UPDATE: Problems continue for Broward-based Spirit Airlines. The company is canceling even more flights on Friday, at least a third so far today.
Spirit Airlines CEO Ted Christie says it hasn’t been the company’s proudest moment and says that he hates to see customers stranded.
He blamed more than 17-hundred cancellations on bad weather, staffing and technical issues. And it’s not over yet. More flight cancellations are on deck today and through the weekend.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Spirit Airlines is canceling hundreds more flights today stranding passengers in key Florida airports such as Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
The airline, based in Miramar, Florida is trying to dig out of a crisis that forced the cancellations of hundreds of flights this week. Thousands of passengers have been stranded, many stranded for days.
Spirit hoped cancellations would ease up today, but nearly half of all flights have been canceled as of Thursday morning.
Spirit says the cancellations are due to several overlapping issues of weather, system outages, and staffing shortages.
Now the struggling airline is offering double pay to flight attendants who pick up extra shifts.
Coop, from All American, leads a protest against Spirit Airlines at Fort Lauderdale Airport #AllAmericanCW pic.twitter.com/an00DS9ho1
— Hood Politics (@marl0stanfield_) August 3, 2021
By 2:30 a.m. Eastern Time, Spirit had canceled more than 300 flights, 40% of today’s scheduled flights.
Yesterday 60% of all Spirit flights were cancelled with more delayed.
We are experiencing operational challenges in some areas of our network. Before going to the airport, check your email and current flight status here: https://t.co/yuPJDPxeNu. The fastest way to receive assistance is to visit our webchat: https://t.co/QnlZcUCMtk. pic.twitter.com/E176h8KHjN
— Spirit Airlines (@SpiritAirlines) August 2, 2021
This is the fifth straight day of cancellations as the discount airline struggles with tech outages, staffing shortages, and other problems.
Spirit officials said yesterday that cancellations should ease as the airline reboots its operation but that doesn’t appear to be happening yet.
By comparison, Miami-based American Airlines is back up and running after it canceled around 300 flights — about 10% of the day’s total, by mid-afternoon on Tuesday.
Both airlines have experienced flight disruptions for the past three days. According to flight tracker FlightAware, Spirit canceled 19% of its Sunday flights and 40% of its flights on Monday.
American canceled 300 Sunday flights and 563 Monday flights.
American Airlines has attributed its cancellations and delays to severe weather happening in Dallas Fort Worth.