and they were looking at it and shrugging their shoulders. Well, Spirit doesn't have maintenance folk much of anywhere (?). They offered a voucher for lunch, but wasn't even enough to get a Burger King meal. Got us on a flight to Salt Lake, we got there, and the 'promised' flight to Atl was going to be held for us, but lo and behold, nothing. Then a flight was coming in, there were about 40 of us, all had seats, but when plane arrived, it was parked, as pilots/flight crew had timed out on hours worked. Snagged a flight to Detroit, got there, and was told the connecting flight had been canceled, and earliest flight was next day. Their voucher was $50 for a room and dinner. Turns out that Spirit was NOT a signatory on the USA travel code, which means they did not have to 'get us on another flight' if delayed/canceled more than four hours. Needless to say, there were 40 odd folk screaming at the person sent to explain. She fled in tears, and when a more seasoned person took over, she deflected all the problems. OK, daughter was swimming in NAIA championships, so had to get there. Spent $800 on a one way ticket to Atl for me and wife, where the carrier explained why Spirit was so wonky. Never again will I buy an airline ticket from that company. Oh yeah, our luggage was stuck in LAX (of course), and joined us two days later. They did however, reimburse us for toiletries and underwear to get us through (but they did contest much of it). Pay the extra $ for a real airline, it'll save you money and anguish in the long run.
